Protecting the Empire's Humanity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoë Laidlaw
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
British Colonialism

Rooted in the extraordinary archive of Quaker physician and humanitarian activist, Dr Thomas Hodgkin, this book explores the efforts of the Aborigines' Protection Society to expose Britain's hypocrisy and imperial crimes in the mid-nineteenth century. Hodgkin's correspondents stretched from Liberia to Lesotho, New Zealand to Texas, Jamaica to Ontario, and Bombay to South Australia; they included scientists, philanthropists, missionaries, systematic colonizers, politicians and indigenous peoples themselves. Debating the best way to protect and advance indigenous rights in an era of burgeoning settler colonialism, they looked back to the lessons and limitations of anti-slavery, lamented the imperial government's disavowal of responsibility for settler colonies, and laid out elaborate (and patronizing) plans for indigenous 'civilization'. Protecting the Empire's Humanity reminds us of the complexity, contradictions and capacious nature of British colonialism and metropolitan 'humanitarianism', illuminating the broad canvas of empire through a distinctive set of British and Indigenous campaigners.

scholarly journals Rethinking nineteenth-century literary culture: British worlds, southern latitudes and hemispheric methods

2021 ◽  
pp. 002198942098201
Author(s):  
Sarah Comyn ◽  
Porscha Fermanis
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Literary Culture ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Indigenous Studies ◽  
Literary Cultures ◽  
History Of ◽  
Literary Canons ◽  
Methodological Position

Drawing on hemispheric, oceanic, and southern theory approaches, this article argues for the value of considering the nineteenth-century literary cultures of the southern settler colonies of Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa from within an interconnected frame of analysis. First, because of their distinctive historical and structural conditions; second, because of the density of their interregional networks and relations across intersecting oceanic spaces; and third, because of the long history of racialized imperialist imaginaries of the south. This methodological position rethinks current approaches to “British world” studies in two important ways: first, by decoupling the southern settler colonies from studies of settler colonialism in North America; and second, by rebalancing its metropolitan and northern locus by considering south-south networks and relations across a complex of southern islands, oceans, and continents. Without suggesting either that imperial intercultural exchanges with Britain are unimportant or that there is a culturally homogenous body of pan-southern writing, we argue that nineteenth-century literary culture from colonial Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa — what we call a “southern archive” — can provide a counterbalance to northern biases and provide new purchase on nation-centred literary paradigms — one that reveals not just south-south transnational exchanges and structural homologies between southern genres, themes, and forms, but also allows us to acknowledge the important challenges to foundational accounts of national literary canons initiated by southern theory and Indigenous studies scholars.

scholarly journals Soldiers & Colonists: Imperial Soldiers as Settlers in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John McLellan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Land Grants ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Arrival ◽  
Government Records ◽  
Decision To Stay

<p>The approximately 18,000 imperial troops who arrived in New Zealand with the British regiments between 1840 and 1870 as garrison and combat troops, did not do so by choice. However, for the more than 3,600 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers who subsequently discharged from the army in New Zealand, and the unknown but significant number of officers who retired in the colony, it was their decision to stay and build civilian lives as soldier settlers in the colony. This thesis investigates three key themes in the histories of soldiers who became settlers: land, familial relationships, and livelihood. In doing so, the study develops an important area of settler colonialism in New Zealand history. Discussion covers the period from the first arrival of soldiers in the 1840s through to the early twentieth century – incorporating the span of the soldier settlers’ lifetimes. The study focuses on selected aspects of the history of nineteenth-century war and settlement.  Land is examined through analysis of government statutes and reports, reminiscences, letters, and newspapers, the thesis showing how and why soldier settlers were assisted on to confiscated and alienated Māori land under the Waste Lands and New Zealand Settlement Acts. Attention is also paid to documenting the soldier settlers’ experiences of this process and its problems. Further, it discusses some of the New Zealand settlements in which military land grants were concentrated. It also situates such military settlement practices in the context of the wider British Empire.  The place of women, children, and the regimental family in the soldier settlers’ New Zealand lives is also considered. This history is explored through journals, reminiscences, biography and newspapers, and contextualised via imperial and military histories. How and where men from the emphatically male sphere of the British Army met and married women during service in New Zealand is examined, as are the contexts in which they lived their married lives. Also discussed are the contrasting military and colonial policies towards women and marriage, and how these were experienced by soldier settlers and their families.  Lastly, the livelihood of soldier settlers is explored – the thesis investigating what sort of civilian lives soldier settlers experienced and how they made a living for themselves and their families. Utilising newspapers, reminiscences, biography, and government records the diversity of work army veterans undertook in the colony is uncovered. Notable trends include continued military-style roles and community leadership. The failed farming enterprise is also emphasised. Going further, it offers analysis of the later years of life and the different experiences of soldier settlers in their twilight years, particularly for those with and without family networks in the colony. The thesis challenges the separation between ‘war’ and ‘settlement’ by focusing on a group whose history spanned both sides of the nineteenth-century world of colony and empire.</p>

