Oh! Wonderland of the Southern Seas. Oh! Beauty Spot of the World Oh! Land whose glacier-crowned mountains pierce the fairest of Heavens—whose rivers rush over beds of crystal and gold—whose lakes, embosomed amid the lonely hills, shimmering in the sunshine, as it were vast sapphires in a setting of emerald, ruby, and amethyst—whose forests deep, dark, dense, are the home of a myriad birds that flit like living gems from bough to bough. Oh! Land of flaming sunlight and gloomy shadow, of calm and storm, of summer heats and wintry snows. Thou art so near and yet so far. -Robert P. Whitworth, "Proemia", Hine-Ra, or the Māori Scout: A Romance of the New Zealand War

AUTHOR AND AUTHORSHIP: ROBERT PERCY WHITFORD

The period of the late 1800’s, categorised by Lawrence Jones as the ‘pioneer period’¹ places Whitford as one of the first novelists to write and publish a New Zealand based story that also achieved international publication and readership. The pioneer period in New Zealand literature is considered to have been "vigorous, broadly based and central to the culture of the growing nation" ² It is a critically formative time in New Zealand’s literary history, and though Whitford is not a New Zealand native, his writing on New Zealand at this vital time in its history holds great importance to the development of New Zealand fiction. The pioneer period references the rigors of colonial society, and Whitford’s inclusion of a romance storyline provides an antidote to the "dangerous unpleasantness of realism" ³ Whitford holds a significant but unrecognised place in the history of New Zealand, both with regards to fiction and journalism. Whitford is described as a prolific miscellaneous writer. He is an inexhaustible and creative writer, engaging in a great variety of writing styles with a career as both a journalist and a fictional novelist.

Little is known about his life, yet the pieces provided build a story of a man who was immersed in the world of writing. Born in England in 1831, he emigrated from Devonshire to Sydney in 1855 with his wife Margaret Rivers Smith, where he joined the staff of Empire and later began several short-lived magazines of his own. In 1864 Whitford moved again to Melbourne, and with Ferdinand Bailliere began a series of gazettes of various Australian colonies. Here, he worked for several publications, including the Age, the Argus and the Daily Telegraph, and for a time edited the Australian Journal, as well as contributing to various publications. He spent time in New Zealand between 1870-1874, working as a journalist for the Otago Daily Times, where his work was described as “clever and witty”. He also carried out work on a series of fictional stories, largely concerned with his experiences in Australia. His fascination with Māori culture during his time in New Zealand resulted in the production of a complimentary poem Hine-Ra, A Māori Love Song , published in 1886 ⁴. The novel form of his Hine-Ra storyline was published in 1887, and is accompanied by five portraits by Herbert John Woodhouse, an Australian artist, as well as a glossary of Te Reo language and a brief historical prelude. Whitford died in 1901 aged 69, “almost forgotten as a writer but lamented by few as a ‘Bohemian of the spontaneous type, not the factitious’”. ⁵

THE NEW ZEALAND NOVEL

Erin Mercer writes that colonial writing “is writing that is inextricable from, the processes of colonisation. That is not just because it is informed by the values and ideas of the colonial culture from which it sprang, but because that literature is itself a tool of colonisation” ⁶. Mercer argues that representation of Māori as primitive and savage helped to justify the colonial project, which sought to exploit the unknown. Stafford highlights that “Acclimatisation was a mid-nineteenth century obsession”⁷. Indeed, the colonial construction of New Zealand plays out in various ways in the literature of the nineteenth century. Authors of New Zealand fiction sought to construct a sense of a unique, unexplored New Zealand, whilst bringing with them the literary tone and traditions of European Victorian writing. Novelists explore a nostalgia for Europe whilst at the same time battling a desire to create a unique set of literary rules for fiction written about and in Aotearoa. Colonial writing often involved descriptions of the native New Zealanders as barbarians, and as the country as a rugged, unmapped and wild land in need of exploration. Curnow writes in in ‘The Unhistoric Story’ that the early New Zealand story from the colonial period of the 1800's is “something different, something / Nobody counted on” ⁸, something that explored the exoticness of a country with new cultures, peoples and landscapes.

