The Colonial Reinvention of the Hei Tiki: Pounamu, Knowledge and Empire, 1860S-1940S
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The Colonial Reinvention of the Hei Tiki: Pounamu, Knowledge and Empire, 1860s-1940s Kathryn Street A thesis submitted to Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Victoria University of Wellington Te Whare Wānanga o te Ūpoko o te Ika a Māui 2017 Abstract This thesis examines the reinvention of pounamu hei tiki between the 1860s and 1940s. It asks how colonial culture was shaped by engagement with pounamu and its analogous forms greenstone, nephrite, bowenite and jade. The study begins with the exploitation of Ngāi Tahu’s pounamu resource during the West Coast gold rush and concludes with post-World War II measures to prohibit greenstone exports. It establishes that industrially mass-produced pounamu hei tiki were available in New Zealand by 1901 and in Britain by 1903. It sheds new light on the little-known German influence on the commercial greenstone industry. The research demonstrates how Māori leaders maintained a degree of authority in the new Pākehā-dominated industry through patron-client relationships where they exercised creative control. The history also tells a deeper story of the making of colonial culture. The transformation of the greenstone industry created a cultural legacy greater than just the tangible objects of trade. Intangible meanings are also part of the heritage. The acts of making, selling, wearing, admiring, gifting, describing and imagining pieces of greenstone pounamu were expressions of culture in practice. Everyday objects can tell some of these stories and provide accounts of relationships and ways of knowing the world. The pounamu hei tiki speaks to this history because more than merely stone, it is a cultural object and idea. In this study, it stands for the dynamic processes of change, the colonial realities of Māori resistance and participation and Pākehā experiences of dislocation and attachment. The research sits at an intersection of new imperial histories and studies of material culture. The power of pounamu to carry multiple meanings and to be continually reinterpreted represents the circulation of colonial knowledge, and is a central contention of the thesis. i ii Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................... i Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................ iv Abbreviations .......................................................................................................................................... v Glossary ................................................................................................................................................... v List of Illustrations .................................................................................................................................. vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Part One: The stone .............................................................................................................................. 23 Chapter I: Pounamu and Māori ........................................................................................................ 25 Chapter II: Nephrite and Germans .................................................................................................... 37 Part Two: The objects ............................................................................................................................ 51 Chapter III: A Royal tour .................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter IV: Migrants, Māori and participation in the new greenstone industry ............................. 75 Chapter V: Colonial and transnational Industry ................................................................................ 91 Part Three: The idea ............................................................................................................................ 105 Chapter VI: Sporting chance. To win the British Derby .................................................................. 107 Chapter VII: Fighting chance. To defeat the German navy ............................................................. 123 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 145 Appendix: Photographs ....................................................................................................................... 157 Table 1: Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries ................................................... 157 Table 2: Adam Henry Pearson Maclay collection, Alexander Turnbull Library ............................... 158 Table 3: Colonial objects in post-colonial context. Private collection ............................................ 159 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................ 161 iii Acknowledgements Thanks are first due to Victoria University for the award of a Master’s by Thesis Scholarship, which encouraged me to leave full-time employment to complete this research. I am grateful for the advice and critique of my supervisors Professor Charlotte Macdonald and Dr Arini Loader. The wider History Programme at Victoria also deserves acknowledgement for the support and kindness offered during my years of undergraduate and post graduate study. To this end the alphabetical roll-call includes Steve Behrendt, Kate Hunter, Dolores Janiewski, Giacomo Lichtner, Cybèle Locke and Jim McAloon. Charlotte and Jim taught my first ever undergraduate class and on the strength of their clear and compelling enthusiasm for New Zealand History I gave up plans to major in English. In addition to the academics, I thank administrative staff Teresa Durham and Jonette Crysell for their knowledgeable assistance. I also greatly appreciated the work of the myriad of unknown archivists, librarians and curators, people I never met, who made the process of historical inquiry so enjoyable. Finally I thank my family for enduring my latter-day conversion to student life. I am grateful to my parents Marilyn and Phil for providing a home full of books and a daily newspaper and for childhood holidays amongst the splendour of greenstone country in Westland and Otago. Particular tribute is reserved for my partner Maryan for her unfailing love, support and intellectual challenge. iv Abbreviations AAG Auckland Art Gallery, Toi o Tāmaki AJHR Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives ANZ Archives New Zealand ATL Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BM British Museum CWT Imperial hundredweight: 112 pounds (lbs), approximately 51 kilograms (kg) DNZB Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, now located at Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of New Zealand ILN Illustrated London News IWM Imperial War Museum MCH Manatū Taonga, Ministry for Culture and Heritage NFU National Film Unit NZH New Zealand Herald NZJH New Zealand Journal of History ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography OYB New Zealand Official Year Book, Statistics Department RAF Royal Air Force Te Ara The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Manatū Taonga, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, https://www.teara.govt.nz Toitū Toitū Otago Settlers’ Museum, Dunedin WWII World War Two Glossary Kaitiaki guardian, caretaker Kapeu ear ornament, curved at one end Kuru ear ornament, of long cylindrical shape Hapu subtribal grouping Hei tiki neck pendant of human form Iwi tribal grouping Kāinga home village Koru loop or spiral design, a symbol of creation Mana power, prestige, status, authority Mauri essential spirit, a life force Mere short, flat hand-held weapon Pākehā non Māori person Pātaka storehouse raised on posts above ground Pekapeka endemic bat, a common design for neck pendants Pounamu the minerals nephrite and bowenite, also known as greenstone, tangiwai or jade Rangatira chief or leader Rūnanga council or governance structure for iwi or hapu Taiaha long wooden weapon, both spear and club Takiwā area or district Tapu sacred, under religious restriction Taonga treasure, highly prized possession or cultural property Tikanga custom, way of doing things Whakapapa genealogy, line of descent Whānau extended family and kin Whare building or dwelling Whenua land and domain v List of Illustrations Figure 1: Sluicing for gold on the West Coast ....................................................................................... 30 Figure 2: Werita Tainui, leader of Poutini Ngāi Tahu ............................................................................ 33 Figure 3: Advertisement for German-made greenstone objects .......................................................... 42 Figure 4: German lapidaries at work in a gemstone-grinding mill........................................................ 46 Figure 5: Gold-rush era Hokitika, 1868 ................................................................................................. 48 Figure 6: A Māori waka laden with imperial