1840: Hobson Gang exercises British Sovereignty over the French at Akaroa
August 11, 2019
By AHNZ
Today in New Zealand History, 11 August, 1840: The Hobson Gang exercised British Sovereignty over the French at Akaroa.
121 Years ago (June 1898) Queen Victoria’s Diamond (60th) Jubilee was focused almost exclusively on a celebration of the British Empire. In line with that, the Britomart Monument at Green’s Point, Akaroa, was erected to mark this nifty historic Chess move. What actually happened on 11 August 1840?
Captain Hobson (not yet Governor but working hard at it) sent two of his goons dubbed ‘Justice of the Peace’ to Greens Point on the HMS Britomart. One of these goons, Charles Robinson, stays here until 1846 like a human flag. Or, like Auther Dent from ‘The Hitchikers Guide’ laying in front of a French Bulldozer.
On the day, Robinson held a session of the Magistrate’s Court even though there were no cases to be heard (and I’m sure they tried to rustle one up too.) So, they formally adjourned their ‘court of nothing’ but simply having gone though the motions along with that British flag flying at Greens Point consolidated British claims to the entire South Island. Go figure!
At this time there were about 90 English settlers on Banks Peninsula all up. The English of Akaroa kept to the south of town, the French to the north end where they handled their own affairs with their own officials. A week after Robinson, the ‘Comte de Paris’ (gift of the French Government) sails in with French settlers, finding themselves out-colonised.
There is no record that Robinson ever performed any duties, he just had to ‘be’ there to generate a forcefield of Britishness. May not have even been legally trained but with so little to do why would that stop Hobson putting his pawn on the board as a place-holder costing£250/year in salary? While doing so, Robinson made a pile of money from land deals then shot back to England.
Such is the Anarchist meaning of The Britomart Monument. More of a ‘Game of Thrones’ turf-marking move than anything heroic or grass-roots. The stone monolith is the political equivalent of putting a tag on a calf’s ear; A Statist’s memorial. Not ours.
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Image ref. Postcard of ‘The Monument’; Buckland 23.3.31
Image ref. Akaroa Civic Trust
Image ref. Hobson; Kapiti Independent News
Update 2023: Colorised the Green’s Point photo
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