Barnet Burns was an English sailor, trader, and showman who became one of the first Europeans to live as a Pākehā Māori and to receive the full Māori facial tattoo. He travelled to Australia and found employment as a trader of flax in New Zealand in the 1830s. Burns returned to Europe in 1835 and spent most of his remaining years as a showman giving lectures, where he described the customs of the Māori, performed the haka, exhibited his Māori tattoos and recounted his adventures in New Zealand.

Tolaga Bay is both a bay and small town on the East Coast of New Zealand's North Island located 45 kilometres northeast of Gisborne and 30 kilometres south of Tokomaru Bay.