In this remarkable book, Jennifer Ashton illuminates the early history of New Zealand through the life of one man: 
John Webster.

This book is far more than a simple biography: 
it offers a different way of looking at the history of nineteenth-century New Zealand.
Hazel Petrie


Born in Scotland in 1818, Webster came to New Zealand via Australia in 1841. He spent most of the rest of his life in Hokianga. At the margin of empire charts his colourful experiences carving out a fortune as the region's leading timber trader and cultivating connections with the notable figures of the day, Māori and Pākehā. Webster was friends with Frederick Manning, and visited by George Grey, Richard Seddon and other colonial luminaries. He fought alongside Tāmati Wāka Nene in the Northern War, married one of Nene's relatives and built up his kauri timber business through trade with local chiefs.

Through his daily interactions, Ashton argues, Webster helped slowly shift the balance of power in the north:
The credit that he extended to his customers and kin saw them selling land to pay debts, helping Māori into economic dependence.

In telling the story of John Webster's long and eventful life for the first time, this biography also explores the wider transformation of relationships between Māori and Pākehā during the nineteenth century. It is an intimate and revealing account of life in early New Zealand.