DOCSLIB.ORG

Keeping Canada British the Ku Klux Klan in 1920S Saskatchewan

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Keeping Canada British the Ku Klux Klan in 1920S Saskatchewan Keeping Canada British The Ku Klux Klan in 1920s Saskatchewan James M. Pitsula Sample Material © 2013 UBC Press Contents Introduction / 1 1 The Ku Klux Klan Comes to Saskatchewan / 20 2 Jimmy Gardiner Attacks the Klan / 40 3 The Battle Rages / 70 4 The Klan Rampant / 91 5 Race and Immigration / 111 6 Anti-Catholicism / 137 7 The Threat of Moral Disorder / 178 8 Rage against the Machine / 202 Epilogue / 243 Notes / 251 Bibliography / 281 Index / 292 Sample Material © 2013 UBC Press Introduction Despite its American origins, the Ku Klux Klan in Saskatchewan in the 1920s was a distinctly “British” organization. Its central goal was to keep Canada British, which, to the Klan, meant building and preserving a white Protestant nation of British racial stock. It spurned lawlessness and vio- lence, abandoned the wearing of robes and hoods, and severed all ties with its counterpart in the United States. Ironically, its opponents, espe- cially Saskatchewan premier James Gardiner, denounced the Klan as un-British. He maintained that tolerance and respect for minority rights were at the core of the British political tradition and that, by rejecting these values, the Klan lost all credibility as a British organization. The Canada that Gardiner believed in had room for what today we would call multiculturalism, as long as it was expressed within the context of British institutions and loyalty to the Crown. Both pro- and anti-Klan forces in the province wanted to keep Canada British, but they had different ideas about what that meant and how it might be achieved. “Britishness” in 1920s Saskatchewan was an open, fluid concept, the meaning of which was highly contested. The Klan debate was part of a larger discussion about national identity that took place after the First World War. The war was a rite of passage, a cataclysmic event that helped transform Canada from colony to nation. However, this did not mean that Canada ceased being British. On the con- trary, despite the changes to Canada’s legal and constitutional status, the country remained British in the cultural sense and in the way it imagined itself. Canadian nationalism was a complex emotion. Many Canadians felt that they were both British and Canadian at the same time. They did not feel that they had to choose between one and the other. Thus, the Klan campaign to keep Canada British resonated with the wider society. It was part of the national discourse, albeit at an extreme end of it. The battlefield victories of the Canadian Corps in the Great War inspired a surge of national pride and self-confidence. Canada had won a place Sample Material © 2013 UBC Press 1 2 Keeping Canada British for itself on the world stage, a seat at the table of nations. Prime Minister Robert Borden attended the Paris Peace Conference as part of the British Empire delegation, and he signed the Treaty of Versailles. Canada was also accorded membership in the League of Nations, the international body that was supposed to enshrine collective security and prevent an- other war. Throughout the 1920s, as John Darwin writes, Prime Minister Mackenzie King waged “relentless bureaucratic war against any form of words that bound Canada to the chariot of British foreign policy.”1 He asserted Canada’s right to negotiate and sign a separate treaty with the United States (the “halibut” treaty of 1923), and he supported the resolu- tion of the Imperial Conference in 1926 that recognized the dominions as “autonomous communities within the British Empire,” a principle ratified by the Statute of Westminster in 1931.2 The phrase “British Com- monwealth,” which had been used from time to time since the 1880s, now came into common usage, at least as it related to Britain’s association with the white dominions. For the non-white colonies, “Empire” was still the preferred term. However, the dominions were not fully independent, and Mackenzie King’s strategic ambition in the 1920s “fell far short of self-sufficient Canadian nationalism.”3 There was no desire for Canada to make a clean break with Britain or, indeed, a break of any kind.4 Canadian national feeling in this period was a “distinctive blend of national status and Imperial identity.”5 Mackenzie King declared in 1927 on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales that Canadians had never been happier in their relations with the British Empire or more loyal to the Crown. The visit of the prince, the prime minister said, brought to mind “an allegiance to the Crown, a devotion to British institutions and British ideals, enjoyed in common by the peoples of the empire in all parts of the world.”6 The prince, for his part, said that he did not consider himself to be primarily a Briton and only secondarily a Canadian. “On the contrary,” as he wrote in a letter to his father the king, “I regard myself as