Kōrero: Camping

One of the earliest images of recreational camping in New Zealand is this watercolour, painted by Canterbury sheep farmer and future premier Frederick Weld in 1849. It shows the smaller of two tents used by Weld's party on the edge of the Rangiora bush. Newly arrived settler Charlotte Godley and her family are seated in the open entrance. Weld presented her with a cabbage tree flower, which is tied to the tent's ridgepole. She found it 'a most lovely evening,' although her son Arthur's trousers, which had been drying on a branch, were accidentally added to the campfire.