“Dickie” Barrett

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 154, 26 March 1938, Page 3 (Supplement)

“Dickie” Barrett

One of the personalities of the Sounds in the ’thirties was “Dickie Barrett,” head of one of the whaling parties settled there. “Dickie” had married a Maori woman, the daughter of one of the principal chiefs of the Ngatiawa people, when he lived in Taranaki, and he possessed great influence with the Native people. When he first came to New Zealand he traded in flax at the Sugar Loaf Islands, New Plymouth, and he and 10 other white men joined the Ngatiawa in their resistance to the invasion of the Waikato tribes. On the retreat of the Waikato people, the Ngatiawa decided to seek a new country, freed from the incursions of these enemies. Barrett and his comrades accompanied the Ngatiawa to Queen Charlotte Sound about 1834. When the Tory sailed into the Sound in 1839, the ship’s company were delighted to meet the little man. “Dressed in white jacket, blue dungaree trousers and round hat he seemed round all over,” writes Edward J. Wakefield, “and his jovial ruddy face, twinkling eyes and good-humoured smile could not fail to excite pleasure in all beholders.” Dicky was of great help to the ship’s company in dealing with the Maori race.—■ M.W. (Wanganui).