scholarly journals Soldiers & Colonists: Imperial Soldiers as Settlers in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
John McLellan
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Land Grants ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
History Of ◽  
First Arrival ◽  
Government Records ◽  
Decision To Stay

<p>The approximately 18,000 imperial troops who arrived in New Zealand with the British regiments between 1840 and 1870 as garrison and combat troops, did not do so by choice. However, for the more than 3,600 non-commissioned officers and rank and file soldiers who subsequently discharged from the army in New Zealand, and the unknown but significant number of officers who retired in the colony, it was their decision to stay and build civilian lives as soldier settlers in the colony. This thesis investigates three key themes in the histories of soldiers who became settlers: land, familial relationships, and livelihood. In doing so, the study develops an important area of settler colonialism in New Zealand history. Discussion covers the period from the first arrival of soldiers in the 1840s through to the early twentieth century – incorporating the span of the soldier settlers’ lifetimes. The study focuses on selected aspects of the history of nineteenth-century war and settlement.  Land is examined through analysis of government statutes and reports, reminiscences, letters, and newspapers, the thesis showing how and why soldier settlers were assisted on to confiscated and alienated Māori land under the Waste Lands and New Zealand Settlement Acts. Attention is also paid to documenting the soldier settlers’ experiences of this process and its problems. Further, it discusses some of the New Zealand settlements in which military land grants were concentrated. It also situates such military settlement practices in the context of the wider British Empire.  The place of women, children, and the regimental family in the soldier settlers’ New Zealand lives is also considered. This history is explored through journals, reminiscences, biography and newspapers, and contextualised via imperial and military histories. How and where men from the emphatically male sphere of the British Army met and married women during service in New Zealand is examined, as are the contexts in which they lived their married lives. Also discussed are the contrasting military and colonial policies towards women and marriage, and how these were experienced by soldier settlers and their families.  Lastly, the livelihood of soldier settlers is explored – the thesis investigating what sort of civilian lives soldier settlers experienced and how they made a living for themselves and their families. Utilising newspapers, reminiscences, biography, and government records the diversity of work army veterans undertook in the colony is uncovered. Notable trends include continued military-style roles and community leadership. The failed farming enterprise is also emphasised. Going further, it offers analysis of the later years of life and the different experiences of soldier settlers in their twilight years, particularly for those with and without family networks in the colony. The thesis challenges the separation between ‘war’ and ‘settlement’ by focusing on a group whose history spanned both sides of the nineteenth-century world of colony and empire.</p>

The Limits of the Law in Claiming Rights to Land in a Settler Colony: South Australia in the Early-to-Mid Nineteenth Century

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-657
Author(s):  
Bain Attwood
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
South Australia ◽  
British Colony ◽  
The Law ◽  
Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries ◽  
Over Time

In recent decades a large amount of scholarship has been devoted to the task of explaining the ways in which European powers claimed possession of indigenous people's territories across the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This research has emphasised the role of the law in the dispossession of indigenous peoples. But more work is required to establish the precise roles that the law played in the claiming of land and to measure its importance relative to other factors. In this paper I consider one British colony, South Australia, in order to investigate the changes that occurred in the roles that the law performed over time in the claiming of the indigenous people's lands, and to assess the importance of these relative to the roles played by historical, moral, political, psychological and material factors. I conclude that in this instance at least the role that the law played in the claiming of possession was rather different than that suggested by numerous studies of the claiming of possession as well as much less significant.

