Robley — Soldier with a Pencil

Front Cover

Back Cover

Title Page

Cover Illustration

Te Kani, of the Ngaiterangi tribe, Tauranga. Drawn from life by 2nd Lieut. H. G. Robley, who noted his tattoo as showing good nose-marking.

Said to be a brother of Rawiri Puhirake who commanded the Maoris when they defeated the British at Gate Pa, April 29th, 1864.

Robley — Soldier with a Pencil By L. W. Melvin Tauranga Historical Society 1957

Acknowledgements

The Tauranga Historical Society who published this monograph makes grateful acknowledgment to the following: Victoria University College, Wellington, for permission to use Robley material in the Fildes Collection.Hocken Library, University of Otago, who supplied the illustrations of Major-General Robley's work.The Director, Dominion Museum, Wellington, for information.Miss B. S. Adams and Mr Lionel Adams, Tauranga, for permission to use Robley correspondence.

Robley - Soldier with a Pencil By L. W. Melvin

General Cameron's attack on Gate Pa, Tauranga, April 29th, 1864, had been heavily defeated. About five o'clock next morning, the British, learning that the Maori defenders had slipped away during the night, advanced and took possession of the abandoned position. All that was left for them to do was to gather up the dead and wounded.

A certain Lieutenant Robley was early on the scene and made several rapid sketches, including one of the abandoned defences. Later in the morning, having addressed this sketch to a London paper, he ran with it back to the Tauranga waterfront where he was able to catch the captain of a vessel about to leave for Auckland. A few hasty words, and a sympathetic captain promised to post it on arrival — a promise he kept.1 In this way, Robley's packet connected with a mail which left Auckland direct for England shortly afterwards and his sketch appeared in the Illustrated London News of June 23rd. It was the first sketch of many glimpses he was to give the British public of their war in New Zealand and of the people they were fighting.

Horatio Gordon Robley purchased a commission in the Britsh army for £4502 and was appointed to the 68th Durham Light Infantry with the rank of Ensign (then the lowest commissioned rank in the British infantry) on 14th May, 1858. He was a keen recruit at the battalion training depot at Fermoy, Ireland, cramming extra lessons in his quarters when off duty. He was also an enthusiastic amateur sketcher, with an unquenchable curiosity and interest in the unusual.

Within a few months he was ordered with a mixed draft of 4 officers and 100 men of the Essex Regiment and the King's Dragoon Guards, to join his regiment in Burma. But before going aboard the 600 ton sailing ship Colgrain at Gravesend, he made sure of purchasing a shark hook and chain — for was he not now going adventuring? The young subaltern did not have long to wait, for in the Bay of Biscay he witnessed his transport rescue the crew of a sinking Greek vessel. Next, Gomera, in the Canary Islands, provided appealing material for his sketch-book for it was here that Columbus had outfitted. Sickness broke out aboard the Colgrain and the two senior military officers were laid low. Came Christmas night with young Robley as duty officer. Some of the crew broke into the spirit store and passed out quantities to the troops. The under-privileged ranks of the British Army needed no second bidding. That which began in stealth ended in pandemonium when a glorious, free-for-all drunk developed. Revellers were everywhere and the proper working of the ship was endangered. Robley made his contribution to the restoration of order by "using different persuasions to suit different occasions," until the last drunk was herded below decks. An angry ship's captain was taking no more risks and ordered the hatches battened down, so Robley had the questionable pleasure of listening at close range to songs and speeches until the plunging of the heavily laden ship reduced the drunken soldiery to impotence.

During his following five years service in Burma, Robley took every opportunity to observe the people and learn the language. On one occasion he obtained leave to accompany an American missionary on a visit to the Karens, a hill people who made their homes on elevated platforms as a precaution against tigers. The numerous sketches made during this period formed the basis for his illustrations some years later, when he was asked by the firm of Cassells & Co. to contribute to their publication, Races of Mankind.

During his Burma service Robley began to specialise in rifle shooting. Following a spell of sick-leave in England in 1860, he applied for and was granted a term in the School of Musketry. Rejoining his regiment the following year, he purchased for £2502 the commission of second lieutenant and was appointed musketry instructor.

