IELTSwithJurabek

PASSAGE 1

Read the text and answer questions 1-13.

Charles Heaphy and the settlement of New Zealand

How did the work of an English artist influence European migration to New Zealand?

A In the early 19th century, the London-based New Zealand Company was set up to promote the colonisation of the North and South Islands of New Zealand. It hoped to encourage British migrants to settle there and buy land. To do this, it needed to capture the public imagination, and used paintings and drawings of the landscape for this purpose. Eighteen was a young age for someone to become a hired artist and explorer for this kind of major land-trading company, but Charles Heaphy took on this role after 18 months producing technical drawings for a British railway company, and a further two years studying occasionally at the Royal Academy's school of painting. His family had possibly lacked the financial means to enable him to continue at the Academy, but he was luckily introduced to someone in the New Zealand Company. Heaphy was offered, and accepted, a position on 6 May 1839-three days before the Company's ship, Tory, departed Plymouth for New Zealand with its cargo of settlers.

B From his diaries, we can see that Heaphy was enthusiastic about this role. In addition to employment and position, it offered him the chance to explore a relatively little-known country. There was, however, some urgency placed on the young artist, as a large consignment of settlers was due to leave England a few months later, and so he needed to explore the country before they departed as efficiently as he could. His record of his travels through New Zealand is less comprehensive than those of some contemporaries, but what he did end up committing to paper and in paintings left an often vivid impression of travelling through various parts of the country.

C As is so often the case, though, his high expectations were dampened on arrival. On first sighting New Zealand's South Island, Heaphy commented that the high mountain ranges seemed to leave no space for farming, and that the country in general hardly seemed worth settling. However, Heaphy hoped there might be other agricultural opportunities somewhere in the interior. Queen Charlotte Sound was the first place Heaphy visited. He remained unconvinced for years afterwards that it possessed the greatest harbour in the country but accepted that the few patches of fertile ground in the area were insufficient for a major settlement. From there, he went to Port Nicholson and was clearly impressed.

D However, his interpretations of this and many of the other locations he travelled through in the country were possibly not as 'neutral' as they may appear. His choice of scenes, and the organisation of elements in many of his paintings suggest that his artistic view of the landscape was perhaps restricted by the requirements placed on him by his employer, the New Zealand Company. Indeed, his paintings of Port Nicholson could easily be mistaken for paintings of English country villages.

E Although Heaphy travelled widely around New Zealand, his explorations frequently were superficial at best, and there is a sense from Heaphy's records that as he observed the North Island, he and his colleagues' minds had already been made up regarding the superiority of Port Nicholson. This was the site they nominated for the New Zealand Company's headquarters.

F As ever more New Zealand Company migrants were being tempted to settle in New Zealand, the pressing demand for land forced officials to reconsider regions that they had previously ruled out. Heaphy accompanied one journey north from Port Nicholson to assess what parts of the country might be useful to establish new townships and farming districts on. One of the first places Heaphy's team went to was Porirua. They found that the hills between Port Nicholson and Porirua were easy to cross and did not form the barrier they had expected, and were also of exceedingly rich and fertile soil, making them a potential location for agriculture. Heaphy depicted this possible place for settlement as having the beautiful appearance of a park, and thought most of it was fit for cultivation. Its harbour was also suitably deep.

G From there Heaphy sailed further north, eventually reaching the Manawatu Plains. His assessment was again favourable, praising the level aspect of the plains and the way they were watered by numerous rivers. These, he said, were deep enough for the passage of small ships. Writing to the New Zealand Company, he was confident that the countryside there was well adapted for settlement, but explained that this could only be accomplished by the growth of the population of places already colonised. In the future, he envisaged, the region would become a major agricultural centre.

H As for the Taranaki region, Heaphy was even more impressed. His artistic response, Mt Egmont from the Southward, shows an image of the mountain that became his most famous painting. Despite the work being highly symmetrical, and the proportions being exaggerated, Heaphy turned this scene into a great piece of artistic propaganda. The foreground, with its small cleared section above a sandy shore, would have looked inviting to any would-be farmer, as would the forest in the middle ground, suggesting a ready supply of trees which could be exploited for the construction of homes and ships.

I Other beneficial aspects of living in New Zealand were discovered by Heaphy as he travelled around. He was convinced it had the best climate in the world, and claimed that since the formation of the first Company settlement in Port Nicholson, almost no-one there had fallen sick. Indeed, Heaphy boasted that during his explorations, he had slept outside in all seasons and had never experienced a day's illness, certainly not the respiratory kind common in congested English cities. He certainly concluded that for anyone migrating to New Zealand, good prospects awaited.