At the Margin of Empire: John Webster and Hokianga 1841-1900

Abstract

Hokianga trader John Webster (1818-1912) lived a long and sometimes colourful life. It was enough to get him a page in Guy Scholefield’s 1940 Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, which concluded with praise for Webster’s “knowledge of Māori and sympathy for the race.”[i] James Cowan was similarly hagiographic in his 1930s series on famous New Zealanders in the New Zealand Railways Magazine. For Cowan, Webster was one of those “who sought their fortunes in the wildest parts of the earth, and distinguished themselves as pioneers of enterprise, self-reliance, and cool courage.”[ii] But our views of history have changed since then. The editors of the current Dictionary of New Zealand Biography thought there were far too many white male settler stories. They purged the cast, and Webster was one of the banished.

[i] G. H. Scholefield (ed) “Webster, John”, A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Whitcomb & Tombs, Wellington 1940, volume II, p. 477.

[ii] James Cowan “Famous New Zealanders – No. 43 – John Webster of Hokianga – The Adventures of a Pioneer”, New Zealand Railways Magazine, 1 October 1936, p. 17.