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Travel back to the sixties and seventies with Autonews and Motorman magazines

Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 | Anna Blackman | 12 Comments

Post prepared by Emma Scott, Library Assistant – Periodicals

We are very lucky at the Hocken Collections to be supported by many individuals that kindly decide to donate their material to us. One such donation that caught our attention last year was a large collection of motoring magazines from the late sixties and seventies. The donation included issues of Motorman, New Zealand Motorman and Autonews. These issues not only filled some gaps in our periodicals collection, they are also delightful to look at.

Motorman: v.16:no.2 (1971:February)

Autonews: v.4:no.6 (1970 October 12)

Autonews and Motorman contain detailed reports of races, rallies and drivers from all over New Zealand as well as overseas racing events which New Zealand drivers participated in.

Having been published in Dunedin, Autonews is an excellent resource for anyone looking at motoring in Otago and Southland from 1968 to 1974 as it covers local racing events as well as national ones.

Motoring enthusiasts will get a kick out of looking at the popular cars featured in both magazines. In 1970 Autonews featured cars like the: Chevrolet Camaro, the Chrysler Valiant Hardtop Regal 770 V8, the Triumph 2000 Mark Two and the exciting “new” Holden Torana.

New Zealand Motorman’s 1974 issues feature cars like: Datsun 140J’GL’, the “new” Toyota Corona 1600, the Renault 17TL and the Aston Martin Lagonda

Autonews V.3:no.23 (1970 June 22)

Tired of a car that just gets you from a to b? V.3:no.23 (1970 June 22) of Autonews solves that problem with an article titled “The Case for the Dune Buggy” with the subheading: “what was born as a gimmick in the sixties is the answer to driving boredom in seventies”. The article goes on to describe a gentleman called John Ormrod, a fibreglass specialist who constructed his own dune buggy prototype from a wrecked Volkswagen which the author was lucky enough to take out for a spin. “The buggy was complete with lights, horn, wipers and current Warrant of Fitness so there was no sweat about driving it through the busy Auckland streets”. It was quite the sight when it was driven down Auckland’s Queen Street: “We rumbled up to the traffic lights and everyone stood and stared.”

The author of the article was quite taken with the experience: “Maybe I’m an egotist but I liked driving a vehicle that people looked at. I liked having my head out in the air. I like pretending that I was Steve McQueen. I’d like a Dune Buggy”. “

For the woman of 1975 looking for a new car, the Ford Escort would be an excellent choice judging from the cover of the 1975 March issue of New Zealand Motorman and the front page of the article about the new Ford Escort.

New Zealand Motorman: 1975:March cover

New Zealand Motorman: 1975:March p15

New Zealand had many legendary drivers in the sixties and seventies. A lot of the drivers written about in the issues of Autonews and Motorman are now members of the New Zealand MotorSport Wall of Fame for their achievements, including: Graeme Lawrence, Jim Richards, David McMillan, Robert Francevic, Graham McRae and of course Bruce McLaren. The 1974:April – May issue of Autonews feature some of these drivers in their top ten New Zealand drivers list, perhaps not realising the lasting impact that they would have on New Zealand motorsport today.

Not only do we hold the magazines mentioned here, we also have subscriptions and receive regular donations of current motoring publications including: NZ4WD, New Zealand Autocar, Alfa News, New Zealand Performance Car, NZV8 and CATalogue : the newsletter of the Otago Jaguar Drivers Club Inc. If you are interested in motoring come along to the Hocken Collections and check them out!

References

Anderson, D. (1975, March 1). Ford’s Upgraded Range of New Escorts. New Zealand Motorman, 15-18.

The Case for the Dune Buggy. (1970, June 22). Autonews : New Zealand’s Motoring Magazine., 10-14.

MotorSport New Zealand. (n.d.). Retrieved April 10, 2015, from http://www.motorsport.org.nz/content/wall-fame

We Stick Our Necks Out and Grade the Men. (1974, April 1). Autonews : New Zealand’s Motoring Magazine., 7-12.

