Weller brothers

Last updated

The Weller brothers, Englishmen of Sydney, Australia, and Otago, New Zealand, were the founders of a whaling station on Otago Harbour and New Zealand's most substantial merchant traders in the 1830s.

Contents

Immigration

The brothers, Joseph Brooks (1802–1835), George (1805–1875) and Edward (1814–1893), founded their establishment at Otago Heads in 1831, the first enduring European settlement in what is now the City of Dunedin.

Members of a wealthy land-owning family from Folkestone, Kent, they moved serially to Australia, partly to alleviate Joseph Brooks Weller's tuberculosis. Joseph Brooks left England on 20 October 1823. [1] He arrived in Hobart on 4 February 1824 and then went to Sydney. After 18 months he returned to England, and left there for good on 1 January 1827 accompanied by Edward. [1] In the meantime George had already left England and arrived in Australia in March 1826, [2] and had bought the Albion. [1] [2] By 1830 Joseph Brooks, Edward, George and his new wife, Elizabeth (formerly Barwise), their parents, Joseph (1766–1857) and Mary (née Brooks) (b.1779), and two sisters, Fanny (1812–1896) and Ann (1822–1887), were all in Sydney.

Development of trading

Joseph Brooks Weller interested himself in flax and timber trading at the Hokianga. In 1831 he called at William Cook's shipbuilding settlement at Stewart Island/Rakiura to commission a vessel before visiting Otago in the Sir George Murray, reaching an agreement with Tahatu and claiming territory for William IV. He returned in the Lucy Ann with goods and gear to establish a whaling station, (it is believed with Edward) in November. George and his wife came too, or arrived soon after.

The Wellers continued to trade in flax and spars, maintaining operations at the Hokianga even as they developed Otago. At that time and throughout the decade they were the only merchants regularly trading from one end of New Zealand to the other. A fire soon destroyed the Otago station, but it was rebuilt. Edward was kidnapped by Māori in the far north and ransomed. Whale products started flowing from Otago in 1833 where Joseph Brooks based himself and European women went to settle.

Relations with Maori were often tense, the establishment being ransacked and the Wellers keeping Māori hostages in Sydney, [3] reverberations from earlier conflicts (Sealers' War). Joseph Brooks died at Otago in 1835, and his brother Edward shipped his remains to Sydney in a puncheon of rum.

At 21 Edward became the resident manager while George maintained the Sydney end of the business. At this time there were 80 Europeans at Otago which had become a trading, transshipment and ship service centre as well as a whaling station. A measles epidemic greatly reduced the Māori population.[ citation needed ]

Further developments

New fisheries were established inside the harbour and up and down the coast. The Wellers' ships sailed beyond Australasia and they tested the tax regime preventing direct shipment of whale products to Britain.

Edward made strategic marriages to a daughter of Tahatu, Paparu, and after her death to Taiaroa’s daughter, Nikuru. There were daughters, Fanny and Nani, by each alliance.

By the end of the 1830s, exports of whale products (southern right or humpback whales) were at a peak, the station taking about 300 southern right whales on the first season, as was the resident European population. Anticipating British annexation the Wellers started buying land and settling it. But a sudden decline in whales saw Edward's exit at the end of 1840 followed by the firm’s bankruptcy. He and George lived out their lives in New South Wales. The management of Otakou whaling operations was taken over in 1840 by Charles Schultze (1818–1879), who had married the Weller brothers' sister Ann Weller, and an employee, Octavius Harwood (1816–1900). [4] [5]

The settlement of Otago reached a nadir in 1842 but ultimately revived, remaining the centre of port operations in the area until after the establishment of Port Chalmers and Dunedin. As "Otakou" it is now a suburb within the boundaries of Dunedin.

Weller's Rock, also known as Te Umu Kuri, near Harington Point on the Otago Peninsula (at 45°47′52″S170°42′54″E / 45.79778°S 170.71500°E / -45.79778; 170.71500 ), is named after the Weller brothers. In January 2020 Te Runanga o Otakou, the Dunedin City Council and the Department of Conservation joined forces in a project to protect the site from degradation. [6]

Folklore

"Wellerman" is a sea shanty that refers to the wellermen, the supply ships owned by the trading company set up by the Weller Brothers. [7] The song was originally collected around 1966 by the New Zealand-based music teacher and folk song compiler, Neil Colquhoun. [8] [7] The song has been performed and remixed, with over ten recorded renditions between 1967 and 2005, including by British band The Longest Johns in 2018 and Scottish singer Nathan Evans in 2020. [9] [10]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Weller Family Tree: Joseph Brooks
  2. 1 2 Weller Family Tree: George
  3. ↑ Pybus, T.A. "Chapter V - The decline of the Maori". NZETC.
  4. ↑ Entwisle, Peter (1990). "Weller, Edward". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand . Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  5. ↑ "Octavius Harwood". Toitū Otago Settlers Museum . Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  6. ↑ Hudson, Daisy (20 January 2020). "Wellers Rock to be protected". Otago Daily Times . Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  7. 1 2 Archer, John (9 September 2002). "Soon May The Wellerman Come". NZ Folk Song. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  8. ↑ Reid, Graham (2 October 2012). "Neil Colquhoun: Talking Swag (1972)". Elsewhere. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  9. ↑ Renner, Rebecca (13 January 2021). "Everyone's Singing Sea Shanties (or Are They Whaling Songs?)". The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  10. ↑ Hunt, Elle (15 January 2021). "The true story behind the viral TikTok sea shanty hit". The Guardian . Retrieved 15 January 2021.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waikouaiti</span> Town in New Zealand

