John Boultbee (explorer)

John Boultbee (3 September 1799 – 1854) was born at Bunny, Nottinghamshire was the ninth and youngest son of Sarah Elizabeth Lane and her husband, Joseph Boultbee, minor Nottinghamshire gentry. A wanderer from boyhood, he was always impatient for new horizons.

By 1816, Boultbee was bound for Brazil. He was in Barbados in 1818, intending to be a planter, but left after four months, sickened by the cruelties of slavery. He emigrated to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) with his brother Edwin in 1823, and dreamed of reaching that 'second Elysium', Tahiti. The reality was the hard life of a sealer. so after two years and considerable privations in Bass Strait, in March 1826 he sailed for southern New Zealand. By March 1828 he was back in Port Jackson (Sydney), toiling at ship ballasting and fish-curing. He went to the new Swan River settlement in Western Australia in 1829, and then in January 1833 joined a whaler bound for Timor. After visits to the Philippines and Singapore, he arrived at Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in May 1834, remaining there until his death, probably in 1854. He compiled his 'Journal of a rambler', an account of his life from 1817 to 1834, in Ceylon about 1835.

His New Zealand travels began in Port Jackson in March 1826 when he joined a sealing party employed by Daniel Cooper and Solomon Levey, and embarked on the brig Elizabeth. On 5 April the ship anchored in George Sound, and boat crews and provisions were landed. Boultbee was assigned to a boat carrying six weeks' victuals, three muskets, a dog and clothing, which headed 'about 100 miles to the Northward'. Reaching 'wild romantic looking' Milford Sound the first day, they found game aplenty including weka, kākāpō and kiwi. They visited Cascade Point, and at Open Bay (Jackson Bay) saw a broken spear and flax sandals which were the first signs of Māori presence.

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