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=﻿﻿Page 3 Background to Botany. = 18-22 January 1836 With the support of Te Wherowhero, Henry Williams organises a meeting at Otahuhu between the Waikato and Hauraki tribes. As a sign of their commitment to peace, the chiefs who are present agree to place a large block of supposedly disputed land into the hands of the missionaries. On 22 January 1836 thirty-two chiefs sign a deed of sale for 40,000 acres of land to William Fairburn. The boundaries of this area, generally known as the 'Fairburn Purchase', stretch from the Otahuhu portage southwards to the Papakura Stream, thence to the Wairoa River, thence to the Tamaki River. Fairburn makes payments for the land in several instalments between 1836 and 1839. 24 January 1836 Wesleyan missionary the Reverend William Woon arrives at Orua Bay on the Manukau Peninsula, where he establishes the first mission station in the Manukau area. Woon withdraws within six weeks, however, either because of lack of supplies, or in honour of an agreement over spheres of influence between the Wesleyans and the Church Missionary Society. April 1836 The Te Taou chiefs, Uruamo and Watarangi, meet with the Ngati Paoa chief, Kahukoti, at Orere in an effort to make redress for the killings at Whakatiwai in July 1834. 20 August 1836 The Reverend Robert Maunsell and his wife establish a CMS mission at Moeatoa on the Manukau Harbour (on the west bank of the Waiuku River to the north of Waiuku). The catechist James Hamlin soon joins Maunsell. Maunsell and Hamlin serve an area stretching from the Manukau Heads to the Waikato River; they also visit Karangahape, Papakura, and the Wairoa They set up a total of fourteen schools in the area. January 1837 The trader John Rodolphus Kent dies at Kahawai on the Manukau Harbour (near present-day Glenbrook Beach). According to local tradition he is buried at Te Toro, on the opposite side of the Manukau Harbour - more likely he is buried at Kahawai itself, beside the Taihiki River, and the Te Toro grave is that of the trader John Bushell. 5 July 1837 William Fairburn and his family set up a mission at Maraetai (on the Hauraki Gulf). The Fairburns set up a mission school. Fairburn regularly visits other villages in the area, including Kaiaua, Waikawau, Wharekawa, Waiheke, Turanga, Mangemangeroa, Paparoa, Urangahauhau, Otau, Papakura, Mangere, Otahuhu and Onehunga. 12 July 1837 William Fairburn signs a deed undertaking to return one-third of the Fairburn Purchase to Te Akitai, Ngati Paoa, Ngati Tamatera, Ngati Terau (Ngai Tai) and Ngati Whanaunga. While existing settlements are left undisturbed, the undertaking to return the land is neither widely publicised amongst local Maori, nor put into effect by the Crown.