His numerous sketching visits to Burmese temples had been marked by a due degree of deference to his surroundings and he became friendly with several Buddhist monks. As a result, when the news came that the Durhams were to depart for New Zealand, his friends invoked Buddha to make him invulnerable; but, as he remarked in later years, was that fair to the Maoris? Anyhow, to suit the occasion he had an image of Buddha tattooed in red on his right arm.

Major-General Horatio Gordon Robley, 1st Battalion, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders

The Durhams landed at Auckland on 8th January, 1864. Robley was then twenty-four. Keen to come to terms with the new country to which his service had brought him, he very soon after landing bought a Maori vocabulary, and F. E. Maning's two books, Old New Zealand and Heke's War in the North both the latter then but recently on the market. Maning's descriptive prose inspired him with an intelligent interest in the Maori and his customs, with the result that when his regiment was despatched in the following April to participate in General Cameron's Tauranga Campaign, Robley arrived there virtually with sketch-book in hand. The towering bulk of Maunganui on the port beam as H.M.S. Miranda worked into the harbour, was engraved upon his memory for a lifetime. The entrance was not without incident, either, for Miranda went aground, and was freed only by the time-honoured manoeuvre of rushing men and cannon from side to side of the ship while she endeavoured to go ahead under sail and engine.2

The military occupation of Tauranga took place prior to organised European settlement here. Outside of the large Anglican Mission settlement and the smaller Roman Catholic station at Otumoetai, it is doubtful whether there were more than half a dozen European settlers and traders scattered around the harbour. This is a partial explanation why the pictorial records of men like Robley are confined almost wholly to Maori things.

The Imperial troops built their large, strongly-defended camp on the ground between the present day Domain and the harbour, with the grounds of Archdeacon Brown's residence just over the dividing hedge. In due course second-lieutenant Robley paid a social call on Archdeacon Brown and his wife, but there is a suspicion that cakes and ale in the restrained atmosphere of the Mission House was not a complete answer for this lusty young man. In any case the great hospitality of the Browns appears to have become the preserve of the senior officers.

During the final week in which General Cameron made his unimaginative preparations to attack the Maori position at Pukehinahina — named by Europeans, Gate Pa — Lieutenant Robley found time to go duck-shooting up the Waimapu estuary. His inseparable sketch-book was in his pocket and from one of the eminences in the vicinity where nowadays Courtenay Road crosses the estuary swamp, he made a sketch of the inland view to the south-west.1 When later in the course of duty, he saw from a frontal position the Maoris entrenching on Pukehinahina, he knew he was viewing from another angle one of the ridges drawn in the sketch made when duck-shooting. He took the sketch to his colonel, with the added information that at low tide it was possible to out-flank the enemy position, supporting his statement with a map of his route.2 So by the sporting occasions of a junior officer, rather than by the precautions of elementary military intelligence work, General Cameron was able to place troops in the rear of the Maori position before opening his attack.

We have Robley to thank for the details of the Maori defences at Gate Pa, as these were filled in by the British almost immediately afterwards, and a Royal Engineer type of redoubt built in their place. When he reached the position on the morning of April 30th he made several drawings, including details of the defences, and a plan of the maze of trenches: he also paced out the dimensions of the positions.

Another sketch he made that morning was of a group of three badly-wounded Maoris to whom he had given his rum ration. The rum, the Maoris could understand, but they could not comprehend his strange action of drawing them and they craned wonderingly toward him as he set to work; (~~fig.~~ 23). The central figure of the three is Reweti who later succumbed to his injuries — six bullet wounds and broken legs.

One historical detail of Gate Pa confirmed by Robley concerns the Maoris' water supply. Not only does he show in the composite illustration referred to above, water supplies at the swamps on both flanks, but of that on the Maori right flank he wrote:

"E [ast] where the pa water supply was — a trench to this. I watched all 28th April with six marksmen"1

This running water was (and still is) in the gully behind St George's Church, between it and Wellesley Grove.

