1831 in New Zealand
# 1831 in New Zealand

The following lists events that happened during 1831 in New Zealand.

## Incumbents

### Regal and viceregal

* Head of State – King William IV
* Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke succeeds General Ralph Darling on 22 October

## Events

* 16 April – Trade in preserved Māori heads as curios is outlawed by the Governor of New South Wales.
* 1 October – John Guard Junior born at his father's whaling station at Te Awaiti in Tory Channel. He is the first European child born in the South Island.
* 11 October – The first marriage between two Europeans in New Zealand is performed at Waimate North. William Gilbert Puckey marries Mathilda Davis.
* November
   * – The Weller brothers return (see below) in the Lucy Ann and establish a whaling station at Otakou.
* 25 December – John Guard Junior baptised in Sydney. (see above)

### Undated

* Joseph Brooks Weller commissions a vessel from shipbuilders on Stewart Island.
* Joseph Brooks Weller arrives in Otago Harbour on the Sir George Murray and makes an agreement with local Māori claiming territory for King William IV before returning to Sydney.
* Ngāti Toa under chief and war leader Te Rauparaha besiege Ngāi Tahu stronghold of Kaiapoi pā.
* Traders led by Joe Rowe are the first Europeans to visit the Wanganui area.

## Births

* 8 January (in England): William Garden Cowie, first Anglican bishop of Auckland.
* 19 September (in England): William Rolleston, politician.
* 1 November (in England): Henry Albert (Harry) Atkinson, 10th premier of New Zealand.
* 24 November (in Dublin): Rose Whitty, convent founder.