Traditions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaunnagh Dorsett
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Court Decisions ◽  
Historical Material ◽  
Contact Points ◽  
Aboriginal Law

This chapter examines legal encounters and legal relations between Indigenous peoples in both Australia and New Zealand and the British Empire. It looks at court decisions as a source of historical material in order to suggest two contact points between jurisdictions through which to think about indigenous laws and settler laws. It focuses on only two instances of contact: the colonial and the present. In many ways this choice reproduces ongoing gaps in tracing and thinking about legal encounters with Aboriginal law in Australia and, to a lesser extent, in New Zealand. Scholarship on legal encounter has tended to be centred on the colonial period to the detriment of the later nineteenth century and much of the twentieth century. The chapter looks at the ways in which colonial and modern law engaged/s with aboriginal law from the perspective of the colonizer, not the colonized.

scholarly journals The co-management of the Te Arawa Lakes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Julia Kahu Harper-Hinton
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
Share Decision Making ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Environmental Goals ◽  
Traditional Natural

<p>The restoration of indigenous rights to and interests in their traditional natural resources needs to be accompanied by practical ways in which indigenous values in relation to a resource can be met. Co-management or co-governance has emerged as an option for indigenous people in settling historical land and resource claims. Co-management offers a way in which governments and non-government entities such as and community or indigenous peoples can share decision-making over natural resources. However there are many different types and levels of co-management with, varying levels of participation and decision-making authority. Some are more effective than others at recognising indigenous values, authority and relationships. This dissertation discusses the New Zealand example of the co-management of the Te Arawa Lakes and provides an initial assessment of its cultural and environmental goals.</p>

Brewing Industry Concentration and the Introduction of the Beer Excise in Australia and New Zealand in the Late Nineteenth Century

2020 ◽  
pp. 138-166
Author(s):  
Brett J. Stubbs
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Industry Concentration ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Brewing Industry ◽  
South Wales ◽  
British Colonization ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Beer Production

In the Australian colonies and in New Zealand, British colonization was followed by the development of a flourishing brewing industry. Brewery numbers peaked in each colony in the late nineteenth century. The industry contracted subsequently to a small number of dominant cities, achieving high levels of concentration by the early twentieth century. One significant factor promoting concentration was the beer excise, introduced in each colony in the late nineteenth century. When six colonies combined in 1901 to create the Commonwealth of Australia, the federal government took responsibility for taxation of beer production, adopting a uniform excise rate and applying harsher administrative requirements that affected smaller breweries disproportionately. The operation of the beer excise in each of the Australian colonies (New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Queensland) and in New Zealand, and the later uniform federal tax in Australia, are considered as factors promoting industry concentration.

scholarly journals Indigenous Rights and Governance in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsty Gover
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Legal Theory ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Indigenous Rights ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Large Field ◽  
Land Claims ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Cultural Rights

Indigenous rights are now a core part of the constitutional frameworks of the western settler states, including Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The recognition of specific group rights for indigenous peoples raises complex challenges for the political and legal theory of the liberal democracies. Notwithstanding the significant constitutional and historical differences between these three states, in the past several decades, all have embarked on processes of land claims settlement and official recognition of indigenous peoples. The resulting arrangements are designed to protect the distinctive identities of indigenous peoples, to give effect to historic agreements, and to restore indigenous rights to property, territory, and self-governance. Legal mechanisms include those giving effect to common-law aboriginal title rights, cultural rights and exemptions, self-governance rights, special representation rights, and nondiscrimination rights. In Canada and New Zealand, but not Australia, some indigenous rights are premised on historic treaties. Recognized indigenous rights are expressed in various provisions of public legislation (including, in Canada, the Constitution Act), in indigenous-state agreements on land claims and self-governance, in formal and informal agreements on local governance, and in official apologies. Literature on indigenous rights includes a small but important body of political theory exploring and critiquing the application of theories of cultural pluralism, a large field of secondary legal literature on country-specific arrangements, comparative work considering matters of transnational application in the western settler states, and a sizable body of work on anthropological and cultural theories of indigeneity. This bibliography is intended to provide a sample of commentary to guide researchers in forays into the rapidly developing field of indigenous rights and indigenous governance. There is a vast and growing body of commentary on the legal and political status of indigenous communities in the western settler states. This collection cannot hope to be comprehensive. The emphasis of this selection is on secondary legal sources and analysis and does not include reference to cases or legislation. Wherever possible, comparative works have been included, to show the development of transnational law and policy on indigenous peoples and the sharing of concepts across legal jurisdictions. Likewise, the bibliography has been designed to emphasize works on indigenous laws and institutions, and commentary by indigenous commentators.

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