Letter

This item comes from a collection of letters, covers and other historical material which Te Papa has acquired from Gerald Ellott at various times since 2001. The collection includes items from as early as 1818, but most relate to the New Zealand Wars period (1845-1872) and particularly the 1860s. 

Gerald is one of New Zealand’s foremost postal historians, and for nearly sixty years has been collecting, researching and exhibiting the early postal history of New Zealand. He was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1988, is a recipient of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie Research Medal, and was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to philately in the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours.

The New Zealand Wars collection includes letters written by soldiers serving in British regiments in New Zealand, as well as letters from members of colonial militia and volunteer units. The content and context of the letters provide a wealth of historical, social and military information about this period. The postal markings on the letters and envelopes are also informative, allowing us to track the movement of British troops and the opening up of post offices in their wake.

Many items in the collection are mounted and annotated on archival pages. Gerald wrote the annotations for the purposes of display and storytelling. They reflect his views and the language of the time, and Te Papa has not reviewed them for accuracy.

Transcript:

Tauranga. Bay of Plenty.
July 30^th.
(1864)

My dear Father.
Yr. letter dated May 19^th arrived a few days ago, by it I see you had only received the first news of the 68^th at Tauranga, letters certainly take a good time coming to the Antipodes. All the Maoris about here are coming in to Greer & laying down their arms & want to make peace, about 150 have done so, I don’t think we shall fire another shot at Tauranga, the natives have had such an awful licking at Te Ranga that they have no heart to fight any more. They say themselves

[page 2]

they lost 230 men there. William Thompson however still holds out & it must be remembered there is yet all the East Coast of the Island.
We have not as yet had any fighting with the tribes on the East Coast, & they are reported to be building very strong pa’s, nt. [T? illegible] we shall have to turn them out of, if the War continues.
Some fellows think that I shall perhaps get a Brevet Majority for the Te Ranga action, as when Trent fell I was the senior officer on the right, & Greer has mentioned me in his Despatch. Our wounded

[page 3]

Are doing pretty well, some of the men however, who were hit at Te Ranga have died of their wounds. Casement is the worst wounded of the Officers he was hit in three places, & the bone of one of his ribs wh. was broken gives him some trouble. I dont suppose one shall ever have such hand to hand fighting again, for I don’t believe after this they will be inclined to stand. The way in wh. some of the men escaped was wonderful, after we gained the place all that survived ran as hard as they could, & got the bayonet tremendously, but fought most

[page 4]

desperately for their lives. I saw one Maori being chased by a man of ours who was close on my left, & the way the former warded off the rifle was beautiful
When the man got near him, he turned round & would have a regular stand up fight, & then run on for a few yards, when the same thing wd. take place. I couldn’t stop to see the end of it, but I saw our man’s bayonet warded off by this gallant Maori 3 or 4 times. I was besides at this time terribly [?], & in the Pits altho’ the Maoris were not more than a yard from me I could hardly hold my revolver steady. When I fixed the 5^th barrel I was obliged to put it between the legs of one of our men, so you may imagine what a scrimmage there was. I am now x

[page 5]

x living in a wooden hut wh. has been built by the Government for us – each hut has 6 partitions – (14 feet by 10) - & one Officer in each It is  [?] a great [?] & cut out of a tent. I was interviewed a day or two ago by a great Maori Chief who has fought in his time under the chief “Heke”/ His name is Taka [?] [referring to Pene Taka Tuaia]. He was the Engineer & designer of the “Gate Pa” & fought their with considerable valour. He shook hands most cordially with me, & we walked together around the Hospital, & inspected the wounded Maoris, most of them have had their legs off, & arms amputated, all having been seriously wounded at Te Kaupa. He seemed to think very little of them. “It does’nt much matter” he said their legs & arms being off, “if they can but open their mouths, & eat plenty of food”. The Maoris don’t at all like having their limbs amputated & some of them took a long time before they could consent to it.

[page 6]

a Maori came to see Greer this morning, & showed his leg – one bullet had gone through it at the Gate Pa” & another at Te Kaupa (the same leg) “you see” he said, “all well I make, if I came to the “Paheka, they make cut off”. I see Blair Athol won the Derby. We had a lottery here about 1£ a ticket. 1^st Prize 52£ 2^nd 15£. 3^rd 5£. I sent a fellow to draw my ticket, & he picked Blair Athol out of the hat. I have consequently had the rare luck to win 51£ clear. Our last accounts from England he was at 50-t-1- so I didn’t think there much chance. Will you tell m[e] in your next letter whether you received a N.Z. Newspaper. I ordered one to be sent from Auckland some time back.

With best love 
Your affectionate Son
J. H. Culme Seymour