POLACK, JOEL SAMUEL, was born in England of Jewish parents, and was a man of considerable education and artistic and scientific talents. He travelled in Europe and North America (being in California in 1849). He was in the commissariat department in South Africa, and also in the ordnance branch, and came in the Chalcedony to Australia, where he was a ship chandler. Shortly afterwards he visited New Zealand and he was in business as a storekeeper and flax trader in Kororareka and Hokianga. In 1838 he gave evidence before the select committee on New Zealand, and he was a member of the Colonial Society in London. After the colonisation of New Zealand he returned here, settling first at the Bay of Islands, where, in 1842, he fought a duel with B. Turner (both parties being slightly wounded). He afterwards settled in Auckland, but eventually went to live in California. Polack published in 1838 New Zealand; being a narrative of Travels and Adventures during Residence in the Country between the years 1831 and 1837; and in 1840 a two-volume work Manners and Customs of the New Zealanders.

G.B.D.P., 1838/680; N.Z. Gaz., 1841, p. 87; Ramsden; Marsden, L. and J.; New Zealand Archives H.R. and 2; Polack, op. cit.; N.Z. Herald, 4 Jun

Reference: Volume 2, page 89

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