1. Charles Heaphy VC was an English-born New Zealand explorer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military award for gallantry "in the face of the enemy" that could be awarded to British and Empire forces at the time.
58 Facts About Charles Heaphy
1. 2.
Charles Heaphy was the first soldier of the New Zealand armed forces to be awarded the VC.
3.
Charles Heaphy was a noted artist of the colonial period who created watercolours and sketches of early settler life in New Zealand.
4.
Charles Heaphy arrived in New Zealand later that year and was commissioned to make a visual record of the company's work which was used to advertise the country to potential English migrants.
5.
Charles Heaphy later moved north to Auckland to take up employment as a surveyor.
6.
Charles Heaphy moved to Queensland, in Australia, seeking a better climate in which to recover his health but died a few months after his arrival.
7.
Charles Heaphy was born sometime in 1820 in London, England.
8.
Charles Heaphy was the youngest child of Thomas Heaphy, who was a professional painter, and three of his siblings became noted painters.
9.
Charles Heaphy's grandfather John Gerrard Heaphy was a merchant from Ireland.
10.
Thomas Charles Heaphy earned painting commissions from high society and in 1812 accompanied Arthur Wellesley, who was later to become the Duke of Wellington, as staff artist during the Peninsular War.
11.
The Charles Heaphy family lived in St John's Wood in north-west London and enjoyed a comfortable, middle-class existence although his mother died sometime during his early childhood.
12.
Charles Heaphy was the only child of the Heaphy family to receive this level of education.
13.
In May 1839, after 18 months at the Royal Academy, Charles Heaphy joined the New Zealand Company as a draughtsman.
14.
Charles Heaphy was established by Edward Wakefield as a private venture to organise colonies in New Zealand.
15.
Charles Heaphy sailed with William Wakefield, Edward's brother, aboard the Tory on an expedition to purchase land suitable for settlement.
16.
Charles Heaphy sailed along the coastline aboard the Tory and learned surveying from its captain.
17.
Charles Heaphy painted a variety of subjects including landscapes, flora and fauna and Maori people, including Te Rauparaha, the notable rangatira.
18.
Charles Heaphy was at times exposed to some danger; on an expedition to the Chatham Islands, his party intervened in a skirmish between two warring tribes and he was wounded in the leg.
19.
Charles Heaphy was among several employees of the New Zealand Company to scout the area around what is known as Tasman Bay, before the location for Nelson was decided upon.
20.
Charles Heaphy executed several watercolours highlighting the quality of the land intended for settlement and these were forwarded to London.
21.
Charles Heaphy took six months to reach London, by which time his three-year contract had expired.
22.
Charles Heaphy needed to scout the area to the south-west and Heaphy finally got the chance to explore.
23.
Charles Heaphy was reasonably well compensated for his exploration efforts and for additional funds, he undertook art commissions for Nelson's more wealthy residents.
24.
In February 1846, Charles Heaphy, accompanied by Fox and Thomas Brunner, another employee of the New Zealand Company, as well as a Ngati Tumatakokiri tohunga named Kehu, undertook another expedition to the south-west.
25.
Life in Nelson remained difficult for Charles Heaphy, who had by now lost his appetite for exploration.
26.
Charles Heaphy eked out a living taking occasional jobs for the next six months.
27.
Charles Heaphy began to build on his geological knowledge, taking a particular interest in volcanology.
28.
Charles Heaphy wrote an article on Auckland's volcanoes for a geological journal in England and completed several paintings of volcanoes as well as thermal attractions in the Bay of Plenty, including the famous Pink and White Terraces.
29.
When he was 30, Charles Heaphy met and began courting Kate Churton, the 21-year-old daughter of a reverend.
30.
Charles Heaphy's role required him to supervise claims made by miners and negotiate land sales with local Maori.
31.
Charles Heaphy wanted to investigate French claims on the islands.
32.
Charles Heaphy accompanied him as his private secretary and took the opportunity to execute artworks of the islands he visited and their inhabitants.
33.
Charles Heaphy gave some of his works to Grey, who took them back to England in December 1853 and donated them to the British Museum.
34.
For two years, Charles Heaphy surveyed the plots of land that were to be sold to people moving to the area.
35.
Charles Heaphy moved back to Auckland and took up residence in Parnell.
36.
Charles Heaphy made allegations that Heaphy had plagiarised portions of his work on the coalfield.
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Charles Heaphy mounted a spirited defence and generally had the sympathy of the public.
38.
In early 1863, during a period of hostilities of the New Zealand Wars, his unit was mobilised and Charles Heaphy commissioned as an officer.
39.
Charles Heaphy charted the riverways while pilot of the gunboat Pioneer.
40.
Charles Heaphy was present at the Battle of Rangiriri and later made a sketch of the action, which unusually for him, included representations of British casualties.
41.
Grey argued that as Charles Heaphy was under the effective command of British officers he should be made an exception.
42.
Charles Heaphy refused to accept this and began to agitate with the British government, with support from Grey, Havelock, and General Duncan Cameron, commander of the British forces in New Zealand.
43.
Charles Heaphy was eventually successful and on 8 February 1867, Queen Victoria made a declaration that the local forces of New Zealand would be eligible for the VC.
44.
Major Charles Heaphy was at the time in charge of a party of soldiers of the 40th and 50th Regiments, under the orders of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Marshman Havelock, Bart.
45.
Charles Heaphy was presented with his VC at a parade at Albert Barracks in Auckland on 11 May 1867.
46.
Charles Heaphy's contract ended in early 1866 and he was reinstated to his pre-war position as Auckland's provincial surveyor.
47.
Charles Heaphy's time in parliament was undistinguished but he was a hard working representative for the people of the Parnell electorate.
48.
Charles Heaphy met with constituents to discuss matters of concern ranging from taxes to publicly funded travel.
49.
When Fox became Premier of New Zealand in June 1869, Charles Heaphy was a supporter.
50.
Charles Heaphy's work took him up and down the country, inspecting land and negotiating with Maori landowners, a process he did not always enjoy, particularly when rival tribes disputed ownership.
51.
Charles Heaphy had to arrange for the acquisition of Maori land for utilities, such as telegraph lines.
52.
Charles Heaphy occasionally advocated for compensation for aggrieved Maori, whose land had been stolen by colonials.
53.
An added stress in Charles Heaphy's first year as commissioner was an enquiry into his conduct during the period he was "Chief Surveyor to the General Government of New Zealand" and working in the Waikato.
54.
Charles Heaphy resigned from all his civil service positions the following month and with his wife, moved to Brisbane, in Queensland, Australia.
55.
Charles Heaphy was the first non-regular soldier to be awarded the Victoria Cross.
56.
Charles Heaphy's paintings were only exhibited on a few occasions, the first in February 1866 in Auckland.
57.
Prints of Charles Heaphy's paintings began to be produced in 1953 and on the hundred year anniversary of his death, a limited edition portfolio of his watercolours was published.
58.
Charles Heaphy's name is known through the Heaphy Track, a walking route in the north-west corner of the South Island.