Hemi Pomara (born c. 1830; sometimes spelled Pomare) was a
Māori
Māori or Maori can refer to:
Relating to the Māori people
* Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group
* Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand
* Māori culture
* Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...
man of chiefly status, from the
Chatham Islands
The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about te ...
. In his youth, he was taken to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, and then
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, before returning to
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, via
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
, where he was shipwrecked. A
daguerreotype
Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...
of Pomara is the oldest known photograph of any Māori person. A novel and a planned film are based on his life.
Early life
Hemi Pomara was born in around 1830, the grandson of Wiremu Piti Pomara, a Māori chief of the
Ngāti Mutunga
Ngāti Mutunga is a Māori iwi (tribe) of New Zealand, whose original tribal lands were in north Taranaki. They migrated from Taranaki, first to Wellington (with Ngāti Toa and other Taranaki Hāpu), and then to the Chatham Islands (along with ...
,
an (tribe) on the Chatham Islands ( mi, Wharekauri).
His family were massacred by a rival tribe,
leaving him an orphan.
Sydney
In late 1844, Pomara was taken on the brig ''Coolangatta'' to
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, the capital of the then
Colony of New South Wales
The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...
, by the artist
George French Angas
George French Angas (25 April 1822 – 4 October 1886), also known as G.F.A., was an English explorer, naturalist, painter and poet who emigrated to Australia. His paintings are held in a number of important Australian public art collections. ...
,
who became his guardian.
While there he attended an English
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
.
Angas took Pomara with him as he gave lectures in New South Wales and the neighbouring
Province of South Australia, and painted a watercolour portrait of Pomara to use as an illustration in a lecture series called "Illustrations of the Natives and Scenery of Australia and New Zealand together with 300 portraits from life of the principal Chiefs, with their Families".
This portrait survives, and is now in the collection of the
National Library of New Zealand
The National Library of New Zealand ( mi, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa) is New Zealand's legal deposit library charged with the obligation to "enrich the cultural and economic life of New Zealand and its interchanges with other nations" (''Nat ...
.
Pomara is depicted wearing a
traditional Māori cloak, or , befitting his high status.
London
Departing on the ''Royal Tar'' on 10 September 1845,
Angas took Pomara to England,
via
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
.
They arrived at
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Ro ...
on 23 February 1846.
Angas documented the voyage in his 1847 book ''Savage Life And Scenes In Australia And New Zealand'',
in which Pomara is mentioned but once, and briefly, as "My young New Zealander, Pomara".
Pomara attended the March 1846 opening of an exhibition of Angas's watercolours at the
Egyptian Hall
The Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, was an exhibition hall built in the ancient Egyptian style in 1812, to the designs of Peter Frederick Robinson. The Hall was a considerable success, with exhibitions of artwork and of Napoleonic era re ...
in London.
He was then exhibited there, alongside Angas's paintings.
On 3 April 1846 he was introduced to
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and
Prince Albert, during a private viewing.
A
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
depicting Pomara was published in ''
The Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...
'', 18 April 1846 edition, where he was named as "James Pomara" who "has been educated in New South Wales, speaks English fluently, and is a very intelligent person.".
In late March or early April, he attended a meeting of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, where he was presented to an audience including
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
,
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...
, and
Antoine Claudet
Ada Byron's daguerreotype by Claudet, .
Antoine François Jean Claudet (August 18, 1797 – December 27, 1867) was a French photographer and artist active in London who produced daguerreotypes.
Early Years
Claudet was born in La Croix-Rousse ...
.
The later was a pioneering French
daguerreotypist
Daguerreotype (; french: daguerréotype) was the first publicly available photographic process; it was widely used during the 1840s and 1850s. "Daguerreotype" also refers to an image created through this process.
Invented by Louis Daguerre an ...
, working in London.
Pomara sat for Claudet, wearing the same cloak that he wore for the Angas portrait.
Shipwreck
Later in 1846, Pomara sailed on the ''Caleb Angas'', which was shipwrecked off
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...
.
He survived, and put to sea again, on the ''Eliza''.
During that voyage, he was assaulted by the ship's
first mate
A chief mate (C/M) or chief officer, usually also synonymous with the first mate or first officer, is a licensed mariner and head of the deck department of a merchant ship. The chief mate is customarily a watchstander and is in charge of the ship ...
, who was later prosecuted as a result.
By 1847 Pomara was in
Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
.
Later life
Little is known of Pomara's activities, after his arrival in Auckland.
In 1864 Hare Pomare, his wife Hariata, and baby Victor Albert visited London was part of a Māori delegation.
It is possible that Hare and Hemi were the same person.
Legacy
The title character of ''The Imaginary Lives of James Pōneke'', a 2018 novel by
Tina Makereti
Tina Makereti is a New Zealand novelist, essayist, and short story writer, editor and creative writing teacher. Her work has been widely published and she has been the recipient of writing residencies in New Zealand and overseas. Her book ''Onc ...
, is based on Pomara.
As of July 2020, a film version, produced by
Taika Waititi
Taika David Cohen (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi ( ), is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor, and comedian. He is a recipient of an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Grammy Award, and has received two nominations at t ...
, is planned.
In 2020 Claudet's hand-tinted daguerreotype was identified in the
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...
,
having been purchased for the library in 1960, by
Eric Keast Burke.
It is the oldest known photograph of a Māori person.
Contrary opinion
An unnamed writer in New Zealand doubted Angas' story regarding Pomara's origins:
Notes
References
Further reading
* (catalogue of the exhibition at the Egyptian Hall)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pomara, Hemi
New Zealand Māori people
People from the Chatham Islands
Year of birth uncertain
New Zealand emigrants to England
Ngāti Mutunga people
19th-century births
Shipwreck survivors