Last resting place and legacy of Charles Heaphy, VC

Abstract

Charles Heaphy is now recognised as a significant figure in the early European settlement of New Zealand and he also has an interesting geological connection that deserves wider recognition. Heaphy arrived in New Zealand on the Tory together with Ern(e)st Dieffenbach on 18th August, 1839, aged around 19. Employed then by Wakefield's New Zealand Company as a draughtsman, Heaphy was described by Sharp (2008. p. 25) as being a "general roustabout, explorer, surveyor, assistant naturalist, courier and verbal as well as visual propagandist". He went on to become best known as an excellent watercolour landscape artist (his early work showing "sensitivity to the clarity of the New Zealand light") (Sharp, 2008, p. 205), an explorer and surveyor, a parliamentarian, and for winning the Victoria Cross for his actions in the New Zealand (Maori land) wars.