belonging to Great Britain and Canada in exactly the same way.” When the monarch admon- ished him that if he called himself a Canadian in Canada, he would have to be an Australian in Australia and a New Zealander in New Zealand, the prince replied, “And why not? Of course in India there would be no ques- tion.”7 In Calgary he expressed the view that it was up to the Empire, and particularly to the United Kingdom, to make sure that the population of the Prairies was “British and not alien!” (exclamation mark in original).8 On this point at least, he was in agreement with the Ku Klux Klan. Sample Material © 2013 UBC Press Introduction 3 The British Empire was on display at the Wembley Exhibition in north London during the summers of 1924 and 1925. More than 25 million visitors passed through the grounds. King George V set the tone in his opening address when he said that the exhibition “represent[ed] to the world a graphic illustration of that spirit of free and tolerant cooperation which has inspired people of different races, creeds, institutions and ways of thought to unite in a single commonwealth and to contribute their varying gifts to one great end.” He spoke of the Empire as a “family” of nations, a brotherly association of diverse peoples. He then sent a tele- gram to himself that went around the world along the “All Red Route” and returned to him in London less than two minutes later, a fitting demonstration of the modern communications system that linked the various parts of the Empire. Canada’s pavilion at Wembley featured an exhibition of Group of Seven paintings, which won high praise from British art critics. Members of the group were self-conscious Canadian cultural nationalists. One of their maxims was: “The great purpose of landscape art is to make us at home in our own country.”9 A reviewer for the Toronto Mail and Empire wrote: “The work of these young artists deserves enthusiastic recognition and support. In their work the spirit of young Canada has found itself.”10 The group articulated the need for an authentically Canadian form of art istic expression, one that caught the character and spirit of the Canadian landscape, separate and distinct from the cultural traditions of Britain and Europe.11 However, the response of the Canadian public to members of the Group of Seven in the 1920s was distinctly underwhelming. Their first exhibition in May 1920 attracted only two thousand visitors, and only three of their works were sold, apart from the painting purchased by the National Gallery.12 At the second exhibition in 1921, there were no sales at all, again with the exception of those to the National Gallery. Neither private collectors nor the public at large were much interested. The fame of the members of the Group of Seven as Canadian cultural icons came later. By mid-century, reproductions of their work graced schoolroom walls, and during the Second World War copies were hung in barracks overseas to remind soldiers of the country they were fighting for. In 1967, stamps were issued featuring their portraits and paintings. But in the 1920s, the Group of Seven had not yet fully captured the public imagination. The highlight of the Canadian pavilion at Wembley, or at least the ex- hibit that garnered the most attention, was a life-size sculpture of the Prince of Wales made out of butter. He stood beside his horse against the Sample Material © 2013 UBC Press 4 Keeping Canada British backdrop of his Rocky Mountain ranch in Alberta. The tableau, which used up more than three thousand pounds of butter, served as a fitting advertisement for the Canadian dairy industry and the wonders of mod- ern refrigeration. (A young English visitor was heard to say that one of the prince’s ears would “keep us a week.”)13 Thus, Canadians chose to represent themselves to the world through the symbol of their butter- prince rather than a national hero who had been born and raised in Canada.14 The celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of Confederation on 1 July 1927 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa throws additional light on Canadian nationalism at the time. Liberal senator Thomas Chapais gave a patriotic address extolling Canada’s virtues and glories, without once mentioning the British Empire. He dwelt instead on Canada’s identity as a “wholly autonomous North American nation.” “Our country is not beyond the seas,” he proclaimed, “it is here, on this blessed, Christianized, civilized soil – a soil enriched by our pioneers, our missionaries, and our martyrs. Our country is Canada, the land of the maple, of the St.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Working Life of Thomas Ferens 1848 – 1888