Early New Zealand novelists sought to adapt the traditions of literature to the new setting, making conscious efforts to relocate the imagination to the new home. The voice of early colonists has not been given much attention, with nineteenth century literature largely ignored in favour of later writing. However, it is the early colonial novels such as Whitford’s which allowed for a development of New Zealand literature as a discourse separate from other colonial writing. Nineteenth-century New Zealand was a place richly provided with culture, and was the perfect backdrop for literature. There was a long-established Indigenous culture of Māori peoples from which Pākehā European writers had been appropriating to enhance their own writing experience. New Zealand was believed to have been an unsympathetic environment for anyone with literary ambition in the nineteenth century; Literary efforts for colonial New Zealand literature were often criticised as being derivative and British, rather than expressing a unique New Zealand culture. Efforts to establish a literary culture were often seen as appropriation of the indigenous culture, and the colony was seen as an unpromising place for potential writers. As well as this, there was not yet an established publishing house, meaning all literary efforts had to be produced overseas. However, despite its issues, in reality it was an advantage to be a New Zealand writer within the literary market of the nineteenth century. Writers were able to take advantage of the foreign appetite for the colonial exotic which was a staple within the colonial writing world. Foreign readers desired texts which highlighted the exoticness and excitement of the new colonies. The cult of the exotic was “tied up with the tropes of European romanticism" ⁹. British readers were particularly fascinated by tales of native races, something New Zealand writers could provide in abundance. Descriptions of Māori life and culture filled this fascination, and desire for romanticised stories of New Zealand grew. However, as the literary canon grew, many of the early works produced in New Zealand were forgotten or overlooked in favour of more modern writing, especially as the modernist era took over. Whitford’s text is a perfect example of this forgetfulness; a text which perfectly captures a picture of New Zealand at the time has been all but forgotten.

"MĀORILAND" AND MĀORIDOM

The term "Māoriland" is commonly used in reference to the final decades of the nineteenth century and the first two of the twentieth, approximately 1880 to 1910. The term was commonly used to describe New Zealand by Pākehā who saw the potential in what was native to New Zealand, whether the indigenous people, plants or animals. “Māoirland” is writing which captures the essence of New Zealand, and explores the elements that are unique to New Zealand as a country and Māori as a people. Jane Stafford writes that “Māoriland” is “a descriptor enthusiastically taken up locally as a way of distinguishing what made New Zealand unique and consequently marketable among other settler societies within the British Empire” ¹⁰. Writers commonly used indigenous elements as a way of articulating the specifics of life in New Zealand. Stafford and Williams note that “Māoriland” is:

An archaic word with colonial associations, politically suspect…. [which] suggests…a world in which Māori warriors in heroic attitudes and Māori maidens in seductive ones adorned romantic portraits and tourist postcards.¹¹

As the term suggests, the central feature of “Māoriland” writing is the use of Māori sources to provide a sense of authenticity for a New Zealand experience. J.O.C Phillips traces the evolution of the term in the nineteenth century, with specific note to its use in Australia, observing:

[s]ome in New Zealand, especially in the South Island, took offence at this term; but in fact 'Māoriland' had long been in use within New Zealand itself. The word had, however, changed its meaning. When, for example, Judge Maning used it in Old New Zealand [1863], he thought of 'Māoriland' as literally the land of the Māori, i.e. the territory and cutlure [sic] of the Māori. By the end of the century Maning's 'Pākehā-Māori', that intermediary figure whose curious mixture of prestige and dependency reflected the dominion of Māori in the land to which he had come, had passed into history and the land of the Māori had become Māoriland.¹²

The central feature of “Māoriland” as its own discourse of colonial writing was that it sought to make use of Māori history, culture, people and landscapes to present a detailed history and understanding of New Zealand. “While drawing on the conventions of romanticism, this material is also filtered through colonial ethnology to give it an air of authenticity and of ownership” ¹³. “Māoriland” literature sought to present an authentic New Zealand with its own distinct literary canon that was unique to the country.

