A Trip to Australia and New Zealand
Waitangi & The Bay of Islands - Paihia
After spending the entire morning in the Treaty Grounds we headed back to the wharf and jumped on one of the shuttle buses to Paihia. We passed up the various tours that were possible, strolled through town, bought a couple of gifts for ourselves, and eventually ended up in a small cafe on the edge of the bay where we drank beer and watched the passing parade.
Paihia is definitely a tourist town today, but in 1772 the local Maori warriors killed the French explorer Marion du Fresne and 26 members of his crew and ate them. Du Fresne was an important early explorer of Australasia. He had commanded ships for France in the Seven Years War and afterwards served as Harbor Master for the French East India Company in Mauritius. In 1769, following the demise of the French East India enterprise, du Fresne sailed out of Mauritius on a voyage of discovery first to Tasmania and then on to New Zealand. In April 1772, he sailed into the Bay of Islands. At first, relations with the local Maori were good, but a fishing incident changed things and stimulated the events that led to du Fresne's death. The surviving members of the crew retaliated for the killing of their comrades by burning down a Maori village near Paihia and massacring 250 of it's inhabitants. They left on July 12, 1772 after claiming the entire country for France.