    “The Southern World is my Home”: The Working Life of Thomas Ferens 1848 – 1888 Peita Ferens-Green March 2018 Word Count: 40,664 Contents Abstract 2 List of Figures 3 Acknowledgements 4 Introduction 6 Chapter One: Religious Influences, Intercultural Relationships and Examination of the ‘Self’, 1848 – 1851 25 Chapter Two: Pastoral Pursuits, 1852 – 1871 59 Chapter Three: A Mixed Slice of Life, 1872 – 1888 84 Conclusion 108 Bibliography 114 1 Abstract This thesis is a case study of Thomas Ferens, a Methodist lay preacher from England. Utilising personal testimony, it follows his life in New Zealand from 1848 – 1888, focussing upon his various occupational pursuits to explore how his sense of ‘self’ affected his migrant experience, analysing how he navigated life in the settlement, and how he was influenced by the world around him. Typically, migrant scholars using personal testimony focus on those of a (literate) middle to upper class status. A focus on Ferens, however, provides a working-class perspective. He similarly offers a perspective on Methodists in the Scottish Presbyterian Otago settlement. This work engages with studies of missionaries, religion in New Zealand, intercultural relations and constructs of self/other. It also addresses the impact of runholding and declaration of hundreds in North Otago and the need for personal mobility, both geographical and occupational, in this early period of settlement. 2 List of Figures Figure 1 Thomas Ferens; photograph, n.d. Source: Ferens family records. Figure 2 Anon. Old Mission House, Waikouaiti, 1840, 1840. Source: Collection of Toitū Otago Settlers Museum. Reference 67_115. Figure 3 Margaret (Maggie) Ferens (nee Westland).
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book the Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Giovanni Villanis New
    THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH BOOKS OF GIOVANNI VILLANIS NEW CHRONICLE Author: Matthew Sneider Number of Pages: 499 pages Published Date: 30 Sep 2021 Publisher: De Gruyter Publication Country: New York, United States Language: English ISBN: 9781501518423 DOWNLOAD: THE ELEVENTH AND TWELFTH BOOKS OF GIOVANNI VILLANIS NEW CHRONICLE The Eleventh and Twelfth Books of Giovanni Villanis New Chronicle PDF Book He analyzes how these people deal with unexpected setbacks and new challenges. Complete Index to Volumes I, II, and III of Warbasse's Surgical Treatment (Classic Reprint)Excerpt from Complete Index to Volumes I, II, and III of Warbasse's Surgical Treatment Bones, diseases of, talipes due to, 111. What tools do I need to succeed. Rethinking Biased Estimation introduces MSE bounds that are lower than the unbiased Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) for all values of the unknowns. They didn't just luck into the success they have, they created it. " In If Nuns Ruled the World, veteran reporter Jo Piazza overthrows the popular perception of nuns as killjoy schoolmarms, instead revealing them as the most vigorous catalysts of change in an otherwise repressive society. 35 case studies to support a competency-based approach to teaching and assessment. Whether repairing existing components, fabricating new ones, building a race car, or restoring a classic, this is the one book to guide the reader through each critical stage. As this book is more challenging than most, it will occupy your mind and require more focus. Capturing the complexities and challenges of protecting water as a resource on the one hand and utilizing it as a service on the other, this thought-provoking book will prove a valuable resource for researchers and students of both water law, and the nexus of environmental law with human rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Rethinking Biological Invasion Jonah H
    The White Horse Press Full citation: Johnson, Sarah, ed. Bioinvaders. Themes in Environmental History series. Cambridge: The White Horse Press, 2010. http://www.environmentandsociety.org/node/2811. Rights: All rights reserved. © The White Horse Press 2010. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism or review, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, including photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the publishers. For further information please see http://www.whpress.co.uk. Bioinvaders Copyright © The White Horse Press 2010 First published 2010 by The White Horse Press, 10 High Street, Knapwell, Cambridge, CB23 4NR, UK Set in 10 point Times All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism or review, no part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, in- cluding photocopying or recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-874267-55-3 (PB) Contents Publisher’s Introduction Sarah Johnson iv Strangers in a Strange Land: The Problem of Exotic Species Mark Woods and Paul Veatch Moriarty 1 Nativism and Nature: Rethinking Biological Invasion Jonah H. Peretti 28 Exotic Species, Naturalisation, and Biological Nativism Ned Hettinger 37 Plant Transfers in Historical Perspective William Beinart and Karen Middleton 68 Weeds, People and Contested Places Neil Clayton 94 Re-writing the History of Australian Tropical Rainforests: ‘Alien Invasives’ or ‘Ancient Indigenes’? Rachel Sanderson 124 Prehistory of Southern African Forestry: From Vegetable Garden to Tree Plantation Kate B.
