Reconstruction
On 11 May 1844, Governor Robert FitzRoy and his party rode out from the young colonial capital of Auckland to an extraordinary Māori gathering on the plains around Remuera. Several thousand people from Tāmaki Makaurau, Waikato, the Bay of Plenty and other districts occupied separate camps. FitzRoy was welcomed by Ngāti Whātua and an armed haka, while chiefs, missionaries, officials and settler spectators moved among what amounted to a temporary town. The festivities extended for about a week, and political discussions accompanied hospitality, worship and ceremony.
Food made the gathering visible as an assertion of collective capacity. Eyewitness Mary Ann Martin remembered passing between walls of potatoes packed in newly woven green-flax baskets and piled roughly three metres high. Beyond them, split dried dogfish hung from long rows of poles, with baskets of kūmara and other foods nearby. Later inventories commonly repeated totals of 11,000 baskets of potatoes, 9,000 sharks and 100 pigs, together with tea, rice, flour, sugar and tobacco. These impressive figures are plausible indicators of scale but are not reported consistently enough to be treated as exact counts.
The provisions combined long-established Māori foods and preservation practices with rapidly adopted introductions. Dried shark could be caught seasonally, split, preserved and transported well before a major gathering. Kūmara represented older Polynesian horticulture, while potatoes and pigs had spread through Māori communities after European contact. Potatoes yielded heavily in Aotearoa’s climate and were being grown commercially by Māori decades before the feast. Cultivations around Remuera reportedly contributed to the supply, while women’s production of thousands of flax baskets was itself essential food-system labour. Much of the displayed food was allocated among visiting groups as koha rather than simply consumed at a single sitting.
Hākari demonstrated manaakitanga, but lavishness also communicated mana, political authority and the strength of relationships. The Remuera gathering occurred amid disputes over land and Crown policy only four years after the Treaty of Waitangi. Its purpose and sponsorship remain contested: some records describe Waikato chiefs, especially Te Wherowhero, as leading hosts, whereas Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei evidence emphasizes its role as tangata whenua and as the group welcoming FitzRoy. Cooperation between allied communities is a reasonable reconstruction, but exclusive attribution is not secure.
The enormous nineteenth-century food walls and stages largely disappeared, yet hākari remain central to Māori gatherings. Marae dining halls, modern kitchens and changing menus have transformed preparation and service, while feeding manuhiri generously, recognizing honoured guests and sharing surplus food continue to express manaakitanga. Remuera therefore documents both continuity and rapid change: an Indigenous institution using traditional hospitality, preserved seafood and introduced crops to address the political realities of colonial Auckland.
Historical context
The Treaty of Waitangi was only four years old, and Auckland had served as the colonial capital since 1841. Its European population was about 2,800 by the end of 1844, so the Māori gathering at Remuera may have equalled or exceeded the settler population of the town. In March 1844 Governor FitzRoy had relaxed Crown pre-emption over Māori land purchases, intensifying transactions and disputes around Remuera. Māori communities were simultaneously major agricultural producers: potatoes, pigs, wheat and other introduced foods supplemented kūmara, seafood and preserved foods and supplied both local settlements and wider trade.
Evidence
Written sources
StrongContemporary newspaper coverage and Mary Ann Martin's eyewitness recollection independently document the gathering, Governor FitzRoy's attendance, food walls, basketed potatoes, kūmara and dried shark. Martin's account was published decades later and reflects a colonial observer's perspective.
Iconographic
StrongJoseph Jenner Merrett observed and painted the gathering in 1844. Later lithographs derived from his work identify iwi camps, officials, food racks, blankets and dried shark, although the lithographers altered the composition and apparent orderliness of the scene.
Food identification
StrongPotatoes, kūmara and split dried dogfish are directly described by an eyewitness and are consistent with the visual record. Pigs and imported commodities such as flour, rice, tea and sugar are supported principally by reported inventories.
Dating
StrongThe governor's documented visit and Merrett's image are specifically dated 11 May 1844, within a gathering that continued for several days.
Preparation method
ModerateSplitting and drying dogfish and placing root crops in woven baskets are directly described. The sources do not provide a complete account of cooking arrangements or establish how every listed food was prepared.
Geographic attribution
ModerateRemuera and the landscape between Ōhinerau/Mount Hobson and Te Kōpuke/Mount St John are well supported, but the precise footprint and Merrett's exact viewpoint remain disputed.
Historical interpretation
InterpretiveThe interpretation of the hākari as a display of mana, alliance and political intent is consistent with Māori feast practice and the subsequent meeting with FitzRoy, but the relative roles of Ngāti Whātua and Waikato are contested.
Visual reconstruction
ModerateMerrett's original watercolour is close contemporary evidence, but derivative lithographs changed figures and landscape details. Neither version depicts the giant pyramidal food stage known from some other nineteenth-century hākari.
Sources
- 1.Martin, Mary Ann (1884). Our Maoris. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. natlib.govt.nz/records/21620645Historical primary source
- 2.Anonymous (1844). Native Feast. Daily Southern Cross, 18 May 1844.Historical primary source
- 3.Merrett, Joseph Jenner (1844). Maori feast at Remuera. Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, reference D-001-009-a. natlib.govt.nz/records/22738452Historical primary source
- 4.Keane, Basil (2013). Māori feasts and ceremonial eating – hākari. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. teara.govt.nz/en/maori-feasts-and-ceremonial-eatModern synthesis
- 5.Cooper, Sue; Batistich, Tony (2020). The Great Māori Feast, Remuera, May 1844. Remuera Heritage. storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3c321dd72e36436d912Modern synthesis
- 6.New Zealand Colonial Government (1847). Comparative Statement of the European Population of the Principal Districts in New Zealand at the End of 1844, 1845, and 1846. New Zealand Government Gazette. library.victoria.ac.nz/databases/nzgazettearchivHistorical primary source
Limitations
- moderatedescription
The long, high food walls and racks are well supported, but Merrett's 1844 watercolour and its derivative lithographs do not depict the giant pyramidal hākari stage known from some other nineteenth-century feasts. “Towering food displays” should not be read as evidence for a documented 30-metre stage at Remuera.
- moderatecoordinates
The coordinates identify the general Remuera area, but the exact feast site is unresolved. Proposed locations extend toward the Mount St John, Market Road and present-day Dilworth School area, and Merrett may have used artistic license in arranging the landscape.
- moderateconfidence
The event, month and FitzRoy's visit are strongly documented, but a confidence of 10 overstates certainty about the precise site, attendance totals, inventory quantities and whether Ngāti Whātua, Waikato or cooperating allied groups should be identified as the principal hosts.