In his memoirs Robley makes no mention of having fought at Te Ranga4 in the following June, so it is likely he was amongst those detailed to garrison the base camp that day.

The surrender of the local tribes after Te Ranga was not effected at one great ceremony, but was a gradual process as one group after another realised further resistance was useless.5 Robley drew the scene at the main surrender which took place on July 25th, 1864; this and several other scenes were later reproduced in the Illustrated London News under the following captions:6

Illus. London News. Gate Pa (showing trenches etc) 23.7.1864 page 81 Maori War Canoe at Tauranga 6.8.1864 page 137 Arms taken at Te Ranga 24.9.1864 page 319 Surrender of Tauranga Natives 29.10.1864 page 429 A New Zealand Funeral Ceremony 17.2.1866 page 159 The Matata Pa. 24.2.1866 page 189 War Dance at the Ngaiterangi War Canoes Competing for Prizes 28.4.1866 page 417 Gateway of Maori Pa at Maketu 12.1.1867 page 29

After the surrender his regiment remained at Tauranga on garrison duty until the beginning of 1866, when it was withdrawn and returned to England: but meantime, Robley made the most of his sketching opportunities. Indeed, at the hospital he earned something of a name for oddity by the readiness with which he would squat beside Maori casualties the better to study their tattoo designs.2

He was also a curio collector.7 In May, 1864, while in charge of a fatigue party grave digging in the Mission cemetery, one of his men turned up a greenstone mere. The soldier waved it in a mock haka at some Maoris passing below in a canoe, who straightaway successfully applied to headquarters for its return. Sixty years later Robley could still evince regret at having missed that one.

There is a story too, behind his sketch of a pataka (food-store) which stood on the left bank of the Wairoa, near the present-day bridge. Prior to the battle at Gate Pa, Wairoa was one of the places fortified by the Kingite Maoris against coming events. But subsequent to that engagement, the position was abandoned and Robley was one of a detachment sent to fill in the trenches at the deserted pa. While so engaged, he saw the pataka across the river and espying the carving with which it was decorated, his collector's instincts got the better of him and despite orders not to cross the river, he went over and secured it.8

In 1865 he obtained leave to accompany the Colonial forces who went in pursuit of the Hauhaus who had killed the Rev. Volkner at Opotiki, his companion being the youthful Gilbert Mair. This explains how Robley came to do the Maketu and Matata drawings. On Boxing Day of the same year the garrison sports enabled Robley to draw two fully-manned war canoes as they crossed Tauranga harbour to take part in a race. This drawing has been used to illustrate four New Zealand books that I know of: Maori Wars of the Nineteenth Century, Gilbert Mair's Reminiscences, the 1922 edition of Old New Zealand, and Maori Music — this last having by far the best plate. Gilbert Mair reckoned this drawing to be the best reproduction of a real Maori war canoe ever published.9

Detail of Maori Tattoo. Spiral on Right Cheek.

Badly wounded Maoris in the abandoned defences at Gate Pa, Tauranga. Drawn by Robley on the morning of of April 30, 1864.

III

Among the several writers who have drawn on the authentic atmosphere of Robley's sketches to illustrate their work, is Johannes Andersen. Writing in Maori Music of the absence amongst the ancient Maoris of the drum beaten on a stretched membrane, he says:

"The Maori substitute was his own body and the earth he stood on, making the rhythm of his dances by striking his breast or thighs with his hands, or one arm with the hand of the other, and the earth with his feet; and all witnesses even of the degenerate form of the wild war-dance, know the thrilling effect of the simultaneous blow or stamp of a rhythmically-moving body of men, especially when blow or stamp is accompanied by deep sigh, or gasp, or harsh utterance, enforced through the eye with appropriate expressive glare and distortion of features, and tongue abnormally protruded. Several attempts have been made to catch the impression in a sketch ... the best is that where Robley has caught a single warrior in . . . position. This warrior is more appropriately unclothed, so that his tattooing is well revealed, and his weapon is a true Maori weapon — a tewhatewha, with its ornamented tuft of feathers."

