Heritage et AL

In 1849, Auckland, the capital of the recently established colony of New Zealand, was a centre of cultural flux. Māori, settlers, traders, government, and missionaries navigated their relationships to each other and Tāmaki Makaurau amidst colliding cultures and disputes over land and authority. By this time, the Manukau Harbour had become a flourishing centre of Māori-missionary relations, boasting prosperous agriculture, trade, and an enthusiastic adoption of Wesleyan Methodist faith. However, the Manukau’s peaceful bi-cultural exchange would be short lived, ending as tensions between the settler government and Māori developed into the Waikato War. Manukau tribes Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua and Ngāti Tamaoho had close ancestral ties with the Waikato. After the establishment of the Kīngitanga in Waikato in 1858, Māori in Manukau were treated with increasing suspicion by the settler government and many fled or were evicted from their homes by July 1863. A unique perspective into their experien...

34 sketches in New Zealand for Mr Charles Abraham. Ref: Caroline Abraham, Sketchbook, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 3-111. Mrs Caroline Harriet Abraham is chiefly remembered as a recorder of the early colonial New Zealand landscape. Her cousin was the wife of Bishop Selwyn and she herself married Selwyn’s good friend Mr Charles Abraham. During the first half of their New Zealand residence, the Abrahams lived mainly at St John’s College where Charles was Principal. They moved south in 1859 when he was made inaugural bishop of Wellington. Ref:  Carolin e Abraham, Sketchbook, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 3-111.

This week is E Faahi Tapu he Vagahau Niue 2015 , Niuean Language Week for 2015. As a result of Sir George Grey’s collecting of Pacific Islands language materials , Auckland Libraries has a collection of Niuean language Bibles. Today we’re going to look at three of our earliest publications in the Niuean language. The following descriptions are taken from the Historical catalogue of the printed editions of holy scripture in the library of theBritish and Foreign Bible Society compiled by T.H. Darlow and H.F. Moule. In the introduction to the catalogue T.H. Darlow writes that The British and Foreign Bible Society specifically exists to promote missionary versions of the scriptures. St Mark’s Gospel, published in 1861. Ref: Ko e evagelia ne tohi e Mareko, p.1, 1861, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 226.3 KOEE.

This week marks Ni vosa Vaka-ITaukei ni vanua o Viti or Fiji Language Week for 2015. This is timely as we can happily share the news about some nineteenth century Fijian language items in Sir George Grey Special Collections that have recently been individually catalogued.  These Fijian language items were part of a larger collection of nineteenth century pamphlets in English, Polynesian and Melanesian languages collected by Sir George Grey . They include grammars, primers, vocabularies, and religious texts. The pamphlet shown below is an arithmetic textbook published in Levuka in 1865. Ref:  A vu ni vika vakaviti, p.1, 1865?, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, 372.72 AVUN.

On 6 February 1840 the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in the Bay of Islands. Lieutenant-Governor William Hobson afterwards circulated copies of the treaty for signature by other chiefs throughout New Zealand. Over the next few months five or six treaty meetings were held in the Waitemata and Manukau areas. Image: Captain William Hobson, circa 1835. Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 5-0205. The first of these was held during Hobson’s first visit to the Waitemata, on 4 March 1840. The exact location is uncertain, but was probably Karaka Bay, and if not Karaka Bay then certainly somewhere along the shoreline between the Tamaki River and Maraetai. Sixteen Ng āti Paoa, Ng āti Maru and Ng āti Tamater ā – and perhaps also Ngai Tai – chiefs signed a copy on this occasion, with Captain Joseph Nias and the missionaries Henry Williams and William Fairburn acting as witnesses.