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Final Essay

It is obvious in both the European and Māori cultures that print and how information was spread had significant impacts on society. My aim in this essay is to show, through comparative history, the different results and effects the printing press had, and how the information published, reshaped culture and continues to shape the world we live in. From the example of Europe, we will see how Gutenberg’s Press and in New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi introduced more accessible written language to the general population. As New Zealand was in the early stages of development as a country, and was being introduced to lots of new things, the existing culture at this time was very different from the time of Gutenberg’s press in Europe, meaning that there were very different impacts. In both situations information became powerful in the hands of those who cared to use it. I will also show that as we continue to step forward into a world that is centred around technology, I believe we could look to lessons of the past for ways we can best use information.

Daniel Chodowiecki — ‘A scene in a printing office’

An innovation with the printing press led to massive change in European, and later global, culture. In 1439, Johannes Gutenberg, originally a goldsmith and a blacksmith, used his skills in the area of printing written language. His innovation was to make movable type. This is where instead of the craftsman carving a whole page to create prints, he created a framework and moveable letters that could be slotted in and reused to create all the pages to be printed with oil based ink. This simple idea dramatically changed printing. It made it significantly cheaper. He was German and spent most of his life in Mainz and some time in Strasbourg, a city in the Grand Est region of France. His change to the printing press let him print his most famous book, the Gutenberg Bible. This is also known as the 42 lined bible. The completion of the print was in 1455 and he printed 180 copies. His success as an innovator did not make him a financial success. He was sued by his business partner and relation, and loss control of the business and the printed material. He was able to restart printing elsewhere and still have a huge historic impact.

Te Tiriti o Waitangi

Four hundred and one years later, on the other side of the world, another written artefact was introduced with ongoing consequences. In New Zealand, the Treaty of Waitangi was not initially a printed document but rather handwritten. The Treaty of Waitangi was written and drafted on the 4th of February in 1840, by William Hobson; his secretary, James Freeman; and James Busby. After they had finished writing the documents it was taken to be signed by Māori chiefs and leaders. It was first signed on the 6th of February. At Waitangi, over 50 Māori chiefs and tribal leaders met with Queen Victoria's representatives, including William Hobson and signed an agreement between the two nations. Māori were guaranteed ongoing rights, treatment as British subjects, and the protection of Queen Victoria. In return the British got access to New Zealand, and the British rulers gained control over the sale of land in New Zealand. A private British company named ‘The New Zealand Company’ wanted the British government to make this decision so that they could systematically colonise New Zealand. Whereas the Māori chiefs wanted protection over immigrants coming to New Zealand and from the threat of other nations like France. When the Treaty was completed, handwritten copies were sent around the country acquiring over 500 signatures from most of the rangatira (chiefs and tribal leaders). It took seven months to get all the signatures. The Māori document Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not a single large piece of paper but a group of nine sheets, seven on paper and two on parchment. Following the signing the British chose to use the Treaty to establish their own authority and ignore it when it didn’t suit them. Their disregard of indigenous people reflects the same attitude seen in their other colonies where they were again proven shortsighted and wrong. “These Europeans spoke of “the native mind” and described Africans as “primitive” and “animistic” and nonetheless came to see that they had achieved an ancient dream of every human culture. Here was a messaging system that outpaced the best couriers, the fastest horses on good roads with way stations and relays.” (Gleick, 19)