Concerning that particular sketch, Robley has left a fragmentary note that he was inspired to make it after seeing a memorable Arawa war-dance (probably at either Maketu or Matata).

That particular sketch too, leads us to an observation of Robley's methods. For on another occasion he has drawn the same figure in an identical off-the-ground leap but has armed him with a shot-gun (Moko p32). Yet again he has used this second figure, with minor alterations, against the background of an old-time pa entrance (Maketu), resulting in the illustration facing p8 in Gilbert Mair's Reminiscences.

Some explanation of the variation in Robley's work appears necessary. In the first place, his sketches sent to the Illustrated London News were re-drawn by the engraver there, who used a certain amount of licence regarding details, noticeable when such engravings are compared with illustrations of a later period reproduced directly from Robley's sketches.

Also, upon his retirement from the army Robley capitalized more than ever on his sketch-books, in the process making more than one drawing of certain subjects, sometimes with minor variations of detail. These were faithfully executed and are not to be confused with the products of a habit developed when he was an old man, that of making rough copies which he sent to correspondents merely as tokens of goodwill: one such faces p33 in The Story of Gate Pa.10

In 1905 the New Zealand Government purchased seventy of Robley's water-colour sketches which now form the Robley Collection in the Dominion Museum, Wellington. As all his New Zealand service was done there the collection relates principally to Tauranga and is a valuable historical record of the place and of some of its Maoris of the past A note-able exception is 'Chief selling tattooed Heads.' This is purely an'imaginative effort based on his reading about the brutal conditions which existed on the coast in the 1820's arid 1830's.

The Imperial troops were withdrawn from Tauranga early in 1866 and sailing from Auckland arrived at Spithead on June 28th — Robley's twenty-sixth birthday. Thereafter his career followed a typical service pattern. In 1870 he was able to purchase an unattached captaincy for £1100, and on 4th February 1871 transferred to the Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders. He remained on Home Service until 1880 when he was promoted major and despatched to Mauritius, where three companies of his regiment were on detached service from South Africa.

By now his sketches were being published in the London Graphic to which journal he had transferred his contributions. While in Mauritius the health of officers and men became so bad that Robley decided to report direct to the Adjutant-General in London, Lord Wolseley, instead of through headquarters in Africa. His unusual action brought immediate results, for the three companies under his command were transferred to Capetown and placed on a month's sick-leave. Although Lord Wolseley acted on the direct report, he kept in mind the omission to correspond through proper authority. Some two years later when Robley had occasion to report to him in London, Lord Wolseley satisfied himself on the circumstances of the incident before allowing it to drop.

Following the transfer to Capetown, Robley saw service in Cape Colony, Natal, Zululand and Ceylon. In 1882 he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, and the next year assumed command of the regiment, and wrote its history. He retired with the rank of Major-Genera1 in 1887 and fare-welled the regiment in Ceylon, to live in London.

Largely because he contrived it that way, Robley's service life was never dull, and he had his moments right to the last. During his final term in Ceylon he had become well-known as a coin collector who assiduously pursued his interest in the bazaars and shops, and by hints and requests among the natives. Nor was he above scrounging a quid pro quo in the way of some rare specimen when requests came from the upper Ceylonese families for the regimental pipers to play at important social functions.2 The outcome of all this was that during the night before he left Ceylon, a native came to his bungalow and submitted a bag of coins for his inspection. They were obviously rare and the General soon came to terms, paying what cash he had on hand and arranging for the balance of the purchase price to be called for in the morning. The vendor never came back however, and after a busy day of farewells, the General boarded the liner for England.

