New Zealand's Empire

285 Pages·2015·12.771 MB·English

by  Katie Pickles, Catharine Coleborne (eds.)

STUDIES IN IMPERIALISM
GENERAL EDITOR: Andrew S. Thompson FOUNDING EDITOR: John M. MacKenzie
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NEW ZEALAND’S NEW ZEALAND’S
E
EMPIRE
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This edited collection is about New Zealand’s history as an imperial
EMPIRE
power, and about its evolving place within the British Empire. It revises Z
and expands the history of empire within, to, and from New Zealand by E
looking at New Zealand’s spheres of internal imperialism, its relationship A
with Australia, its Pacific Empire, and its outreach to Antarctica. 
L
A
In the study of the imperial past, both colonial and postcolonial
approaches have often asserted the dualism of core and periphery, N
with New Zealand seen as periphery, or on the edge. This book critically
D
revises our understanding of the range of ways that New Zealand has
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played a role as an imperial power, including the cultural histories of S
New Zealand inside the British Empire, engagements with imperial
E
practices and politics of imperialism, and the circulation of the ideas
M
of empire both through and inside New Zealand over time. It departs
from earlier studies of both imperial and national histories by taking P
a new approach: it sees New Zealand as both a powerful imperial
I
envoy, and as having its own sovereign role in Pacific nations, but it R
also examines the manifold ways in which New Zealanders look back E
at and comment on their relationships with ‘the empire’ over time. 

The book includes contributions from both established and emerging C
researchers, and will be useful for students of imperial history, histories O
of New Zealand, national history and histories of the Pacific. P
L I
Katie Pickles is Professor of History at the University of Canterbury, New E C
Zealand B K
Catharine Coleborne is Professor of History at the University of Waikato, New O L
Zealand R E
S
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A
E
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E D
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S
Cover image: Vintage World Map, 2015 © ISBN 978-0-7190-9153-7 )
Michal Bednarek, bednarek-art.com
Cover design: riverdesign.co.uk
9 780719 091537 EDITED BY KATIE PICKLES AND
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
C ATHARINE COLEBORNE
General editor: Andrew S. Thompson
Founding editor: John M. MacKenzie
When the ‘Studies in Imperialism’ series was founded more
than twenty-five years ago, emphasis was laid upon the
conviction that ‘imperialism as a cultural phenomenon
had as significant an effect on the dominant as on the
subordinate societies’. With well over a hundred titles now
published, this remains the prime concern of the series.
Cross-disciplinary work has indeed appeared covering the
full spectrum of cultural phenomena, as well as examining
aspects of gender and sex, frontiers and law, science and
the environment, language and literature, migration and
patriotic societies, and much else. Moreover, the series has
always wished to present comparative work on European
and American imperialism, and particularly welcomes the
submission of books in these areas. The fascination with
imperialism, in all its aspects, shows no sign of abating,
and this series will continue to lead the way in encouraging
the widest possible range of studies in the field. ‘Studies
in Imperialism’ is fully organic in its development, always
seeking to be at the cutting edge, responding to the latest
interests of scholars and the needs of this ever-expanding
area of scholarship.
New Zealand’s empire
SELECTED TITLES AVAILABLE IN THE SERIES
WRITING IMPERIAL HISTORIES
ed. Andrew S. Thompson
MUSEUMS AND EMPIRE
Natural history, human cultures and colonial identities
John M. MacKenzie
MISSIONARY FAMILIES
Race, gender and generation on the spiritual frontier
Emily J. Manktelow
THE COLONISATION OF TIME
Ritual, routine and resistance in the British Empire
Giordano Nanni
BRITISH CULTURE AND THE END OF EMPIRE
ed. Stuart Ward
SCIENCE, RACE RELATIONS AND RESISTANCE
Britain, 1870–1914
Douglas A. Lorimer
GENTEEL WOMEN
Empire and domestic material culture, 1840−1910
Dianne Lawrence
EUROPEAN EMPIRES AND THE PEOPLE
Popular responses to imperialism in France, Britain, the Netherlands,
Belgium, Germany and Italy
ed. John M. MacKenzie
SCIENCE AND SOCIETY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
ed. Saul Dubow
New Zealand’s
empire
edited by katie pickles and
catharine coleborne
MANCHESTER
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Copyright © Manchester University Press 2016
While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in Manchester University Press,
copyright in individual chapters belongs to their respective authors, and no chapter may
be reproduced wholly or in part without the express permission in writing of both author
and publisher.
