Journal of New Zealand & Pacific Studies - Volume 2, Issue 2, 2014

This article will be divided into four parts. First, it will traverse the surprisingly rich historiography on Richard Seddon’s efforts to establish a New Zealand sub-Empire in the Pacific. Most commentary has been relatively benign, especially that resulting from the many theses written in my own department, at the University of Otago, under Angus Ross in the 1960s. In the 1980s these adventures began to be viewed more critically by the likes of Dick Scott and Malama Meleisea. General histories of the Pacific, though, such as those written by Kerry Howe and Ian Campbell, have tended to ignore Seddon and other leading New Zealand politicians who dreamed of a sub-Empire in the Pacific, such as George Grey, Robert Stout and John Ballance. More recently, Damon Salesa, as one of the first indigenous historians of the Pacific, has judged Seddon’s efforts in particular, and New Zealand’s record in general, rather more harshly. So too, have scholars in anthropology, especially those influenced by postcolonial theory.

Second, I will tell the story of how New Zealand only managed to gain control of the Cook Islands and Niue, even though Seddon hoped to govern Western Samoa and Fiji, and, potentially, Tonga, the New Hebrides and Hawai’i. Third, I will explain how utilizing the insights of the decidedly middle-aged ‘new’ Imperial history might provide a better sense of context, especially in terms of Seddon’s efforts at trying to build a ‘better Britain’ while expanding the ‘British world’. Fourth, the problem remains that the success or failure of the New Zealand effort requires some comparative or transnational analysis to discover if the most remote British colony fared better or worse than other major Empires in the Pacific. The most obvious comparison is with the other sub-Imperial power – Australia – and I will suggest some ways in which such a comparison might be made, as well as discuss Seddon’s views of the efforts of his trans-Tasman neighbour in comparison with his own.

Urbanization, Maori political radicalism and the re-emergence of the Treaty of Waitangi have all been part of the resurgence of Maori pan tribal and tribal identity since the beginning of the 1960s. This article traces the impact of this political resurgence on the writing of Maori history. It argues that in the 1960s Maori politics had little use for history as Maori communities responded to the contemporary experience of urbanization. As critical Maori voices emerged from the late 1960s, they drew on contemporary sociological and anthropological theory to explain Maori disadvantage, only gradually finding historical explanations for political marginalization and economic disadvantage. These explanations had by the early 1980s emphasized the universal experience of colonization and national Maori sovereignty. It is argued that only gradually did these narratives become located in specific tribal experiences, reinforcing claims of tribal sovereignty. The work of the Waitangi Tribunal accompanied by the devolution of the state sector encouraged the development of these tribal histories, which were often contested. However, early enthusiasm by historians for Tribunal history was from the late 1990s accompanied by a more critical response, concerned about the extent that history was serving and being distorted by political purposes. The article concludes by exploring Maori history in the post-Tribunal era, not only freed from the limitations of supporting Maori claims under the Treaty of Waitangi, but also from the political polarization of the 1970s and 1980s.

Maori people maintain ambiguous relations with the rest of the Pacific. Genealogical relationships continue to be celebrated in ongoing connections across a wide range of domains and discourses, but the colonial history of New Zealand has also turned Maori into a community of indigenous people that has been eclipsed by European settlers over the past two centuries. As a corollary, Maori are embroiled in an intense struggle for recognition of their proprietary rights as the indigenous people of the islands of New Zealand. Over the past few decades, campaigns for a comprehensive settlement of their colonial grievances have gathered some momentum since the Treaty of Waitangi was gradually recognized again in the 1970s and 1980s. The negotiations between Maori and the government about historical and social justice for the indigenous population, however, may to some extent be counterbalanced by the increasing number of migrants arriving in New Zealand, from Asia and the Pacific Islands.

In the current competition for scarce resources, Maori have consistently argued that within the New Zealand nation state the establishment of biculturalism should precede the development of multiculturalism, implying also that indigenous rights should prevail over those of settlers and migrants. The political dichotomy between Maori and Pacific Islanders raises the question to what extent it distorts historical and contemporary connections. This article explores the multiple histories and manifold relations between Maori and Pacific Islanders in the past and present in order to examine whether the paradox of historical connections and contemporary competition can be resolved.

We use health research and demography as a window onto the process by which New Zealand became a South Pacific nation. The making of the nation is the other side of the coin to the making of citizens. Counting and categorization is an important part of that process and tracing that history of counting through health research from 1937 to 1990 is what we do here. Becoming a nation with Pacific peoples as part of its citizenry is integral to the political identity journey of New Zealand from being a Better Britain of the South (Belich 1996: 302) to being part of the Pacific.

