AKAROA RESTAURANT NAMED AFTER SLAVE TRADER

The Bully Hayes Restaurant and Bar in Akaroa.

An Akaroa restaurant is named after a South Pacific slave trader and paedophile but it appears that hardly anyone has noticed...

IN BRISTOL England protesters have used ropes to pull down the bronze statue of Edward Colston, a prominent 17th Century slave trader. It was dragged through the streets then dropped into the harbour.

Colston was a member of the Royal African Company, and between 1672 and 1689, his ships are believed to have transported about 80,000 men, women and children from Africa to the Americas.

Closer to home, the Bully Hayes Restaurant and Bar in Akaroa, approximately 80 kilometres from Christchurch, is named after notorious slave trader and paedophile Bully Hayes. The restaurant itself makes no secret about the history of Hayes. On the restaurant's website it reads:

'Legend tells us Bully Hayes (William Henry Hayes) arrived in the Pacific in the mid 1800's as a smuggler, illegal grog trader, swindler, gun runner and slave trader. He earned the title of "Pirate".'

But a more complete description of the American born Hayes can be found on Wikipedia:

'In May 1866 Hayes acquired the brig Rona and operated in the Pacific with bases in Apia, Samoa, and in Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands.  Hayes became notorious in the Pacific because of his 'recruiting' of Pacific islanders to provide labour for the plantations of Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa and Australia. While there was some voluntary recruitment of Pacific islanders, the activity predominantly involved kidnapping, coercion and tricks to entice islanders onto ships, on which they were held prisoner until delivered to their destination.'

Bully Hayes also had numerous charges laid against him for the sexual assault of underage females.

Despite all this, Hollywood still made a 1983 movie out of the life of Hayes called Savage Islands with Tommy Lee Jones as Hayes. It was filmed in New Zealand and Fiji with a New Zealand crew and supporting cast. It was the beneficiary of generous government tax concessions. 

The statue of Edward Colston toppled in Bristol.

In 2018 RNZ produced a podcast on Hayes. Although it provides an account of what it describes as 'his brutal treatment of his crew, his career as a slaver, the multiple accusations of rape and paedophilia', it also manages to describe him as a 'swashbuckler'.

The decision by the restaurant to name itself after a slave trader and paedophile appears to have generally gone unnoticed and unremarked on.

Scott Hamilton of the Reading The Maps blog however has now highlighted the restaurant's name, commenting on Twitter:

'I ran into Hayes & the restaurant that honours him when I was researching my book The Stolen Island, about the Pacific slave trade. I was amazed that anyone imagined Hayes a romantic, even admirable figure. Now would be a good time for the restaurant to rethink its moniker.'

He has also written a more lengthy post on his blog.