Samuel Williams

Bay of Islands Circa 1840

We got on well with the Maori. At first we lived in a hut with no kitchen. Then two mud cottages, and then a wooden house. But we always lived a little separate from them, behind our little picket fence at Paihia. Lots of people were always coming to visit and staying. We used to call it ‘Williams’ Hotel’, although it wasn’t really.

The Maori called my dad Karuwha, which means four eyes. This was because he wore glasses. He also wore a broad brimmed hat. He was tough and strong. He would walk everywhere. He was strict. He wouldn’t let us children do anything wrong, and often he would tell the other missionaries off. He was always angry when he saw people do things wrong.

Dad stopped a lot of the ‘civilising’ work. He insisted that the missionaries were here to convert the Maori. He wanted to preach – although I wasn’t keen on his sermons. I thought he was boring. He began to translate the Bible. He taught everyone to learn the Maori language. Up to this stage there was no writing in New Zealand. When Maori heard stories they would simply remember them. They were much better at remembering stories than I am. I would just remember the book and go and read the story again. But my dad thinks that reading is very important for a Christian, because you need it to read the Bible. So my dad and the other missionaries turned Maori sounds into letters. He set up schools to teach Maori to read. And slowly many of them learned. Some of them learned how to write as well. But mostly it was the children who learned to write...

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