friends with the Maoris
and learnt their language well enough to compile a primer in
pidgin-Maori, 'A Korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander's First
Book', which George Howe printed for Marsden at Sydney in 1815. In 1820
Thomas Kendall went to England with some Maori chiefs, and while there
helped Professor Lee, of Cambridge, to "fix" the Maori language--the
outcome of their work being Lee and Kendall's 'Grammar and Vocabulary of
the Language of New Zealand', published in the same year.

Returning to New Zealand, Kendall, in 1823, left the Missionary Society
and went with his son Basil to Chile. In 1826 he came back to
Australia, and for his good work as a missionary received from the New
South Wales Government a grant of 1280 acres at Ulladulla, on the South
Coast. There he entered the timber trade and became owner and master of
a small vessel used in the business. About 1832 this vessel was wrecked
near Sydney, and all on board, including the owner, were drowned.

Of Basil Kendall's early career little is known. While in South America
he saw service under Lord Cochrane, the famous tenth Earl of Dundonald,
who, after five brilliant years in the Chilean service, was, between
1823 and 1825, fighting on behalf of Brazil. Basil returned to
Australia, but disappears from view until 1840. One day in that year he
met a Miss Melinda McNally, and next day they were married. Soon
afterwards they settled on the Ulladulla grant, farming land at
Kirmington, two miles from the little town of Milton. There, in a
primitive cottage Basil had built, twin sons--Basil Edward and
Henry--were born on the 18th April, 1841. Five years later the family
moved to the Clarence River district and settled near the Orara. Basil
Kendall had practically lost one lung before his marriage, and failing
health made it exceedingly difficult for him to support his family, to
which by this time three daughters had been added. On the Orara he grew
steadily weaker, and died somewhere about 1851.

Basil Kendall was well educated, and had done what he could to educate
his children. After his death the family was scattered, and the two
boys were sent to a relative on the South Coast. The scenery of this
district made a profound impression upon Henry, and is often referred to
in his early poems. In 1855 his uncle Joseph took him as cabin boy in
his brig, the 'Plumstead', for a two years' cruise in the Pacific,
during which they touched at many