The Octavius Hadfield Papers

The Octavius Hadfield Papers are an extensive collection of letters, diary extracts and miscellaneous documents relating to the Anglican missionary, Octavius Hadfield (1814 - 1904). Together they form a significant collection of correspondence from one of New Zealand's most important early missionaries and supporters of Māori rights. 

Hadfield arrived in New Zealand shortly before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. After briefly working as a school teacher in Northland, he made his way to Kapiti where he established missions in both Waikanae and Ōtaki. There he befriended Te Rauparaha and was able to convince the great warrior not to make a retaliatory attack on Wellington following the Wairau 'Affray’ of 1843. Te Rauparaha and his son Tāmihana later encouraged Hadfield to establish the famous Rangiātea church in Ōtaki. He worked closely with Māori communities, introducing them to farming to allow them to engage with the settler economy and became a fierce critic of the NZ Government and the British Colonial Office because of their actions in causing and aggravating the NZ Wars. Despite many Europeans turning against him and even accusing him of being a traitor because of his support for Māori, Hadfield was elected to become the second Bishop of Wellington in 1870 and then went on to head the Anglican church as 'Primate of New Zealand' in 1890.

​These letters are some of our most precious taonga and they offer a fascinating insight into the mind and thinking of one of the most significant New Zealanders from the colonial period. Most were written to Hadfield's parents and siblings in England but were later gathered together by a family member and repatriated back to New Zealand. Other material includes letters from his wife, Catherine (Kate) Hadfield, and Catherine's father, the missionary Henry Williams. They were gifted to Wellington City Libraries in several deposits during 1950 and 1951 by Hadfield's youngest daughter, Amelia (Amy) Caroline Hadfield (1869 - 1956).  Many of the documents also include a full typed transcription to make it easier to read Hadfield's handwriting; just click on the 'Text' button below the magnifying glass icon to enable this (this functionality works best on a laptop or desktop computer rather than a mobile device). Note that text enclosed within [square brackets] in a transcription indicates an uncertainty in (or a spelling correction of) the original letter.

See the following links for further information about Hadfield's life and work

Brief biography from NZ History (Ministry of Culture & Heritage)

Full entry from the NZ Dictionary of Biography

The Man who saved Wellington, a short documentary film about Octavius Hadfield produced by 'The Incredible Journey' television ministry.

The Rangiatea Story ; a 1966 book detailing the history of the church that Hadfield founded.

Date index to material

1833  1837  1838  1839  

1840  1841  1842  1843  1844  1845  1846  1847  1848  1849 

1850  1851  1852  1853  1854  1855  1856  1857  1858  1859  

1860  1861  1862  1863  1864  1865  1866  1867  1868  1869

1870  1871  1872  1873  1874  1875  1876  1877  1878  1879

Fragments

Clippings and ephemera

Search this Collection

The search facility above operates as an 'exact phrase' search across all letters and other documents in this collection excluding a small number without accompanying transcriptions. Return back to this page to run further searches. 

Photo credit: Octavius Hadfield., circa 1880 (photographer unknown), from the collection of Te Papa, Ref: A.000114