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:

Taranaki 6^th May 1860

Dear Mother

Weary and tired i sit down to write these few lines hoping they will find you in good health as they leave me at present thank God for it. Since I write to you last their has a great change taken place in this part of the Country, there is a rebellion amongst the Natives about some land that has been bought of a party of natives which as been proved that they are the proper owners, and there is another party that have no right to the land who have interfered and set British government at defiance and as the land was bought of them by the government we had to take up the cudgels. The disputed land is about 14 miles from Taranaki; one of the interpreters was sent to their pa he found about 70 natives into it and informd them that if they intended to interfere with the Survey of the land they had better be off as the Seamen were about to land and the troops were coming overland and they would all be shot, the natives immediatly decamped we saw nothing of the natives the whole of that day but during the following night the natives returned and erected a strong pa within half a mile of our encampment the erection of the pa must have occupyid about 760 natives as although

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Small it was strongly stockaded and entrenched all round. But i had nearly fogoten to describe the March on the 5^th of March at 2 o’Clock morning we marched from Taranaki to the Waitara that is the name of the place where the disputed land is it was a very long and fatiguing March fording rivers and skirmishing through the Bush it is no joke to be marching through this country buckled up and sixty rounds of ammunition i’ll asure you that it made me think of home and how foolish i was to leave it but it is too late to think of that how we arived their safe at about 3 o’clock in the afternoon we took no clean linnin with us we had to go to a dirty stream and wash our shirts and i am not the best hand at washing all the woman from the place are sent to Nelson during the hostilities we were 20 days in Camp at the Waitara and on the 17 of March we had a fight with the Moaries. they got together in a strong fighting pa about 2 miles from camp we took al the force we could muster and as soon as we got near them they hoisted their war flag we stoped there all night they killed two of ours and wounded one they did in the night make of with their killed and wounded we captured their flag and I have sent you apart of it keep it to my memory and if i live to come home it will remind me of old times as a campaigner

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Dear Mother i am a very poor hand at describing the life i am leading at present but I will give as true an account as possible. On the 25 of March i got a Taranaki paper and folded it up and dried it and was sitting in my tent to write a few lines to you when an order was given for us to fall in on parade and we were there and then marched of to Taranaki as the natives were about to destroy the town so as we got in town in time we prevented it we marched out the following morning about 5 miles to Omata but they did not show themselves, these natives are a Barbarous people they caught two litle Boys in the Bush they were after Catle the Butchers of Moaries murdered them in a most Brutal manner so on the 28 of March we started of again and met the natives at a place called Waireke they stood fight better their than ever they were known before brave Brittish valour was shown on that day their was upwards two hundred Moaries killed and a great number wounded it was a caution to them there was only 4 killed of ours and 10 wounded their was an officer of the navy dangerously wounded and one man killed. Since that we had a heavy march up the Country better than 30 miles, we destroyed all the natives pas and houses we had to cross about 12 rivers some of them up to the waist and we are placed on watch without

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being able to dry our clothes we can eat our hard Buiscut and suffer on we were out eleven days we had several skirmishes with the rascals on our way back but they pop in the thick bush and give us no chance on ariveing to town we found reinforcements had come from Sydney and Hobart over 2 hundred of the 12^th regiment and 400 of the 40^th and two man of wars and it is reported here that their will be some coming from home then we can scour the whole country there is the winter setting in that is worse for us. that is all I can tell you at present, Dear Mother i am not so much afraid of the Mauriey Ball or tomahawk as i am of some disease or other arising from colds i have hitherto escaped bath, and trust through the Blessing of god i shall to the end, i have given up the lance stripe as their was to much running about atached to it and i should never Benifet by it. Dear Mother since i have entered the Brittish Service nothing has afforded mee more pleasure than to hear from you, nothing would give mee more greif than to hear of anything happening to you, but i will bear my fortune without rejoining at the will of god i have one hope left it is the fondest wish of my heart it is that my mother may be spared until i see her once more likewise my Dear Sisters Maryan and Martha James and all the rest. Write as soon as you can

From your loving son till death

G Tatler