In the centuries leading up to Gutenberg's Printing Press, there were some major historical events that created the environment for printed material to have a dramatic impact on culture. The significance of the environment was seen in comparison with what happened one hundred years before the printing of the bible.The Catholic Church had controlled all aspects of European society - from politics and the economy to law enforcement and morality. 100 years before Martin Luther and Gutenberg’s Bible there had been another move to separate from the Catholic church under Jan Huss. This didn’t succeed because the handwritten scrolls of their teachings were confiscated and burned and couldn’t be easily reproduced. Jan Huss was captured by the church and burned at the stake. 100 years later with the printing press the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther, the church was unable to control the spread of the new teachings and European society changed forever. Another aspect of the cultural environment was the opening of trade routes from China. This introduced the Chinese printing press but without Gutenberg’s movable type. This meant that printing was known but was ineffective because each full page would have to be carved or manufactured from scratch. The other thing the trade route potentially brought to Europe was the spread of the Black Death. The Black Death, otherwise known as the bubonic plague killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people, at its worst in 1350. This was 89 years before Gutenberg made his printing press. The implications of this were that many of the monks who hand-wrote the scrolls died, meaning that a better way to make books need to be created. It also meant that fewer people were left with the wealth of Europe and more money was available to be spent. People who had been poor and lower class all of a sudden were in the position of making financial choices. Not only did this shift the economic thinking away from the ruling class and the church, one of the side effects was that people bought more clothes. This simple fact was important because now there was a surplus of material and rags that were used to make cheap paper for the printing industry. The combination of the religious reformation, the Black Death and Gutenberg’s innovative printing meant that Europe went through massive social change. This change meant that the established religious institution, the Catholic church, lost its hold on European society which quickly became more liberal, economically driven, and scientifically influenced. After Gutenberg introduced the movable type printing press, printing presses were held in over two hundred cities in Europe. In the next two hundred years, the printing press produced up to two hundred million books.

In contrast with the situation in Europe where the population was already familiar with the concept of writing, the Māori language was an oral language with no written form or alphabet. The strength of Māori communication was oral in spoken word, song and as well as in mōteatea (lament or chant), pūrākau (legends and stories), and haka (war cry or dance). With the arrival of the British into New Zealand, beginning from 1769, with the arrival of Captain Cook, the introduction of the English language in written form was revolutionary. For the existing Māori culture, that placed such a heavy emphasis on language, the introduction of the written word added a whole new dynamic of what was possible in both communicating and influencing across time and space. Previously for a message to be conveyed from one place to another, a person would have had to travel and deliver it orally but now words, thoughts, and beliefs could be sent in written form or even left for someone to read in another time. One of the environmental factors that made the introduction of written language into colonial New Zealand so significant was the pre-existent understanding that the Māori had of mana taonga. The Māori word taonga is translated into english as ‘treasure’. Like many word for word cross cultural translations ‘treasure’ falls short explaining the full weight that taonga have. Beyond being a static, historic, or inanimate object, taonga are alive, active and still influencing their environment. In this way they hold significant mauri (essential life force). A taonga passed down from an ancestor is not just a memory of them, or an embodiment of them, it is the mauri and extension of them. In the case of taonga being gifted to Governor Grey by the descendants of Te Rauparaha to reinforce their relationship, a pounamu earring along with a patu were entrusted into the care of the Governor. Whether he understood it or not he was being put in a position of incredible honour. He was now the guardian of the ongoing mauri of the tribe. This belief in the place of taonga raises the importance of the Treaty, the Te Reo Bible and other written communication for Māori in colonial New Zealand. In Taonga Māori- encompassing rights and property in New Zealand, Amiria Henare states, “We believe that our taonga possess a mauri or life force and wairua, spirit, all of their own.” (56) The Treaty itself is a taonga, a living document still holding the mauri of the signatories. It is not just a questionable legal agreement but a living connection between Māori and Pakeha, tangata whenua and coloniser, past and present. While the British colonial power obviously considered it appropriate to put aside and ignore, the Māori placed a much higher value on it and consider it sacred still. When the Treaty was being signed many of the rangatira didn’t know how to write their names so they signed with their tā moko. With this face and body tattoo each design was unique and identified each individual. Each tattoo or moko’s design and style identified the individual and uniquely expressed who they were by providing information specific to them, including their whakapapa, tribe, place in society, and personal story. The Treaty then is a living taonga holding the spirit of those who entered the covenant who put everything they were into it. With the introduction of written language into New Zealand, particularly seen with the Treaty of Waitangi, Queen Victoria did not have to be present nor was it necessary for William Hobson, Tamati Waka Nene, or Hone Heke to travel the country getting people to agree to the terms of the Treaty. The written word could be sent, discussed, agreed with, ignored, or signed. In this way the introduction of written language to colonial New Zealand culture was revolutionary. Henare also reports, “Later writers recorded how Māori were ‘struck with wonder at hearing, as they described it, “a book speak”, and went to any lengths to get a hold of one, regardless of whether they could read. At a church service, as one early settler recorded, ‘Many of [the Māori] thought it highly proper that they should be armed with books. It might be an old ship’s almanac, or a cast-away novel, or even a few stitched leaves of old newspapers.’ (Clarke 1903: 31)” (53) The thought was that if you had a letter from Queen Victoria then you had her with you. In the case of the Bible, if you had one, you had God.