The musical heritage of war.

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Posted on 10/03/2015 by Anna Blackman

Post researched and written by Amanda Mills, Liaison Librarian Music and Audio Visual

Music touches our lives in many ways, and often stays with communities and individuals for decades, even centuries after it was first written. Sadly, this is not often the case with music written for, and around, The Great War of 1914-1918 (WWI). While British songs like “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” are still used frequently in film and television, and are in the public consciousness, many songs (both international and closer to home) have been forgotten. NZ written songs like “Call of the Southern Men”, “Haere Tonu” and “Thoughts” have disappeared from public and individual knowledge, but we are lucky sheet music has survived in collections both private and institutional. The Hocken Collections’ interesting WWI music sheets have been recently used for research, and are another way to view the narrative of war.

Many of the titles have been digitised, and are available to view and from Otago University’s OUR Heritage site http://otago.ourheritage.ac.nz/collections/show/60. More will be added in due course.

We have very little contextual information around some of these songs. Papers Past gives some information about the songs’ background and early performances. Some composer/lyricist information can sometimes be gleaned from military records if they served in the military. For example, the lyrics of Hampton Wood’s (H.W. Taman) “Keep On Keepin’ On”, subtitled “John Bull’s Advice for Those Who Can’t Go to the Front” suggest ways to help the war effort other than enlisting. Proceeds from sales went to the War Relief Fund, and the Prime Minister (William Massey) expressed the Government’s gratitude.

Known as ‘The ‘March King of the Antipodes’, Alex Lithgow wrote “March of the ANZACs”. Lithgow was born in Scotland, lived in Launceston, Australia, but spent about 20 years in New Zealand, primarily in Invercargill. “March of the Anzacs” was an upbeat, sprightly march, no doubt intending to inspire a patriotic swell of pride in the hearts of all who heard it. The lithographed cover illustrates the troops landing at Kabatepe (although the actual landing occurred further north at Ari Burnu), and presents an early image of the ANZAC troops.

Another treasure is “Haere Tonu: Maori War Song” by R.A. Horne and Ernest Hoben. The Press quoted the Christchurch Star’s view that the composition had caught the “true spirit and atmosphere of the haka”. The composer was the store manager of The Bristol Piano Company in Christchurch, and his advertisement prompted residents to call in to the store, where the song would be played for them. The lyrics (in both English and Maori) inspire patriotism, and encourage enlisting in the Expeditionary Forces, and looked to past Maori wars, as well as the current world war. “Haere Tonu” also had resurgence in the Second World War, associated with the 28^th Maori Battalion.

“Thoughts: Dedicated to all who whose loved one have suffered in the war” by R.S Black, and A.H. Banwell was published in 1919, and is the opposite of the optimistic, militaristic, patriotic attitude that most WWI music presented. Banwell was a returning soldier, who served as Lance Corporal in Gallipoli, and Sergeant in Cairo, before being discharged in August 1915, diagnosed with neurasthenia. He returned to New Zealand and deserted from Trentham in 1918, and was court marshalled in 1920.The lyrics by Black were possibly influenced by Banwell’s wartime experiences. “Thoughts” is very bleak in tone, presenting a darker view of life in the midst of war.

When memory’s merely a tragedy sad

And life a “procession of years”…

Then naught seems left to the sore-stricken soul

But a bed in the cold, cold ground

The proceeds of the sale of Thoughts went to the Returned Soldiers Club in Dunedin.

Australian and British WWI-related sheet music also feature in collections. One Australian war song in particular is directed at women. “Mother of Men: Dedicated to the Mothers of the men of the Expeditionary Forces” by Tom Armstrong was straightforward in message, the song leaning heavily on the image of the soldier’s close relationship with his mother. Similarly, the British “Somewhere in France, Dear Mother”, written in 1915 by Arthur Leclerq and Jack O’Connor was another wartime song that gained longevity. A patriotic song designed to rally the masses, the song highlighted sentimentality and national pride, again focussing on maternal pride and love.

