Before Cook
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 15 Dec 2013 11:01
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The first European to visit NZ was a Dutchman, Abel
Janszoon Tasman, in December 1642. Tasman was in the employ of the Dutch United
East India Company, and was given a commission to discover Terra Australis, the
great southern continent believed at the time to be necessary to counterbalance
the weight of the known giant continents in the northern hemisphere. His journey
was extraordinary - he set off from Java to Mauritius (most of the way to
Africa!) before turning south east. He next saw land at the southern tip of
Tasmania (now named after him, although he called it Van Dieman's Land),
but he was driven off by storms without being able to collect fresh water.
In late December he arrived off the northern coast of South Island in NZ. He got
close enough to anchor and was met by a large number of Maori. For some now
unknown reason the Maori attacked a small party of Tasman's men, killing four of
them. Tasman sailed away, again unable to get water, naming the area Murderers'
Bay (now called Golden Bay - it's deemed better for tourism). The Maori side of
the story is known to have existed as an oral legend, but the tribes inhabiting
that part of NZ were destroyed by an invasion from the North Island in around
1700, and the newcomers were then themselves overrun and destroyed in a further
invasion from the north just after 1800. In the process the Maori side of
Tasman's visit has been lost.
Tasman was chased off by Maori again when he tried
to get water at the very northern tip of North Island; he then gave up and
sailed off, discovering Tonga and then Fiji where he was finally able to obtain
water for the first time since leaving Mauritius.
Tasman's visit is now commemorated by a totally
uninspiring and unimaginative monument near Pohara in Golden Bay; it's the slim
white concrete pillar on the top of this point:
 And it's not even where he anchored. He deserves
better, I reckon.
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