We focus at the level of the state and state-funded health research. Our data are the official reports of the Medical Research Council of New Zealand and research published mainly in the New Zealand Medical Journal along with census materials. This work is part of a broader ethnographic project on Transnational Pacific Health, which focused on the Cook Islands, Tuvalu and New Zealand. In this larger project we have researched Pacific people’s active engagement with the health sector, particularly in relation to culturally accessible services (e.g., Dunsford et al. 2011), but that story is not represented here.

As members of the Fiji polity, people from the isolated island of Rotuma have been able to move freely about the archipelago, leading to stepwise-migration internationally, with Australia and New Zealand as primary destinations. Rotuman men engaged in the pearl-diving industry in the Torres Strait in the late nineteenth century, who married local women, were among the first documented migrants to Australia. Following World War II, a steady stream of Rotumans, many of them married to white spouses, emigrated and formed communities in urban settings like Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland and elsewhere, where they have been remarkably successful. Their very success in the work force, along with high rates of intermarriage and dispersed households, makes getting together a challenging prospect, requiring strong motivation, effective leadership, and a commitment to preserving their Rotuman cultural heritage.

Oceania and the Victorian Imagination: Where all things are possible, Richard Fulton, Peter H. Hoffenberg (eds) (2013) Farnham: Ashgate Publishing, 220 pp., ISBN 978 1 4094 5711 4 (hbk), £54

William Colenso, His Life and Journeys by A.G. Bagnall and G.C. Petersen, Ian St George (ed.) (2012) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 496 pp., ISBN 978 1 8775 7815 1 (pbk), NZ$65

Huia Histories of Maori: Nga tahuhu korero, Danny Keenan (ed.) (2012) Wellington: Huia Publishing Ltd, 350 pp., ISBN 978 1 7755 0009 4 (pbk), NZ$49.99

E Tu Ake: Maori Standing Strong, Huhana Smith (2011) Wellington: Te Papa Press, 208 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 8569 8 (pbk), NZ$49.95

Museums and Maori: Heritage Professionals, Indigenous Collections, Current Practice, Conal McCarthy (2011) Wellington: Te Papa Press, 288 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 8570 4 (pbk), NZ$69.99

Education, Values and Ethics in International Heritage: Learning to Respect, Jeanette Atkinson (2014) Farnham: Ashgate, 238 pp., ISBN 978 1 4094 2895 4 (hbk), £60

Pacific Art in Detail, Jenny Newell (2011) Wellington: Te Papa, 144 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 8575 9 (hbk), NZ$34.99

Tangata o le Moana: New Zealand and the People of the Pacific, Sean Mallon, Kolokesa Mahina-Tuai and Damon Salesa (eds) (2012) Wellington: Te Papa Press, 391 pp., ISBN 978 1 8773 8572 8 (pbk), NZ$79.99

Ma’i Lepera: Disease and Displacement in Nineteenth-Century Hawai’i, Kerri A. Inglis (2013) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 268 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3635 1 (pbk), US$24

Drinking Smoke: The Tobacco Syndemic in Oceania, Mac Marshall (2013) Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 312 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3685 6 (hbk), US$54

Specters of Violence in a Colonial Context: New Caledonia, 1917, Adrian Muckle (2012) Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 272 pp., ISBN 978 0 8248 3509 5 (hbk), US$55

Vanishing Paradise: Art and Exoticism in Colonial Tahiti, Elizabeth C. Childs (2013) Oakland: University of California Press, 352 pp., ISBN 978 0 5202 7173 9 (hbk), US$49.95

Reconstructing Faces: The Art and Wartime Surgery of Gillies, Pickerill and Mowlem, Murray C. Meikle (2013) Dunedin: Otago University Press, 264 pp., ISBN 978 1 8775 7839 7 (hbk), NZ$60

Self-Portrait, Marti Friedlander (2013) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 264 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0784 1 (hbk), NZ$59.99

New Zealand Film: An Illustrated History, Diane Pivac, Frank Stark and Lawrence McDonald (eds) (2011) Wellington: Te Papa Press, 360 pp. (DVD included) ISBN 978 1 8773 8566 7 (hbk), NZ$84.99

Observations: Studies in New Zealand Documentary, Russell Campbell (2011) Wellington: Victoria University Press, 260 pp., ISBN 978 0 8647 3656 7 (pbk), NZ$50

The Blue Coat, Elizabeth Smither (2013) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 80 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0736 0 (pbk), NZ$24.99

The Lifeguard: Poems 2008–2013, Ian Wedde (2013) Auckland: Auckland University Press, 104 pp., ISBN 978 1 8694 0769 8 (pbk), NZ$27.99

Intercolonial, Stephen Oliver (2013) Auckland: Puriri Press, 76 pp., ISBN 978 0 9089 4340 1 (pbk), NZ$28.50