MĀORILAND: TREATMENT OF LANDSCAPE

"Māoriland" was “a literary synonym for New Zealand” ¹⁴, drawing on the conventions of romanticism which was filtered through colonial traditions to provide a sense of authenticity. It makes use of ethnology, analysing the characteristics of Māori culture and using elements of it for literary benefit. Pākehā portrayals of Māori in fiction ranged from the “noble savage” to attempts to explore and engage with the language and culture of the native peoples. There is an undeniable romance to portrayals of New Zealand in early literature; a native race which possesses its own myths, legends and way of live, a wild and unexplored setting, and a glamour placed over the land by visitors and settler alike. Whitford crafts beautiful imagery of New Zealand which places the reader directly into the setting;

Back from this opening into the land lay a dense bush of huge pine, birch, and totara, whose sombre foliage gradually became more and more darkened by the purple twilight, while farther inland, and belting the lower part of the distant ranges, shone the bright mass of red rata blossom, which imparts to the New Zealand mountain scenery so weird and lurid a glow.¹⁵

Save for the lapping of the water on the sandy beach, the occasional break of a wave against the rocky cliffs, the rhythmic murmur of the stream, and the droning buzz of the mosquitoes from the swamps, there was a profound silence, broken only by the rushing rustle of a night owl in search of his prey, or the distant querulous bark of the kuri (wild dog), a silence soon to be dispelled by the voices of the nocturnal fauna of the New Zealand forest.¹⁶

He crafts a delicate, well-detailed description of the landscape of New Zealand, developing an environment which tantalises the reader. Like much early colonial writing, His fiction creates a unique landscape which causes awe amongst readers, and depicts New Zealand as a land worth visiting. Exploitation of the New Zealand setting was common amongst nineteenth century novelists as they built on the fascination with the newly settled land. This exploitation comes from the romanticised idea of New Zealand that foreigners, and especially British colonials had. There was an intense fractionation with New Zealand during the late nineteenth century which stemmed from immigration efforts by the New Zealand Company which labelled the country as a settler’s paradise.¹⁷

MĀORILAND: TREATMENT OF MĀORI

Whitford’s writing appears to have the intention of wanting to create ‘The Great New Zealand Novel’, relying greatly on elements of “Māoriland” to construct a quintessentially New Zealand novel. His construction of Hine-ra as both a novel and a complimentary poem provides insight into Whitford’s desire to immerse himself and his readers in the fictional novel whilst exploring the elements of New Zealand which make it unique. Whitford seeks to examine the ‘exotic’ in his novel, with rich descriptions of Māori peoples, culture and the landscape in which he places his story. Early New Zealand writing seeks to establish some form on national identity and figure of what New Zealand ‘is’. Whitford himself seeks to incorporate a colonial identity into his writing, establishing strong ideas of New Zealand and especially Māori as a distinct identity. Hine-ra does a comprehensive and effective job of building descriptions of Māori peoples. His characters are described in immense detail, from their physical appearance to their clothing, actions of way of speaking. His characters are described with such detail that they come to life, comprehensively detailed down to the minute feature:

The Rangatira, who sat or rather squatted on a rug in the centre of the apartment in dignified state, was a man of about fifty years of age, and of stern, almost forbidding, aspect, having his face seamed all over with the moko of his tribe and rank, his emblazonment of savage heraldry in fact. He was clad in a flax petticoat or kilt, and a kakapo mat, and wore on his head a fillet of kea feathers, and in his ears a long greenstone drop, and a shark's tooth. In his hand he held the meré, the dreaded greenstone weapon that had crushed the brain of so many of his enemies, and cloven the skulls of so many slaves led out for sacrifice.¹⁸

These descriptions of Māori in intense detail painted a vivid image for the intended foreign readership which created a fascination with the native peoples and the interesting and mysterious culture of New Zealand.

He was clad in a flax petticoat or kilt, and a kakapo mat, and wore on his head a fillet of kea feathers, and in his ears a long greenstone drop, and a shark's tooth. In his hand he held the meré, the dreaded greenstone weapon that had crushed the brain of so many of his enemies, and cloven the skulls of so many slaves led out for sacrifice.¹⁹

Men are described as warriors, fearsome and ready for battle. The idea of the ‘noble savage’ was already one which was rife in the colonial culture, with encounters of the word savage to refer to Māori encountered frequently in the writing of the nineteenth century. Female figures in the novel are portrayed as “maidens” and “nymphs”; beautiful, graceful and fragile; or as native witches, drawing on a colonial fascination with superstition and native anecdotes. His chief whom he named Rangitira, is based off a factual chief of the time:

The chief, or Rangatira, of Te Nama tribe was a brave but ferocious warrior named Marutuahua, a descendant of the great chief of the same name, who was the progenitor of the powerful Kawhia tribes, of which, in fact, Te Namas were a branch.²⁰

