Moriori

The Moriori are the native Polynesian people of the Chatham Islands (Rēkohu in Moriori; Wharekauri in Māori), New Zealand. Moriori originated from Māori settlers from the New Zealand mainland around AD 1500.[2] This was near the time of the shift from the Archaic to Classic Māori culture on the main islands of New Zealand.[3][4] Oral tradition records multiple waves of migration to the Chatham Islands.[5][6] Over several centuries these settlers' culture diverged from mainland Māori, developing a distinctive dialect, mythology, artistic expression and way of life.[7]

Not to be confused with Māori people, Maouri people, or Mauri.
This article is about the Moriori people. For the language, see Moriori language.

Moriori
Moriori family c. 1910
Total population
approx. 700
Regions with significant populations
Chatham Islands36 (2013 census)[1]
North Island354 (2013 census)[1]
South Island348 (2013 census)[1]
Languages
Moriori, English, Māori
Religion
Christianity including Rātana[1]
Related ethnic groups
Māori people, other Polynesian peoples,
Austronesian peoples
Landing of the Chatham
Kōpinga Marae
Māori landing from the Rodney
Map of the Chatham Islands. Chatham Island is the largest, Pitt Island is the second largest, and South East Island is the small island to the right of Pitt

Early Moriori formed tribal groups based on eastern Polynesian social customs and organisation; later, a prominent pacifist culture emerged (see Nunuku-whenua).[8] This culture made it easier for Taranaki Māori invaders to nearly exterminate them in the 1830s during the Musket Wars.[9] Currently there are around 700 people who identify as Moriori, most of whom no longer live on the Chatham Islands.[10]

During the late 19th century some prominent anthropologists mistakenly proposed that Moriori were pre-Māori settlers of mainland New Zealand, and possibly Melanesian in origin.[11][12]

History

Origin

The Moriori are ethnically Polynesian. They developed a distinct Moriori culture in the Chatham Islands as they adapted to local conditions. Although speculation once suggested that they settled the Chatham Islands directly from the tropical Polynesian islands, current research indicates that ancestral Moriori were Māori Polynesians who emigrated to the Chatham Islands from mainland New Zealand around 1500.[13][14][15][16]

Evidence supporting this theory comes from the characteristics that the Moriori language has in common with the dialect of Māori spoken by the Ngāi Tahu tribe of the South Island, and comparisons of the genealogies of Moriori ("hokopapa") and Māori ("whakapapa"). Prevailing wind patterns in the southern Pacific add to the speculation that the Chatham Islands were the last part of the Pacific to be settled during the period of Polynesian discovery and colonisation.[13][17] The word Moriori derives from Proto-Polynesian *ma(a)qoli, which has the reconstructed meaning "true, real, genuine". It is cognate with the Māori language word Māori[18] and likely also had the meaning "(ordinary) people".

Adapting to local conditions
Moriori designs carved into trees and rock.

The Chathams are colder and less hospitable than the land the original settlers left behind, and although abundant in resources, these were different from those available where they had come from. The Chathams proved unsuitable for the cultivation of most crops known to Polynesians, and the Moriori adopted a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Food was almost entirely marine-sourced — protein and fat from fish, fur seals, and the fatty young of sea birds. The islands supported about 2,000 people.[19]

Moriori tree carving or dendroglyph

Lacking resources of cultural significance such as greenstone and plentiful timber, they found outlets for their ritual needs in the carving of dendroglyphs (incisions into tree trunks, called rakau momori). Typically, most Moriori dendroglyphs depict a human form but there are also other patterns depicting fish and birds.[20] Some of these carvings are protected by the JM Barker (Hapupu) Historic Reserve.[20]

As a small and precarious population, Moriori embraced a pacifist culture that rigidly avoided warfare, replacing it with dispute resolution in the form of ritual fighting and conciliation.[21] The ban on warfare and cannibalism is attributed to their ancestor Nunuku-whenua.