A mother in tears it’s the first time she hears

From her boy who is fighting in the war

Still full of pride she dries her eye

And soon forgets her pain

Another British song from the era that addresses women in a non-romanticised way is 1914’s “Your King and Country Want you: A Woman’s Recruiting Song” by Paul A. Rubens. This was a successful attempt to persuade more men to enlist for war, from the voice of a proud woman. Vocalist Vestra Tilley would perform the song at recruitment rallies, and men who failed to enlist at the end of the rally were given white feathers, symbolising cowardice, by children especially chosen for the task. Profits from the sale of 1914’s “Your King and Country Want You” went to Queen Mary’s Work for Women fund.

Amanda Mills

Fantastic Film posters from the Forties

Monday, February 16th, 2015 | Anna Blackman | 4 Comments

Blog post prepared by Katherine Milburn, Liaison Librarian – Ephemera

Recently, whilst moving the posters collection from the upstairs pictorial collections stack to new cabinets downstairs, a fantastic assortment of old Hollywood film posters was rediscovered. There are just over 60 posters ranging in date from the 1931 Marx Brothers’ film “Monkey Business” to the 1954 film “Saskatchewan”. They were all donated to the Hocken Library in 1976 and had belonged to William Strong of Naseby.

The Hocken Archives collection includes a collection of William Strong papers [MS-1078], and these incorporate another set of Hollywood film posters from the 1940s and 1950s. William Strong was a watchmaker and jeweller who took over the watchmakers shop in Naseby opened by his father Robert in 1868.William was involved in a variety of local organisations, including the Naseby Cinema whose audience was likely drawn in by these enticing and colourful posters.

The Hocken Posters collection included a fairly limited range of New Zealand related film posters until last year when a concerted effort to improve our holdings was made. Many posters have been sourced via online auction sites. Coverage includes the 1947 film “Green Dolphin Street”, which features a destructive New Zealand earthquake, and the 1964 film “Runaway”, that starred Colin Broadley along with Barry Crump, Kiri Te Kanawa and Ray Columbus.

We continue efforts to improve our holdings of New Zealand film posters and ephemera and make them available to researchers of the New Zealand film industry.

Please ask at the downstairs reference desk or email Katherine.Milburn@otago.ac.nz if you have any inquiries relating to the posters and ephemera collection.

In-depth news coverage!

Monday, January 5th, 2015 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

Blog post prepared by Periodicals Library Assistant, Megan Vaughan

For the past several years Hocken staff have been working on rehousing our oldest and most precious newspapers in archival boxes. We discovered this copy of the Otago News copied out by hand. The rest of Dr Hocken’s collection of the Otago News are the printed copies but this particular issue is missing from the run.

This unfinished copy is in a mixture of both Dr Hocken and his wife Elizabeth’s (Bessie) handwriting. The masthead is in Dr Hocken’s handwriting and the rest is Bessie’s (confirmed after looking at a letter from Bessie to Hocken). Bessie copied many items for Dr Hocken’s collection and without her work his collection would be much poorer.

The masthead in Dr Hocken’s writing, the rest in Bessie’s.

A list of custom duties advertised on the front page

An example of a sketch of an ethnographic object from Bessie’s sketchbook with her handwriting alongside Dr Hocken’s.

Seventy five years of the New Zealand Listener

Thursday, October 30th, 2014 | Anna Blackman | 16 Comments

Blog post researched and written by Gina Rocco, Library Assistant – Periodicals

In June 1939, the first ever issue of the New Zealand Listener was sent free to all households with a radio licence. As the official journal of the state-owned New Zealand Broadcasting Service, its original brief was to publicise radio programmes and publish content related to broadcasting. The first editor liberally interpreted ‘broadcasting’ to encompass all human affairs, including the arts in particular. Consequently the Listener became an important contributor to New Zealand literary life, with many major writers among its reviewers and short form fiction contributors.

