Positioning Indigeneity: Māori and Pacific Displays at the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibitions 1889 and 1925

This thesis focuses on two exhibitions, both staged in Dunedin, a major commercial port city in New Zealand: the New Zealand and South Seas Exhibition of 1889-90 and the New Zealand and South Seas International Exhibition of 1925-26. The study investigates what “South Seas” meant at these two moments and how indigenous people, objects and cultures formed part of the exhibitions. The inclusion of the “South Seas” was an intentional element ingrained in both exhibitions, but it held different meanings at different moments in the history of the colony and empire in New Zealand and the Pacific. The two events were separated by decades of substantial political and social change; between 1889 and 1925 New Zealand experienced World War I, transitioned from a colony to a dominion, and became a power in the Pacific.

The Māori and Pacific sections in both exhibitions were significant parts of the larger displays which sought to show the best of agriculture, industry, entertainment, and culture. The exhibitions provided occasions of civic and national pride, designed to instil confidence in the future. Including displays of Māori and Pacific peoples and cultures was a priority for organisers. Signalling towards the South Seas was a method of informal imperialism. The exhibitions communicated New Zealand’s expansionist ambitions in 1889 and achievements as part of the British Empire by 1925. The displays of indigenous people and objects, particularly from New Zealand, Tonga, Sāmoa, and Fiji were arranged by predominantly European organisers. These ethnographic displays reveal contemporary racial attitudes and interests. Evidence of indigenous engagement with the exhibitions encourages careful consideration of how indigenous performers and visitors perceived the events.

This study draws on a variety of documentary and material culture sources. The organisers’ ambitions often outran what ended up on display. This is discernible when the plans made in organisational material are at odds with what eventuated in officially published booklets. Material culture methodologies are also employed to examine displayed objects. Adopting a combination of analytical methodologies to employ a range of documentary and material culture evidence provides a larger pool of evidence to draw from. Each source type: organisational documents, published guidebooks or newspaper articles, and material objects offers a different lens to examine the events with to create a more nuanced perspective.

Exhibitions in New Zealand have been the subject of several important studies, notably the New Zealand International Exhibition held in Christchurch in 1906-7 and the 1939-40 Centennial Exhibition. Yet, the New Zealand and South Seas exhibitions of 1889 and 1925 are subjects of few detailed studies. Scholarship on exhibitions has not typically relied on objects as sources even when the events at their core were showcases of objects. Many live on in public and private collections.