...because men get angry and during such anger feel the will to strike, that so they may, but only with a rod the thickness of a thumb, and one stretch of the arms length, and thrash away, but that on an abrasion of the hide, or first sign of blood, all should consider honour satisfied.

— Oral tradition [21]

This enabled the Moriori to preserve what limited resources they had in their harsh climate, avoiding waste through warfare, such as may have led to catastrophic habitat destruction and population decline on Easter Island. However, this lack of training in warfare also led to their later near-destruction at the hands of invading North Island Māori.

Moriori castrated some male infants in order to control population growth.[22]

European contact (1791–1835)

The first Europeans to make contact with the Moriori were the crew of HMS Chatham on 29 November 1791, while on its voyage to the northern Pacific from England, via Dusky Sound. The Chatham's captain, William R. Broughton, named the islands after his ship and claimed them for Great Britain. The landing party came to shore in Kaingaroa Harbour on the far Northeast coast of Chatham Island.[23][24] The Moriori at first retreated into the forest once the Europeans landed. Seventy years later the Europeans would be recalled in Moriori oral tradition as containing the god of fire, given the pipes they were smoking and likely female from the clothes they were wearing. It was this interpretation that led to the men returning from the forest to meet the landing party. A brief period of hostility was quickly calmed by the crew putting gifts on the end of Moriori spears, though attempts at trade were unsuccessful. After exploring the area for water the crew again became fearful of Moriori aggression.[25] Some misunderstanding led to an escalation of violence and one Moriori was shot and killed.[24][26] HMS Chatham then left the island with all its crew. Both the diary of Broughton and local oral tradition record that both sides regretted the incident and to some extent blamed themselves for overreacting.[26]

It was this regret in part that led to good relations when the next ships arrived in the islands sometime between 1804 and 1807. They were sealers from Sydney and word of their welcome soon gave the Moriori a reputation of being friendly. During this time at least one Moriori visited the New Zealand mainland and returned home with knowledge of the Māori. As more ships came, sealing gangs were also left behind on the islands for months at a time. Sealers and whalers soon made the islands a centre of their activities, competing for resources with the native population. Pigs and potatoes were introduced to the islands. However, the seals that had religious significance and provided food and clothing to the Moriori were all but wiped out.[27] European men intermarried with Moriori. Māori arrivals created their own village at Wharekauri which became the Māori name for the Chatham Islands.[28]

The local population was estimated at about 1,600 in the mid-1830s with about 10% and 20% of the population having died from infectious diseases such as influenza. The effects of influenza were made more serious by the habit, also common to the Māori, of immersion in cold water.

Invasion by Taranaki Māori (1835–1868)
Main article: Musket Wars
Moriori people in the late 19th century: these three men (standing) are wearing a mix of traditional and European clothing. They carry defensive staffs and wear flax mats around the waist and shoulders, feathers on the front of the head, and albatross tufts in their beards.

In 1835 some displaced Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Tama, from the Taranaki region, but living in Wellington, invaded the Chathams. On 19 November 1835, the brig Lord Rodney, a hijacked[29] European ship, arrived carrying 500 Māori (men, women and children) with guns, clubs and axes, and loaded with 78 tonnes of potatoes for planting, followed by another load, by the same ship, of 400 more Māori on 5 December 1835. Before the second shipment of people arrived, the invaders killed a 12-year-old girl and hung her flesh on posts.[30] They proceeded to enslave some Moriori and kill and cannibalise others. With the arrival of the second group "parties of warriors armed with muskets, clubs and tomahawks, led by their chiefs, walked through Moriori tribal territories and settlements without warning, permission or greeting. If the districts were wanted by the invaders, they curtly informed the inhabitants that their land had been taken and the Moriori living there were now vassals."[31]

