Honest Murderer: the story of John Bryce

Pākehā settlers in Taranaki knew John Bryce as "Honest John" but Taranaki Māori called him "Bryce Kōhuru" - Bryce the Murderer. Black Sheep investigates the life of the infamous Native Affairs Minister who led the assault on Parihaka.

Pākehā settlers in Taranaki knew John Bryce as "Honest John" but Taranaki Māori had another nickname. They called him "Bryce Kōhuru" - Bryce the Murderer. In this episode of Black Sheep William Ray investigates the life of the infamous Native Affairs Minister.

John Bryce has gone down in history as an arrogant sometimes brutal man, with harsh attitudes towards Māori, even for his time.

But nobody is born racist, so where did it come from? The earliest hint comes when Bryce was just six years old, living in Glasgow in 1839.

John Bryce's mother had recently died from tuberculosis and his father decided to take the family from their home in Scotland to New Zealand. While they were waiting to depart on their ship this poem by Poet Laureate, Robert Southey was read:

On Zealand's hills, where tigers steal along,

And the dread Indian chants a dismal song,

Where human fiends on midnight errands walk,

And bathe in brains the murderous tomahawk.

Along with that slightly bloodcurdling poem, six-year old John Bryce would have heard the passengers and crew telling stories of the Boyd massacre, where around 60 Europeans were killed and eaten by Māori at Whangaroa.

Bryce and his fellow passengers were among the very first colonists to settle in the Wellington region at Pito-one (now called Petone) under the protection of a local rangatira, Puakawa. But, just three weeks after the settlers arrived in Petone, Puakawa was killed in a raid by followers of Te Rauparaha from the Kapiti Coast.

When he turned 13 John Bryce had another foundation experience of Māori. 1846 saw the outbreak of the Hutt War, between Māori and Pākehā in the Wellington region.

50 years later John Bryce related the story of Bugler William Allen a young man who, according to popular legend, spotted a raid and continued to sound the alarm despite axe wounds to both arms. The story goes that he held the bugle between his knees and kept blowing until he was struck in the head and killed.

This incident "made a lasting impression on Bryce," says historian Moyra Cooke, who researched John Bryce for her masters thesis.

A few years after the end of the Hutt War John and his older brother went to Australia to become diggers in the Victorian gold rush. They must have struck a good lode because when they returned they were rich enough to buy land for farming at Brunswick, near Whanganui…

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details