1855: Governor Browne

September 4, 2019

By AHNZ

Today in New Zealand history, 4 September, 1855, the 23-year theme of having governors named after colours continued. Colonel Gore Browne arrived in Auckland in the morning and was sworn in as top Executive of the Crown Colony within 30 minutes of stepping off the ship. Browne was the filling between the slices of Grey bread either side of him. The era compassed by Browne and Grey certainly was a proverbial kind of sandwich.

New Zealand’s Government knew the new guy was on the way but when he appeared they were caught short. Browne’s inauguration was speedy, no time to organise fanfare. There was nowhere for him to stay so MPs had to vacate their rooms so the gubernatorial entourage could settle in.¹ Almost at once, Browne dissolved the first Parliament of squabbling silly buggers. He also made it clear from the start that their long-desired Representative Government* would soon be theirs and part of his agenda.

Browne came to New Zealand prepared to chillax, socialise, smoke weed, listen to music, and “keep his temper and a good cook.”² According to the self-serving reports of his predecessor, Grey, that was the job description now the hard work was done. Well, it wasn’t going to be that way at all…

“He would have made an admirable, indeed a typical, governor of New Zealand fifty or a hundred years later. He was the centre of the social life of the capital, popular with the crowds, regular at church…But it was his misfortune to be appointed at a time when governors possessed power as well as influence..”- p120, Sinclair

The new Governor was content to delegate domestic affairs to parliament. Let them fight it out. Browne refused to delegate his responsibilities to National Defence or Native Affairs to the politicians though. Rather than be thankful for their new Executive powers the MPs jealously disrupted Native Affairs, making a hard job more difficult. It was on Browne’s watch that unrest escalated to the Maori Wars. Despite honest efforts³ catastrophe was unfolding. Maybe if there had not been a tug-of-war for control Native Affairs someone brilliant could have stopped the wars before they began? But that’s not our history.

Thomas Gore Browne was handed a poisoned chalice. “He was, in New Zealand, well out of his emotional and intellectual depth.” writes Sinclair. According to historian James Belich, Brown was replaced as Governor at the end of 1861 because he was too “war-like.” (Well! Wait until they get a load of the next guy!)

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*AKA ‘Responsible Government’

1 NZH p647

2 Sinclair; Encyclopaedia of New Zealand (1966)

3 eg Kohimarama Conference, 1860

Ref. A History of New Zealand; Keith Sinclair (ee1969)

Image ref. Alexander Turnbull Library

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