Seventy five years later the Listener continues to be a top seller, and is New Zealand’s only major weekly magazine combining current affairs, arts criticism, and entertainment.

Looking through our holdings, I encountered a constantly evolving format in both dimension and design. The original focus as a visual accompaniment to the auditory world of radio has gone full circle, with radio’s place in the magazine having been gradually usurped by television, and now also internet-related content. Radio New Zealand’s weekly programming highlights are currently allocated a mere one page per issue.

Here’s a taste of some randomly discovered content that caught my imagination:

1944: The Pahiatua Polish Children

The ragdolls on the cover of this June 1944 issue are promoting nationwide toy making contributions for the 734 Polish refugee children about to arrive at the Pahiatua camp that would be their temporary home for up to four and a half years. The associated article provides details for readers to write in and buy a toy pattern at a cost of one penny, the pattern choices being: duck, owl, rabbit, elephant or a Humpty Dumpty. The article provides an insight into soft toys of the day, describing considerations such as: the type of cloth to use (animal skin not recommended); type of stuffing (options given are wood-wool, scoured-wool, rags, flock or sawdust); procuring fencing or fruit-case wire to provide stiffening; and cutting cardboard ovals for the soles of the feet. The last section describes how to make a paper mache doll, including finishing it with enamel paint so that “it will be washable and everlasting”.

v.11:no.262 (1944: June 30)

1957: The Aunt Daisy Story

A serial biography beginning in August 1957 marked twenty one years of Aunt Daisy, regular Listener columnist and “First Lady of Radio”. The Aunt Daisy Story instalments had titles such as: A Victorian Childhood, New Plymouth Ho!, and The Fairly Gay Nineties. The first issue containing the series (1957:Aug.2) included a pull-out photograph of Aunt Daisy (unfortunately this insert is missing from Hocken’s copy).

Advertisers jumped on the bandwagon, hastening to associate their varied products with Aunt Daisy’s trustworthy image.

v.37:no938 (1957:Aug.2), v.37:no.941 (1957:Aug.23) & v.37:no.942 (1957:Aug.30)

1960: Twiss Family Puppetshow

The page below shows the format of the single page per issue dedicated to television that was typical of the early 1960s. The Monday to Sunday listings take up very little space, as television was broadcast only two hours per evening on a single channel.

The television page always included a story on current programmes or personalities. The article below describes Puppet Playhouse, a local programme featuring 23 year old puppeteer Greer Twiss (better known now for his career as a sculptor). Puppet Playhouse was a family affair: Greer made the marionettes, his mother the costumes and his father the props and set.

Channel 2 has just acquired a new announcer called Mr Throgmorton. Viewers will excuse his somewhat wooden features when they see him, because Mr T. is a puppet who introduces the new Wednesday feature, Puppet Playhouse.

v.43:no.1101 (1960:Oct7)

1961: Television – It’s wonderful!

In contrast to the relatively low key one-page inclusion of programme listings when television made its New Zealand debut in Auckland less than a year previously, this issue excitedly announces its arrival to Wellington and Christchurch, claiming that “about half New Zealand’s population will soon be able to watch television”

v.44:no.1132 (1961:May19)

The article provides advice concerning the placement and size of the television set – quite the contrast to the popular super-sized television screens of today!

The best size of screen occupies 12 to 15 degrees of the viewer’s field of vision and does not require him to move his eyes or turn his head to see different parts of the picture… A viewer should seat himself at a distance from the set equal to five times the screen’s height.

1973: Happen Inn People

This January 1973 cover shows the move to full colour and the larger magazine format that persisted until 1989.

Happen Inn was a Saturday evening pop music show hosted by Peter Sinclair.

v.72:no.1733 (1973:Jan29)

Turning the cover reveals a two-page spread of monochrome photographs by Robin Morrison documenting the exploits of the “Happen Inn People” during their summer break.