In the saloon that evening he read of a recent robbery at the Colombo Museum, and the latest acquisitions to his collection, then reposing in his luggage, were listed among the missing treasures. There was nothing for it but to return the loot, which he arranged to do at the first European port of call. It was a sad disappointment and he admitted to "almost a gloat" on that first evening when the coins had been brought to him.2

In retirement, Robley continued to contribute from his sketchbook to the London Graphic which was then receiving most of his work. He has listed sixty-six sketches reproduced by that weekly between the years 1871 and 1908; another sixteen (including those of New Zealand previously referred to) appeared in the Illustrated London News between 1864 and 1882, plus an unspecified number of Burmese scenes in the same journal.2

He turned again also to the particular interest he had developed in the art of Maori tattooing during his New Zealand service. This interest he now expanded by a wide course of reading, and by the acquisition of a collection of dried, tattooed Maori heads. We might well pause here to consider the unique position in which Robley stood in relation to Maori tattooing. The year 1835 had seen the extension of missionary influence in the North Island, and the missionaries condemned the practice of tattooing because of its relationship to the old way of life which they strove to change. Missionary influence flourished, with the result that tattooing had been a declining custom for the best part of thirty years before Robley came to New Zealand. The point is, however, that there were still some fine examples living at the time, and we have already noted his studious approach, even to the extent of copying designs from the bodies of battle casualties.

He sketched literally dozens of designs, and details of designs. As the Journal of the Polynesian Society expressed it in 1931:

"Since the art was even then an art of the past, and has since practically died out, he was in a better position than anyone else was then or ever wlil be to make a thorough study of the various patterns of moko."

Consequently, the publication in 1896 of his book Moko: or Maori Tattooing placed students in his debt, and it has remained a source book ever since. The work is in two parts, the second being devoted to the subject of dried heads — mokomokai. Long since out of print, Moko is nowadays a collectors' item, fetching from £10 to £11 for a good copy.

A number of the figures portrayed in Moko are those of Tauranga Maoris, some of whom are now identified as a matter of interest for those who have a copy of the book:

Fig.

number in Moko

15.

Te Kanawa.

22.

Te Kani; a brother to Rawiri.

and frontspiece. Tomika Te Mutu.

30.

Erena, belle of Maketu.

119.

Paora.

120.

Tamati Manao.

123.

Raniera Te Hiahia, a friendly Maori attached to General Cameron's force as a guide.

128.

Anaru (said by Robley to have married a European from Sydney)

129.

Penetaka. Believed to have been responsible for the layout of the Gate Pa defences.

130.

Reweti is the central figure in the group.

Figures 79 and 80 are details from figure 140: while fig. 99 is the gate-way of Maketu pa.

Detail of Maori Tattoo. Forehead

Coming now to the second part of Moko, dried heads are a gruesome subject though enthnologically important. Maori specimens had been traded principally because of their tattoo, but the degenerate trade having been outlawed at a very early date, they were a rarity. Although various museums in Europe and the United Kingdom had specimens, none had collections of any extent. An individual who could form one would be unrivalled.

Spurred by his interest in tattoing, Robley secured his first specimen, which he seems to have come across by accident, from a London dealer of sorts. Not long afterwards, at a sale of a well known collection in the south of England, he silenced numerous bidders to obtain two more good heads.

Now well into his stride, he was next off to a sale in Edinburgh where, elated by his successful bid, he astonished a crowded auction room by rubbing noses with his purchase. Returning to London by the night mail, he staggered the guard by casually exhibiting the head to him.

On the occasion of a medical conference in London, Robley was included in a party invited down to Hazelmere to visit the private museum of Sir Jonathan Hutchinson, a noted surgeon of his day. Sir Jonathan's collection included a fine head which Robley coveted. His prospects of purchasing it were not bright for Sir Jonathan was a rich and famous collector; but, reasoned Robley, objectives were not achieved only by frontal attack. Perhaps Lady Hutchinson could be interested in acquiring a valuable bowl of beaten silver which he possessed, worth about £40. And, if so, perchance she could persuade her husband to effect an exchange? The subject of the silver bowl was introduced successfully and in due course it was taken to Hazelmere. As Robley had guessed, Lady Hutchinson took a strong fancy to it and it was left with her "for consideration." Some time later, the Hutchinson butler came up to London with a message that the bowl would be retained. He also brought the head. (Moko fig. 140), see fig. 15.

