1831 in New Zealand

The following lists events that happened during 1831 in New Zealand.

Regal and viceregal

 * Head of State – King William IV
 * Governor of New South Wales – Major-General Sir Richard Bourke succeeds General Ralph Darling on 22 October

Events

 * 14 January – Traders led by Joe Rowe are the first non-Māori to visit the Wanganui area. The party includes Rowe, Andrew Powers, a man named Tom, and an African or African-American sailor.
 * 16 April – Trade in preserved Māori heads as curios is outlawed by the Governor of New South Wales.
 * 1 October – John Guard Junior born at his father's whaling station at Te Awaiti in Tory Channel. He is the first European child born in the South Island.
 * 11 October – The first marriage between two Europeans in New Zealand is performed at Waimate North. William Gilbert Puckey marries Mathilda Davis.
 * November
 * – The Weller brothers return (see below) in the Lucy Ann and establish a whaling station at Otakou.
 * 25 December – John Guard Junior baptised in Sydney. (see above)


 * Undated
 * Joseph Brooks Weller commissions a vessel from shipbuilders on Stewart Island.
 * Joseph Brooks Weller arrives in Otago Harbour on the Sir George Murray and makes an agreement with local Māori claiming territory for King William IV before returning to Sydney.
 * Ngāti Toa under chief and war leader Te Rauparaha besiege Ngāi Tahu stronghold of Kaiapoi pā.

Births

 * 8 January (in England): William Garden Cowie, first Anglican bishop of Auckland.
 * 19 September (in England): William Rolleston, politician.
 * 1 November (in England): Henry Albert (Harry) Atkinson, 10th premier of New Zealand.
 * 24 November (in Dublin): Rose Whitty, convent founder.