TWO MĀORI IN VIENNA

PAUL DIAMOND

The journal by Te Hemara Rerehau, with a translation by te reo Māori scholar Helen Hogan, was published in 2003 as Bravo, Neu Zeeland: Two Māori in Vienna 1859–1860.

DESCRIPTION Pages from ‘Notes on Trip to Vienna by Wiremu Toetoe and Te Hemara Rerehau’, 1859–60

MAKER / ARTIST Te Hemara Rerehau (c. 1840–1895)

REFERENCE Alexander Francis McDonnell (1866–1938): Papers (MS-Papers-0151-05)

In December 1858, the Austrian naval frigate SMS Novara arrived in Auckland as part of its circumnavigation of the globe. When it left in January 1859, Wiremu Toetoe (c. 1827–1881) and Te Hemara Rerehau (c. 1840–1895), both of Ngāti Apakura, had joined the expedition. On reaching Vienna, the men worked in the printery of Emperor Franz Joseph; nine months later, on their departure, they presented the emperor with a product of their newly learnt craft—an address printed in German and Māori.

Toetoe and Rerehau entranced their European hosts and were themselves intrigued by the things they saw. We know what they thought about this remarkable trip thanks to an account written by Rerehau: ‘[Austria] is a very fine country, and the way people live is really excellent; the buildings are big and very tall. It is very beautiful inside the rooms, with lovely beds, excellent food and drink. And there are figures in the shape of lions and bears; their mouths are open so that water comes out.’

When the emperor’s brother Archduke Maximilian offered the men a farewell present, they asked for a printing press. By the time the pair returned to New Zealand in 1860, the Taranaki wars were underway, and their press was later put to use to print the Kīngitanga newspaper Te Hokioi o Nui-Tireni, e Rere atu na (War Bird of New Zealand in Flight to You), the first te reo Māori newspaper produced entirely by Māori. The paper’s nine issues, printed between 1862 and 1863, appeared with an acknowledgement: ‘Te perehi aroha noa o te Kingi o Atiria’ (‘The press given with affection by the King of Austria’).

In retaliation, the government set up its own newspaper, Te Pihoihoi Mokemoke i Runga i te Tuanui (The Sparrow Alone on the House Top). A war of words began between the papers until, in March 1863, a group of Ngāti Maniapoto people seized the government press and threw it and its type and printed sheets into a nearby river. The recovered press ended up with the Government Printing Office, which donated it to the Turnbull Library in 1958, where it still lives, stored in the basement. Actual war silenced Te Hokioi—that press is held by the Te Awamutu Museum. The Turnbull holds copies of both newspapers, which are available digitally via Papers Past.

DESCRIPTION Wiremu Toetoe (left) and Te Hemara Rerehau, London, 1860 Gelatin silver prints, 190 × 140 mm

MAKER / ARTIST Antoine Claudet (1797–1867)

REFERENCE Nolden, Sascha and Sandy B. Nolden (2015). Hochstetter Collection Basel: Part 5 — Portrait Photographs. Auckland: Mente Corde Manu (5.2.T3/5.2.R11)

Wiremu Toetoe and Te Hemara Rerehau returned home via London, where these photographs were taken when they met Queen Victoria.