    [Show full text]
  • English Language Diaspora and the Hit-And-Miss…
    Haque, English Language Diaspora And The Hit-And-Miss… ENGLISH LANGUAGE DIASPORA AND THE HIT-AND-MISS EXPERIMENTATION WITH ENGLISH CURRICULUM IN BANGLADESH Mr. Md. Azizul Haque Stamford University Bangladesh Email: [email protected] Abstract Despite the common diasporic origin English in Bangladesh is neither a native nor a second language, but a foreign language, in countries like India and Pakistan, English is used as the second language. The chronological history of English in Bangladesh has both political as well as social elements, which influence the learning of English at every level of education. In the mid-90s there was a growing demand from the educationists in the country to change the English curriculum as per ‘needs analysis’, and the curriculum is restructured aligning with the communication needs and the syllabus was largely transformed into a communicative one. Yet research explores that the needs are not served for the learners tend to by- pass the cognitive part of the language learning—thus failing to communicate properly. Now, in the second decade of the new millennium English curriculum along with other subjects has been made ‘creative’ at pre-tertiary level, but debates are still on to evaluate whether the system complies with the current practices prevailing within the institutional premises. The total picture thus presents a very confusing answer to the questions why all these efforts are being futile and why the English language teaching fails to touch the three main domains of learning—the cognitive, the affective and the psychomotor. The current study wants to explore whether such experiments with the curriculum and the dilemma of receiving or rejecting the idea of acculturation with largely an anti-colonial mindset hinder the desired performance of the language.
    [Show full text]
  • Coversheet for Thesis in Sussex Research Online
    A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 Ambiguous migrants: contemporary British migrants in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand Katie Wright Higgins Doctoral Thesis PhD in Human Geography UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX August 2016 2 Abstract A bicultural approach to the politics of settler-indigenous relations, rapidly increasing ethnocultural diversity and its status as an ex-British settler society, make Auckland a fascinating and complex context in which to examine contemporary British migrants. However, despite Britain remaining one of the largest source countries for migrants in Aotearoa New Zealand, and the country’s popularity as a destination among British emigrants, contemporary arrivals have attracted relatively little attention. This thesis draws on twelve-months of qualitative research, including in-depth interviews with forty-six participants, photo-elicitation with a smaller group, and participant observation, in order to develop a nuanced account of participants’ narratives, everyday experiences and personal geographies of Auckland. This thesis adopts a lens attentive to the relationship between the past and the present in order to explore British migrants’ imaginaries of sameness and difference, national belonging, place and ‘the good life’ in Aotearoa New Zealand.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Britons: Understanding the Unique British Communities in Brussels and Washington DC
    Global Britons 1 Global Britons Global Britons: Understanding the unique British communities in Brussels and Washington DC By Adam Hug, Andra-Lucia Martinescu and Poppy Ogier The Foreign Policy Centre April 2021 2 Global Britons Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................ 4 Introduction: Understanding the unique British communities in Brussels and Washington DC ........ 5 By Adam Hug and Poppy Ogier A comparative study of Diaspora engagement infrastructure: Ireland, Italy and France ................. 21 By Andra-Lucia Martinescu Conclusion: Share challenges for British communities abroad .......................................................... 32 By Adam Hug Appendix One: Diaspora governance and key institutions in the UK ................................................ 38 Appendix Two: Diaspora engagement and the Integrated Review.................................................... 39 By Andra-Lucia Martinescu Appendix Three: Country comparisons on diaspora engagement ..................................................... 46 By Andra-Lucia Martinescu Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 48 3 Global Britons Executive Summary This report focuses on two unusual but strategically important British communities overseas. It builds on the findings of 252 survey responses, interviews, a focus group and research to give a detailed
    [Show full text]
  • This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G
    This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Changed Lives, Flexible Identities and Adaptable Responses: A Comparative History of post-1950 Scottish Migrants in New Zealand and Hong Kong A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom By Iain Watson Doctor of Philosophy The University of Edinburgh 2017 1 Abstract This thesis explores two forms of modern Scottish migration, settler and sojourner migrations. It addresses the differing motives behind the choice of migration and the impact of different host environments on the creation and use of Scottish identity, the deployment of ethno-cultural capital, the use of social networks, Scottish associationalism, nationalism, and the return behaviours of Scottish migrants since 1950. The vehicle for this exploration is a comparison of Scottish migration to New Zealand and Hong Kong, where the former is used as an example of settler migration and the latter of sojourner migration.
