A world beyond the waters: Māori travel in the Tasman World, 1793-1839

Abstract

An estimated one thousand Māori left New Zealand on European vessels in the early contact period. This thesis looks at Māori travel to Australia in the years 1793–1839 and argues that the increased movement of Māori across the Tasman Sea, and their participation in economic ventures in New South Wales incorporated them into a ‘web of empire’ during this period. Such active engagement with Poihakena (Port Jackson) in particular, as well as the larger Tasman, imperial and global worlds, suggests that Maori knew more of the world outside New Zealand before 1840 than is popularly acknowledged in New Zealand historiography. Chapter One begins the process of re-examining Māori travel, by revisiting some of the early, and better-known examples. Established historiography has tended to cast these trips to New South Wales as proto-state visits but I argue that they are better understood when placed within their imperial context. Chapter Two takes us to the Church Missionary Society’s Seminary for New Zealanders at Parramatta, established for the elite of Māori society to be educated and ‘civilised’. This chapter writes back into the history who exactly travelled to Parramatta and investigates both Māori and European motivations as well as the outcomes of such sustained travel. Chapter Three focuses on neglected aspects of Māori trade in the Tasman World. It illustrates the trips that many rangatira made to New South Wales in order to pursue commercial transactions, as well as the visits of Māori workers on board whaling and sealing vessels to Australia. Chapter Four moves to greater New South Wales and investigates the ways in which Māori were received in the Colony. It considers Māori as long-term overseas residents and not simply as whalers and sailors, washing around the Pacific. This affects not only our understanding of New Zealand history but also underlines the transnational nature of Māori travel for Australia as well.