The introduction of written material to the wider population, both in Europe through Gutenberg’s Press and in New Zealand through the Treaty and following printed material, significantly changed both societies. This led though to entirely different results. In Europe the printing press allowed new information to be generated beyond the control of the church. Society moved away from the religious and political control of the church. This is in direct contrast to what happened in New Zealand. The influence of written and printed material was so strong that whoever controlled it would have a massive say in the shape of the nation. Following the Treaty the next wave of new information was controlled by the missionaries. Thirteen years after Samuel Marsden came as the first missionary to New Zealand, with the help of brothers Henry and William Williams, the first Scriptures in Māori were published in Sydney in 1827. William Colenso arrived in the country seven years later with a Stanhope printing press.  The next year, the first book ever published in New Zealand was more of the Bible. In another couple of years in 1836 and 1837, the press printed 5,000 copies of the first New Testament in Māori. This printed material was so popular with Māori that chiefs sent messengers to Paihia to obtain a copy. Māori got to know the scriptures so well that missionaries complained they were finding it hard to have something new from the Bible to share. Māori leaders became so good at knowing and using the content of the Bible they could point out the hypocrisy of the colonial powers. “When Wiremu Tamihana, the so-called Kingmaker, wrote to Governor Browne to justify the King movement, he referenced Deuteronomy 17:15 which states that 'one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother', and gave as examples a number of monarchs then reigning over their own people. To the suggestion that Maori should come under the Queen, he asked why the Americans were permitted to separate, when they were of the same ethnic background.” (Paterson, 114) In Europe the printing press removed the power of the church but in New Zealand, with Māori valuing the printed taonga and the missionaries controlling access, it raised the value of the Bible and gave the church widespread influence.

As we have seen the introduction of print into culture has had dramatic effects and influenced society in different directions based on who controls the press and the same will apply for the future.

Works Cited

Henare, Amiria. Taonga Māori: Encompassing Rights and Property in New Zealand. 2017.

Paterson, Lachy. “Print Culture and the Collective Māori Consciousness .” Journal of New Zealand Literature – Cultures of Print in Colonial New Zealand, no. 28, Part 2, 2010, pp. 105–129., www.jstor.org/stable/41245590.

Gleick, James. The Information: a History, a Theory, a Flood. Fourth Estate, 2012.

Taylor, Richard. The Past and Present of New Zealand with Its Prospects for the Future. William Macintosh, 1868.

Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. 7. – Treaty of Waitangi – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 4 Oct. 2016, teara.govt.nz/en/treaty-of-waitangi/page-7.

Editors, History.com. “Printing Press.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 May 2018, www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press#section_4.

Chodowiecki, Daniel. “Scene in a printing office.” Commons Wikipedia, commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chodowiecki_Basedow_Tafel_21_c_Z.jpg.

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European Cultural Impacts

- 3 things happened at the right time to make the Printing Press work and change culture...

1. The Black Death (bubonic plague) killed an estimated 75 to 200 million people peaking in Europe about 1350. - It left more wealth with fewer people so they had more choice and could grow the economy.

