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An Interesting Early Map of New Zealand

J. F. H. Savage

If a traveller in New Zealand in the eighteen-fifties had relied upon "A Chart of New Zealand" published by James Wyld on 19th February 1852, that traveller would have found himself in very great difficulties in reaching his destination, for the inaccuracies of the map were so numerous that one wonders how reliable were Wyld's sources of information. The title of the map includes the dedication "To the Right Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies" and an acknowledgement "To the Committee of the Church Missionary Society the Publisher is deeply indebted for the valuable information kindly communicated by them. And also to the New Zealand Land Company for use of their valuable surveys".

The map under review is the third edition published by James Wyld, but Wyld was no novice in the publication of maps of New Zealand, for in 1834 he collaborated with Thomas McDonell in publishing a sheet map of New Zealand a copy of which is now in the Mitchell Library, Sydney, and is reproduced as Plate 54 of "Early Charts of New Zealand 1542–1851" by P. B. Maling. McDonell was an ex-naval officer who had engaged extensively in trading in the Western Pacific before taking over the dockyards at Horeke on the Hokianga River in 1830. In 1834 he paid a visit to England and there collaborated with James Wyld who had recently acquired W. Faden and Company's chart publishing business. In previous editions of Wyld's maps his acknowledgement is set out "From Admiralty Surveys of the English Marine, from the Observations of the Officers of the New Zealand Company and from Private Surveys and Sketches".

One of the most remarkable errors in the map is shown in Marlborough where the Awatere River is shown as changing its name to the "Wakefield River" in its lower reaches and then surprisingly joining with the Wairau River to become the "Wairoo or Providence River" discharging its combined water by a common mouth into Cloudy Bay. The name "Wakefield River" was probably derived from Wakefield Downs, for as A. L. Kennington recalled in his book 'The Awatere", that name was given by the early surveyors to all the land in the Awatere as far as the Medway Stream, and later the name was taken for the run of 4000 acres originally granted to A. G. Jenkins and subsequently to Samuel Stephens. To add to the confusion of his nomenclature of river systems in Marlborough, Wyld has shown a much shorter river further to the south also called the Awatere River.

Just north of the settlement of Nelson, at the Glen, Wyld has marked "Skoitche Village" and the origin of this name presents an interesting problem. In "Early Tide to Wakapuaka" P. V. and N. L. Wastney recall that on 16th January 1827 Dumont d'Urville sailed within five kilometres of Mackay's Bluff and that two canoes bearing fine looking Maoris accompanied by slaves put off from the Glen Beach and visited d'Urville's ship. They pointed out their habitation near the Glen which d'Urville wrote down as "Skoi Teai" as near to the pronunciation as he could get. Present day Maori opinion is that the correct name was "Koi-te-Hihi" (the promontory or headland of Hihi). One of d'Urville's officers, P. E. Guilbert prepared a chart of the area and the settlement is shown as "Shoitche Village". This chart is reproduced as Plate 43 of "Early Charts of New Zealand 1542–1851" by P. B. Maling. Bishop Selwyn was puzzled by the name, for in his Letter II of his Journal of the Bishop's Visitation Tour written in Nelson covering the period August 21st to August 29th 1842 he wrote "Nelson, you will have learned, is at the very bottom of Blind or Tasman's Bay, in the northern shore of the Middle Island, at a place marked on Wyld's large map "Skoitche" a name for which i can find no authority."

Another puzzling name on the map is "Maitche Village" shown at the present location of Riwaka. According to J. D. Peart in "Old Tasman Bay" the Maori name for the locality of the old Riwaka school was "Matakohe", and on Guilbert's chart the name is shown as "Maitehe Village".

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A touch of history was introduced by Wyld, for at the end of Farewell Spit, to which he gives the name "Entry Bank" he has added the note "Victoria lost on this bank 1840". According to Ingram and Wheatly in "Shipwrecks, New Zealand Disasters" the name of the barque was Vittoria, and she was wrecked on Farewell Spit on 9th February 1840. Robert McNabb gives a full account of the disaster in his "Old Whaling Days".

Although many of the names on Wyld's map have disappeared or have been replaced by names in present day use, many more have survived even though Wyld's spelling of Maori names has been corrected to conform with modern Maori spelling. Two names of interest that have succumbed are Lake Arthur and Howick which were explored and named by Heaphy and Spooner. These lakes have now reverted to their Maori names of Rotoiti and Rotoroa.

The map, although inaccurate in many respects merits close study, for Wyld's series of maps of New Zealand rank in importance with the maps of Arrowsmith, Rapkin and others which provided the basis for subsequent exploration and mapping by later cartographers.