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Incontrovertible Fact, Notwithstanding Estimates. Passing Impressions to Resounding Expectations: Maori People Observed in the Early Contact Period
Abstract
Mai i ngā tūtakinga tuatahi i te iwi Māori, ka tino hihiri
ngā kaituhi Pākehā ki te tuhi, ki te whakaātamai hoki i ngā
kāinga Māori o taua wā. Tokomaha rātou i haerērē haere i te
motu, ki te titiro ki ngā kāinga e noho marara noa ana, me te
tuhi anō hoki i ō rātou ake whakaaro. He pēnei anō hoki ngā
mahi a rātou mā i tae tōmuri mai. Kāore i āta whaiwhakaaro
mō te painga ake o te iwi Maori.
He pepa tēnei e āta tiro ana i ngā tuhinga mō te iwi Māori
e noho ana i Niu Pāremata i Taranaki. Ko te wā hoki tēnei i
hihiri te Pākehā ki te hao whenua hei hoko atu ki ngā tauiwi e
heke mai ana i tāwāhi.
Ka whai hoki te pepa nei i ngā mahi a te roopu hauora i
whakatūngia i Niu Pāremata nō te mea kua puta noa atu ngā
tohu kei te heke haere te ora o te iwi Māori. Nō muri mai nā
ngā kautenui o ngā tāngata i tautoko ēnei whakaaro.
Nō muri mai i tēnei ka puta hoki ngā whakaaro o ngā
tohunga hauora Māori e tautoko ana hoki i ngā ariā, ko te
hemo rawa atu te iwi Māori.
The years of first contact saw many European visitors writing
about Māori communities. Many travelled, visiting Māori settlements,
recording their impressions. Later settlers also wrote
down what they saw, though with less direct interest in Māori
situations.
The differences that appeared in such writings largely reflected
the influence of local factors. However, such disparate
local impressions very easily became uniform national representations.
This was achieved through devices like census returns
which consolidated local differences into national, and negative,
composite impressions of all Māori, not always based on reliable
evidence.
By way of illustration, earliest impressions are recorded by
first settlers to New Plymouth, viewing Māori people after 1841.
The setting up of a medical presence there created a passing, and
largely negative, interest in Ngati Te Whiti living conditions.
Later census enumerations drew on such impressions to convert
dubious population countings into affirming predictions of Māori
decline. Much later, Māori health professionals were themselves
still drawing on such impressions.
ngā kaituhi Pākehā ki te tuhi, ki te whakaātamai hoki i ngā
kāinga Māori o taua wā. Tokomaha rātou i haerērē haere i te
motu, ki te titiro ki ngā kāinga e noho marara noa ana, me te
tuhi anō hoki i ō rātou ake whakaaro. He pēnei anō hoki ngā
mahi a rātou mā i tae tōmuri mai. Kāore i āta whaiwhakaaro
mō te painga ake o te iwi Maori.
He pepa tēnei e āta tiro ana i ngā tuhinga mō te iwi Māori
e noho ana i Niu Pāremata i Taranaki. Ko te wā hoki tēnei i
hihiri te Pākehā ki te hao whenua hei hoko atu ki ngā tauiwi e
heke mai ana i tāwāhi.
Ka whai hoki te pepa nei i ngā mahi a te roopu hauora i
whakatūngia i Niu Pāremata nō te mea kua puta noa atu ngā
tohu kei te heke haere te ora o te iwi Māori. Nō muri mai nā
ngā kautenui o ngā tāngata i tautoko ēnei whakaaro.
Nō muri mai i tēnei ka puta hoki ngā whakaaro o ngā
tohunga hauora Māori e tautoko ana hoki i ngā ariā, ko te
hemo rawa atu te iwi Māori.
The years of first contact saw many European visitors writing
about Māori communities. Many travelled, visiting Māori settlements,
recording their impressions. Later settlers also wrote
down what they saw, though with less direct interest in Māori
situations.
The differences that appeared in such writings largely reflected
the influence of local factors. However, such disparate
local impressions very easily became uniform national representations.
This was achieved through devices like census returns
which consolidated local differences into national, and negative,
composite impressions of all Māori, not always based on reliable
evidence.
By way of illustration, earliest impressions are recorded by
first settlers to New Plymouth, viewing Māori people after 1841.
The setting up of a medical presence there created a passing, and
largely negative, interest in Ngati Te Whiti living conditions.
Later census enumerations drew on such impressions to convert
dubious population countings into affirming predictions of Māori
decline. Much later, Māori health professionals were themselves
still drawing on such impressions.
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