Artist Unknown, Mission School, circa 1849 Image Source
A good friend recently showed me an illustrative version of the Lord’s Prayer in Maori.
I noted that it was credited to the National Library here in Wellington so headed over to see what related items were in their online archive. I came across the piece above – promoting an early mission school.
Thomas Kendall, Nuku Tawiti, 1824 Image Source
Alongside Maori adoption of Christianity, the archive also points to colonial attempts to understand local spiritual belief. Early missionary Thomas Kendall made this sketch of Maori gods – which he observed on carvings in 1824.
K.P.M. South Pacific Line, 1939 Image Source
Carvings feature elsewhere on the site – here on the cover of a promotion for a passenger ship run by major Dutch company, Koninklijke Paketvaart-Maatschappij. Framing Mount Cook they gave an exotic spin on the antipodean landscape.
NZ Railways, Auckland to Rotorua – the Thermal Route, circa 1954 Image Source
Switching from sea-faring to land transport, the Railways advertised its once popular route to my home town of Rotorua from Auckland. Rotorua drew tourists with its thermal activity, thriving Maori culture and welcoming hosts. The advertisement features a tiki alongside the train and Maori carving motifs.
Horatio Robely, Arms of Dr TM Hocken, circa 1900 Image Source
The tiki and Maori motifs were used again in this artist’s rendition of the initials of Dr Thomas Moralnd Hocken, who funnily enough headed to New Zealand to escape British winters. I can’t imagine he found much respite in Dunedin. A doctor, avid collector and historian – he donated his sizeable stash of books, maps, manuscripts and ephemera to the citizens of Dunedin in 1910 in the form of the Hocken Library.
Charles Hill & Sons Ltd, Models 27-49, 1897 Image Source
Fittingly, it was the good folk at the Hocken Library who had pointed out the Maori Lord’s Prayer to my friend – which I mentioned in opening as prompting my foray into the National Library Collection in the first place. Back home in Wellington I’ve been having a great time trawling the library archive discovering a wealth of local visual history. Hats off to the National Library – for old times sake:
Christmas Card, Kia Ora. For Old Times Sake, circa 1890-1910 Image source
Related posts:
A Wind-Swept Walk of Words
Germany’s Historic Hues
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
this is wonderful … i love that you are digging around the NL and finding these gems, then interpreting them for us in a new way. x
And not a buzzy bee in sight….or did you conveniently leave those out? ;)