1642: Dutch Discovery of New Zealand

December 14, 2018

By AHNZ

376 Years Ago: Abel Tasman sights the South Island(13/12/1642)

It is the West Coast of the South Island in general, and the Grey District in particular, that was discovered first by the Dutchman.

A few days later this month, December, Tasman will discover Moordenaers Baij (Murderer’s Bay)…which did not go so well for the visitors.

This, 19 December, 1642, is officially the closest contact Able Tasman’s adventure came to New Zealand. Unofficially it seems very probable the Dutch did not come all this way only to turn away without making landfall. Besides, as Jacobs recently pointed out, to have not made at least a touch-and-go landing would have been deadly during such a long-range voyage…

“A.T. was 66 days out from Batavia, which would mean that he would have had scurvy on board. (30-90 days to manifest) He would have had to have had at least two weeks on land to set up a hospital, to rest and recuperate. If he didn’t land, he and all his crew, would have long perished before he got home.” – “Don Jacobs, Comment to AHNZ (2022)

It was the first recorded encounter between Maori and Europeans. One Maori canoe rammed a ship’s boat that was passing between Tasman’s two vessels, killing four Dutchmen. One Maori was hit by a shot from Tasman’s men in response to the attack. The Dutchmen retreated from the hostile New Zealanders, naming the location Moordenaers Baij in the process. James Cook called it ‘Blind Bay’ which might be an indictment on his fellow sailor’s misadventure (I don’t know, haven’t checked the facts on that point.) However, Dumont d’Urville stuck with the narrative by marking it Massacre Bay.

In Colonial times the bay was named again as Golden Bay for the gold discovered there though it was better at producing raw materials for cement. Logically the place should have changed again to Cement Bay as it had also been Coal Bay before the gold was found. Murderers, Blind, Massacre, Coal, Golden. One reason the re-namings had to stop was that Golden Bay Cement has a far better ring to it as a now famous product name than any other those other options. We’re locked in now.

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Ref cool map image from the First Encounter 375 page last year, https://www.facebook.com/FE375/

Image ref. Profile image from Golden Bay Cement, Facebook (2022)

Note 2024: “Anarchist History of New Zealand as I live in Golden Bay by a beach called Pohara..Tasman is said to have called in the bay to collect water from the Motupipi stream which ran through Pohara..the interesting part is his map shows the water resource ..” – Robin James Ford, comment to AHNZ (2024)

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