Race and Identity in the Tasman World, 1769–1840

247 Pages·2016·2.232 MB·English

by  Rachel Standfield

empires in Perspective Empires in Perspective
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race and identity in the tasman World, 1769–1840
Rachel Standfield
British imperial encounters with indigenous cultures created perceptions and stereotypes that
still persist today. The initial creation of racial images in relation to violence – such as ‘warrior
race’ or ‘unoffending people’ – had particular consequences for land ownership. Whilst the
Māori of new Zealand were understood to be sovereign owners of their country, australian W R
aboriginals were not. Standfield examines these differences and how they occurred. o ac
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RACE AND IDENTITY
IN THE TASMAN WORLD, 1769–1840
Empires in Perspective
Series Editors: Tony Ballantyne
Duncan Bell
Francisco Bethencourt
Caroline Elkins
Durba Ghosh
Advisory Editor: Masaie Matsumura
Titles in this Series
1 Between Empire and Revolution: A Life of Sidney Bunting, 1873–1936
Allison Drew
2 A Wider Patriotism: Alfred Milner and the British Empire
J. Lee Th ompson
3 Missionary Education and Empire in Late Colonial India, 1860–1920
Hayden J. A. Bellenoit
4 Transoceanic Radical, William Duane: National
Identity and Empire, 1760–1835
Nigel Little
5 Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire
Sarah Irving
6 Empire of Political Th ought: Indigenous Australians
and the Language of Colonial Government
Bruce Buchan
7 Th e English Empire in America, 1602–1658: Beyond Jamestown
L. H. Roper
8 India in the French Imagination: Peripheral Voices, 1754–1815
Kate Marsh
9 British Narratives of Exploration: Case Studies on the Self and Other
Frédéric Regard (ed.)
10 Law and Imperialism: Criminality and Constitution in Colonial India and
Victorian England
Preeti Nijhar
11 Slaveholders in Jamaica: Colonial Society and Culture during the
Era of Abolition
Christer Petley
12 Australian Between Empires: Th e Life of Percy Spender
David Lowe
13 Th e Th eatre of Empire: Frontier Performances in America, 1750–1860
Douglas S. Harvey
14 Anglo-Spanish Rivalry in Colonial South-East America, 1650–1725
Timothy Paul Grady
15 Royal Patronage, Power and Aesthetics in Princely India
Angma Dey Jhala
16 British Engineers and Africa, 1875–1914
Casper Andersen
17 Ireland and Empire, 1692–1770
Charles Ivar McGrath
Forthcoming Titles
Baudin, Napoleon and the Exploration of Australia
Nicole Starbuck
Arctic Exploration in the Nineteenth Century: Discovering the Northwest
Passage
Frédéric Regard (ed.)
Th e Quest for the Northwest Passage: Knowledge, Nation and Empire,
1576–1806
Frédéric Regard (ed.)
Page Intentionally Left Blank
RACE AND IDENTITY
IN THE TASMAN WORLD, 1769–1840
by
Rachel Standfi eld
First published 2012 by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© Taylor & Francis 2012
© Rachel Standfi eld 2012
To the best of the Publisher’s knowledge every eff ort has been made to contact
relevant copyright holders and to clear any relevant copyright issues.
Any omissions that come to their attention will be remedied in future editions.
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages.
No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany information storage
or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the pub lishers.
Notice :
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks , and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
british library cataloguing in publication data
Standfi eld, Rachel.
Race and identity in the Tasman world, 1769–1840. – (Empires in perspective)
1.Ethnicity – Australia – Tasmania – History – 19th century. 2. Tasmania –
History.
I. Title II. Series
305.8’99150946-dc23
ISBN-13: 978-1-84893-240-1 (hbk)
Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
List of Figures xi
Introduction 1
1 ‘Th ese Warlike People’: Violence, Imperial Ethnography and Depictions
of Māori Sovereignty on the Endeavour Voyage 21
2 ‘We See this Country in the Pure State Of Nature’: Discourses of Blackness,
Absence and Imperial Possibility 41
3 ‘Th ey Would Speedily Abandon the Country’: Reading Land and
Resistance at the Time of First Settlement 61
4 ‘A Valuable and Benefi cial Article’: Th e Expansion of British Imperialism
in the Tasman World 83
5 ‘A Few Blankets … would Greatly Relieve their Wants’: Samuel Marsden in
New South Wales 99
6 ‘Th e Finest and Noblest Race Of Heathens’: Th e New Zealand Mission
and Racial Th ought in the Tasman World 117
7 ‘An Incontrovertible Right to their own Soil’: Land, Race and the
Humanitarian Evaluation of Empire 139
8 ‘Th at Innocent Commerce’: Th e Aborigines Committee Report’s Policy
Recommendations and the Unexpected Outcomes of Empire 163
Conclusion 179
Notes 185
Works Cited 213
Index 227
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Th is book is based on my PhD thesis undertaken at the University of Otago. Par-
ticular thanks must go to my supervisors, Tony Ballantyne, Ann Curthoys and
Rani Kerin for their exceptional supervision and their ongoing support both
during and aft er my PhD. Th anks also to Angela Wanhalla and Alan Lester for
their constructive criticisms and great help as PhD examiners and aft erwards.
Two anonymous referees are to be thanked for their helpful feedback. Th anks to
the History Department at the University of Otago, the Centre for Indigenous
Studies at Charles Sturt University and to Charles Sturt University for a publica-
tion grant, and the Monash Indigenous Centre.
Of course special thanks go to my family, both in Australia and in England,
and to Jason, for his love and support.
An earlier version of Chapter 1 appeared as ‘Violence and the Intimacy
of Imperial Ethnography: Th e Endeavour in the Pacifi c’, in T. Ballantyne and
A. Burton (eds), Moving Subjects: Gender, Mobility and Intimacy in an Age of
Global Empire (Urbana, IL and Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2009),
pp. 31–48. An earlier version of Chapter 3 appeared as ‘‘Th ese Unoff ending
People’: Myth, History and the Idea of Aboriginal Resistance in David Col-
lins’ Account of the English Colony in New South Wales’, in F. Peters-Little, A.
Curthoys and J. Docker (eds), Passionate Histories: Myth, Memory and Indig-
enous Australia, (Canberra: ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Incorporated,
2010), pp. 123–40.
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