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The Sydney Gazette was not sympathetic towards the abortive enterprise, which it described in the following terms: “Whole volumes might be filled to show how successfully this patriotic Company has been deceived…taken in…gulled by a certain somebody, a particular clan.” The newspapers related how “the old commodore” Captain Herd, in his native dialect, defended the directors in London as “a company formed of the first, aye, the very first men in the British empire.”

The Lambton was sold and early in March 1827, all the stores, machinery and implements belonging to the Company were also put up for sale. Advertisements were inserted in the Sydney papers and, as we have seen, on 21 March the case involving McDowal, McClaren and Gray came before the Sydney court.

As agreed, the New Zealand Company emigrants were offered a passage home at the Company’s expense. A third of the Rosanna settlers remained in New South Wales. They included the Shepherd, Bell and Sydenham families, Thomas Surfleet Kendall; the two Tods, and John Durie.

The New South Wales Census of November 1828 listed the following who had arrived on the Rosanna: Thomas Shepherd, 48, gardener, Botany Road, wife and family; Robert Bell, 30, overseer, employed by John Thos. Campbell, Bringelly, his wife Isabella and their sons James, 2, and David, 6 months; Samuel Sydenham, 32, cooper, Cambridge Street, his wife Louisa, 26, and two children, Charles, 2, and Matilda, 1; Thomas Kendall, 22, re-united with his parents after their sojourn in Valparaiso; George Tod, 30, shopkeeper at John Williams’, Phillip Street, Syudney; John Tod, baker, Sydney; John Durie, 23, shoemaker at John Williams’, Phillip Street, Sydney.

Isabella, the wife of Robert Bell, lived the rest of her life in New South Wales. Isabella Bell died at Bellfield, Cabramatta in November 1863 aged 63 years, attended by her son James. She left three sons and two daughters. A daughter predeceased her. Samuel Sydenham died at the Asylum, Liverpool, New South Wales on 8 February 1864. A son, John Sydenham, died in New South Wales in 1868.

Elizabeth Shepherd, Thomas Shepherd’s daughter from his first marriage, was married at the Darling Nursery in October 1831 to Robert Henderson.

Thomas Shepherd took a full part in public life in Sydney. He was involved in church business and with the running of the Sydney Botanic Gardens. His sons eventually took over the business and occasionally supplied plats to nurseries and botanic gardens in New Zealand. In 1851 son Thomas William Shepherd published a Catalogue of plants cultivated at the Darling Nursery comprising the names and habits of over 2500 species and varieties.

Thomas Shepherd’s wife Jane gave birth to two more children in Australia. One was given the name Patrick Lindsay Crawford Shepherd. She outlived her husband by nearly thirty years. Jane Susan Shepherd died on 31 October 1863 aged 66 at the Darling Nursery, Sydney.

Alexander McClaren may also have stayed on in New South Wales after the court case he was involved in. In 1834 a visiting naturalist George Bennett described a Mr. McClaren as “the greatest importer and manufacturer of New Zealand flax in the colony.” Bennett visited

[McClaren’s] extensive establishment on the north shore near Sydney, for the cleaning and manufacture of the flax into rope. McClaren also had establishments at New Zealand from where he imported the flax, exporting some to England, and manufacturing the remainder into cordage for the use of the colonial vessels.Captain Herd brought his Rosanna settlers safely into Sydney harbour in New South Wales on 11 February 1827 after a run of 12 days. On 16 February the Sydney Gazette reported that Captain Herd intended to dispose of his cargo in Sydney to best advantage and then return to England with an account of his discoveries, for “discovery was a primary feature in the Commodore’s instructions.”

The Sydney Gazette was not sympathetic towards the abortive enterprise, which it described in the following terms: “Whole volumes might be filled to show how successfully this patriotic Company has been deceived…taken in…gulled by a certain somebody, a particular clan.” The newspapers related how “the old commodore” Captain Herd, in his native dialect, defended the directors in London as “a company formed of the first, aye, the very first men in the British empire.”

The Lambton was sold and early in March 1827, all the stores, machinery and implements belonging to the Company were also put up for sale. Advertisements were inserted in the Sydney papers and, as we have seen, on 21 March the case involving McDowal, McClaren and Gray came before the Sydney court.

As agreed, the New Zealand Company emigrants were offered a passage home at the Company’s expense. A third of the Rosanna settlers remained in New South Wales. They included the Shepherd, Bell and Sydenham families, Thomas Surfleet Kendall; the two Tods, and John Durie.

The New South Wales Census of November 1828 listed the following who had arrived on the Rosanna: Thomas Shepherd, 48, gardener, Botany Road, wife and family; Robert Bell, 30, overseer, employed by John Thos. Campbell, Bringelly, his wife Isabella and their sons James, 2, and David, 6 months; Samuel Sydenham, 32, cooper, Cambridge Street, his wife Louisa, 26, and two children, Charles, 2, and Matilda, 1; Thomas Kendall, 22, re-united with his parents after their sojourn in Valparaiso; George Tod, 30, shopkeeper at John Williams’, Phillip Street, Syudney; John Tod, baker, Sydney; John Durie, 23, shoemaker at John Williams’, Phillip Street, Sydney.

Isabella, the wife of Robert Bell, lived the rest of her life in New South Wales. Isabella Bell died at Bellfield, Cabramatta in November 1863 aged 63 years, attended by her son James. She left three sons and two daughters. A daughter predeceased her. Samuel Sydenham died at the Asylum, Liverpool, New South Wales on 8 February 1864. A son, John Sydenham, died in New South Wales in 1868.

Elizabeth Shepherd, Thomas Shepherd’s daughter from his first marriage, was married at the Darling Nursery in October 1831 to Robert Henderson.