MĀORILAND: THE MĀORI WARS

The specific historical moment which places Hine-ra as a New Zealand novel is that of the Māori wars. According to Jones, the New Zealand novel is one “which is related to this country, or to its people, or to the experience of life as human beings meet it”²¹. Whitford makes particular use of the Māori Wars in his novel, providing historical insight as a background for his fictionalised text. The Māori Wars, which were also known as the Land Wars, were a series of armed conflicts between Māori and European settlers which took place between 1845 and 1872²². Whitford’s novel has a focus on the tribes of the Taranaki region; he eludes to “the powerful Taranaki tribe” settled at Opunake Bay. The Bay has an intense Māori and colonial history as the site of tribal killings by Waikato and Maniopoto tribes in the 1820s and 1830²³, and the first Taranaki War which took place between 17 March 1860 and 18 March 1861²⁴ He writes of a “turbulent and warlike Māori….murderous and bloodthirsty”, and although his story is fictional, it details the “terrible slaughter” that occurred by both Pākehā and Māori during the nineteenth century. Although fictionalised, Hine-Ra draws on the reality of life in early New Zealand, with tensions between Māori and Pākehā as well as between native tribes.

Hostilities were imminent, unavoidable perhaps. The first skirmish took place at Ahu Ahu… near New Plymouth. It was brought about by a detachment of…about 100 settlers under the command of Captain Loyal[]…The infuriated Māoris rushed upon them, barking like dogs…and the whites fled.²⁵

It was this very question of disputed territory that led to the disastrous wars between the Māoris and the British that, a few years since, were the curse of New Zealand, and which were the fruitful cause of so much rapine and bloodshed²⁶.

Whitford details not only conflict between Māori and Pākehā, but also inter-tribal conflicts which were commonplace in the nineteenth-century. He writes “the Maoris…had long been disaffected, and altogether impatient of what they considered to be the encroachment by the whites upon their lands”.²⁷. The novel explores tensions between Pākehā and Māori, detailing intense battles, prisoner scenes and rebellions on both sides, as well as inter-tribal tensions between Māori:

When the Māori land is threatened with subjugation, and the Māori people with extermination. When the pale-faced Pākehās threaten to drive you into the sea, to destroy your pahs and kaingas with their artillery, and to seize on your fields and woods with the strong arm and the sharp sword.²⁸

Whitford details the Hau Hau movement, or hauhuaism, the name given to the beliefs of the Paimarire Churches. Hauhauism was based on interpretation of the old testament, which identified Māoris as one of the lost tribes of Israel. As a religious fighting organisation, it was seen an episode rather than a vital force in the nineteenth century struggle between Māori and Pākehā. At its widest extent, Taranaki, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay, and Hawke's Bay were disaffected. “The Hau-Haus, aided by the numerous tribes under Te Kooti, were in open revolt, and had commenced active war”²⁹. Whitford details the Hauhau warriors fierce battles with other tribes;

Surely it was prophecy, for even then the invading Hau-Haus had already scuttled the canoes, and were stealthily scaling the mount…None escaped; not one. The Hau-Haus had scored another sanguinary victory, and the Ngamaunganui tribe was extinct.³⁰

This exploration of war in his texts aids in developing a sensationalist plotline in the novel, and also deepens the texts place as a “Māoriland” novel by presenting a situation which was unique to New Zealand. Sensationalism was the nineteenth century literary trend of bringing together the traditions of romanticism and Victorian literature and examining topics which were previously seen as uncomfortable or taboo. “The sensation novel was a mushroom growth, a new kind of fiction which appeared from nowhere to satisfy the cravings of an eager and expanding reading public”³¹. By exploiting the topic of war, Whitford explores confronting topics to engage the reader. His incorporation of the New Zealand Wars in his fictional tale provides a plotline which seeks to excite and confront the reader and engage them in the reality of nineteenth-century New Zealand. If the aim of sensationalism is to stimulate the reader, the Whitford’s incorporation of historically accurate events which could be considered confronting or upsetting by the reader achieves this goal.