Published by MANCHESTER UNIVERSITY PRESS
ALTRINCHAM STREET, MANCHESTER M1 7JA
www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
ISBN 978 0 7190 9153 7 hardback
First published 2016
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any exter-
nal or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that
any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Typeset by
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Printed in Great Britain by
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CONTENTS
List of figures—vii
List of contributors—ix
Acknowledgements—xiv
Abbreviations—xv
Introduction: New Zealand’s empire 1
Katie Pickles and Catharine Coleborne
PART I ‘Empire at home’
1 Te Karere Maori and the defence of empire, 1855–60 13
Kenton Storey
2 An imperial icon Indigenised: the Queen Victoria Memorial
at Ohinemutu 28
Mark Stocker
3 ‘Two branches of the brown Polynesians’: ethnographic
fieldwork, colonial governmentality, and the ‘dance of
agency’ 51
Conal McCarthy
PART II Imperial mobility
4 Travelling the Tasman world: travel writing and narratives
of transit 71
Anna Johnston
5 Law’s mobility: vagrancy and imperial legality in the trans-
Tasman colonial world, 1860s–1914 89
Catharine Coleborne
6 ‘The world’s fernery’: New Zealand, fern albums, and
nineteenth-century fern fever 102
Molly Duggins
PART III New Zealand’s Pacific empire
7 From Sudan to Sa¯moa: imperial legacies and cultures in New
Zealand’s rule over the Mandated Territory of Western
Samoa 127
Patricia O’Brien
[ v ]
CONTENTS
8 ‘Fiji is really the Honolulu of the Dominion’: tourism,
empire, and New Zealand’s Pacific, ca. 1900–35 147
Frances Steel
9 Empire in the eyes of the beholder: New Zealand in the
Pacific through French eyes 163
Adrian Muckle
10 War surplus? New Zealand and American children of
Indigenous women in Sa¯moa, the Cook Islands, and Tokelau 179
Judith A. Bennett
PART IV Inside and outside empire
11 Official occasions and vernacular voices: New Zealand’s
British Empire and Commonwealth Games, 1950–90 197
Michael Dawson
12 Australia as New Zealand’s western frontier, 1965–95 213
Rosemary Baird and Philippa Mein Smith
13 Southern outreach: New Zealand claims Antarctica from
the ‘heroic era’ to the twenty-first century 229
Katie Pickles
14 A radical reinterpretation of New Zealand history: apology,
remorse, and reconciliation 245
Giselle Byrnes
Index—262
[ vi ]
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1 Queen Victoria, Ohinemutu. Sculpture by anonymous
Italian carver, 1874; pedestal by Patu Whitiki, 1900;
canopy by Tene Waitere, 1901. Postcard: Tanner Brothers,
Wellington, after 1920. 29
2.2 Queen Victoria, Ohinemutu, ca. 1970, Photograph D. I.
Therkleson, ‘Rotorua Scenic Gems’ (Peter Cadogan,
University of Otago). 30
2.3 Te Arawa (Queen Victoria, Ohinemutu), 1986.
Photograph taken from Nicholas Thomas, Mark Adams,
James Schuster and Lyonel Grant, Rauru: Tene
Waitere, Maori Carving, Colonial History (Dunedin:
