Cook's First Voyage to New Zealand - Barry Faville
This year the high school I teach at has decided to do English modules at Year 10. The module I am developing is called Worlds and Journeys, and is slowly working through from ancient mythical journeys, to modern explorers, while also including fantasy and, eventually, science fiction elements. As a result I am doing a lot of research into various explorers, particularly ones with some connection to New Zealand.
This short book gives a straight forward and relatively thorough description of Captain James Cook's circumnavigation of New Zealand, including within it the 1852 account of Te Horeta, a Maori chief, who was a boy at the time of Cook's visit. Te Horeta recounts the first impressions of Cook and his men arriving in Mercury Bay: "As our old men looked at the manner in which they came on shore, the rowers pulling with their backs to the bows of the boat, the old people said...'These people are goblins; their eyes are at the back of their heads; they pull on shore with their backs to the land to which they are going.'" (page 2). In reading this book I was pleasantly surprised by how thoughtful and peaceable (by the standards of his day) Cook was towards the Maori people. Although there were various incidents where Cook's men killed Maori, Cook regretted each of them, and was determined to show himself as desirous of peace.
The book is a little 'of its times' in how positive Cook is presented, something highlighted to me as I have browsed other books about the same time. Te Horeta's excerpts, for example, highlight Cook as a 'good man' - something Te Horeta did say - but downplay the fear of the Maori until much later. Meanwhile another book I read that quotes from the same interview highlights Te Horeta's fear regarding the guns brought ashore by the English, and downplay the 'greatness' of Cook.
Another interesting example is shown in an incident where Cook, desperate to show that he meant no harm to the Maori, decided that: "If one or two Maoris could be taken on board and treated with great kindness, surely this would show them the strangers meant no harm? Cook decided to try it at the first opportunity." (page 9) This is Faville's introduction to Cook abducting three Maori boys and keeping them captive overnight on the Endeavour. This incident did work - after the boys realised they were not going to be killed(!) they did become friendly - but later retellings make some commentary on how Cook was abducting/kidnapping the boys, whereas Faville makes no such statement.
In terms of a resource to start discussing Cook and the mapping of Aotearoa, this book is useful. It would also be helpful in terms of looking at how retellings of our history have changed over time. It is fairly short though, so anyone wanting to go a bit more in depth could probably find other versions of the same story.
Completed 15 March 2023.
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