A soldier and a bigamist, a family man and a fraudster,
Etienne Jean Brocher led an extraordinary life in 19-century France, North Africa and New Zealand.
Along the way he collected aliases, prison sentences,
and enemies as he slipped from town to town, escaping
debts and family duties. Ultimately, though, he faced the gallows in a double-murder trial that rocked New Zealand’s ‘dream society’.
Now his astonishing story – untold in book form – is revealed. Drawing on French military archives, family records, and newspaper reports from across colonial New Zealand, as well as Brocher’s own handwritten account, this absorbing biography untangles the complex trails Brocher left behind him in colonial towns and in the public imagination.
While he explores the complexities of Brocher’s character
– including his shortcomings – Brian Stoddart
lays bare the class prejudice and xenophobia that
Brocher faced as an immigrant of ‘the wrong sort’
and raises serious questions over whether he received
a fair trial. Dynamic and often surprising in its humour,
this stunning biography makes a vital contribution
to our understanding of how colonial New
Zealand shaped its ideal society and what could happen
when ‘outsiders’ didn’t fit the mould.
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