The settler colonial conformity of non-conformism: Read Wheeler, The Albertlanders: The Making and Remaking of a New Zealand Provincial Immigration Scheme, PhD dissertation, Massey University, 2024 | settler colonial studies blog

The settler colonial conformity of non-conformism: Read Wheeler, The Albertlanders: The Making and Remaking of a New Zealand Provincial Immigration Scheme, PhD dissertation, Massey University, 2024

14Nov25

Abstract: This thesis examines immigrants who joined the Albertland Special Settlement Scheme, which was established in 1861 by the Auckland Provincial Government to bring a group of Christian non-conformists from Britain to the Kaipara. The scheme was one of several special settlements which provided the opportunity for religious or ethnic settlements to be established in New Zealand. They were an attempt by the provincial governments to boost migration to the colony and to settle outlying areas. Some of these have been previously studied, such as the Scottish settlement at Waipū and the Bohemian settlement at Pūhoi. These studies have focused on the correspondence and journals of the migrants to build a sense of these settlements and how their traditions changed or were abandoned. Other community research involved large demographic studies with observation focused on the development of the townships rather than the lives of those who stayed there. This study also focuses on the lives and experiences of the migrants, but it augments archival records with new digitally available resources, such as genealogical websites, to explore the long histories of these immigrants’ lives from their place of origin, until 1962, when descendants of the settlers assembled to celebrate a century since their arrival. The advent of the internet and the widespread digitisation of archives and secondary sources has provided unprecedented access to new primary sources and better ways of accessing and managing existing sources. This thesis draws on these new methodologies. The Albertland settlement has been assessed by general histories and dedicated works as a failure. This thesis argues while the northern Kaipara did not attract or retain the vast majority of the Albertland migrants, those who did settle were able to recreate something of the non-conformist communities they hoped for, despite the limitations of geography, poor agricultural potential and isolation. This was a major achievement. A good proportion of migrants who never even went to Albertland, or who stayed but briefly, also did well in the new colony through business ventures and community standing. The thesis explores several phases of the scheme’s history. The first stage, the making of the Albertland scheme, occurred though the joining of like-minded individuals prior to departure. In the second phase, the migrants faced the challenges of the voyage out and the dramatic difference between what was expected and the isolated, surveyed and difficult country they found on their arrival. Many chose not to go on. The hope of establishing a nonconformist community, the joining together of those with different religious beliefs, was shattered by the dispersal and fracturing of the scheme into separate communities, isolated from each other. Those remaining in or shifting to Auckland often did very well. Three thousand prospective settlers registered for the Albertland scheme, just over 2,500 of these voyaged to New Zealand. The Albertlanders came from more diverse backgrounds than previously thought and yet they began forming communal bonds as soon as their voyages to New Zealand began. However, from this group only 300 journeyed to the settlement and after five years only 150 remained. This represents only five percent of the prospective settlers. Nonetheless, strong non-conformist foundations were maintained, and community feeling was strengthened, not weakened, through responses to challenges such as land speculation, crime, and civil administration. Around 2,000 of the settlers remained in Auckland and influenced the development of the city and some even the colony. However, while separated from their compatriots on the Kaipara they were still referred to as the Auckland Albertlanders. Those who stayed on the Kaipara and those who remained in Auckland reunified the scheme in nostalgia, forging in memory the cohesion and stability that saw the settlers and their descendants maintain a common identity through anniversary celebrations and remembrances. Success had different meanings throughout Albertland’s history. For the founders of the scheme, success was the establishment of a large, independent, non-conformist settlement with a centralised leadership. For the original settlers, success meant remaining on the land and establishing a functional community. Those who left Albertland for elsewhere or had remained in Auckland found success meant establishing businesses and engraining themselves into the already established communities they moved to. The descendants of the Albertlanders found success in regaining a connection and reclaiming the vision of the founders, tempered through the hardship of those who settled on the land. Ignoring the extent to which the community had been dispersed across the Kaipara, and throughout the country.

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