2. Growth in the economy made paper cheap (It used to take 170 calf skins or 300 sheepskins to make one copy of the Bible, we can see what a bargain paper was.) - Heaps of monks who hand-wrote the scrolls died in the plague so they needed a better way make books.

3. The trade route from China may have brought the plague but it also brought the chinese printing system. This was improved and and 89 years later Gutenberg had created the movable type printing press and then later the printed Bible was mass produced.

- The Catholic Church had controlled all aspects of European society - from politics and the economy to law enforcement and morality.  

- 100 years before Martin Luther and Gutenberg’s Bible there had been another move to separate from the Catholic church under Jan Huss.  This didn’t succeed because the handwritten scrolls of their teachings were confiscated and burned and couldn’t be easily reproduced.  Jan Huss was captured by the church and burned at the stake. 

- 100 years later with the printing press the Protestant Reformation with Martin Luther, the church was unable to control the spread of the new teachings and European society changed forever.

Editors, History.com. “Printing Press.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 May 2018, www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press#section_4.

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The Māori Bible

- Thirteen years after Samuel Marsden came as the first missionary to New Zealand , with the help of brothers Henry and William Williams, the first Scriptures in Māori were published in Sydney in 1827.  This little book included passages from Genesis, Exodus, Matthew and John.

- William Colenso arrived at Paihia in 1834 with a large and very heavy Stanhope printing press.  That following year, the first book ever published in New Zealand rolled off the press – a 16 page edition of Ephesians and Philippians in Māori.  

- Then from 1836 through to late 1837, the press was fully engaged printing 5,000 copies of the first New Testament in Māori. The New Testament was very popular among Māori with many chiefs sending messengers to Paihia to obtain a copy of the book.  Māori became very familiar with the book to the point where missionaries complained they were finding it difficult to find something new in the Bible to talk about.

- Te Paipera Tapu (the full Māori Bible) was first published in 1868.  Since then, three further editions of Te Paipera Tapu have been published, in 1889, 1925 and 1952.  The 1952 edition is the version that most Māori communities and speakers have used for over half a century.

- In 2012, Bible Society published a reformatted edition of the 1952 text featuring paragraphs, macrons and punctuation to help readers understand the text. In 2014, exactly 200 hundred years after Samuel Marsden first brought the Bible to New Zealand, Bible Society published the first new sample translations of Te Rongopai a Ruka (The Gospel of Luke) as part of the project to produce a new edition of Te Paipera Tapu in contemporary Māori.

“The Bible in Māori.” Bible Society New Zealand, 31 Jan. 2019, biblesociety.org.nz/discover-the-bible/the-bible-in-maori/.

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Wiremu Tamihana

Lindauer, Gottfried. Wiremu Tamihana. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Auckland. Auckland Art Gallery, gift of Mr H E Partridge, 1915

“Early in 1838 the missionary printer W. R. Wade visited Matamata and described the son of Te Waharoa as 'a fine, clever, active young man named Tarapipipi, one of the most forward in knowledge and most desirous to know.” 

Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. “Te Waharoa, Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi.” Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 1 Feb. 1970, teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t82/te-waharoa-wiremu-tamihana-tarapipipi.

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Te Karere o Nui Tireni + Te Hokioi

Notes: Te Karere o Nui Tireni was the first national Māori newspaper. It was available between 1842-1846. 

Altogether there were 49 issues from when the first newspaper was published on the 1st of January. The newspaper stopped being published in January of 1846 when war broke out in the North Island.

The paper was a government publication, it was first encouraged by the governor.

Notes: In 1857, Wiremu Toetoe Tumohe and Te Hemara Te Rerehau Paraone, two rangatira from Waikato, went to Austria (via the frigate Novara). 

The purpose of their trip was to learn about the art of printing. While they were over there, the emperor of austria presented them with a printing press. In their return they brought the press back to Mangere, where the first Māori king, Potatau, resided. Te Hokioi o Nui Tireni was the first paper produced entirely by the Māori. It was created in 1862 and promoted views of Kīngitanga (the Māori King movement).