A hui or council of Moriori elders was convened at the settlement called Te Awapatiki. Despite knowing that the Māori did not share their pacifism, and despite the admonition by some of the elder chiefs that the principle of Nunuku was not appropriate now, two chiefs — Tapata and Torea — declared that "the law of Nunuku was not a strategy for survival, to be varied as conditions changed; it was a moral imperative."[31] Although this council decided in favour of peace, the invading Māori inferred it was a prelude to war, as was common practice during the Musket Wars. This precipitated a massacre, most complete in the Waitangi area followed by an enslavement of the Moriori survivors.[32]

A Moriori survivor recalled : "[The Māori] commenced to kill us like sheep.... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed – men, women and children indiscriminately." A Māori conqueror explained, "We took possession... in accordance with our customs and we caught all the people. Not one escaped....." [33] The invaders ritually killed some 10% of the population, a ritual that included staking out women and children on the beach and leaving them to die in great pain over several days.[29]

During the following enslavement the Māori invaders forbade the speaking of the Moriori language. They forced Moriori to desecrate their sacred sites by urinating and defecating on them.[29] Moriori were forbidden to marry Moriori or Māori, or to have children with each other. This was different from the customary form of slavery practiced on mainland New Zealand.[34] However, many Moriori women had children by their Māori masters. A small number of Moriori women eventually married either Māori or European men. Some were taken from the Chathams and never returned. In 1842 a small party of Māori and their Moriori slaves migrated to the subantarctic Auckland Islands, surviving for some 20 years on sealing and flax growing.[35] Only 101 Moriori out of a population of about 2,000 were left alive by 1862.[36]

Dispersal and assimilation
Tommy Solomon, acknowledged as the last Moriori of unmixed ancestry.

The Moriori were free from slavery by the end of the 1860s which gave them opportunities for self determination, but their small population led to a gradual dilution of their culture. Only a handful of men still understood the Moriori language and culture from before the invasion. The younger generation spoke Māori, while still identifying themselves as Moriori. While attempts were made to record the Moriori culture for posterity, it was generally believed that it would never again be a living way of life. By 1900 there would only be twelve people in the Chatham Islands who identified themselves as Moriori.[37] Although the last Moriori of unmixed ancestry, Tommy Solomon, died in 1933,[38] there are several thousand mixed ancestry Moriori alive today.

Waitangi Tribunal claim

In the late 1980s some Moriori descendants made claims against the New Zealand government through the Waitangi Tribunal.[39][40] The Tribunal is charged with making recommendations on claims brought by Māori relating to actions or omissions of the Crown in the period since 1840, which breach the promises made in the Treaty of Waitangi. These claims were the first time the Tribunal had to choose between competing claims of two indigenous groups. The main focus of the claim was the British annexation of the islands in 1842, the inaction of the Government to reports of Moriori being kept in slavery and the awarding of 97% of the islands to Ngati Mutunga in 1870 by the Native Land Court.[40]

In 1992, while the Moriori claim was active, the Sealords fisheries deal ceded a third of New Zealand's fisheries to Māori, but prevented any further treaty fishery claims. This occurred against the backdrop of Māori, Moriori and Pākehā Chatham Islanders all competing for fishing rights, while working together to exclude international and mainland interests. Therefore it was believed that the result of the Tribunals verdict on the ownership of the Chatham Islands may improve the Moriori ability to acquire some of the allotted fishing rights from the Sealords deal. The Moriori claims were heard between May 1994 and March 1996 and the verdict was strongly in favour of the Moriori case.[41] This in turn led to an $18 million deal between the Crown and Moriori in 2017.[42][43]

Culture and marae
A repatriation ceremony at Te Papa, bringing home Māori and Moriori skeletal remains that were removed from New Zealand in the 19th Century. (2018)

Today, despite the difficulties that the Moriori have faced, their culture is enjoying a renaissance, both in the Chatham Islands and New Zealand's mainland. This has been symbolised with the renewal of the Covenant of Peace at the new Kōpinga marae in January 2005 on Chatham Island.[44] As of 2016, the marae has registered almost 800 Moriori descendants, with more than 3000 associated children.[45] The Kopinga meeting place and Hokomenetai meeting house are based in the town of Waitangi, also on Chatham Island.[46]