University of Otago Press, 2009), p. 59
(courtesy of Mark Adams). 32
2.4 Queen Victoria, Windsor Castle, 1869–72. Joseph Edgar
Boehm. Postcard: F. Frith & Co., Reigate, 75189. 34
2.5 Queen Victoria, Ohinemutu, 1985. Photograph by John
Dixon (courtesy of Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o
Te Arawa (OP-5403)). 40
2.6 Queen Victoria Bust – Houtaiki flag pole, Ohinemutu, ca.
1900. Photograph by Edward W. Payton (1859–1944)
(courtesy of Rotorua Museum Te Whare Taonga o Te
Arawa (OP-1475)). 44
2.7 Queen Victoria, Ohinemutu, 2011, Mark Stocker
(courtesy of photographer). 45
6.1 Cyathea dealbata, fern specimen on paper, ‘Ferns of
Australasia’, ca. 1900, Mary Ann Armstrong (State Library
of Victoria, H94.11/7). 103
6.2 Mary Ann Armstrong (1838–1910), ca. 1890 (courtesy of
Richard Daffey). 109
6.3 ‘White Terrace Rotomahana N. Z.’, albumen print and
fern specimens on paper, ‘New Zealand Ferns’, 1886–87,
Frank Arnold Coxhead and Mary Ann Armstrong
(courtesy of Hans P. Kraus, Jr., New York). 111
6.4 ‘Giant Tree Fern (Dicksonia billardierii)’, engraving,
South Pacific Fern Album, ca. 1889, George Treeby (State
Library of Victoria, 587.3 T93). 117
7.1 ‘Action near Rosaires’, map from Winston Churchill, The
River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of
[ vii ]
LIST OF FIGURES
the Soudan (London: Longman Green and Co., 1899)
Volume 2, opp. p. 344. 128
7.2 Sir Charles Fergusson. Crown Studios Ltd., negatives and
prints, ref: 10x8-2185-F (Alexander Turnbull Library,
Wellington, New Zealand). 129
7.3 Portrait of General George Spafford Richardson with
Samoan children. Rutherford, Alexander Mathieson,
1915–. Photographs of Samoa. Ref: PA1-o-446-61-2
(Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand). 130
7.4 Portrait of Ta’isi O. F. Nelson reproduced in N. A. Rowe,
Samoa Under Sailing Gods (London: Putnam, 1930). 134
7.5 ‘Reinforcement for the administration police at Samoa;
the departure from Auckland last Saturday morning’, staff
photographer, Auckland Weekly News, 26 April 1928
(Auckland Libraries, Sir George Grey Special Collections,
AWNS-19280426-38-3). 138
7.6 ‘Keeping the peace in New Zealand’s mandated territory
at Samoa’, photograph by A. J. Tattersall, Auckland
Weekly News, 13 September 1928 (Auckland Libraries, Sir
George Grey Special Collections, AWNS-19280913-40-3). 138
12.1 Trans-Tasman Permanent and Long-Term Migration
Flows, Year Ended 31 March 1948–2013 (Source: www.
stats.govt.nz, International Travel and Migration). 216
13.1 Robert Falcon Scott and his wife Kathleen, on Quail
Island (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New
Zealand). 232
13.2 Hillary, Wright and Ellis on tractors, Commonwealth
Trans-Antarctic Expedition, Stan McKay photograph
(Canterbury Museum, reproduced with permission of the
Christchurch Star). 235
13.3 Unveiling of the Pou Whenua carving at Scott Base
(Fairfax Media New Zealand). 240
[ viii ]
LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS
Rosemary Baird completed her history PhD thesis, ‘Across the Tasman:
Narratives of Kiwi Migration to and from Australia, 1965–1995’ at
the University of Canterbury in 2012. As an oral historian, she has
done many interviews focused on the Christchurch earthquakes,
contributing to the National Council of Women’s online interview
archive ‘Women’s Voices’, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage’s
‘Remembering Christchurch’ oral history project, and the University
of Canterbury’s Department of Management MBIE-funded project on
resilient infrastructure organisations. She currently works at Heritage
New Zealand in an outreach role, as well as contributing to CERA’s
Learning Legacy and Lessons programme. In her spare time she works
on her personal research interest: oral histories with men and women
involved in the construction of the Manapouri hydro scheme.
Judith A. Bennett teaches Pacific and environment history at the
University of Otago. Her publications include Wealth of the Solomons:
A History of a Pacific Archipelago, c.1800–1978 (1987); Pacific Forest:
A History of Resource Control and Contest in Solomon Islands, c.
1800–1997 (2000); and Natives and Exotics: World War Two and
Environment in the Southern Pacific (2009). With Angela Wanhalla,
she has just completed an edited manuscript, ‘Mothers’ Darlings:
The Children of Indigenous Women and US Servicemen in the South
Pacific, World War Two’ and is co-producer of a documentary on the
same, shown on New Zealand Maori TV on Anzac Day, 2014.
Giselle Byrnes is Professor and Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Faculty
of Law, Education, Business and Arts at Charles Darwin University,
in Darwin, Australia. Prior to her current role, she was Professor of
History and Pro Vice-Chancellor (Postgraduate) at the University of
Waikato. Giselle has published extensively on aspects of cross-cultural
histories and is the author of Boundary Markers: Land Surveying and
the Colonisation of New Zealand (2001), The Waitangi Tribunal and
New Zealand History (2004) and is editor of The New Oxford History of
New Zealand (2009). In 2006, Giselle was Fulbright Visiting Professor
in New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University, Washington DC.
She has served on a number of boards and is a past President of the New
Zealand Historical Association. She is currently examining how con-
temporary political and quasi-judicial processes use historical evidence
[ ix ]