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Story: Cultural go-betweens

Ruatara translates for Samuel Marsden

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Ruatara translates for Samuel Marsden

In this imaginative reconstruction, Ruatara stands next to Samuel Marsden and translates his sermon on Christmas Day 1814. Ruatara and his fellow Ngāpuhi chief Korokoro (front, left) are wearing British regimental uniforms given to them by Governor Lachlan Macquarie in New South Wales. The location is Oihi Bay, Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands, the site of Ruatara's own . The missionary ship Activelies in the bay behind them.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library

Reference: B-077-002

by Jack Morgan

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

Mark Derby, Cultural go-betweens – The first cultural go-betweens, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/artwork/26786/ruatara-translates-for-samuel-marsden (accessed 11 June 2026).

Story by Mark Derby, published 22 March 2011.