Waikouaiti is a small town in East Otago, New Zealand, within the city limits of Dunedin. The town is close to the coast and the mouth of the Waikouaiti River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otago Peninsula</span> Peninsula in New Zealand

The Otago Peninsula is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies south-east of Otago Harbour and runs parallel to the mainland for 20 km, with a maximum width of 9 km. It is joined to the mainland at the south-west end by a narrow isthmus about 1.5 km wide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otago Harbour</span> The natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand

Otago Harbour is the natural harbour of Dunedin, New Zealand, consisting of a long, much-indented stretch of generally navigable water separating the Otago Peninsula from the mainland. They join at its southwest end, 21 km (13 mi) from the harbour mouth. It is home to Dunedin's two port facilities, Port Chalmers and at Dunedin's wharf. The harbour has been of significant economic importance for approximately 700 years, as a sheltered harbour and fishery, then deep water port.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunedin</span> City in Otago, New Zealand

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The city has a rich Scottish, Chinese and Māori heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foveaux Strait</span> Strait separating the South Island and Stewart Island

The Foveaux Strait, separates Stewart Island, New Zealand's third largest island, from the South Island. The strait is about 130 km long, and it widens and deepens from east to west. The strait lies within the continental shelf area of New Zealand, and was probably dry land during the Pleistocene epoch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otakou</span> Place in Otago, New Zealand

Otakou is a settlement within the boundaries of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located 25 kilometres from the city centre at the eastern end of Otago Peninsula, close to the entrance of Otago Harbour. Though a small fishing village, Otakou is important in the history of Otago for several reasons. The settlement is the modern centre and traditional home of the Ōtākou rūnanga (assembly) of Ngāi Tahu. In 1946 Otakou Fisheries was founded in the township; this was later to become a major part of the Otago fishing industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taieri Island / Moturata</span>

Moturata, also called Taieri Island, is an island in the mouth of the Taieri River in southern New Zealand. It is connected to the mainland by a sandy causeway at low tide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiaroa Head</span> New Zealand headland

Taiaroa Head is a headland at the end of the Otago Peninsula in New Zealand, overlooking the mouth of the Otago Harbour. It lies within the city limits of Dunedin. The nearest settlement, Otakou, lies three kilometres to the south.

William Tucker was a British convict, a sealer, a trader in human heads, an Otago settler, and New Zealand’s first art dealer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harington Point</span> Settlement in Dunedin, New Zealand

The settlement of Harington Point lies within the boundaries of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located at the Otago Heads, at the northeastern end of Otago Peninsula, close to the entrance of Otago Harbour. The mouth of the harbour is at its narrowest at Harington Point, only some 400 metres separating the point from the mudflats at Aramoana on the opposing coast.

New Zealand's Otago region is one of the more isolated outliers of the inhabited earth. Its high latitude, elevation and distance from larger foreign and domestic population centers has defined Otago at each stage of its history.

The following lists events that happened during 1839 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1835 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1831 in New Zealand.

The following lists events that happened during 1827 in New Zealand.

There is a drastic decline in the number of ships visiting New Zealand from the previous year. An economic depression starts in New South Wales as a result of the escalation of war in Europe and the consequent reduction in the number of convicts being transported. In March news of the Boyd massacre reaches Port Jackson and a punitive expedition is sent to New Zealand and bombards the village of the incorrectly blamed chief, Te Pahi. After this the few whaling ships that later head for New Zealand usually prefer to avoid landing, especially in the Bay of Islands.

Foveaux Strait is the centre of attention for sealing ships. Sealing gangs are dropped along the coast from southern Fiordland to Otago Harbour and on Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Bay of Islands is sometimes on the journey to or from Port Jackson. The Chatham Islands are also visited. A few whalers also operate around New Zealand; some also collect timber from Bay of Islands.

The Sealers' War (1810–1821) in southern New Zealand, also known as the "War of the Shirt", was a series of often indiscriminate attacks and reprisals between Māori and European sealers. Initially minor misunderstandings between the two peoples quickly led to armed conflict. This resulted in a period of mistrust and animosity between Māori and sealers fueling several conflicts, leading to the deaths of about 74 people and the burning of the village of Otakou on the Otago Peninsula. Records exist from both sides of the conflict but not from any impartial observers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whaling in New Zealand</span>

Commercial whaling in New Zealand waters began late in the 18th century and continued until 1965. It was a major economic activity for Europeans in New Zealand in the first four decades of the 19th century. Nineteenth-century whaling was based on hunting the southern right whale and the sperm whale and 20th-century whaling concentrated on the humpback whale.

"Soon May the Wellerman Come", also known as "Wellerman" or "The Wellerman", is a sea ballad from New Zealand first documented in the 1960s. The song refers to the "wellermen", pointing to supply ships owned by the Weller brothers, who were amongst the earliest European settlers of Otago.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.