In 2001 work began on preserving the vocabulary and songs of the Moriori people.[47][48] They also received a $6 million grant from the Government to preserve their culture and language.[49] The Albatross remains important in Moriori culture: it is seen in the design of the Kōpinga marae and its feathers are worn in the hair of some Moriori as a sign of peace.[47][48] The relationship between the Moriori and Ngati Mutunga is improving, and non-violence remains a cornerstone of the Moriori self image.[47][50]

In 2002 land on the east coast of Chatham Island was purchased by the crown (the Taia property). It is now a reserve and jointly managed by Moriori and the Crown. The Moriori are also actively involved with preserving the rakau momori (tree carvings) on the islands.[48]

Language
Main article: Moriori language

English and to a lesser extent Māori are spoken by Moriori today. The now extinct Moriori language was Eastern Polynesian and closely related to Māori and Cook Island Māori with which it was mutually intelligible. It shared about 70% of its vocabulary with Māori; however, there were significant differences in grammar and pronunciation.[51][52] There are modern attempts at creating learning materials to ensure the survival of what remains of the language.[47][53]

Political organisation

In 2001 the two main political groups of Moriori united to form the Hokotehi Moriori Trust;[48][54] however, some internal disputes remain.[55] The New Zealand Government recognises the Hokotehi Moriori Trust as having the mandate to represent Moriori in Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations. It is also a mandated iwi organisation under the Māori Fisheries Act 2004 and a recognised iwi aquaculture organisation in the Māori Commercial Aquaculture Claims Settlement Act 2004. The trust represents Moriori as an "iwi authority" for resource consents under the Resource Management Act 1991, and is a Tūhono organisation. The charitable trust is managed by ten trustees, with representation from both the Chatham Islands, and the North Island and South Island. It is based at Owenga on Chatham Island.[46]

Based on the writing of Percy Smith and Elsdon Best from the late 19th century, theories grew up that the Māori had displaced a more primitive pre-Māori population of Moriori (sometimes described as a small-statured, dark-skinned race of possible Melanesian origin), in mainland New Zealand – and that the Chatham Island Moriori were the last remnant of this earlier race. These theories also favoured the supposedly more recent and more technically able Māori. This was used to justify racist stereotyping, colonisation, and conquest by cultural "superiors".[56][57] and – from the view of European settlers – of undermining the notion of the Māori as the indigenous people of New Zealand, making them just one in a progression of waves of migration and conquest by increasingly more civilised people

In the 1870s James Hector and Julius von Haast were involved in one of New Zealand’s "most bitter scientific arguments" involving the extinction of the moa and moa-hunter origins; the "Sumner Cave Controversy". Haast had a display of moa at the Canterbury Museum; he maintained that the moa had been driven to extinction several thousand years ago by Paleolithic hunters who preceded the more sophisticated Neolithic Māori settlers, and lacked the skills to make polished pounamu ornaments. But Hector believed that the moa had been driven to extinction by Māori in the last few hundred years, and thought Haast’s views were "outdated and misleading". In 1874 Alexander McKay (who had excavated at Sumner for Haast) gave a paper in Wellington "On the identity of Moa-hunters with the present Maori race", supported by Hector. Haast and Hector both sent papers for publication by the New Zealand Institute; both were published and generally local scientists supported McKay, with Haast distrusted because of his non-British background and his "volatile" temperament. The President of the Royal Society in London, Joseph Hooker, was written to and rejected most of Haast's arguments.[58]

The hypothesis of a racially distinct pre-Māori Moriori people was criticised in the 20th century by a number of historians, anthropologists and ethnologists; among them anthropologist H. D. Skinner in 1923,[59] ethnologist Roger Duff in the 1940s,[60] historian and ethnographer Arthur Thomson in 1959,[61] as well as Michael King in Moriori: A People Rediscovered in 2000, James Belich in 2002,[62] and K. R. Howe in Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.[60]