    [Show full text]
  • 106 Expatriate Experience and the Fictional World of Diaspora
    Journal of Social Studies Education Research Sosyal Bilgiler Eğitimi Araştırmaları Dergisi 2018:9 (1), 106-123 www.jsser.org Expatriate Experience and the Fictional World of Diaspora Mohammed Ilyas1 Abstract Expatriate Writing, diaspora writing or immigrant writing is yet to be established as an independent genre of study. It came into origin as a result of “marginalization” or “hyphenated” existence of such immigrants and expatriates that narrated their traumatic experiences of multiple racial discrimination, ethnicity, nostalgia, alienation and like in their writings. In post-colonial literatures, “the expatriate sensibility” is already accepted as a legitimate literary term like “Europeanization.” This study analyses the feasibility of formulating a literary critical theory, exclusively to study and interpret writings showing expatriate sensibility and having the potential of growing into a distinct genre of studies. Although Expatriation presents descriptions of multiculturalism and marginalized territory in spatial terms, it does not belong to any geographical, political and social boundaries. Hence, Expatriate Studies can be seen as a specific literary discourse or given the distinction of a literary genre much like a work that is called a Feminist or a Marxist due to its specific literary theory. Keywords: Expatriate Sensibility, genre, literary theory, marginalization. Introduction Expatriate Writings has always been considered as a part of Diaspora Studies and not an independent genre of study, like other forms of studies such as Black Studies, African American Studies, or Ethnic Studies. The need to identify it as a distinct form of writing is felt because of the “marginalization” or “hyphenated” existence of those immigrants and expatriates who have narrated their traumatic experiences of multiple racial discrimination, ethnicity, nostalgia, alienation and like in their writings.
    [Show full text]
  • THE FALL of ORTHODOX ENGLAND the Spiritual Roots of the Norman Conquest, 1043-1087
    THE FALL OF ORTHODOX ENGLAND The Spiritual Roots of the Norman Conquest, 1043-1087 Vladimir Moss © Vladimir Moss, 2007 FOREWORD ................................................................................................................4 INTRODUCTION: ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT ...................................6 The Beginning of the End .......................................................................................6 The Rise of the Heretical Papacy .........................................................................8 The Growth of Feudalism....................................................................................11 The English Monarchy..........................................................................................16 Rome and the Holy Roman Empire....................................................................20 The Papal Reform Movement .............................................................................24 The Rise of the Normans......................................................................................28 The Challenge Facing the English.......................................................................30 1. SAINT EDWARD THE CONFESSOR (1043-1066)...........................................31 Early Years.............................................................................................................31 Years in Exile .........................................................................................................34 Edward the King....................................................................................................36
    [Show full text]
  • The Importance of Feeling English: American
    1 DIASPORA AND EMPIRE T THE RISK of stating the obvious, let me begin by asserting that any A discussion of American literature will at some point have to address the questions of how soon and in what respects British Americans began to think of themselves as American rather than British. Instead of assuming that different national governments mean different national literatures, I come to this problem from the contrary perspective: that the separation of American from British literatures is still at issue and was therefore noth­ ing like the clean break that we tend to project backward onto the late eighteenth century.1 I plan to look at a wide body of Anglophone literature from the late seventeenth, eighteenth, and early nineteenth centuries for the purpose of discovering when it began to divide internally into recogniz­ able British and American traditions. With this material, I move back and forth across the Atlantic, explaining how the American tradition defined itself in an ongoing and yet changing relation to the British. In this respect, my project participates in the growing body of scholarship concerned with transatlantic literary relations.2 My argument begins with the proposition that during the period from 1750–1850 American authors and readers were more interested in produc­ ing and consuming English literature than in creating, to borrow Elaine Showalter’s phrase, “a literature of their own.”3 The literary evidence in­ deed suggests that during this period, most writers and readers in America considered themselves to be members of the generic English culture that we generally mean by “British culture,” and they thought of their literature as products of such a culture.