MĀORI LANGUAGE AND AUTHENTICITY

Hine-Ra makes an asserted effort to create a sense of authenticity for the New Zealand backdrop, and especially for its portrayal and literary exploitation of Māori. Whitford relies heavily on the inclusion of Te Reo, the native language of New Zealand to develop this sense of authenticity, weaving the language throughout his text. Whitford’s saturation of Te Reo throughout the text fulfils its purpose as a “Māoriland” novel, and also deeply enhances its authenticity. By frequently incorporating Te Reo language, Whitford provides a feeling of authenticity, enhancing the readers experience of the text as a New Zealand novel. He makes a concerted effort to translate each Māori word and phrase for the reader so as to enhance the readers experience and feeling of immersion further.

His incorporation of Te Reo also provides a sense of authority for Whitford as a “Maorliand” author. By exhibiting an understanding of, and willingness to use Te Reo, Whitford places himself as an authentic New Zealand novelist who makes use of the opportunities provided by New Zealand as a unique literary landscape. Te Reo only became a fully written language in 1820 when the first complete grammar of the Māori language was published in “A Grammar and Vocabulary of the Language of New Zealand” by the Church Missionary Society. Despite only living in New Zealand for four years, Whitford exhibits a developed understanding of the language in his writing. The language is woven effortlessly throughout his text aiding in the feel of New Zealand authenticity the novel possesses. He provides translations for many Māori words, both embedded in the text and as a glossary. His immersion of both himself and the reader into the native language of New Zealand creates a wholly unique novel.

Whitford also makes use of Māori proverbs throughout the text which aids in the feeling of legitimacy for the novels status as a New Zealand text, and provides further insight into Māori culture. “He kokonga whare e taea rapurapa; he kokonga ngakau ehore e taea. (we can tough every corner of a house, but the corner of the heart we can not”³². Proverbs have a significant place in literature, and especially with regards to accessing and understanding cultures and society. Proverbs are often unique to cultures and societites, and thus the use of them in the novel further enhances the authenticity of the text. By including traditional Māori proverbs, insight is provided into the Māori as a people, which would have been of great interest to foreign readers at the time. It allows readers to access a culture they otherwise may not have, and deepens readers intrigue into Māori culture.

In his prologue, Whitford also provides historical testament to the novel at hand and the events taking place in New Zealand at the time of publication. Although this testament is fictionalised, it draws from the truth, as does much of his novel. Although Whitford has fictionalised the events which occur in Hine-ra, much of the events he portrays are based off fact. In his testament he writes:

Of the tribes named none were more frequently at feud than the allied Waimate and Te Nama tribes, and the powerful Patea tribe, the disputed territory being a tract of land on the north bank of the Waingongora river. The two parties were fairly evenly matched, and in their desultory wars, or rather raids (for they were more like the forays of the old border freebooters than aught else, with the difference that their object was to carry off prisoners instead of black cattle), success as often attended one side as the other. ³³

The principal pahs, or palisaded enclosures, of the tribes were: of the Pateas, on the Patea river, 26 miles north-west of the Wanganui river; of the Waimates, near the Kaipokonui stream, about 38 miles further; and of Te Namas, one mile north-west of Opunake Bay. which is 17 miles from Waimate, and the scene where this story opens³⁴.

His prologue aids in further developing the reader's understanding of New Zealand, and provides insight into Whitford’s’ journalistic talent as he offers up fiction as historical truth. His novel is undoubtedly based off historically accurate events which he has fictionalised. Although his novel is not historically authentic, it does not take away from the tales effectiveness when it comes to developing an understanding of New Zealand, its peoples and culture during the nineteenth century. Of course, it would be unfair to expect a fictional text to be entirely accurate and factual, yet Whitford succeeds in retelling historical events in the fictional world. By altering fact for the purpose of fiction, Hine-ra succeeds in its task of becoming a uniquely New Zealand novel which details nineteenth-century Aotearoa. Whitford provides authentic insight into Māori language and culture in his text, and bases his plot off real events which had great significance to the early development of New Zealand. His creative licence as an author to fictionalise events enhances the novels appeal and effect on the reader. The novel remains in the realm of fiction whilst engaging the reader in the reality of New Zealand. Hine-ra or the Maori Scout: A Romance of the New Zealand War succeeds in placing itself as a “Māoridom” novel, and in exhibiting the traits of a quintessential New Zealand text. Although it has been largely forgotten amongst scholarship and criticism, the novel remains an example of early New Zealand writing.