Missionization in New Zealand and Australia: A Comparison

Abstract

This paper discusses missionization in New Zealand and Australia during the nineteenth century. Despite sharing aspects of colonial history and a geographical proximity in the South Pacific, the development of missions in both countries was disparate, leading to two very different types of missions, types I have identified as the "household" mission in New Zealand and the "institutional" mission in Australia. In both types common themes can be found, concerned with the "civilizing mission," domesticity, and gender roles. These two types of missions were replicated in other parts of the globe, such as North America and the Pacific.

Glass and stoneware knapped tools among hunter-gatherers in southern Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego

“…In Tierra del Fuego on the other hand, several religious missions (both Salesians in the north and Anglicans in the south of the island) were created in order to evangelise and nucleate indigenous communities, in a similar process to that recorded in New Zealand and Australia (e.g. Middleton 2010). As a consequence, indigenous groups from northern Tierra del Fuego implemented different strategies to avoid contact as a means for dealing with the outsiders’ policies (e.g.…”

An Archaeology of Early Christianity in Vanuatu

“…Missions in Aboriginal Australia tended to be more centralised and institutional, at least physically (Middleton 2010;Sutton 2003; for a critique of this see Morrison et al 2015: 98-99). However, these missions were no less shaped by the indigenous landscapes where they were set, a pattern visible throughout Aboriginal Australia and Australasia more broadly (Lydon and Ash 2010).…”

The Parramatta Māori Seminary and the education of indigenous peoples in early colonial New South Wales

“…Marsden supplemented CMS funds for the Seminary over the period until 1827 with his own money, first by housing the Seminary in his own residence, and later by erecting a dedicated building, known as Rangihu Cottage, Rangihou being the place of the main mission station in New Zealand (Middleton, 2010). A description of the Seminary site comes from the sale of Marsden's estate after his death in 1838:…”

“…The separate consideration of Marsden's work in the two countries has tended to obscure the important role that he played in imperial expansion and encounters with Indigenous peoples throughout the region (Standfield, 2012). More recently, however, with the rise of transnational histories, Marsden's work in the two countries is beginning to be considered in the same analytical frame, with recent essays by Angela Middleton (2010) and Meredith Lake (2010) considering the connections between Marsden's work in Australia and New Zealand in regards to the development of missions and the role that the idea of “work” played in evangelisation. Together with Bremer's (2007) work on gender and race in Tristan's upbringing with the Marsden family, these histories bring a focus on the Indigenous people that Marsden encountered, worked with and judged.…”

“…When thinking about the significance of the Seminary it is imperative to remember, I believe, the simple fact that it was established on Aboriginal land, appropriated just a few years before when granted to him by the colonial authorities early in his residence in New South Wales. Marsden supplemented CMS funds for the Seminary over the period until 1827 with his own money, first by housing the Seminary in his own residence, and later by erecting a dedicated building, known as Rangihu Cottage, Rangihou being the place of the main mission station in New Zealand (Middleton, 2010). A description of the Seminary site comes from the sale of Marsden's estate after his death in 1838:…”