The idea of Moriori arriving earlier and being vastly distinct from Māori was widely published in the early 20th century.[63] Crucially, this story was also promoted in a series of three articles in the School Journal of 1916,[11] and the 1934 A. W. Reed schoolbook The Coming of the Maori to Ao-tea-roa[11]—and therefore became familiar to generations of schoolchildren. This in turn has been repeated by the media and politicians.[64] However, at no point has this idea completely dominated the discussion, with the academic consensus slowly gaining more public awareness over the 20th century.[65]

One of the plots of the 2004 British novel (and 2012 German-American film) Cloud Atlas featured the slavery of Moriori on the Chatham Islands in the mid 19th century. Some reviews drew attention to the inappropriateness of using motifs from African slavery in the United States of America to represent Māori slave culture.[66] The interchangeability of these two practices has been a common misconception in the popular imagination.[67]

See also

Notable Moriori

References
  1. "Moriori Population and Geography". stats.govt.nz. Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
  2. Davis, Denise; Solomon, Māui (8 February 2005). "Moriori – Origins of the Moriori people". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  3. Anderson, Atholl (2016). "The making of the Maori middle ages". Journal of New Zealand Studies (23): 2.
  4. Barber, Ian. "Constructions Of Change: A History Of Early Maori Culture Sequences". Journal of the Polynesian Society. 104 (4): 357–396. Retrieved 13 December 2018.
  5. Davis, Denise; Solomon, Māui (8 February 2005). "Moriori – The migrations from Hawaiki". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  6. Richards 2018, pp. 73–76.
  7. Seymour, Maud Ella (1924). "A history of the Chatham Islands". Maud Ella Seymour. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. King 2000, pp. 26, 177.
  9. Rekohu: A Report on Moriori and Ngati Mutunga Claims in the Chatham Islands (PDF). Waitangi Tribunal Report. 2001.
  10. Davis, Denise; Solomon, Māui (8 February 2005). "Moriori – Facts and figures". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  11. Blank, Jacinta (2007). Imagining Moriori: A history of ideas of a people in the twentieth century (Master of Arts in History thesis). Christchurch, New Zealand: University of Canterbury. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  12. Shapiro, HL (1940). "The physical anthropology of the Maori-Moriori". The Journal of the Polynesian Society. 49 (1(193)): 1–15. JSTOR 20702788.
  13. Clark, Ross (1994). "Moriori and Maori: The Linguistic Evidence". In Sutton, Douglas G (ed.). The Origins of the First New Zealanders. Auckland: Auckland University Press. pp. 123–135.
  14. Solomon, Māui; Denise Davis (2 September 2011). "Moriori". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  15. Howe, Kerry R. (24 September 2011). "Ideas of Māori origins". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  16. McFadgen, B. G. (March 1994). "Archaeology and Holocene sand dune stratigraphy on Chatham Island". Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. 24 (1): 17–44. doi:10.1080/03014223.1994.9517454.
  17. King 2000, pp. 20–21.
  18. Polynesian Lexicon Project Online, entry *maqoli
  19. Davis, Denise & Solomon, Māui (3 March 2017). "Moriori population of the Chatham Islands, 1800–1920". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand.
  20. "J.M. Barker (Hapupu) National Historic Reserve". Department of Conservation (New Zealand). Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  21. King 2000, pp. 26.
  22. Davis, Denise; Solomon, Māui (8 February 2005). "Moriori – Moriori life". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  23. King 2000, pp. 39–40.
  24. Richards 2018, pp. 157.
  25. King 2000, pp. 42.
  26. King 2000, pp. 44–45.
  27. King 2000, pp. 48–49.
  28. King 2000, pp. 39–52.
  29. King, M. The Silence Beyond. Penguin, 2011 ISBN 9780143565567; p. 190.
  30. King 2000, pp. 57–58.
  31. King 2000, pp. 67.
  32. Crosby, R. D. (2012). The Musket Wars: A History of Inter-iwi Conflict, 1806–45. Libro International. pp. 296–298. ISBN 9781877514449.
  33. Diamond, Jared (1997). Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. New York: W. W. Norton. p. 53.
