Charles Heaphy
Charles Heaphy VC (1820 – 3 August 1881) was an English-born New Zealand explorer and recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest military award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He was the first soldier of New Zealand's military to be awarded the VC. He was also a noted artist and executed several works of early colonial life in New Zealand.
Born in England, Heaphy joined the New Zealand Company in 1839. He arrived in New Zealand later that year, and was tasked with creating art for advertising the country to potential English migrants. Much of the next two and half years was spent travelling and executing paintings of landscapes and life around the centre of the country. When his contract with the company ended in 1842, he lived in Nelson for several years and explored large parts of the West Coast. He later moved north to Auckland to take up employment as a surveyor.
During the Invasion of the Waikato, his militia unit was mobilised and it was his conduct at Paterangi, where he rescued British soldiers under fire, that saw him awarded the VC. After his military service ended, Heaphy served a term as Member of Parliament for Parnell. From 1870 to 1881, he held a variety of civil service positions but his health declined and he moved to Queensland, seeking a better climate in which to recover. He died a few months after his arrival.
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