Charles Heaphy VC (1820 – 3 August 1881) was an English-born New Zealand explorer and recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest military award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that could be awarded to British and Empire forces at the time. He was the first soldier of the New Zealand armed forces to be awarded the VC. He was also a noted artist of the colonial period who created watercolours and sketches of early settler life in New Zealand.
Born in England, Heaphy joined the New Zealand Company in 1839. He arrived in New Zealand later that year and was commissioned to make a visual record of the company's work which was used to advertise the country to potential English migrants. Much of the next years was spent travelling around New Zealand and executing paintings of the land and its inhabitants. When his contract with the company ended in 1842, he lived in Nelson for several years and explored large parts of the West Coast. He later moved north to Auckland to take up employment as a surveyor.
During the invasion of the Waikato, his militia unit was mobilised and it was his conduct at Paterangi, where he rescued British soldiers under fire, that saw him awarded the VC. As well as being the first soldier of the New Zealand armed forces to receive the VC, he was the first recipient from any militia force. After his military service ended, Heaphy served a term as Member of Parliament for Parnell. From 1870 to 1881, he held a variety of civil service positions. In his later years, his health declined and he retired from public service in May 1881. He moved to Queensland, in Australia, seeking a better climate in which to recover his health but died a few months after his arrival. He is buried at Toowong Cemetery in Brisbane.
Early life Charles Heaphy was born sometime in 1820 in London, England. He was the youngest child of Thomas Heaphy, who was a professional painter, and three of his siblings also became noted painters. His grandfather John Gerrard Heaphy was a merchant from Ireland. Thomas Heaphy earned painting commissions from high society and in 1812 accompanied Arthur Wellesley, who was later to become the Duke of Wellington, as staff artist during the Peninsular War.
The Heaphy family lived in St John's Wood in north-west London and enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class existence although his mother died sometime during his early childhood. Thomas died in 1835 and left the entire estate to his second wife, who he had married in 1833. Charles, who had obtained work as a draughtsman at the London & Birmingham Railway Company, moved out of the family home soon after. As a child, he had been taught to paint by his father and in December 1837, sponsored by a family friend, he entered the Royal Academy school of painting. He was the only child of the Heaphy family to receive this level of education.
In May 1839, after 18 months at the Royal Academy, Heaphy joined the New Zealand Company as a draughtsman. The company was established by Edward Wakefield as a private venture to organise colonies in New Zealand. Wakefield sought well-educated men as staff for the planning and surveying of new settlements in the country. Heaphy sailed with William Wakefield, Edward's brother, aboard the Tory on an expedition to purchase land suitable for settlement. In late 1839, the Tory arrived in what became known as Wellington.
Service with the New Zealand Company
Heaphy's contract with the New Zealand Company was for three years and his primary role was to produce a visual record of its efforts that could be used as advertising. In doing so he travelled extensively around New Zealand and occasionally participated in overland treks, living out of a tent or staying with local Māori. He also sailed along the coastline aboard the Tory and learned surveying from its captain. Another employee of the company travelling on the Tory was Ernst Dieffenbach, who taught Heaphy basic geology.
Heaphy painted a variety of subjects including landscapes, flora and fauna and Māori people, including Te Rauparaha, the notable rangatira (chief). The success of the company depended on attracting emigrants to New Zealand so his work was almost always intended to present the land and its inhabitants in its best light. Heaphy was at times exposed to some danger; on an expedition to the Chatham Islands, his party intervened in a skirmish between two warring tribes and he was wounded in the leg. It is unlikely it was a serious wound, for a few weeks later he went on a trek back in New Zealand to the Taranaki Region, where he produced some of his more notable landscapes, including an exaggerated view of Mount Taranaki from the south.
From October 1840, Heaphy was based in Wellington. With a friend, he built a small cottage and from there executed several views of Wellington Harbour, which were much used in advertising for the New Zealand Company. Two examples of his work, views of the fledgling Wellington settlement, were reproduced as lithographs for distribution in England. As an example of how Heaphy manipulated his work for commercial appeal, one of these views depicted several ships anchored in the harbour and deliberately overstated their number, to give an impression of a busy port. A few months later, in early 1841, he joined Arthur Wakefield on the expedition that led to the founding of Nelson, in the South Island. Heaphy was among several employees of the New Zealand Company to scout the area around what is now known as Tasman Bay, before the location for Nelson was decided upon. He executed several watercolours highlighting the quality of the land intended for settlement and these were forwarded to London.