  34. Petrie, Hazel (21 September 2015). Outcasts of the Gods? The Struggle over Slavery in Maori New Zealand. Auckland University Press. p. 36. ISBN 9781775587859.
  35. Murihiku timeline (Abandoned website). Backup copy at the Wayback Machine.
  36. Kopel, Dave; Gallant, Paul; Eisen, Joanne D. (11 April 2003). "A Moriori Lesson: a brief history of pacifism". National Review.
  37. King 2000, pp. 135.
  38. Tommy Solomon Archived 23 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  39. King 2000, pp. 192.
  40. Belgrave 2005, pp. 284–286.
  41. Belgrave 2005, pp. 303–310.
  42. "The Crown and Moriori signed an Agreement in Principle on 16 August 2017". www.govt.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  43. "Negotiations result in agreement between Crown and Moriori over treaty claim". Stuff. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  44. Berry, Ruth (22 January 2005). "Chathams embrace peace ethic". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
  45. McBryde, Brendan (18 August 2016). "Reaching a rare island getaway". brendan.mcbryde.nz. Fiordland Advocate. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  46. "Rohe". tkm.govt.nz. Te Puni Kōkiri, New Zealand Government. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  47. Shepheard, Nicola (17 November 2007). "Moriori renaissance". The New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  48. Davis, Denise; Solomon, Māui (8 February 2005). "Moriori – The second dawn". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  49. "Moriori revival". Stuff. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  50. "ABOUT US – Hokotehi Moriori Trust". Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  51. Richards 2018, pp. 215–219.
  52. King 2000, pp. 175.
  53. "Moriori fight to save language" (video). Newshub. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  54. "Vitriol in face of historic Moriori victory". The New Zealand Herald. 24 June 2001. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  55. McKeen, Tony Wall, Chris. "Divided Tribe". interactives.stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  56. Howe, K. R. (8 February 2005). "Ideas about Māori origins – 1880s–1970s: Moriori origins; the Great Fleet". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  57. "According to the myth, the Maori, as a superior and more warlike people, expropriated the land from the Moriori. Therefore Pakeha expropriation of the same land on the basis of their superior civilisation was in accordance with the principle of the survival of the fittest. For this reason the false myth of the Moriori has been one of New Zealand's most enduring myths.", "Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou: Struggle Without End", Ranginui Walker, Penguin, Auckland, 1990
  58. Nathan 2016, pp. 132-135.
  59. Skinner, H.D. (1923). "The Morioris of the Chatham Islands". Honolulu.
  60. Howe, K. R. (8 February 2005). "Ideas about Māori origins – 1920s–2000: new understandings". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  61. Thomson, Arthur, The Story of New Zealand, Past and Present, Savage and Civilized, 2 vols, London, 1859, i, 61
  62. Belich, James (2002). Making Peoples: A History of the New Zealanders, from Polynesian Settlement to the End of the Nineteenth Century. University of Hawaii Press. pp.26, 65–6
  63. See for example: Arrival of The Maoris in New Zealand, The Cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1902, retrieved 5 October 2020 – via nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
  64. "Don Brash – Ragging on Te Reo". Radio New Zealand. 2 December 2017. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  65. Wheeler, Read (2016). Portrayals of the Moriori people : historical, ethnographical, anthropological and popular sources, c.1791–1989 (Master of Arts in History thesis). Palmerston North, New Zealand: Massey University. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  66. "The Pacific Problems of Cloud Atlas". The Mail Vine. 13 January 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  67. Petrie, Hazel (21 September 2015). Outcasts of the Gods? The Struggle over Slavery in Maori New Zealand. Auckland University Press. ISBN 9781775587859.

Sources

Further reading
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