    [Show full text]
  • Ethnic Diasporas and US Foreign Policy David G
    Export Citations Cite Print Email Ethnic Diasporas and US Foreign Policy David G. Haglund, Elizabeth Stein LAST REVIEWED: 15 JANUARY 2020 LAST MODIFIED: 15 JANUARY 2020 DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199756223-0069 Introduction The past two decades have witnessed a growing scholarly interest in the role that “ethnic diasporas” play in the formulation of America’s foreign policy. While the connection between these ethnic groupings and the policy process is not anything new in American political life, the systematic study of that connection is of relatively recent vintage. There are two chief reasons for this. First, changes in American demography since the 1970s have led to a fascination with issues related to “multiculturalism” and ethnic “identity”—in the context not only of domestic public policy, but also of foreign policy. In the case of the latter, an outpouring of articles and books has appeared dedicated to the phenomenon of ethnic “lobbying,” construed widely enough so as to include discussions of the “ethnic vote.” In addition, changes in the external environment set in motion by the ending of the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union have put a premium upon such new relatively new categories of analysis as “ethnic conflict” and diasporas. Widespread stories about its “decline” to the contrary notwithstanding, America remains the most powerful state in the international system; thus, it offers ethnic diasporas the promise of exerting outsized influence should they be able to make their preferences become Washington’s preferences. This article surveys leading bibliographical sources pertaining to these various themes, embracing as well the normative debates they have engendered.
    [Show full text]
  • “To Fill This Void Land”: Acclimatisation As Mnemonic Device in Victorian New Zealand Sally J
    Memory Connection Volume 1 Number 1 © 2011 The Memory Waka “To Fill This Void Land”: Acclimatisation as Mnemonic Device in Victorian New Zealand Sally J. Morgan Memory Connection Volume 1 Number 1 © 2011 The Memory Waka “To Fill This Void Land”: Acclimatisation as Mnemonic Device in Victorian New Zealand Sally J. Morgan Abstract The New Zealand landscape has been irrevocably changed and shaped through the intervention of British colonisation. The same stubborn refusal of New Zealand’s nineteenth-century British settlers to wear clothes that suited the climate, to have anything other than a northern hemisphere Christmas, or to orient their houses towards the warm north rather than the cold south, produced, for a period in its history, a faux Britain at odds with the reality of Aotearoa and its established Ma¯ori occupation and culture. This construction of “home” was a tenuous facsimile, full of dishevelled chrysanthemums struggling to keep their composure in their overheated garden bed, next to the monstrously large lavender and the rampant nasturtiums. This was a consciously invented mimetic landscape, aspiring to Englishness but ultimately failing. In attempting to maintain the myth of the “Britain of the South”, these settlers created a fragile collection of embodied nostalgia in the form of introduced flora, fauna, landscapes, and practices. This article argues that in their attempt to “fill this void land”, the British ancestors of many modern New Zealanders created a landscape disrupted by the plaintive, domestic familiarity of another place, a distant, lost home. It also contends that these intrusions, that were originally wrought in the name of memory, of home, of patriotism, are largely invisible in those terms to their descendents, modern New Zealanders.
    [Show full text]