Why were letters, journals, and factual accounts important in 19th-century New Zealand writing?

In the context of 19th-century New Zealand literature, letters, journals, and factual accounts were significant because they represented the most notable writing of the era, as poetry and fiction had not yet fully developed. During the first 100 years of European settlement (1820–1920), immigrant writers were essentially Britishers abroad who had to make conscious efforts to adapt their literary traditions to a new environment.1

Because these writers were still in the process of relocating their imaginations to the "new" land, they relied on non-fiction forms to document their experiences. Notable examples of this writing include Lady Mary Anne Barker’s Station Life in New Zealand (1870), Samuel Butler’s A First Year in Canterbury Settlement (1863), and Frederick Maning’s Old New Zealand (1863). These works served as essential records of colonial life, providing a factual foundation for a national literature that would only begin to distinguish itself through later generations of writers.1