He came to the country as a 23-year old, set up Auckland's first trading post with fellow Scot William Brown and went on to become an immensely wealthy man and significant philanthropist.
Tomorrow marks the centennial of Sir John Logan Campbell's death, and the occasion is being marked by the reissue of his 1881 memoir.
Called Poenamo Revisited, the book is faithful to Campbell's original manuscript.
Campbell's list of achievements is extraordinary. He built Auckland's first house, set up its first business and opened its first shop. He was the first to export food from New Zealand; the first to send cargo directly to England.
He founded the ASB, was a director of the BNZ and NZI, bankrolled the major newspaper, Southern Cross; was Superintendent of the province; MP, Cabinet Minister, Mayor. And yes, he made a lot of money from brewing.
He spent 30 years working on his manuscript, the original of which is now housed in the Auckland War Memorial Museum Library.
The trustees of Campbell's Residuary Estate (see below) called on Professor Russell Stone, author of a two-volume biography of Campbell, to write an essay and notes for the new edition of Poenamo.
Stone has spent many years studying Campbell's papers, here and in Scotland, and says because he was such a public figure there is comprehensive historical information available about his life.
"From the age of 23 he was a person of significance, with a business career that spanned 60 years. He was among the first dozen free settlers in New Zealand and when he died ... people got a bit of a shock as they felt he had become a fixture."
As Stone notes in his introduction, Campbell's are "the only set of memoirs dealing at first hand with the Tamaki region in the critical year of 1840 when the governor decided to make land beside the Waitemata the capital of his new colony".
He says working on material for the new edition was a labour of love.
"The feeling of the trust was the book should be reissued in the form Campbell intended it. The version that comes from the artist's pen is the one that has complete integrity," says Stone.
Poenamo Revisited includes the lithographs Campbell commissioned, but which are missing from all but a few examples of the book.
LAUNCH
Cornwall Park Trust launches Poenamo Revisited tomorrow at the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Published by Random House. RRP $45