Thomas Shepherd took a full part in public life in Sydney. He was involved in church business and with the running of the Sydney Botanic Gardens. His sons eventually took over the business and occasionally supplied plats to nurseries and botanic gardens in New Zealand. In 1851 son Thomas William Shepherd published a Catalogue of plants cultivated at the Darling Nursery comprising the names and habits of over 2500 species and varieties.

Thomas Shepherd’s wife Jane gave birth to two more children in Australia. One was given the name Patrick Lindsay Crawford Shepherd. She outlived her husband by nearly thirty years. Jane Susan Shepherd died on 31 October 1863 aged 66 at the Darling Nursery, Sydney.

Alexander McClaren may also have stayed on in New South Wales after the court case he was involved in. In 1834 a visiting naturalist George Bennett described a Mr. McClaren as “the greatest importer and manufacturer of New Zealand flax in the colony.” Bennett visited [McClaren’s] extensive establishment on the north shore near Sydney, for the cleaning and manufacture of the flax into rope. McClaren also had establishments at New Zealand from where he imported the flax, exporting some to England, and manufacturing the remainder into cordage for the use of the colonial vessels.

The Rosanna engaged in a little pearl fishing before the return voyage home. In May 1827 the Rosanna left Sydney for London via Cook Strait. The ship spent some time at Ship’s Cove, Queen Charlotte Sound, where Herd had been the year before.

On his return to London some of Captain Herd’s New Zealand charts were engraved and published in 1828 by the commercial chartmaker J. W. Norie, with whom Captain Herd was acquainted. Norie was chartseller to the Admiralty and to the East India Company. Charts could be obtained from his Navigation Warehouse and Naval Academy at No. 157 Leadenhall Street. In 1827 Norie had published the fifth edition of The Complete East India Pilot, from London to any Part of the Indian & China Seas, Australia, Van Diemen’s Land, & New Zealand, “comprehending a set of new and accurate charts, exhibiting all the passages out and home…, the whole drawn from the most recent surveys.” Herd’s Remarks on geographical positions of places visited in New Zealand appeared in September 1832 in the first issue of the Nautical Magazine. (These Remarks were reprinted in The New Zealand Journal 1841).

Captain Herd made plans to sail a third time to the southern hemisphere. An undated poster was reproduced in the catalogue of bookseller Eric M. Bonner of London in 1959, when it was offered for sale at 48 pounds. The poster used to illustrate an article on Captain Herd in the Dominion 4 June 1960 by Celia and Cecil Manson was worded thus:.

Emigration for Hobart Town, Van Diemen’s Land & Sydney, New South Wales to sail in February on the beautiful fast-sailing ship Ann, 500 tons burthen lying in the London docks, Wapping Basin, James Herd, Commander…For further particulars apply to the Owner, Mr Horton James (10x14 in) .

Nothing is know of Captain Herd’s origins but in The Scots in New Zealand G.L. Pearce stated that Captain James Herd came from Cumberland. One of the Earl of Crawford’s titles had been Prince of Cumberland. Like Captain Cook’s widow before her, Mrs Herd may have lived not far from the London docks.

Four of the Rosanna settlers returned to New Zealand. By July 1827, as Captain Dillon noted, McLean, Nesbit, Nimmo and Gillies were back at the Bay of Islands, where their former shipmate Alexander Gray already was. Early in 1828 Captain Kent, who had been in Otago harbour with Captain Herd, was joined at Koutu Point by some of the New Zealand Company settlers. All five settlers were to live the rest of their lives among the people of the far north of New Zealand.

McLean worked as a sawyer and acted as pilot on the Hokianga river. He drowned on 8 January 1835 and was buried in the Mangungu cemetery, where a headstone bore the inscription:

Captain Crow himself drowned not long afterwards leaving a wife, who was Maori, and a son.

Benjamin Nesbitt eventually became involved in ship-building in the Bay of Islands and other carpentry work. He helped build the stone house at Kerikeri.

George Nimmo subsequently made a living as a coachbuilder and blacksmith. He died in 1885, having lived in the Hokianga district for 56 years. In 1842 he made claim to 200 acres in the Hokianga, stating that he had purchased them on 23 December 1831 from native chiefs.

Colin Gillies later settled at Mahurangi. His daughter Annabella, whose mother was Hihe, was brought up by Wesleyan missionary John Hobbs and his wife. Annabella was married to William Webster from Montrose, Scotland and left many descendants. A headstone in the Rawene cemetery commemmorated Webster family members, including:

George Gillis second son of William and Annabella Webster who died 11th December 1886…and Annabella the beloved wife of William Webster, who died 16th May 1895 aged 67 years.

A photo of Annabella Webter was reproduced in a Webster family history. Her husband William died in 1904 at the age of 88.

The other Rosanna settler Alexander Gray, the one who had absconded from the ship, spent the rest of his life in the Bay of Islands. In December 1826 he bought land presumably in New Zealand “at Parramatta,” the first non-missionary to do so.

At Paihia on 17 May 1830 Alexander Gray was married by Rev. William Williams to Kotiro Hinerangi of Ngati Ruanui, a Taranaki tribe. Their children James, Alexander and Margaret were baptised later the same year. Two more daughters, Mary Sophia and Jane Maria, were born subsequently. But Gray and his wife quarrelled continually and later separated. Some of the children were brought up at Tauranga by Rev. Chapman and his wife Ann. Their daughter Sophia Gray (1832-1911) became the famous Guide Sophia, who witnessed the eruption at Tarawera. Her portrait painted by Gottfried Lindauer was in the Auckland City Art Gallery. C.F. Goldie also sketched and painted her. Descendants of Alexander Gray said he was believed to have come from Aberdeen.

Further reading