Te Hokioi o Nui Tireni is translated to ‘The War-Bird of New Zealand in Flight to you’.

References Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. “Te Karere o Nui Tireni, 1842.” Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 13 Aug. 2013, teara.govt.nz/en/zoomify/35750/te-karere-o-nui-tireni-1842. Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz, paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/maori-messenger-te-karere-maori/1842/01/01.

Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz, paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/hokioi-o-nui-tireni-e-rere-atuna.

Paperspast.natlib.govt.nz, paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/hokioi-o-nui-tireni-e-rere-atuna/1862/11/10.

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Artefact Two – The Treaty of Waitangi

Notes:

- The treaty of waitangi was first sign on the 6th of February in 1840

- It was written and draft on the 4th and 5th of february by three people - William Hobson, his secretary - James Freeman, and James Busby at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands

- The New Zealand company wanted to systematically colonise the country and wanted the British Government's support. 

- Māori leaders wanted the British to protect them from other nations and to control the sale of land so Māori wouldn't be displaced by british immigrants Handwritten copies sent around the country

- Over 500 chiefs and tribal leaders signed

- Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not a single large piece of paper but a group of nine documents seven on paper and two on parchment

- It took seven months to get all the signatures. 

- There were differences in meaning between the English and Māori translations

- The Māori language is an oral language, so when the treaty was being signed many of the rangatira didn’t know how to write their names so they signed with their tā moko as each design was unique and identified each individual (Each tattoo or moko’s design and style identifies the individual and uniquely expresses who they are by providing information specific to them, including their whakapapa, tribe, place in society, and personal story.)

Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. 7. – Treaty of Waitangi – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga, 4 Oct. 2016, teara.govt.nz/en/treaty-of-waitangi/page-7.

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Artefact One – Gutenberg Printing Press

Chodowiecki, Daniel. “German-Polish Painter and Printmaker.” Commons Wikipedia, commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chodowiecki_Basedow_Tafel_21_c_Z.jpg.

Notes: 

- A german named Johannes Gutenberg from Mainz, (a man of many trades - blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer and publisher), lived to 68 years of age.

- Introduced oil based ink printing to europe with his movable type press – rearrange the letters. This occured in 1439.

- It played a key role in the development of the renaissance, reformation and other revolutions.

- Free movement of new ideas

- Created the Gutenberg bible also known as the 42 lined bible - this was finished in 1455. He printed 180 copies.

- Moved to Strasbourg - the capital and largest city of Grand Est region of France

Editors, History.com. “Printing Press.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 7 May 2018, www.history.com/topics/inventions/printing-press#section_4.

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Worldliness vs Theological

Luxor, Las Vegas Worldliness

The Luxor is a thirty floor hotel in Las Vegas. It was built in 1993. In looking at this image we can see that America has neglected their own culture and adopted Egypt's and along with that they are taking a significant part of their history. The artefact is being used as a landmark and tourist attraction.

The difference between the Egyptians and Americans is that in Egypt the artefact is looked at from afar, they don’t allow people to touch it or go near it. This is contrasted to in America where the artefact is meant to be inhabited. This has stripped the cultural significance and respect that the artefact holds and it has been turned into a space for partying and entertaining. I think that it is almost belittling the history and importance that the Egyptian artefact holds.

The idea of cultures, practices and artefacts being adopted around the world almost means we could be anywhere. Parts of every culture can be seen everywhere and so it is hard to find the authenticity of the particular culture in which you’re visiting.

Paul Klee, Magic Fish Theological

The artwork is German expressionism and surrealism made by oil and watercolour on canvas. It was created in 1925. In this time artist gained inspiration from what was around them. There were no televisions or advanced technologies and it was very rare to have a radio. It was your surroundings and imagination.

The painting portrays ideas of a ‘magical realm’ where oceans and sea life, the heavens and earthly things merged to create a fantasy world influenced by the idea of creation.

