The Clarke Family of Te Waimate
He mihi — A greeting
He pūkenga wai, he nōhanga tangata.
He nōhanga tangata, he pūkenga kōrero.
Where the rivers meet, people come together.
When people come together, there is debate and learning.
Who we are
We are the descendants of George and Martha Clarke, who arrived in Aotearoa New Zealand in 1824 and helped shape the country in its earliest years of European settlement.
Clarke Family Descendants at our 180th reunion 4 April 2004
This society exists to connect those descendants — spread across New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, and beyond — and to preserve the stories, values, and histories that tie us to this land and to each other.
We are a Pākehā family, but our story is inseparable from te ao Māori. George Clarke spent his life working alongside Māori people, learning their language, advocating for their rights, and insisting — at great personal cost — that the promises of Te Tiriti o Waitangi must be honoured. That inheritance is something we take seriously.
Our founding ancestor
George Clarke (1798–1875) was a Norfolk-born craftsman who came to Aotearoa as a lay missionary and became one of the most significant Pākehā voices for Māori rights in the nineteenth century.
He arrived at Kerikeri in 1824, learned te reo Māori, founded the Waimate North mission station, and was an interpreter at the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840. Governor Hobson then appointed him the country's first Chief Protector of Aborigines — the first government organisation to protect Māori interests and implement the promises of the treaty. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
As a conscientious chief protector, Clarke could not have achieved popularity with the settler community. Te Ara The New Zealand Company, which represented powerful settler interests, dismissed the Treaty as nothing more than a device to pacify Māori temporarily. Clarke saw it very differently. In a final message to the governor, Clarke reminded him that New Zealand had been an independent country prior to 1840, and that the Treaty of Waitangi was subsequently regarded by Māori as their 'Magna Charta'. He advised that Māori should be led, not forced, into the observance of British law. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand
When Governor Grey abolished the Protectorate in 1846, Clarke's single-minded insistence on protecting Māori rights had led directly to that abolishment. Tpk He left office quietly, writing that he would depart "conscious of having prevented much evil and mischief although I may not have effected much positive good." History has been kinder in its verdict.
George Clarke is our foundation — not because he was perfect (he was a man of his time, who also acquired land, held assumptions common to Victorian missionaries, and could not wholly escape the colonial world he inhabited) — but because in his essential commitments, he was ahead of that world. He knew Māori as neighbours, friends, and equals at a time when almost no one in power did. His children and grandchildren carried that legacy forward in law, education, medicine, journalism, public service, and the church, across New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Kenya, and England.
Our values
We come together as a whānau shaped by that history. We believe that:
Honest remembering matters. Our ancestors were part of a colonial enterprise that caused enormous harm to Māori. Acknowledging that honestly, alongside celebrating what was good, is how we honour both sides of our heritage.
Whakapapa connects us. This website is a living record of our family lines — a resource for anyone tracing their descent from George and Martha Clarke. We welcome additions, corrections, and contributions.
The work continues. George Clarke spent his career arguing that Māori should be partners in the building of this country, not subjects of it. That argument is still being made. We are proud to be part of a family that started it.
About this website
This site holds biographical records for the descendants of George and Martha Clarke, beginning with their fifteen children and following the family lines as far as our records extend. We do not publish information about living people without their permission.
If you are a descendant and wish to add or correct information, or if you would like to be listed on the site, please contact us through the form below.
The family tree compiled for our 2003 reunion by Suzee Ross of Kaikohe forms the foundation of the records here. We are grateful for her extraordinary work.