Christianity was the cutting edge of colonialism … their ideology affirmed superiority. They [missionaries] established institutions that helped entrench and accelerate colonialism, therefore undermining the fabric of indigenous ways of knowing (Consedine & Consedine, 2001:71).
The first missionaries sent to New Zealand were instructed to model the ‘arts of civilised life’ in their everyday life (May, 2003). A key figure in the establishment of the first Anglican Christian Mission Society in New Zealand in 1814 was Samuel Marsden. The agenda to ‘civilise the natives’ (Simon, 1990; Walker, 1991) incorporating the ‘word of God’, meant that Marsden was followed closely by missionaries from other denominations. Samuel Leigh, a close friend of Marsden’s, established a Wesleyan Missionary Society in Whangaroa in 1823. In 1838 a Roman Catholic mission led by Jean Baptise Francois Pompallier landed at Hokianga (May, 2003). Unlike Anglican missionary families, the Catholic priests could not model the family styled ‘arts
of civilised life’, and seemed to place less emphasis on ‘Europeanising’ Māori. However, Consedine & Consedine (2005) believe their intentions were just the same as all other missionaries and “although the Catholic Church believed it had a role in protecting the ‘natives’ in any particular country, the goals of evangelisation became subordinated to the colonisation process” (p.65). Māori culture and language were an integral part of the colonial landscape, while the new British ways of ‘knowing and being’ were foreign to Māori. Effective interaction for both groups was dependent on their ability to create meaningful dialogue. Early missionaries and settlers needed to be able to speak Māori if they wanted to live, trade and work amongst Māori (Barrington, 2008). The missionaries, the settlers and Māori were reliant on each other in different ways. The introduction of modern tools and gadgets brought to New Zealand by settlers piqued Māori curiosity. Everyday chores were made less onerous by the iron tools and the muskets gave Māori a firepower they had never possessed before (Graham, 2002) and the gift of literacy appealed greatly to our tupuna (O’Regan, in Collins, 2004) therefore
From 1814, twenty-six years prior to the arrival of the colonial settlers, missionaries transported and adapted new educational ideas and techniques, as a vanguard tool towards creating a ‘civilised’ Christian society (May, 2003:1).
The most direct route for Māori to literacy enlightenment was education. The missionaries had targeted schooling as the key instrument for the ‘civilisation agenda’ (Simon 1986) and a primary means of assimilation (Codd, Harker & Nash, 1985; Shuker, 1987). In 1814 the Church Missionary Society established a fund for schools and outlined their intent and they worked on the premise that
The instruction of children facilitates access to their parents, secures their friendship and conveys information to them through unsuspected channels. The minds of children are susceptible and less under the influence of habit and prejudice than those of their parents (May,
In their zealous pursuit of literacy (both English and Māori), Māori were quick to pick up the offer that schooling presented to them. On August 16, 1816, Thomas Kendall opened the first mission school at Rangihoua, in the Bay of Islands. He had a class roll of 30 pupils. Unfortunately lack of trade at the settlement caused families to leave the area in search of better options and the school was closed down in 1818. Mission schools went into hiatus for at least the next twelve years and “it was not until the 1830s that Māori interest in schooling escalated because of increased immigration (by Pākehā), greater trade opportunities and an expansion of technology” (Graham, 2002:32). Although mission schools had experienced a setback, the Māori pursuit of the English language was relentless. This was fuelled by the strong belief that the knowledge of this language would bring them power (Walker, 1991) within the tribe (iwi) and in the community at large. Barrington and Beaglehold (in May, 2003) stated, “the desire to become literate was clearly the most striking expression of the Māori receptivity to Christian teaching”(p.17).
By the 1830s, Māori heads, hearts and minds had been captured by the inherent power of literacy and the word of God as a means to save their wretched souls. Ngapuhi chief Ruatara, who had become a personal friend of Samuel Marsden, became a patron for Marsden and his other missionary friends (May, 2003). WhenMāori leaders became fervent religious followers it was a natural occurrence for their people to follow suit. Consequently it was inevitable, after earlier setbacks, that when mission schools were established again in Māori communities, the missionaries experienced very little opposition. It was widely believed that the missionaries had the interests of their Māori followers at heart, as the concept of ‘evangelical humanitarianism’ Falloon (2010) was at the forefront of their thinking, as is supported by Orange (1989), Te Puni Kōkiri (2001), Newman (2010). However it is also clear that civilising the natives (Walker, 1991), and ensuring missionary influence over the moral development of Māori would not be lost (Consedine and Consedine, 2000).
Mission schools and Māori aptitude for learning were in synchronicity. Marsden (May, 2003) had recorded in one of his writings that Māori were fond of reading and even those who did not attend school had learned to read. William Brown also observed that
If one native in the tribe can read and write, he will not be long in teaching the others. The desire to obtain this information engrosses their whole thoughts and they will continue for days with slates in their hands (May, 2003:18).
May (2003) asserts an influential political outcome for increased Māori interaction in mission schools was Māori belief that missionaries could talk to God through the power of the printed word and a growing belief in the necessity of print literacy. During this time the missionaries were instrumental in selling the Treaty of Waitangi (discussed more thoroughly in 2.3) to Māori as a positive influence in their lives and that of their children. They were to find that this was not necessarily the case at all.
2.3 Te Tīrītī o Waitangi