2 ‘We rejoice to honour the Queen, for she is a good woman, who cares for the Māori race’
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Michael Belgrave
Abstract
This chapter discusses this transformation Queen Victoria in Māori thought from the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 to her death in 1901. It argues that she would remain throughout an ambiguous and ambivalent figure. For many Māori, she would be a distant guarantor of rights denied. Many tribes maintained an intense loyalty to the Queen, pledged their military support to suppress the supposedly rebellion of others. Some saw no inconsistency between fighting Imperial troops, maintaining loyalty to a Māori King, and accepting an overarching authority of the Queen. While yet others rejected the Queen every bit as much as they rejected the missionaries, the governor and constitutional control by a settler parliament. This chapter explores these complexities and contradictions.
Abstract
This chapter discusses this transformation Queen Victoria in Māori thought from the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 to her death in 1901. It argues that she would remain throughout an ambiguous and ambivalent figure. For many Māori, she would be a distant guarantor of rights denied. Many tribes maintained an intense loyalty to the Queen, pledged their military support to suppress the supposedly rebellion of others. Some saw no inconsistency between fighting Imperial troops, maintaining loyalty to a Māori King, and accepting an overarching authority of the Queen. While yet others rejected the Queen every bit as much as they rejected the missionaries, the governor and constitutional control by a settler parliament. This chapter explores these complexities and contradictions.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of maps and figures vii
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Maps xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Monarch, metaphor, memory
- 1 ‘We have seen the son of Heaven/We have seen the Son of Our Queen’ 25
- 2 ‘We rejoice to honour the Queen, for she is a good woman, who cares for the Māori race’ 54
- 3 ‘The faithful children of the Great Mother are starving’ 78
- 4 The politics of memory and the memory of politics 100
- 5 ‘My vast Empire & all its many peoples’ 125
- 6 Māori encounters with ‘Wikitoria’ in 1863 and Albert Victor Pomare, her Māori godchild 144
- 7 Southern African royalty and delegates visit Queen Victoria, 1882–95 166
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Part III Sovereign subjects?
- 8 Sovereignty performances, sovereignty testings 187
- 9 Bracelets, blankets and badges of distinction 210
- 10 Chiefly women 228
- Select bibliography 246
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of maps and figures vii
- List of contributors ix
- Acknowledgements xii
- Maps xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Monarch, metaphor, memory
- 1 ‘We have seen the son of Heaven/We have seen the Son of Our Queen’ 25
- 2 ‘We rejoice to honour the Queen, for she is a good woman, who cares for the Māori race’ 54
- 3 ‘The faithful children of the Great Mother are starving’ 78
- 4 The politics of memory and the memory of politics 100
- 5 ‘My vast Empire & all its many peoples’ 125
- 6 Māori encounters with ‘Wikitoria’ in 1863 and Albert Victor Pomare, her Māori godchild 144
- 7 Southern African royalty and delegates visit Queen Victoria, 1882–95 166
-
Part III Sovereign subjects?
- 8 Sovereignty performances, sovereignty testings 187
- 9 Bracelets, blankets and badges of distinction 210
- 10 Chiefly women 228
- Select bibliography 246
- Index 249
