Nelson

Francis Dillon Bell (1822-1898) was born in France, the son of a merchant and British consul based in Bordeaux. He was raised bilingually, speaking French and English, and received tutoring in Latin, Greek, German, painting and music – a classical education suitable for a cultivated gentleman. However, at the age of 14, his family’s finances worsened and, with little hope of further education or professional development, his father secured him an administrative position with his cousin, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in the London office of the New Zealand Company in 1839. By 1841, Bell was acting secretary to the Company, and in 1843 he emigrated to New Zealand, where he continued to work as an agent for land purchases. By the 1850s, Bell had entered the colonial government, and held a number of roles, including - based on his capacity to speak Te Reo Māori – taking charge of the Native office, and as Minister of Native Affairs in the 1860s.

This watercolour relates strongly to Bell’s early involvement in the Company’s business in Whakatū, Nelson. Dillon Bell had been largely responsible for the arrangements of settlement at Nelson while based in London. His brother, Angelo, had travelled to Nelson with Arthur Wakefield in 1841, but died of typhoid within a year. Dillon Bell took up residence there himself shortly after his arrival in Aotearoa in late 1843, the same year as Te Ara a Wairau, the Wairau incident, when an armed party of Company settlers clashed with Ngāti Toa over the purchase of land in the Wairau Valley. Dated 27 October 1845, the painting offers a birds-eye view of the nascent town, looking towards the mountains that encircle the settlement. The watercolour is closely related to a pencil drawing in the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL: A-252-019) in which the following landmarks are identified: "The low hill with buildings on the right is Church Hill, with the fortifications around the emigration barracks (pre-fabricated) where Nelson Cathedral now stands. Just below the hill, in Nile Street, is the Bishop's School (still standing). Trafalgar Street, the main street, runs down from Church Hill to the left, through the buildings that line it. The flat gap near the hill is where Hardy Street now runs across Trafalgar Street; the next, one block further left, is now Bridge Street. In the far left centre are the watermill and the brewery, the first in New Zealand, exporting beer to Wellington and Auckland".
 

The watercolour offers the same view as the pencil drawing, without the framing coulis and figures in the foreground. Close examination reveals details that are absent from the drawing, including a company on uniformed men parading in an open field below Fort Arthur, the fortifications erected in September 1843 to provide a safe haven for settlers following the Wairau incident. The shortlived Nelson Battalion of Militia was formed on the 12 August 1845 under the terms of the Militia Act of 1845, and was disbanded by the 28 November 1845. It was the first army unit to be formed in Aotearoa, and all men aged between 18 and 60 were expected to make themselves available for service.

An inscription on the verso of the painting offers further historical markers. It reads:
For Madamina.
Nelson October 27 1845
The day the news came of the appointment of Captain Sir G. Grey

George Grey’s appointment as Governor in 1845 was strategic. His forebear, Governor Fitzroy had yielded on land settlements in Taranaki, and in the wake of conflict in the Nelson region and in the Bay of Islands, Grey’s main objective was to impose British sovereignty over New Zealand, using force when it was necessary. This painting then, provides a unique record of a moment in Aotearoa’s colonial history, and is of significance both in term of the picturing of place, but also in alluding to the New Zealand Wars, the conflicts over land and sovereignty that would continue over the next few decades. ‘Madamina’ refers to Adeline Renwick (née Absolom), the first owner of the painting. Bell and Adeline were acquainted prior to their respective marriages, both in Wellington and Nelson. The painting was gifted by Bell to Adeline, who held it in her collection until her death, when it passed down through generations of family to its present owners before being acquired for the national collection.