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Vikings in the Sunrise

Sir Peter Buck's father was an Irish man and his mother belonged to the North Taranaki tribe called the Ngati-Mutunga. From this background this Peter Buck emerged son of an Irish rabbiler, son of a mother who belonged to a tribe imbittered by land confiscations by the the N.Z. Government, and fanatical followers of Tephiti. Peter Buck inherited his Irish father's gaiety and a deep interest and sympathy with the problems of his tribe.

When he went to Te Ante College he could only continue his studies by earning money during the holidays. Another "great Maori, Sir Apirana Ngnta, had the backing of a tribe to help him in his career, but Peter Buck was alone and Independent. While at Te Aute. Buck's original plan was to sit for matriculation and study for a B.A., but one his teachers and two a medical bursary of sixty pounds a year changed his mind. He studied and graduated at Olago University.

From then on Peter Buck held a variety of positions. He was the Director of Maori Health and Hygiene in Otago for some years.

In 1909 Peter Buck became a member of Parliament representing the Northern Maori. With Sir Apirana Ngata Peter Buck collaborated in passing land reforms which were surprisingly farsighted and little known.

Throughout his busy life Peter Buck's wide interest led him to study ethnology and in particular Maori textiles. This illustrates the man's versatility. Besides the preoccupation of his work he studied and did much research into Maori artifacts, so much so that his writings in the Polynesian society's Journal and elsewhere attracted the interest of the Bernice P. Bishop museum of Honolulu.

In 1927 this museum offered Peter Buck a position as field ethnologist. Buck's age was 50 when he accepted this position; this testifies to a youthfulness of mind in such a man to take up a new career which entailed much travelling and research. Success and recognition came early to him. He rose to become one of the directors of the museum and a world renowned scholar and author upon the Polynesian peoples.

Throughout his life of study and scholarship Peter Buck retained a gay and lovable demeanour and this was noted among those who he worked with.

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This material was supplied by Mr. Eric Ramsden, the biographer of Sir Peter Buck The book is in its first stages and when it is printed it will add to the scanty biographical literature of N.Z. and a record of the life of such a great Maori scholar cannot help but be a great contribution.

—James Hannan.