Representations of architecture and New Zealand in London, 1841-1860

Abstract

This dissertation considers the way that architecture and New Zealand were presented in Britain between 1841 and 1860. These two decades extend from the establishment of British sovereignty in 1840 and the creation of New Zealand as a Crown Colony in 1841, to the eve of the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. Through this span, shifting relationships were negotiated between the colonisers in Britain, the settler invaders in New Zealand and the indigenous population of Maori. Over this twenty year period, various notions of what 'New Zealand' meant became consolidated in the British mind. The invasion of New Zealand by British settlers and the emergence of the architectural weekly magazine in London are almost coincidental events which jointly prompt this study. In this discussion, architectural journals, magazines, newspapers and exhibitions are interpreted both as sites where the processes of colonisation were acted out and as instruments that regulated and reinforced colonial relations. This dissertation is a piece of historical research that is informed by interdisciplinary scholarship on Victorian periodicals and post colonial theory relating to settler colmues. Through close reading of literature and visual material, and through study of wider cultural and political contexts, shifting colonial relations and the processes of colonisation are investigated. Written accounts of employment in the building trades, church building, and commentary on building and settlement in the colony are studied. In addition, an art show, panoramas, exhibits at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and European theorists' citation of examples of the material culture of Maori are also investigated. These episodes enable an understanding of the processes of colonisation and the negotiation of colonial relations. Through this study, some previously unknown events in the development of New Zealand architecture are identified. Significantly, some of these complicate and counter generally held understanding of the New Zealand's colonial history. The presentations of the colony's architecture in London provide evidence of the development of the discursive construction of 'New Zealand'. This shifting development is tracked and discussed. Finally, there is observation on how these presentations helped shape early, and sometimes lasting, perceptions of architecture in New Zealand.