Pages 2&3 v.72:no.1733 (1973:Jan29)

******

Unfortunately, Hocken’s holdings of the Listener’s first three years are extremely sparse (only one fragile issue from late 1939), and we also have many gaps in later years. We will gratefully receive donations of early issues – please contact the Periodicals team (serials.hocken@otago.ac.nz) for details of collection gaps.

References:

‘First issue of NZ Listener published’, URL: http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/first-issue-of-the-em-new-zealand-listener-em-published, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 30-Jun-2014

http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-PolFirs-t1-g1-g1-t5.html

“New Zealand Listener.” In The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature, 1998-01-01. http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100232827.

Huia Tangata Kotahi : Niupepa Māori at Hocken

Monday, July 21st, 2014 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

In 19^th century Aotearoa New Zealand, Māori-language newspapers carried the written word of the day throughout the land. The first newspapers in te reo Māori were published by the colonial government shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Māori quickly realised the benefits of this new instrument of communication and by 1862 embraced print culture with the publishing of their own press.

Te Paki o Matariki, Cambridge, N.Z.: Kingitanga (Māori King Movement), 1894, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections, Hocken Collections, S14-573a.

Newspapers held great value for Māori because they provided access to new knowledge. Māori saw the power in news and the pleasure that could be derived from its consumption and its sharing. A new platform emerged offering opportunities to voice opinions and concerns. A reading community developed, connecting the population and bringing iwi together through issues of land, mana and rangatiratanga. The linguistic richness and rhythms of whaikōrero were carried over to the newspapers in the publication of letters and vigorous debates of politics, religion and education. Through newspapers, the spoken word could be transported beyond the marae.

Te Waka Maori o Niu Tirani, Gisborne, N.Z.: Gisborne Maori Newspaper Company (Limited), 1879, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Collections S14-573b.

Aside from the wide and varied coverage of local, national and foreign news, correspondence offers remarkable insight into storytelling, recipes and family gatherings. Obituaries farewell notable personages with revealing reflections on everyday life. Travellers describe journeys. Practical advice is offered on health and farming. Writings include whakapapa, waiata and whakatauākī, and discussions of wairua and kēhua.

Te Hokioi was the first publication printed from a Māori perspective, on a press gifted to the Māori king by the Emperor of Austria. This and papers that followed, Te Paki o Matariki, Huia Tangata Kotahi, Te Puke Ki Hikurangi, illustrate the confidence of Māori in printing their own language. They also demonstrate the variation of written Māori over time, in its translation, and diversity in language usage among different iwi.

Some of the items on display in the Hocken Foyer

The display at Hocken joins together a range of Māori-language newspapers printed by Māori and by Pakeha. The purpose of the display is to illustrate and celebrate historical records of Māori language held at Hocken. These printed pages remain a rich resource for Māori political, cultural and social history and represent invaluable taonga for the information they offer on ideas, experiences and everyday life of Māori. The display was co-curated with Dr Lachy Paterson from Te Tumu, University of Otago, who has conducted extensive research in niupepa Māori.

List of items on display:

DISPLAY CASE

1. Te Karere o Nui Tireni, Akarana, N.Z.: Hone Mua, 1842, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Williams Collection 0085.

2. Te Puke Ki Hikurangi, Greytown, N.Z.: K.H.T. Rangitakaiwaho, 1905, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Williams Collection 0974.

3. Ko Aotearoa, Maori Recorder, Akarana, N.Z.: He mea ta i te perehi o nga iwi Maori, 1861, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Williams Collection 0336.

4. Te Korimako, Akarana, N.Z.: Henry Brett, C.O. Davis, S.J. Edmonds, W.P. Snow, 1883. Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Williams Collection 0630.

5. Te Pipiwharauroa, he kupu whakamarama, Gisborne, N.Z.: H.W. Williams, 1900, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Williams Collection 0967.

PLINTH

6. The Seal of the Māori King, Potatau, wax imprint and metal die of the seal of the Māori King, Potatau, with explanation by Dr Hocken of the origin of the seal, c.1862. Hocken Archives MS-1460.