The New Zealand Company regularly published Heaphy's work as lithographs, often having extra details added when being redrawn for printing purposes. By late 1841, his services as an artist were no longer required, given the number of works that he had produced, and Wakefield decided to send him to London to make a report to the company directors. He took six months to reach London, by which time his three-year contract had expired. The directors were impressed with his report and it was published as a book entitled Narrative of a Residence in Various Parts of New Zealand and included several lithographs prepared from Heaphy's art. Another of the Wakefield brothers, Edward Jerningham, also published a book illustrated by Heaphy; this was entitled Adventures in New Zealand.
Life in Nelson Although no longer employed by the New Zealand Company, Heaphy, emboldened by the success of his report and the public reception to his paintings, sought further opportunities for similar work. From London, he wrote to the company secretary seeking support to explore the area inland of Nelson. The response was unenthusiastic; the company was concentrating on developing its settlements rather than undertaking in further exploration. Despite this, Heaphy returned to New Zealand and arrived in Nelson on 22 December 1842.
There was little in way of work opportunities for Heaphy in Nelson and he based himself in Motueka. Here he farmed land with a friend, Frederick Moore, and this took much of what little funds he had. His farming venture was hard work and not particularly successful. By late 1843, the New Zealand Company was in need of good pastoral land around Nelson. It had clashed with Māori in the Wairau Affray in the Wairau Valley to the south-east of Nelson, and several company employees, including Arthur Wakefield, another brother of Edward Wakefield, were killed. The company needed to scout the area to the south-west and Heaphy finally got the chance to explore.
Wakefield's replacement as resident agent in Nelson for the New Zealand Company, William Fox, was a keen advocate of expansion for settlement in the area around Nelson. Fox authorised Heaphy and a surveyor to scout south-west to the Buller River in November 1843. In a subsequent expedition undertaken the following month, Heaphy and two Māori trekked to what is now known as Golden Bay, and returned to Motueka via the coast, a journey which he regarded as the most difficult he had undertaken at the time. Both expeditions failed to locate suitable land for settlement as did an expedition back to the Buller River in March 1845. Heaphy was reasonably well compensated for his exploration efforts and for additional funds, he undertook art commissions for Nelson's more wealthy residents.
In February 1846, Heaphy, accompanied by Fox and Thomas Brunner, another employee of the New Zealand Company, as well as a Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri tohunga named Kehu, undertook another expedition to the south-west. Difficult terrain faced them; high mountain ranges topped with snow and ice, steep bush, numerous rivers and gorges. Food sources included roots and berries; birds were snared and eels caught from streams. Along the coast, shellfish and gull eggs were added to the diet. The party, each carrying a load of , trekked to the Buller River and walked its banks as far as the Maruia River. As they believed they were only from the coast, their dwindling provisions prevented them proceeding to the mouth of the Buller River. Guided by Kehu, the party traversed the Hope Saddle on their way back to Nelson, which they reached on 1 March.
Heaphy and Brunner were keen for further exploration and with Kehu, left Nelson on 17 March 1846, to scout along the West Coast to the mouth of the Buller. The expedition traced the western coast of South Island as far south as the Arahura River. Their journey began from Golden Bay and they made their way to West Wanganui where Etau, a local Māori, was hired as a porter. The local chief barred their journey south but Heaphy and Brunner mollified him with some tobacco. They continued along the coast, climbing steep cliffs and fording rivers as they went. Their movements were held up at times due to rain and high tides. At night, they sheltered in small caves, augmented with a screen of nīkau palm leaves. They crossed the Karamea River on 20 April and reached the Buller River ten days later. This had to be crossed using an old canoe that was repaired by Kehu and Etau and after crossing, they stayed at the local pā (village). In early May, they sighted the Southern Alps and at the Arahura River, the southernmost point of the expedition, they were hosted by the local Ngāi Tahu tribe at Taramakau Pā. Poor weather plagued their return along the coast but they reached Nelson on 18 August. The harsh conditions he had experienced during his travels left him disillusioned with the potential prospects for settlements along the West Coast region.
Life in Nelson remained difficult for Heaphy, who had by now lost his appetite for exploration. He eked out a living taking occasional jobs for the next six months. For much of 1847, he undertook survey work around Tasman Bay and later that year was a representative for the New Zealand Company, when the government investigated the amount of land set aside by the company for the local Māori. Work had dried up by early 1848 and when he was offered employment with the Auckland Survey Office in April 1848, he accepted.
Life in Auckland