Some years ago I bought a copy of Peter Buck's printed Cawthron Lecture - The Coming of the Maori.Tucked inside it was a printed postcard of two Maori men.
It was not the usual subject for a Maori postcard - usually they were tourist scenes. The two intrigued me - the sitting one clearly of higher status and unusually well dressed for the period. It seemed an unlikely subject.
The card was tucked onto a bookcase shelf and has sat their occasionally attracting my attention ever since, until I recently watched a Shipwreck TV programme about the 1863 wreck of the Delaware near Nelson. It was the well known story of the rescue of most of the crew by the "New Zealand Grace Darling" Huria Matenga.
You can read her story and more on the wreck here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/delaware.htm
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/matenga-huria-te-amoho-wikitoria
http://www.theprow.org.nz/maori/maori-rescues/
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1m24/matenga-huria
The programme showed the photos of two brothers Hemi Matenga - Huria's husband and Hemi's brother Ropata Matenga - both of whom took part in the rescue with Huria. Clearly they were the same men as in my postcard - mystery revealed! Hemi is on the left. The reason for the postcard being produced was then apparent. The postcard craze was well after 1863 so this must have been backward looking when it was produced. There is no wording on either face of the postcard or the reverse other than the printed words postcard, so perhaps they were still well known in the district.
Huria and her husband lived well on a substantial land holding so the dress of Hemi is explained too.
1863 was the height of the New Zealand wars and many Taranaki settlers had relocated to Nelson temporarily. The rescue was a contrast to the situation elsewhere and this did not pass unnoticed at the time.
It was not the usual subject for a Maori postcard - usually they were tourist scenes. The two intrigued me - the sitting one clearly of higher status and unusually well dressed for the period. It seemed an unlikely subject.
The card was tucked onto a bookcase shelf and has sat their occasionally attracting my attention ever since, until I recently watched a Shipwreck TV programme about the 1863 wreck of the Delaware near Nelson. It was the well known story of the rescue of most of the crew by the "New Zealand Grace Darling" Huria Matenga.
You can read her story and more on the wreck here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nzbound/delaware.htm
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/matenga-huria-te-amoho-wikitoria
http://www.theprow.org.nz/maori/maori-rescues/
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1m24/matenga-huria
The programme showed the photos of two brothers Hemi Matenga - Huria's husband and Hemi's brother Ropata Matenga - both of whom took part in the rescue with Huria. Clearly they were the same men as in my postcard - mystery revealed! Hemi is on the left. The reason for the postcard being produced was then apparent. The postcard craze was well after 1863 so this must have been backward looking when it was produced. There is no wording on either face of the postcard or the reverse other than the printed words postcard, so perhaps they were still well known in the district.
Huria and her husband lived well on a substantial land holding so the dress of Hemi is explained too.
1863 was the height of the New Zealand wars and many Taranaki settlers had relocated to Nelson temporarily. The rescue was a contrast to the situation elsewhere and this did not pass unnoticed at the time.