Baptism of Te Ngahue, an Aged New Zealand Chief, at Te Ariki, on the Lake of Tarawera, by the Rev T Chapman

From December 1849 to March 1850 Sir George Grey journeyed from Auckland to Taranaki, accompanied amongst others by the artist Cuthbert Clarke who drew the original drawing upon which this engraving is based, which is in the Turnbull. It depicts the baptism of Te Ngahue, an elderly chief in the presence of the Governor on 29 December 1849. In the account of Grey’s journey G S Cooper wrote of the event ‘It was a truly imposing and touching sight, to see the old savage--one of the Māori chiefs of the old school, who had often led his tribes to deeds of blood and savage warfare, and had feasted, time after time upon the flesh of his enemies-- now meekly offering himself as a candidate for admission into the Church of Christ.’ (Cooper, 1851, pp.223-4) Grey himself sent the drawing to the Church Missionary Society who published the print based on it with a descriptive text (see inscription above). This action, combined with Cooper’s text, clearly demonstrates this as an early example of propaganda, as Leonard Bell writes ‘It advertised missionary and governmental success among Māori.’ (Bell, 1992, p.43)

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