The Values, Fears and Aspirations of 19th

Century New Zealanders

Ideas the immigrants brought to New Zealand

Level 3 History S Avery

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The Immigrants

Cultural Baggage

Social Class

Debate on the Development of Male Culture

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Cultural Baggage

Brought “Cultural Baggage” in the form of: Values Ideals Institutions Language Ways of Doing things

This baggage was modified to fit the circumstances they experienced in NZ

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Anglocentricism

The belief in the superiority of the British, more particularly

the English, culture.

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‘Empire was expected to come in one of three ways: conversion, conquest or fatal impact.’ Conversion was the whole package ‘of agencies by which non-Europeans were to be transferred into something European-like and peacefully subordinated to Europe.’

James Belich, Making Peoples A History of the New Zealanders From Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century,

Auckland, 1996.

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Stereotypes common among Pakeha New Zealanders around 1890 according to Tom Brooking

Pakeha Settler

Individualistic Family farmer Hard working Anti-landlord Thrifty Energetic Progressive Secular and moral Egalitarian

Maori “Savage” (often landlord)

Communistic Tribal Lazy Spendthrift Unproductive Dependent Promiscuous Bad ‘black’ landlord

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Where settlers came from

http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealanders/NewZealandPeoples/HistoryOfImmigration/4/ENZ-Resources/Standard/4/en

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Sovereignty

The British believed they had obtained sovereignty by the Treaty

A 20th-century depiction of the

signing of the Treaty of

Waitangi, 6 February 1840

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Sovereignty

The Wars and the resistance movements that followed them had an effect on the country. Most European New Zealanders though they demonstrated ‘sovereignty rested with “the Crown” - that is, with the New Zealand Government of the day - and not with the Maori. That, after all, is what their view of the Treaty of Waitangi had been all about.’ Maori feeling that the Treaty had been dishonoured by the Crown was little understood by Pakeha.

Michael King, The Penguin History of New Zealand, Auckland, 2003, pp. 220-221.

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Sovereignty

Queen Victoria

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British Institutions

Institutions are important systems of organisation in society that have existed for a long time Examples are: the law; Parliament, the

army

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Individual Land Ownership

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Christianity

Protestant work ethic Hard work Employment

The Parish Church at Sturton-le-Steeple which was the home of Pastor John Robinson and the William White family.

Photo by Alice C. Teal

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Martial Tradition

Legality of force

Sadler,_Battle_of_Waterloo

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Martial Tradition cont.

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Martial Tradition cont.

Horses being shod at the camp at Newtown Park, Wellington, during the South African War 

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Martial Tradition cont.

‘The myth of martial New Zealanders, later known as the “Anzac legend”, became central in Pakeha collective identity. It actually dates from the New Zealand Wars although it was partially aborted by the embarrassment of frequent defeats by Maori.’

James Belich, Making Peoples A History of the New Zealanders From Polynesian Settlement to the End of

the Nineteenth Century, Auckland, 1996, p. 242.

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Women’s roles

House keepers Bearing and raising children Sober and thrifty Setting a moral tone

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Ethel Benjamin

New Zealand's first woman lawyer

1875-1943

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Men’s roles

Work hard and earn a livelihood Marry within their own race Maintain family values Defend the realm

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‘A government jail gang, Sydney’

Very few Europeans came to New Zealand in the 50 years after its rediscovery by Captain James Cook. Of those who did, many sailed across the Tasman Sea from Port Jackson (Sydney), which was a large convict settlement. This is a lithograph of a Sydney prison gang, whose villainous faces are somewhat exaggerated.

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Men’s roles cont.

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Plants and animals Make the landscape look like

home

North Island conifer-broadleaf forest

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Plants and animals cont.

Constable: Salisbury Cathedral from the

Meadows

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Discontent with the home country

Avoid the evils of the old world

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Modification of Cultural Baggage due to Circumstances

Maori rangatiratanga Incomplete hold of British law Harsh natural environment Loneliness Distance from home Lack of capital Depression Transience

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Social Class

Immigrants hoped to change their class as part of getting ahead

Success depended on: Access to capital and credit Luck Getting in early

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‘Emigration a remedy’ This famous emigration poster compares life in England and New Zealand. In the 1830s and 1840s many people in England believed in the theory that population growth was related to food production, and that as Britain’s population continued to rise there would be penury and starvation – as depicted in the scene on the left. The solution was to encourage emigration to countries where abundant land would bring plenty of food and health – as in the happy scene on the right.

http://www.teara.govt.nz/

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Social Class cont.

Settler society was shaped ‘by a potent mix of industrial ideology, new philosophies of reason, new Calvinist evangelism and new economic theory.’ This explains the society settlers built with its tilt to egalitarianism, dreams of private home ownership, self –help ethic and emphasis on security. New Zealand was settled at an extraordinary rate in the mid century and the scale of movement was even greater as tens of thousands poured in for the gold rushes and later left for diggings elsewhere.

Wright, Mathew, Reed Illustrated History Of New Zealand, Auckland, 2004, pp. 94-95

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Order of Worth:

New Zealand Society in the 1890s Family farmer

Small business (family) Skilled labourer/miner

Hard working rural unskilled worker Hard working urban unskilled worker

Maori and ‘loafer’ and monopolist and aristocrat and ‘fallen’ women

Asiatics Pests (animals and plants)

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The Debate on the Development of Male Culture

The established historical interpretation to the later 1980s was:

Society was a collection of small, local communities

Stability and tradition were key features

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Miles Fairburn

Miles Fairburn presented a ‘man alone’ analysis

Geographical isolation Individualism more

important than community Male isolation the key

element in social formation Social. Physical, emotional

isolation Lack of family networks Atomised, bondless society Dominated by young males Loneliness, drunkenness,

violence

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Jock Phillips

Jock Phillips argues mateship led to a distinctive male culture Found in:

Bush camps, shearing gangs, gold fields, pubs. It emphasised:

Physical prowess An ability to ‘do it yourself’ Equality Pubs where drinking, shouting and yarns dominated

Argues that male culture changed in the 1880s Rules for rugby Rise of prohibition and temperance

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Views counter to Fairburn

Kinship and the impact of chain migration lessened isolation

There was a lack of guns Women and families had a significant

role Cooperation was a feature in the

workplace and the community Mateship was more important than

atomisation Violence due to a lack of women

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Aylmer Street and Gold Mine, Ross

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‘Their War Cry before starting play'

Cartoon published during the New Zealand Natives' Rugby Tour of 1888/89

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In the Shearing Shed

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Crew of the sailing ship Timaru standing at her bow.

She is in the graving

dock at Port Chalmers.

1875-1899

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Pakeha New Zealand was established by 1870. ‘Little villages no longer clung to the fringes of a Maori world.’ Maori landholdings had been decimated and Pakeha outposts set up in the middle of the North Island. ‘The colony was acquiring a degree of solidarity and permanence which had not characterised it a decade earlier.’

Binney, Judith, Bassett, Judith, Olssen, Erik, The People and The Land, Te Tangata me Te Whenua An Illustrated

History of New Zealand 1820-1920, Wellington, 1990, p. 121.

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Tinakori Road, Wellington

Brees, Samuel Charles

1810-1865