Robley's next purchase was the outcome of his expert knowledge. A north London family advertised for sale "the head of a Dyak" which had come into their possession many years earlier from a sailor forbear. This head was notable for having a metal ring through the nose, and yet, when Robley examined it, he was confident of being able to discern beneath several layers of varnish, the pattern of Maori tattooing. This he proved was the case when subsequently, by careful tapping, he was able to flake off the varnish overlay.

So it went on until he had acquired a collection of thirty-five Maori heads which was claimed to be, and not without reason, the finest in the world.

"In 1908 he concluded the time had come when his collection should be permanently preserved; and whilst he twice offered it to the New Zealand Government for the sum of £1,100, the offer was not accepted. In 1909 the collection was on view in the Liverpool Museum, where it was seen by a representative of the New York Museum of Natural History. Learning it was on sale he cabled his principals, who immediately instructed him to buy. The whole, with the exception of five heads, finally went to the United States for the sum of £1,250. The five best heads were reserved, Robley hoping that these would eventually return to New Zealand; but, notwithstanding that he gave New Zealand every opportunity to possess them, no practical interest was shown, and they found ready purchasers abroad.

The result is that there are perhaps not more than seven preserved Maori heads in the whole of New Zealand. The Auckland Museum has two, of the chiefs Moetaru and Koukou, who were killed in a fight at Opua about 1820. The Christchurch Museum has two, but these, like those at Auckland, are not of the best. There is an inferior specimen in the Hocken Collection at Dunedin, procured from Robley; and two in the National Collection, Wellington, both secured directly or indirectly from Tasmania. A number of European museums possess specimens; the Paris Museum of Natural History has six, obtained by early French voyagers; the Berlin Museum has two; while there are at least sixty in the various museums of the United Kingdom."11

At first sight, the price of £1,100 asked by Robley of the New Zealand Government might be thought high, but apart from the fact that the Americans bought promptly at a higher figure, a good single head was at that time fetching £50 at auction.2

In 1915 he published a second work, Pounamu: Notes on New Zealand Greenstone. It is dedicated to Mrs. R. D. Maclean (later Lady Maclean) through whose interest and that of her husband, the work was published.12 After being marketed in England, the unsold copies were brought to New Zealand by the Macleans but not put on the market here, being distributed amongst their friends. It is relatively scarce and is listed nowadays at about £5.

Robley became a well-known figure about New Zealand House, London, where he met many visiting New Zealanders, among them the famed collector of historical material relating to this country, Dr. T. M. Hocken. As might be expected, Dr. Hocken secured for the Dominion Robley's own copy of Moko together with the notes the latter had been making for a second edition of that book; a project which, by the way, did not eventuate. Another was Horace Fildes, also well-known as a collector of New Zealand historical material, who first met him at the close of the 1914-1918 war and again in 1930, shortly before the General's death. Horace Fildes acquired a good deal of Robley material and this was included in the Fildes Collection subsequently presented to Victoria University College, Wellington.

The passing of the years did not dim the old man's interest in the matters close to his heart. After he had disposed of his collection, on the few occasions when a Maori head came up for sale he always made a point of informing New Zealand House, and regretted their failure to secure such specimens for this country. The sale of a famous collection of pictures by Augustus Earle, one of the earliest artists to portray Maori life and New Zealand scenes, saw him accompany the High Commissioner to inspect and evaluate the collection. But again he had to regret the success of American bidding.

Christopher Maling,13 the son of New Zealand settlers, had distinguished himself as one of a handful of picked scouts in the later stages of the Maori war, in the process rising from n.c.o. to captain, and winning the New Zealand Cross. His death in London many years later would have gone unnoticed, but General Robley would not have it so. He called on the High Commissioner, and the Prime Minister happening to be visiting England at the time, he saw him also, with the result that Maling was accorded a military funeral.