The theological idea could be seen as, the artist Paul Klee, is trying to be God, and in this idea he has created his own universe.  

https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/51027.html

Theology is defined as ‘the study of the nature of God and religious belief.’ Therefore Theological means that something flows from thoughts, beliefs, and actions based on our understanding of God. We make theological decisions in life based on our belief in God.

Worldliness is making life choices separate from belief in God. Worldliness follows the moral fashions of popular culture.

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The Past and Present of New Zealand with Its Prospects for the Future

Taylor, Richard. The Past and Present of New Zealand with Its Prospects for the Future. William Macintosh, 1868.

(pg 235-240)

(pg 236) - Deuteronomy 17 vs 15

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The Information – A History, A Theory, A Flood

On page 9 of the attached doc he gives a quote about Claude Shannon (inventor of the…) learning from Hermann Weyl about what a ‘theory’ was… ‘Theories permit consciousness to…’

This thought helped Shannon jump to new conclusions and invent information and communication solutions to change the world. For Europeans to understand the significance of Taonga in colonial New Zealand culture would require them to come to grips with a new theory and not let what ‘they already believed to be true’ to get in the road of what was before them. It would have taken a leap in thinking, similar to that of Shannon, to enable them to have better understood that the Treaty of Waitangi is not just a document but as a living Taonga it is having Queen Victoria and Tamati Waka Nene with you. Realising the value that the Maori belief placed on Taonga would have changed a lot about the way the colonial powers conducted themselves.

“These Europeans spoke of “the native mind” and described Africans as “primitive” and “animistic” and nonetheless came to see that they had achieved an ancient dream of every human culture. Here was a messaging system that outpaced the best couriers, the fastest horses on good roads with way stations and relays.” (Gleick, 19)

Gleick, James. The Information: a History, a Theory, a Flood. Fourth Estate, 2012.

James Gleick 2011

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Taonga Māori – Encompassing rights and property in New Zealand

- The author compared this to the social and cultural impact of introducing the printing press and printed material to the colonial New Zealand culture.

- As Māori had a rich oral use of language in their history and culture the introduction of written language and printed material was so revolutionary it was seen as sacred.

- This was one of the elements that resulted in the printing press and printed material having a significant impact on the religious culture of New Zealand and less of a capitalist impact.

- The capitalist changes that happened were more the result of the influx of Europeans practicing their culture rather than what was learned through the printed material

- So comparatively, while Europe was moving away from its traditional Christian religious basis for society towards capitalism and the elevation of the principles or commerce, wealth, and money, New Zealand was, in part, under the influence of printed material, heading in a different direction.

From the author of Taonga Māori we learn... - This ‘printed material is sacred’ idea was reinforced, as the author quotes (underlined at the bottom of page 54), by the Missionaries, and their financial supporters, decision to ensure that all the printed material initially available to Māori was of a strictly religious nature.

- The great difference in the comparative histories is hugely impacted by the long held Māori beliefs in the place of taonga in their culture.

- Taonga is modernly translated as ‘treasure’ but this does not do justice to the full implication of their impact on Māori culture.

The alchemy of taonga [brings] about a fusion of men and ancestors and a collapse of distance in space-time. [. . .] the power of [such things can] give men absolute access to their ancestors.   (1984: 120)  pg 57

The performance of taonga by elders effectively collapses time and reanimates the kin group’s ancestral landscape, allowing descendants to relive the events of past generations. [. . .] This ability to collapse time, which becomes most apparent during tangihanga (death rituals, which normally extend over several days), allows ancestors and descendants to be fused back into a powerful, single genealogical identity. (1997: 330)  pg 57-58

Maori were enthralled with the idea, through their already established belief in the nature of Taonga, that if you had their book you had their thoughts and consequently you had them with you.

Later writers recorded how Māori were ‘struck with wonder at hearing, as they described it, “a book speak” ‘,3 and went to any lengths to get a hold of one, regardless of whether they could read. At a church service, as one early settler recorded, ‘Many of [the Mäori] thought it highly proper that they should be armed with books. It might be an old ship’s almanac, or a cast-away novel, or even a few stitched leaves of old newspapers.’ (Clarke 1903: 31) pg 53 Taonga

The thought was that if you had a letter from Queen Victoria then you had her with you. In the case of the Bible, if you had one, you had God.

