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Letters from the Bay of Islands (The story of Marianne Williams), Caroline Fitzgerald
Penguin
Reviewed by Jessica Cooksley-Gruys (Courtesy of Taranaki Daily News)
Caroline Fitzgerald has reproduced this collection of letters written by her great-great grandmother, Marianne Williams. Williams' letters are an honest account of one woman during her family's journey from England to New Zealand in the 1820s, and their life after arrival.
On 15 September, 1822, Marianne (28), her husband Henry (30) and their three children, Edward, (little) Marianne and Samuel, began their journey to New Zealand on the Lord Sidmouth via New South Wales, where 97 women convicts also aboard the ship disembarked.
From New South Wales, the newly-ordained missionary Henry Williams and his family boarded the Brampton, which in less than two weeks deposited them safely on the shores of New Zealand.
Marianne, by then heavily pregnant, greets her new home with a "fervent thankfulness" and quickly sets about her new role as provider for her family with energy and finesse quite extraordinary for a woman carrying extra weight. Henry, often away for weeks at a time, left Marianne and the children to settle in with the natives, an often tough task for a woman fresh from England.
On one occasion Marianne, having given birth to her fourth child, Henry, is embroiled in inter-tribal warfare, and on his arrival home Henry finds the house surrounded by Maori with Marianne and the children inside exclaiming "what frightful creatures our friends are!" Learning to speak Maori was a necessity for the family; Henry later went on to translate the Treaty of Waitangi.
As the missionaries became more familiar with their new country, they started to understand and respect the local culture, and fewer misunderstandings occurred.
The letters, from 1822 to 1837, portray Marianne as a loyal missionary wife, raising 11 children with her dear husband, the same number of children as her mother.
For the first 30-odd pages I found myself thinking I would only ever read this book for a compulsory university history assignment or the like, but I persevered and to my surprise was drawn in by Marianne's experience and felt compelled to read on.
Letters from the Bay of Islands is an informative view on migration to New Zealand in the 1820s and 30s, and the lifestyle the new inhabitants adopted on arrival. An excellent tool for research projects.