PLINTH

7. Te Paki o Matariki, Cambridge, N.Z.: Māori King Movement (Kīngitanga), 1894, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections, Hocken Variae v.18.

8. Te Hokioi o Nui Tireni, e rere atu na, Ngaruawahia, N.Z.: Patara Te Tuhi, 1862, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Williams Collection 0337.

WALL

Te Paki o Matariki, Cambridge, N.Z.: Kingitanga (Māori King Movement), 1894, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections, Hocken Collections, S14-573a.

Te Waka Maori o Niu Tirani, Gisborne, N.Z.: Gisborne Maori Newspaper Company (Limited), 1879, Māori-language newspaper. Published Collections. Hocken Collections S14-573b.

Huia Tangata Kotahi, Hastings: Kotahitanga (Unity Movement), 1893, Māori-language newspaper. Niupepa: Māori Newspapers. The New Zealand Digital Library, The University of Waikato. Retrieved from http://www.nzdl.org/cgi-bin/niupepalibrary/

Post prepared by Jacinta Beckwith, Liaison Librarian

Not just for the Young Folk

Thursday, June 12th, 2014 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

Blog post prepared by Emma Scott, Library Assistant – Periodicals

The Mail Minor, Oamaru, September 13 1940, v.2:no.37, p.1

While working on a project for the Hocken Collections in 2010, my colleague and I came across a delightful supplement to the Oamaru Mail that ran from 1939 to 1942 called: The Mail Minor: for the young folk. It was created by W.R.F. Naylor who refers to himself as “Major” in his editorials. It began with v.1:no.1 (1939 February 3) and ceased with v.4:no.30 (1942 July 24).

The Mail Minor is not your ordinary children’s publication, while it contains plenty of jokes and puzzles like you would expect, it also touches on current events occuring in Oamaru and throughout the world during that period. The back page of each issue has a special feature on a different topic which include titles like: “Well known dogs of the day”, “The centenary of the Bicycle”, “The Romance of Rubber” and “What’s in a Peanut”.

Major converses with children like adults in his editorials and doesn’t shy away from discussing the harsh reality of what children have to face during war time. WWII updates are scattered throughout, and some of the special features such as: “How Warships are Classified” and “The Swastika Through the Ages” seek to further children’s knowledge about the war. Major encourages children to help out the war effort in any way that they can. He suggests that boys could assist the war effort by joining a scheme to help on farms and girls could knit for the armed forces (v.2:no.49 1940 December 6).

Major welcomes children’s contributions to The Mail Minor, these original contributions are excellent and showcase what it was like for a child to live in southern New Zealand during WWII. In v.2:no.37 (1940 September 13) Gwendoline Goodall ( 11 years of age) shares her poem. Here is the first verse:

The War of 1940

Twenty-two years have passed in vain

Since the last great war was slain

Nineteen-forty now is the year

And war again is raging, hear

All along the battle line

Are anxious men awaiting the time

For the bloodthirsty cry to begin

The Mail Minor was not just enjoyed by the children of Oamaru. In v.3:no.33 (1941 August 15) Major writes: ”It was a pleasure to hear from Egypt this week that several Oamaru soldiers were greatly interested in the Minor containing the South School page. No fewer than ten of them were members of the school band featured in that issue.”

In v.4:no.30 (1942 July 24) the final issue, Major leaves his devoted readers a heartfelt farewell along with a photograph of the man himself. “Young and old read the Minor- public men have quoted it. Schools in both the North and South Islands have used it in their classroom, and writers and authors have expressed their admiration of it’s appeal and lay-out. It was my gift to the Oamaru Mail and to you – I enjoyed it, they enjoyed it and you enjoyed it.”

“Major”, The Mail Minor, Oamaru, July 24 1942, v.40:no.30, p.1)

The Williams Collection

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

Post prepared by Jacinta Beckwith, Liaison Librarian

Hocken Collections has the privilege of caring for a collection of early printed Māori material known as the Williams collection. The collection is named after Herbert William Williams (1860-1937), sixth Anglican Bishop of Waiapu. His father William Leonard Williams (1829-1916) and grandfather William Williams (1800-1878) were also bishops of the Waiapu area and all three were linguists and scholars of Māori language.

