A 'marriage' of the races?: aspects of intermarriage, ideology and reproduction on the New Zealand frontier

Abstract

This thesis investigates the interface of race and gender on the New Zealand colonial frontier. This frontier existed in different parts of the country at different times, as it moved before the wave of colonial establishment. Thus some areas of New Zealand may not have been touched by Crown institutions while other areas were fully fledged mini-colonies. The frontier has long been assumed to be a mainly male place. Indeed the majority of Pakeha who arrived on that frontier were men; but the society they encountered was not similarly lacking in women. The role that women, and Maori women in particular, played in broking relations between Maori and Pakeha has been underdeveloped in New Zealand historiography. The basic premise of this thesis is that women were a vital part of the frontier power equation. When Pakeha men arrived at their various frontier destinations, they found a world already ordered by traditions. They had to learn, on pain of life and success, how to fit into and avoid offending such traditions. Maori women, or more specifically varying forms of intermarriage with them, were the key. Thus intermarriage allowed the development of the frontier and eventually the establishment of colonial power. But as that colonial power did develop, the exigencies that had given intermarriage such predominance began to change. As Pakeha assumed power on that frontier, and so the power to define the frontier, intermarriage moved from a form of alliance binding Pakeha to Maori customs, to a form of assimilation within Pakeha customs. This change in power saw a change in the role allotted to Maori women and a diffusion of the power previously held by Maori. Eventually intermarriage assumed a new, metaphorical importance as it moved from binding individuals to binding 'races' and proving the prevailing paradigm. In short, this thesis asserts that whoever controlled intermarriage controlled the frontier, and thus intermarriage acted as a control for power on that frontier.