Others wore leaves from mission books rolled up and thrust through piercings in their ears, just like valued taonga such as the skins and beaks of huia birds, pieces of pounamu greenstone that had descended through several generations, or the rare white cloth made from aute (paper mulberry bark) and albatross down. Yet, according to D.F. McKenzie, ‘For [Māori], the really miraculous point about writing was its portability; by annihilating distance, a letter allowed the person who wrote it to be in two places at once, his body in one, his thoughts in another.’ (1985: 19) pg 53-54 Taonga

Henare, Amiria. Taonga Māori: Encompassing Rights and Property in New Zealand. 2017.

Amiria Henare 2007

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Print Culture and the Collective Māori Consciousness

- In Print Culture and the Collective Māori Consciousness the author uses the advent of the printing press and how it stimulated change in European culture.

Printed material gave people the sense that they belonged to a larger collective group than just the local family, village and economy that they had always known. It enabled the spread of information like never before and with that the spread of commerce, consumerism and capitalism. In the European culture of the time the printing press and printed information were the enablers of great economic cultural change.

- Europe already had written language but it was restricted by class and because it was laboriously hand-written. Potentially when the common population all of a sudden had access to easily available mass produced information it wasn’t seen as so sacred because they were already familiar with the use of the written word in politics, commerce, and society – not just in religion – even though the printed Bible came first and did in itself bring about massive cultural change.

- The author quotes Anderson’s model… …first that nationalism developed as the importance of religion and monarchy decreased; …that the advent of capitalism, in particular one of its first manifestations, printing, facilitated the development of national identities. (13)

Just as monarchy reflected modernity, Biblical knowledge had also become part of the new nineteenth-century Maori world- view. When Wiremu Tamihana, the so-called Kingmaker, wrote to Governor Browne to justify the King movement, he referenced Deuteronomy 17:15 which states that 'one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother', and gave as examples a number of monarchs then reigning over their own people. To the suggestion that Maori should come under the Queen, he asked why the Americans were permitted to separate, when they were of the same ethnic background. (Paterson, 114)

Clearly the Bible, a central component of nineteenth century Maori  culture and knowledge, was also instrumental in the construction of a collective Maori consciousness. (114 -115)

Paterson, Lachy. “Print Culture and the Collective Māori Consciousness .” Journal of New Zealand Literature – Cultures of Print in Colonial New Zealand, no. 28, Part 2, 2010, pp. 105–129., www.jstor.org/stable/41245590.

Lachy Paterson 2010

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ASSIGNMENT TWO

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The Māori (Tino Rangatiratanga) Flag

In 1989, New Zealand celebrated 150 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. To honour the anniversary the Government granted $20 million. A competition for a National Māori flag was set up by Te Kawariki, a Far North based organisation. This was done so the winning design being used at the 1990 commemorations. The final design created by three Māori women artists, Linda Munn, Hiraina Marsden and Jan Dobson Smith. Explanations were placed on posters which described what the flag represented. The explanation was written by Walter Erstich.

The flag is made up of four parts. The black symbolises ‘Te Korekore’ which translates to realm of potential being. It incorporates ideas of darkness when the earth was created and also represents the heavens. Māori see it as the male element and it is seen as unformed, floating and submissive. The white represents ‘Te Ao Marama’. This is translated to the realm of being and light. It signifies the physical world. It also portrays ideas of purity, stability and understanding. The koru is the third part of the flag and represents new life. It also symbolises a hope for the future. The final component is the Red which represents ‘Te Whei Ao’ which means the realm of coming into being. It is seen as the female element. It also symbolises evolving, forest, land and development. In all, the flag portrays the stability of the forces of nature.