In 1924 Herbert Williams wrote A Bibliography of printed Maori to 1900 which lists and describes more than a thousand Māori print items published prior to 1900, and from this we get the Williams numbers. The criterion for the list was: “any work, however small, printed wholly in Maori or in Maori with a translation, has been admitted ; so also any work dealing wholly with the Maori language –as, for example, a dictionary.”

The first book of the collection is the first known book published in Māori, A Korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander’s First Book Being an Attempt to compose some Lessons for the Instruction of the Natives’. This was compiled by Thomas Kendall (ca.1778-1832) a school teacher based at Rangihoua in the Bay of Islands, with help from local Maori. Mr Kendall had it printed in 1815 at Sydney and used it in his school.

PIC 1: Title page of A Korao no New Zealand; or, the New Zealander’s first book; being an attempt to compose some lessons for the instruction of the natives. Williams Collection 0001, Hocken Collections

PIC 2: Pages from A Korao no New Zealand

Hocken’s copy of Kendall’s book was meticulously hand-copied from the only original surviving text held at the Auckland Museum Library by John Kenderdine (1860-1932) and later presented to Dr Hocken by Mr Kenderdine’s wife. It also bears an inscription: From Mr J King, First missionary to New Zealand to G A Selwyn Paihia, Bay of Islands and given by him to me at Port Macquarie New South Wales in June 1859. John King (1789-1854) was a shoemaker from Oxfordshire who lived in Parramatta prior to arriving in New Zealand as a missionary with Samuel Marsden. George Augustus Selwyn (1809-1878), also an Englishman, was the first Anglican Bishop of New Zealand and Melanesia. Letters and journals of both Mr King and Bishop Selwyn are held at Hocken.

A second item in the Williams Collection with connection to Bishop Selwyn is a small edition of the Gospel of St Matthew: Ko te rongo pai ki te ritenga o Matiu. This was printed in London in 1841 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and brought out to New Zealand by Bishop Selwyn for distribution. A bishop’s mitre is embossed on the front cover.

PIC 3: Ko te rongo pai ki te ritenga o Matiu. Williams Collection 0065, Hocken Collections

PIC 4: Pages from Ko te rongo pai ki te ritenga o Matiu

At this time the predominant written material available for Maori to read aside newspapers and other written ephemera left by European visitors were scriptures in Māori. Hocken’s Williams collection currently comprises just over two hundred items and many of these are religious texts: scripture, prayer books, hymns and prayers books. The collection also comprises Māori newspapers and gazettes, letters of correspondence, translations of literature, lessons in money matters and medicinal remedy recipes. The collection provides a glimpse into life and communication between early missionaries and local Māori and demonstrates early European effort in learning the indigenous language.

New acquisition : Legend Land of Mysteries

Friday, January 4th, 2013 | Anna Blackman | No Comments

On 23 December 1953 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in New Zealand for a royal tour. It was a big deal for the country, and it’s been estimated that three quarters of New Zealanders saw the young Queen.

A new addition to the Hocken Collections is a memento of that time of optimism. Legend Land of Mysteries, written by Florence Wynn-Williams was a Christmas gift presented by the author to the Queen for Princess Anne. We have acquired the author’s copy, one of only six published, and it is the only copy whose binding matches that of the presentation copy. Consisting of children’s poems with hand-drawn and coloured illustrations, it is a delightful work with a distinctly New Zealand flavour.

One of the book’s charming illustrations:

Blog post prepared by Hocken Publications Coordinator, Pete Sime

WhakanuiaTe Wiki o te Reo Māori

Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 | Anna Blackman | 1 Comment

E ngā kōtuku rerenga tahi, koutou ngā manu tioriori, i waiho mai i ngā raukura nei hei tākiri i te manawa, hei hiki i nga parirau, kia taea ai te hōkai ki te rangi, tēnā koutou.

