Haerenga: Early Māori Journeys Across the Globe

by Vincent O'Malley

‘Māori and Europeans were encountering one another for the first time not just along the shorelines of New Zealand but also on the streets of Melbourne, Liverpool and New York.’

From the late eighteenth century, Māori travellers spread out from New Zealand across the globe. They travelled for a variety of reasons – curiosity, adventure, commerce, political missions or under duress. Most travellers eventually returned home, bringing something of their own ‘new world’ stories with them. These remarkable experiences of voyaging and discovery, presented here in a series of vignettes, also form part of the wider history of Māori and Pākehā encounter.

168 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Vincent O'Malley is a New Zealand historian who has written extensively on the history of Maori and Pakeha (European) relations in that country. He hold BA (Hons) and PhD degrees from the University of Canterbury and Victoria University of Wellington respectively and is a partner in HistoryWorks, a Wellington-based historical research consultancy that specialises in the Treaty of Waitangi.

His books include The New Zealand Wars/Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (BWB, 2019), The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800-2000 (BWB, 2016), Haerenga: Early Maori Journeys Across the Globe (BWB, 2015), Beyond the Imperial Frontier: The Contest for Colonial New Zealand (BWB, 2014), The Meeting Place: Maori and Pakeha Encounters, 1642-1840 (AUP, 2012, NZ Post Book Awards finalist, 2013), The Treaty of Waitangi Companion: Maori and Pakeha From Tasman to Today (with Bruce Stirling and Wally Penetito) (AUP, 2010), The Beating Heart: A Political and Socio-Economic History of Te Arawa (with David Armstrong) (Huia, 2008), and Agents of Autonomy: Maori Committees in the Nineteenth Century (Huia, 1998).

Reviews

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

The colonial myth is a powerful one, that presents European ‘explorers’ as heroically setting out around the world and ‘discovering’ sedentary, or at best accidentally migratory, ‘natives’. This myth should collapse under the evidence of planned and structured Polynesian settlement of the Pacific, including intentional return journeys between the land mass that became Aotearoa/New Zealand and the island groups that became known as the Cook Islands and the Tuamotu group and similar in the south east Pacific. Yet the myth persists, and with it the notion that the ‘discovered’ ‘natives’ stayed home, except for the occasional outing to see the Queen or some such.

In this fabulous contribution to an excellent series of ‘short books on big subjects’, Vincent O’Malley debunks these myths comprehensively through the development of a series of short narratives of Māori travellers, most voluntarily, some not who engage in trade and join the paid labour force of shipping and whaling and in at least one case scientific investigation to the Great Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Others head out on commercial ventures, such as concert parties touring Britain in the late 19th century. Some are well-known as guides for the early European visitors – British, French and others. A few maintained some control over their journeys, others like many other workers of the era were at the mercy of ships captains and left stranded and unpaid.

Crucially, these travellers and their experiences add layers of complexity to the simplicities often told as settler/Indigenous encounters, and Māori and European meet for the first time not only on the beaches of the south Pacific, but in the cities of Australia, North America and Europe. I’m left soaking up cases I didn’t know, struck that the ones I did know about were such a small proportion it seems of the travellers and wanting to know more. O’Malley’s ability to take a collection of individual and small group narratives and build an historiographical critique impressive, and it’s a good read.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy reading. Very gripping. Lots of cool unknown bits of important NZ history!
I think I read the BWB version of this book. Will seek out the longer format if possible.
Very well researched and excellently written. Vincent O’Malley seems to be a very reliable source.
I enjoy his appearances on The RNZ podcast ‘ Black Sheep’ too.

[Romany · Rating 4 out of 5]

v interesting stories and a good reminder that people move around.

[Elliot Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly interesting read. O'Malley's tellings and interwoven quotations give new light to the lives of these Māori travellers. Heartbreaking at times and hopeful at others. Greatly recommend.