Amongst General Robley's several correspondents in New Zealand were his erstwhile opponent Hori Ngatai, the Tauranga chief who was a leading figure at the surrender scene sketched on July 25th, 1864; Gilbert Mair, and J. C. Adams of Tauranga. A peculiarity of Robley's correspondence in his retirement was that he usually wrote on scraps torn off the bottoms of inward letters. Frequently he would decorate envelopes and enclosures with Maori designs. In his correspondence with J. C. Adams he sometimes signed himself "Te Ropere", the Maori rendering of his name used by Hori Ngatai. From these scrappy notes we learn that at a London sale in 1927, three greenstone tikis sold for the fabulous prices of £72, £70, and £67 (broken) ; a taiaha at £24; Trooper A. Rodriquez's14 New Zealand Cross (to America) for £95. Concerning this last item Robley added "I told them of the sale at 415 Strand."

In those lush days he priced his own drawings at ten and twelve guineas, in view of which it is of some interest to note the following item which made £14 at Bethune's sale in August 1955:

Lot 1568 (Maning, F. E.) History of the War in the North against the Chief Heke, in 1845; second edition, 1864. Worn copy. Flyleaf has inscribed "H. Robley Lt., 68th Light Infantry E.C., New Zealand, 1864. I fired first shot, Gate Pa. To Douglas Maclean 53 years after, from H. Robley, M. Genl. retd. To F. Maclean." Inside front cover is photostat of Hone Heke, underneath which is inscribed "Hongi Ika called Shungie in C.M.S. Writings, visited England 1820." Also enclosed are the following: (1) Page of autographs of Maori members who attended the Coronation of King Edward Vll, 21st July 1902; (2) (3) and (4) Three signed notes from H. G. Robley; (5) Original signed full page wash drawing of two Maori Warriors, by H. G. Robley.

Detail of Maori Tattoo. Near left ear.

Description: A fully-tattooed head. This is the head obtained from Sir Jonathan Hutchinson.

This image is not available for public viewing as it depicts either mokamokai (preserved heads) or human remains. The reasons for non-display are detailed in the policy regarding display of images of mokamokai. If you would like to comment on this decision you can contact NZETC.

Mention must be made now of a newspaper article by Robley, which appeared in two instalments in the Kaitaia newspaper Northlander (now the Northland Age of November 25th, and December 2nd, 1925, under the presumptuous title, A History of the Maori Tiki.

Therein he took the ancient Maori custom of the women expressing grief for the dead by gashing themselves with pieces of cutting substance, along with that of tattooing, and related them to the Biblical injunction "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you."15 He suggests that these commands of Moses to cease their established customs, were sufficient to cause the tribe practising them to migrate eastward through India and Burma until finally they reached the Pacific. In the course of these wanderings they encountered the figure of Buddha; "the impression of the perpetual heavenly smile, and the position of the limbs at perfect rest in divine repose" remained dimly with them throughout the centuries until, with their discovery of New Zealand and the finding of greenstone, the fashioning of the tiki was the final outcome of their continuing, shadowy impression of Buddha.

Those are not his words, but it is broadly the idea he drives at. Unfortunately, he appears to have borrowed the Biblical analogy and the idea of the south-east migration from another soldier, Surgeon-Major A. S. Thomson16 who preceded him by some twenty years in New Zealand, added some of F. E. Maning's observations on ancient Maori customs, and then conveniently fitted the result as historical background material.

In our better understanding of the early Maori what then is Robley's place when, besides writing so superficially on the origins of the race, he could, in another direction, confuse Hongi with Heke?

To bring him into proper perspective we must differentiate between Robley as a writer and Robley as an artist.

Of his two New Zealand books, Moko: or Maori Tattooing is the more important. It is a comprehensive account of the subject and notable for its illustrations. For the text he drew substantially upon the work of numerous others. His acknowledged object was to put together a text to support the specialised record he had drawn of tattoo patterns, and his collection of dried heads. On these two subjects he regarded himself as an authority, a claim not to be disputed provided we bear in mind that his awareness was that of a curio collector, and not that of a scholar.

His interest in greenstone artifacts was of a similar kind, and his other book, Pounamu: Notes on New Zealand Greenstone, with which Canon Stack helped,2 is a simple, easily-read essay on that material and the uses to which the Maori put it. As such it was no doubt useful to overseas readers, but would add little to the knowledge of the average New Zealand reader of forty years ago, when greenstone artifacts were more in circulation than they are today.

