John Guard

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John 'Jacky' Guard (b.c. 1800 in London - 1857) was a whaler and trader in New Zealand. Guard can lay credit to a number of European firsts in New Zealand's South Island. His whaling station, established at Te Awaiti^[1] on the Arapawa Island^[2] shore of Tory Channel in 1827, was the first permanent settlement in the South Island^[3] (previous whaling stations having been seasonal). Guard's wife Elizabeth or Betty (née Parker, 1814 - 1870)^[4], whom he married in Sydney in 1830,^[3] was the first European woman to settle in the South Island.^[2]^[3] Guard's son, John junior (born 1 October^[4] 1831)^[5] was the first European child born in the South Island^[1]^[2]^[3] and his daughter Louisa (born late 1833)^[5]the first female child.^[2]^[3]

Guard was transported as a convict to Sydney in 1815 as a 15 year old.^[5] He first visited New Zealand in 1823, trading between Sydney and Taranaki. A year after starting the Te Awaiti station, in 1828, he started a branch whaling station at Port Underwood. Later he had to abandon the Te Awaiti station.

In 1834 he was wrecked off the Taranaki coast in the Harriet^[5] with his wife and family. In the Harriet Affair, a group of British soldiers of the 50th Regiment from Australia landed in Taranaki to rescue his wife and two children, John and Louisa and punish the kidnappers. This was the first clash between Māori and British troops. The expedition sent by Governor Bourke from Sydney was subsequently criticized by a British House of Commons report in 1835.

He settled permanently at Port Underwood in 1836, and was still whaling off the Kaikoura coast in the 1840s. His later life is unknown,^[3] but he probably farmed at Kakapo Bay