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Story: Taranaki region

Immigration barracks, 1841

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Immigration barracks, 1841

To house the first Plymouth Company immigrants in March 1841, Richard Barrett and local Māori erected temporary accommodation on the beachfront at Ngāmotu. This lithograph shows an impressive row of substantial dwellings with a fancifully steep Mt Taranaki behind. The structures were almost certainly in a more typically Māori style than the artist’s depiction.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: PUBL-0048-01

by Charles Heaphy

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Ron Lambert, Taranaki region – Early settlers, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/25291/immigration-barracks-1841 (accessed 3 June 2026).

Story by Ron Lambert, published 23 February 2010, updated 1 August 2015.