The Boyd Incident
Even though there were so many hostile episodes between the Maori and the European people, they continued to show up to the land, anyway. They began to have some success trading and trying to communicate. They would even give Maori men objects they wanted in exchange for a hard day’s work. Captain John Thompson left Sydney, Australia on his boat called The Boyd in order to trade timber. A year before their arrival, the crew of a ship called The Commerce had been carrying a disease that wiped out a lot of the Maori people. They believed that this was a curse brought to them by the white men. So, when The Boyd came into the harbor, they were treated with suspicion. Te Ara, the son of the chief, was sent as an ambassador to check them out.
When Te Ara showed up, Captain Thompson assumed that he wanted a job, like most other Maori men. Since he was like a prince, he was shocked that they did not respect him, and were treating him like a commoner. He did not take orders from anyone, and blatantly refused to work for the white men. When the Europeans realized Te Ara was not going to work, they started to beat him and ordered that he should not be fed for the rest of his time on board. A young boy named Thom Davis was kind to Te Ara, and snuck him food and water. He also cleaned his wounds, and tried to make him comfortable while he was prisoner.
When they returned to his home, Te Ara went back to his tribe and told them what happened. No one assaults the son of the chief and gets away with it. They enacted the cultural rule of “Utu”, or revenge. Captain Thompson and a group of men took a small boat to shore, and they were immediately captured and eaten by the Maori. Then, the Maori men dressed up in the clothes and hats of the Englishmen and rode their boat back to The Boyd. This trick worked, and slaughtered almost everyone on The Boyd.
A select few European people were spared. Since Thom Davis had shown kindness to Te Ara, his life was spared. A woman named Ann Morley, her baby, and a two-year-old girl were spared as well. Ann was given to a local chief as a wife, and adopted children.
When asked about his version of the tale, Te Ara simply said that Captain Thompson was a bad man. This caused issues between the Maori people who wanted to get along with the Europeans for trade reasons, as well as the whalers and everyone whose livelihoods were now dependent on the colonies. Te Ara eventually died during one of these battles. After The Boyd Incident, the Europeans started to call New Zealand “The Cannibal Isles”, and decided to make a public service announcement they simply needed to stay away, if they valued their lives.