At dawn

Hobson's grave, at the end of K Rd, beside Grafton Bridge.
Worth a dawn visit on Feb 6?

At dawn tomorrow an assorted rabble of politicians, protesters and hosts will make an appearance up at Waitangi.

I might do something different.

At dawn (to be fair, it will almost certainly be more like morning-tea time) I might head along the road to the grave of William Hobson, New Zealand's ailing first governor who died after barely two years in office. I might head along there to his forgotten resting place and, on the anniversary of perhaps his only political triumph,  pay him due respect.

It's the least I can do.

Now, while Hobson was a dashing sea captain, and one of the best at clearing slavers and pirates out of the Caribbean — his daring exploits were the basis of a Hornblower-like novel by Michael Scott (1789–1835), several of Frederick Marryat's naval stories— eat your heart out Johnny Depp—his appointment as consul here is yet another data point in the theory that everyone will eventually be promoted one job above their level of competence.

He was awful. He knew little of the treaty he co-authored. He battled metaphorically with settlers and govt finances. He suppressed newspapers who criticised him. His small staff, the dregs of the NSW administration cunningly offloaded onto the political naif by the NSW governor, exploited his naivety to line their own pockets. And he left his own family in dire financial straits at his death.

But he did leave behind the rudiments of and respect for the Rule of Law. And he was an instrument, and a powerful one, in removing pirates from the world’s trade routes and eradicating slavery. 

Michael Joseph Savage has as his sainted memorial a whole beautifully-presented mausoleum overlooking the Waitemata Harbour. The late governor Hobson deserves more than to be forgotten about under a disrespected bridge beside a busy motorway.