Before the written word in New Zealand, Māori lived with an oral language reaching back to the homeland of Hawaiki. Within an oral tradition there is company and conversation, ritual and performance, and the warmth and intimacy of the human voice. That voice is carried on the living breath, linking the present to the ancestral past.

It was into this world of oral knowledge that the early Europeans introduced a print culture and its attendant literacy. Once Māori mastered the art of writing as well as an introduced orthography, they became prolific correspondents. Māori wrote not only to each other, but also to the new governing power. In their correspondence, Māori developed a written convention based largely on the protocol of the marae and particularly that of whaikorero. Letters on display, one from Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipi Te Waharoa illustrate this use of the oral tradition extending into letter writing.

The introduction of literacy also saw changes to Māori language use with a shift of emphasis from the ear to the eye. It was no longer necessary to commit the words of rituals to memory because they could be written down and referred to when required. This resulted in Māori families across Aotearoa committing genealogies, tribal histories, chants and proverbs to the written page rather than to memory. Many of these notebooks have found their way into heritage collections such as the Hocken and some of these are included in the exhibition.

As the literate Māori population burgeoned in the 1830s and 1840s, Europeans were also employing learning technologies intent on gaining insight and understanding into Māori language, knowledge and culture. Illustrating this are two taonga from Europeans who lived in the Waikouaiti area. Wesleyan Missionary James Watkin’s notebook of collected Māori vocabulary shows Kai Tahu dialect and Watkin’s detailed enthusiasm for learning te reo rakatira. Also on display are Land agent W.B.D. Mantell’s unique bundles of cards recording phonetically, the names of hapū of Otago. Presumably they were developed by Mantell as a mnemonic learning device to understand the relationships between groups of hapū and their associated land and natural resource rights.

On display at the Hocken Collections is a simple exhibition of 10 taonga. The exhibition was co-curated with Associate Professor Poia Rewi, Dr Katharina Ruckstuhl and Nikita Hall from the University of Otago who are researching Māori Language use among Dunedin whānau. We wanted to bring together a collection of taonga that celebrate the enduring mana of the Māori language; taonga that illustrate how the oral tradition, invigorated by the written word, continues to express the tone and soul of the people.

Tēnā anō rā tātou katoa. Ka huri.

ITEMS ON DISPLAY
1. A Korao no New Zealand. Sydney: Printed by G. Howe, 1815. Facsimile. WI. Hocken Collections.
2. Alphabet sample written by Hongi Hika, c.1814. No.68 in Samuel Marsden Correspondence 1813-1815, MS-0054, Hocken Collections.
3. Letter from Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi Te Waharoa to Edward Shortland, 1 May 1866. Shortland Papers, MS-599/1, Hocken Collections.
4. Letter from Matene Te Whiwhi, Otaki, 19 November 1863. Shortland Papers, MS-0385/002, Hocken Collections.
5. Mohi Ruatapu (Ngāti Porou) Manuscript containing whakapapa, karakia, historical narratives, May 1875. MS-0045c, Hocken Collections.
6. Hauhau Prayer Book entitled Karakia mo te Hauhau, c.1860. Misc-MS-0175, Hocken Collections.
7. Notebook of Southern place names, waiata and vocabulary, c.1929. Ulva, L. Belsham Papers, Misc-MS-0933/002, Hocken Collections.
8. Vocabulary of Māori words compiled by Reverend James Watkin at Waikouaiti, c.1840. MS-0031, Hocken Collections.
9. W.B.D. Mantell, Names of hapū of Kai Tahu, 1848. MS-0402, Hocken Collections.
10. Digitised pages 1-15 of vocabulary of Māori words compiled by Reverend James Watkin at Waikouaiti, c.1840. MS-0031, Hocken Collections. Audio by Takiwai Russell-Camp (Kai Tahu).

Jeanette Wikiara is the Māori Resources Portfolio Librarian at the Hocken Collections, University of Otago.

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