Trevor Bentley - Pakeha Ta Moko: A History of the Europeans traditionally Tattooed By Māori

For my brother Michael

Whakatohu (forced) Ta Moko

Our ancestors marked these [Pakeha] captives with symbols of slavery, primarily to tell other iwi that they were owned, that they belonged to an iwi, hence they became wearers of moko .

Mark Kopua, The Spinoff , 24 May 2018.

[B]eing stripped of our clothes, and laid on our backs, we were each of us held down by five or six men, while two others commenced the operation of tattooing us although the pain was most acute, I never either moved or uttered a sound; but my comrades moaned dreadfully.

John Rutherford, 1830, 135-136.

I knew two sailors who had been tattooed in the face. One of these was for some time among the New Zealanders. He was taken prisoner by a warlike tribe while ashore one day from his ship. He was only a boy, and the tribe adopted him. The savages had tattooed only his face and his feet. He made his escape in a whale-ship.

Charles Nordhoff, 1857, 265-266.

The chiefs told him [Barnet Burns], they wished him to be tattooedto make sure he remained with them, bring the trade [and] fight for them. As the alternative was death and the cooking oven, Burns consented and the moko operation immediately began.

James Cowan, Auckland Star, 11 April 1936, 36.

The Maori chief who owned a stray pakeha in those days of our commercial beginnings in this country liked to get his protege tattooed; it was a kind of guarantee that the white man wouldnt run away from him The face-tattooing of the early-days pakeha was in most cases a matter of compulsion.

James Cowan, Auckland Star , 25 August 1928, 25.

Takoha (gifted) Ta Moko

My ancestors even gave New Zealand settlers ta moko in the past. My ancestors and our tupuna set the precedent way back in the 1800s when they gifted many Pakeha men moko kanohi [face tattoos].

Tania Cotter, Radio New Zealand, 25 May 2018.

Though he [Captain Cooks sailor], appeared amiable in her eyes in the dress of a stranger, yet he wished to render himself still more so, by ornamenting his person after the fashion of her country; accordingly he submitted to be tattowed from head to foot.

John Rickman, 1781, 60.

The honours of the chieftainship are not confined to the aborigines; as some Englishmen, and natives of the South Sea Islands, who arrived formerly in New Zealand, as sailors on board whale-ships, have been enrolled as native patricians: the act of naturalisation principally consisting in being tattooed and enjoying a plurality of wives.

Joel Polack, Vol. I , 1840. 40.

I wanted my face tattooed, for I was as wild as any Maori then. I intended to have the curves called tiwhana , or arches, tattooed on my forehead, over the eyes, and the kawekawe lines on the cheeks, extending to the corners of the mouth.

Kimble Bent, 1911, 89-90.

There have been among our pakeha-Maori, bushmen and beachcombers, who for various reasons took to life among the Maoris, numerous white men who had themselves decorated with blue moko pattern by the tohungas of that art. Some adopted moko as a means of disguise and of protection or adoption by some friendly tribe.

James Cowan, Auckland Star , 16 November 1940, 3.

Takoha Moko Kauae

Maori knew about showing strangers aroha and how to gift, and these Pakeha women wanted to belong. They came to value the moko kauae, they saw the beauty in it and had to have it. If they respected it, they were given it and they wore it with pride.

Tui Ranapiri-Ransfield, interview, 10 October 2021.

A Pakeha women had to earn a moko kauae. She would be given one if she recognised its importance and deserved it. If she had mana, it would be suggested by others or she would be pressed to take it.

Kamiria Mullen, interview, 6 November 2021.

It is a custom that is almost dead now, but in those days a Maori was not considered to be fashionable unless he or she bore some pattern of the tattooists art on face or body. Though I was often pressed to be tattooed I refused vigorously. Why, I do not know, but the idea repelled me.

Caroline Perrett, The Sun , 27 July 1929, 19.

There have been instances in the 1900s where various kuia Pakeha that have lived a predominantly Maori life have been given moko by that Maori community because of their contribution to that community.

Mark Kopua, Radio New Zealand, 25 March 2018.

The Pakeha women we adopted were expected to marry and become part of the community in every way, including moko and haka. Because they were raised as Maori, and had Maori children and grandchildren, they became part of our whakapapa [genealogy] right down to their receiving land that was gifted or inherited. They do not appear in our whakapapa as Pakeha, but as Maori tupuna [ancestors], because that is what they became and that is how we remember them.

Tui Ranapiri-Ransfield, interview, 10 October 2021.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the National Library of New Zealand.

ISBN 978-1776948-18-5

A White Cloud Book

Published in 2022 by Upstart Press Ltd

26 Greenpark Road, Penrose, Auckland 1061

Text Trevor Bentley 2022

The moral right of the authors has been asserted.

Design and format Upstart Press Ltd 2022

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

The information included in this book is to be used as a guide only. The authors, publisher and agents do not take responsibility for the application of this information.

Cover and text designed by www.cvdgraphics.nz

Front Cover Photograph: John Rutherford : A whaling sailor who acquired tatau in Polynesia and a ta moko in New Zealand, Rutherford returned to England in 1826. Known as The Tattooed Englishman, he eked out a precarious existence as a sideshow exhibit, street hawker, snatch and run thief and a pickpocket under the character of a New Zealand chief.

Craik, George, The New Zealanders, Charles Knight, London, 1830: 87.

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

There is a long history of Pakeha being gifted and wearing moko it happened back in the day, and theres several Pakeha wearing it now People that have been whangaied [adopted] into Maori whanau can then claim their whakapapa.

Inia Taylor, moko artist, Stuff, 22 May 2018.

My interest in the interaction of Maori and Pakeha in pre-Treaty New Zealand began as a teenager, when I read Frederick Manings rollicking Pakeha-Maori narrative, Old New Zealand . This book, which I hope proves an informative and reader friendly account, is an outcome of that interest. Tattooed Pakeha might seem an unusual subject for an historian, but as one of the most effective methods by which Maori assimilated Pakeha into their societies, it was a subject impossible to ignore. Additionally, in liberal democracies, historians still have the power to decide which groups, denigrated and suppressed, in their own day, should become the subjects of history.

This study provides a history of a largely forgotten minority, whose story needs to be told - the Pakeha traditionally tattooed by Maori during the eras preceding and following the Treaty of Waitangi and the British annexation of New Zealand in 1840. It is in part, a testament of respect to the courage and adaptability of the European men and women who crossed cultures to live and die as tattooed Pakeha-Maori, far from their original kinsfolk and native lands. It is also a testament to the Maori cultural practices of manaakitanga and whanaungatanga, whereby disoriented and vulnerable European captives, castaways, runaway sailors and fugitive convict men and women were reassured, shown kindness and integrated into Maori communities.