Between 1985 to 1990, Te Kawariki used the flag on hates, badges, t-shirts and stickers. The flag became recognisable and became a form of identity for the Māori protesters.

The flag wasn’t recognised by the Government and there were many years of trials and protests before the flag was approved to fly in places like the Auckland Harbour Bridge or the Waitangi Treaty Ground. Although in 1999, protesters switched the New Zealand flag on Waitangi Day and flew the Māori sovereignty flag without permission and were criticised by the Governor-General at the time.

In January 2009, a Māori independence group asked for the support of Māori Party co-leader Pita Sharples. He assured them that he would raise the idea of having the Māori flag flown from the Auckland Harbour Bridge. John Key, the Prime Minister, didn’t see any reason not to have the Māori flag flown from the bridge.  

In July and August of the same year, over 20 public gatherings were held to discuss four important flags in New Zealand. The Māori Nation Flag was being decided out of the New Zealand Flag, the New Zealand Red Ensign, the National (United Tribes of New Zealand) Flag and the Māori (Tino Rangatiratanga) flag. After deliberations on the desired Māori Nation Flag, the Māori (Tino Rangatiratanga) flag was chosen as the favoured choice by 80% of those who voted.

The National Māori flag flew for the first time on Waitangi Day in 2010. It was raised over the Auckland Harbour Bridge, Parliament, the National War Memorial and a number of other government buildings.

Works Cited

“Flags of New Zealand.” RSS, nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/flags-of-new-zealand/maori-flag.

“The National Māori Flag.” RSS, nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/national-maori-flag.

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Artefact Five – The Māori (Tino Rangatiratanga) Flag

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Te Kara (The Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand)

One of the most recognisable symbols in New Zealand is Te Kara (The Flag of the Confederation of Hapū of New Zealand). Te Kara is the flag the Māori created to give them an identity as they progressed in trading around the world. Te Kara is a transliteration to colour. The Māori referred to flags as being a nation's colour. They created the flag so they could continue and grow their position as traders. The flag symbolised a new international status of New Zealand as an independent sovereign nation. The formal recognition of the flag by the British guaranteed Māori protection by the British navy.

In 1830,  the Māori owned ship the ‘Sir George Murray’, was seized as it wasn’t flying a flag. Before the flag was created, the Māori would fly a rain cape, but this wasn’t recognised by the navy as a flag. A second ship was later seized in 1833 and it was decided an official flag was needed. The issues around not having a flag were solved on the 24 March 1834. James Busby helped rangatira from the far north solve the issues by presenting three flag designs for the official flag. The flag was decided on a vote and was witness by hundreds of missionaries, settlers, and commanders of both British and American ships. After the votes were in, Busby announced the decision of the first official flag of New Zealand and the flag was raised on a flagpole. It was followed by a 21-gun salute from HMS Alligator.  The vote for Te Kara is considered as a important event in New Zealand history. Not only being the first official flag of the country, it was a significant decision made by the Māori rangatira. Busby thought of it as “the first national act of the New Zealand Chiefs”. The decision on the flag is now seen amongst a collection of events that helped shape New Zealand and a recognition of Māori independence. A witness to the event thought it was funny that the British Crown were showing their friendship through letting them choose a flag for their ships which they had the power to seize if they neglected to fly it.

What started off as a way of identifying ships has become a important symbol of Māori identity. Today, Te Kara is flown as a flag to signal a message. It reminds us that before the Treaty of Waitangi the people of this nation has already made a choice and we’re self determined. Te Kara reminds us that this being in existence before the Treaty of Waitangi anything we move into from that point on needs to be an improvement for this state and not a step backwards. Te Kara is a call for a reconciliation of the past and for a better future.

Works Cited

“Te Kara – The United Tribes Flag, 1834.” Te Kara – The United Tribes Flag, 1834 - Archives New Zealand. Te Rua Mahara o Te Kāwanatanga, archives.govt.nz/provenance-of-power/united-tribes-flag.

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Artefact Four – Te Kara (The Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand)