'Baye Des Meurtriers. De Moordenaars Baay', 1753. After Isaac Gilseman's 'A View of the Murderers' Bay'

In 1642 Dutch explorer Abel Tasman discovered the western coast of New Zealand. The first European images of New Zealand and of Maori were the work of artists who accompanied him on this voyage. Isaac Gilsemans drew the scene in Golden Bay titled A View of the Murderers' Bay, collection of Alexander Turnbull Library. An affray between Dutch and Maori saw men killed from both sides. The foreground shows Maori warriors and waka with Tasman's two ships and numerous war canoes involved in the bloody incident. These drawings gave Europeans their first impressions of New Zealand's inhabitants. Murderers Bay gained its fateful title after the events that unfolded there in December, 1642.