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Section 4 The Furthest Eden
Represented by European voyage artists as the last vestige of an earlier heroic age - a primeval paradise untainted by industrial society - New Zealand and her people fascinated the British. Impressed by their industriousness and beauty, Augustus Earle depicted the Maori as romantic savages, representative of the childhood of mankind, ready to take the first steps towards civilisation. Although eagerly embracing some aspects of European civilisation, such as guns and tools, the Maori resisted attempts to colonise their land. European attitudes towards the Maori became increasingly negative as they refused to cede their land to the influx of British settlers lured by attractive descriptions of this furthest Eden. Fighting a protracted series of wars to protect their land, the Maori were the first indigenous people to extract a treaty from the British when the wars ended with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
1. Unknown 2. Richard Read Snr, c1765-1827? 3. John Sylvester 4. Augustus Earle, 1793-1738 5. Unknown 6. Mary Ann Musgrave, FL.1821-1847 7. Three Maori cleavers: Mere and Patou 18-? 8. William Montague Nevin Watkins, 1835-1904
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A selection of images from the Paradise Possessed exhibition. National Library of Australia. Click here to find out more about NLA exhibitions. Copyright: ©1998, National Library of Australia
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