Robley's importance lies in his drawings. Not that he was alone in this accomplishment, for it was a common pastime of the day among those of his social class, and it seems to have had a particular attraction for military and naval officers, no doubt as a defence against the boredom of peacetime service. But whereas some of his fellow officers were content to draw the landscape, Robley recorded accurately and in considerable extent, Maori life and customs as he witnessed them in 1864-1865. Moreover, because he was interested in people rather than in places, he was able to catch the atmosphere of the times whether related to the direct action or the casual attitude. His extensive recording of patterns was an important and specialised contribution to the subject of tattooing.

To the endorsements by Gilbert Mair and Johannes Andersen already mentioned, may be added the estimate of W. J. Phillips, Acting Director of the Dominion Museum, Wellington:

"He was an accurate and painstaking artist who never neglected details, with the result that his work stands high in the scale of our early observers of Maori life."17

Description: General Robley studying his collection.

References 1. Robley to J. C. Adams, Tauranga. 2. Manuscript memoirs. 3. Horace Fildes, who saw him at his London lodgings a few weeks before his death, wrote J. C. Adams that Robley was heavily tattooed on both arms; and probably on his body as well. 4. The fight at Te Ranga, June 21st, 1864, ended the Tauranga campaign. Te Ranga is about six miles south of Tauranga on the Pye's Pa Road to Rotorua.

The Maoris, having decided to again meet the British, had gathered at Te Ranga to fortify a position, but their preparations had just begun when they were observed. A British force of eight hundred comprising cavalry, infantry, and a field-gun advanced and catching the poorly armed Maoris in the open, in the words of national historian James Cowan, "exacted a terrible vengeance for their defeat at Gate Pa."

5. A Centennial History of Tauranga. 6. Some dates given by Robley in his memoirs prove incorrect when checked against files of the Illustrated London News.

Of the Robley illustrations in A Centennial History of Tauranga, it must be mentioned that an error has been made in crediting that facing p241 to him. It is in fact, an illustration of the trenches at Rangiriri, vide Illustrated London News of February 27th, 1864. The fighting at Rangiriri occurred prior to Robley's arrival in New Zealand.

7. His collection contained numerous fine examples, some of which have merited illustration in the works of Elsdon Best and A. Hamilton. 8. For an account of the troop movement to the Wairoa pa see A Centennial History of Tauranga pp236-7. 9. Reminiscences and Maori Stories p 10. Bay of Plenty Times office, Tauranga; 1937 edition. 11. Obituary, Journal Polynesian Society. 12. Obituary. JPS. 13. His numerous exploits are detailed in Cowan's Maori Wars vol. 2 Gilbert Mair also tells a tale about him in Reminiscences and Maori Stories. 14. Antonio Rodriquez was a trooper of the Taranaki Cavalry. See Gudgeon's Defenders of New Zealand, p65. 15. Leviticus, ch 19 v 28. 16. The Story of New Zealand; 2 vols; London 1859: vol 1 p78. 17. W. J. Phillips to L. W. Melvin, August 24th, 1956.

Sources Manuscript: Memoirs of Major-General H. G. Robley; Horace Fildes Collection, Victoria University College Library, Wellington. Letters: <name key="name-102145" type="person">H. G. Robley</name> to <name key="name-400078" type="person">J. C. Adams</name>, Tauranga; 1923-1929. <name key="name-207942" type="person">Horace Fildes</name> to <name key="name-400078" type="person">J. C. Adams</name>, April 29th, 1931. Printed: Andersen. Johannes C, <hi rend="i"><name key="name-122271" type="work">Maori Music</name></hi>, 1934. Mair, Gilbert; <hi rend="i"><name key="name-102611" type="work">Reminiscences and Maori Stories</name></hi>, 1923. Scholefield, Guy H., <hi rend="i">Dictionary of New Zealand Biography</hi> Polynesian Society, Extract from vol 40. No. 1. March 1931. Obituary: Horatio Gordon Robley. Gifford and Williams, <hi rend="i">A Centennial History of Tauranga</hi>, 1940