An
enthralling story about being an outcast, about searching for a home, about
championing equality and about trying to find love in colonial times.
It seems New Zealanders can’t get enough of stories that unlock
real events of the past. Jenny Pattrick put Denniston back on the map, Dame
Fiona Kidman told Betty Guard’s captive-wife story, Sarah Quigley reimagined
the writing of a Shostakovich’s symphony, and Owen Marshall reminded us of the
tragic politician William Larnach … all in historical novels that were also
cracking reads.
Now Thom Conroy evokes the compelling story of Dr Ernst
Dieffenbach — the charismatic and free-spirited German who was appointed as
naturalist on the controversial 1839 expedition to New Zealand to buy land from
Maori.
Conroy brings this fascinating man to life as well as offering a
vivid depiction of a New Zealand on the cusp of widespread colonisation.
The Naturalist is an enthralling story about
being an outcast, about early interaction between Maori and Pakeha, about
searching for a home, about championing equality and about trying to find love.
It’s a sweeping, wonderful story of a remarkable man who was so
important in the settler years of this country. Of The Naturalist,
Conroy says, “I wanted to reintroduce readers to a man whose ideas sound closer
to ours than those of his own era, and I hoped to contribute to a new way of
looking at the history of New Zealand and its connections to the world”.
While Ernst Dieffenbach studied New Zealand’s people, plants and
wildlife, Conroy explores Dieffenbach himself: his views, his discoveries and
his personal life. The novel features three love interests — one in New
Zealand, one in London and one in Germany — and as Ernst contemplates a life with
each woman, he is compelled to consider adopting a worldview to match.
Exile and equality are themes that interweave Dieffenbach’s
journey from Germany to London to New Zealand, where he learns Maori,
investigates the local flora and fauna, ascends Taranaki and advocates equality
between Maori and Pakeha, arguing – despite much opposition – that “savages”
are of equal intellect and sensibility to “civilised” members of society.
Dieffenbach had strong views on colonisation, which cut across the thinking at
the time and made for heated debate during the gruelling three-month voyage
aboard the Tory with the Wakefields and Charles Heaphy.
Also on board was Nahiti, a young Maori man, returning home from
London after having left on a whaling ship. His friendship with the German
naturalist confirmed Dieffenbach’s conviction that “man, in his desires,
passions, and intellectual faculties, is the same, whatever be the colour of
his skin”.
These
views were out of favour at the time. In contrast, Darwin — who makes a cameo
appearance in The Naturalist —had been of the opinion that the Maori
character was of a “lower order” and that one glance was enough to convince
anyone they were a race of savages. The general belief was that Maori would die
out within fifty years.
Back in
London, John Murray published a narrative of Ernst’s findings and extensive
travels around New Zealand in two volumes called Travels in New Zealand. The
book saw Dieffenbach fall foul of the Wakefields and other members of the New
Zealand Company who believed his anti-colonial criticisms struck “at the heart
of the Company’s enterprise.”
The Naturalist is a riveting read. It connects
New Zealand’s past with world history and brings to life a story that needs to
be told.
ABOUT THOM CONROY:
Thom Conroy is a Senior Lecturer in Creative
Writing at Massey. His short fiction has appeared in various journals in the US
and New Zealand, including Landfall, Sport, New England Review, Alaska
Quarterly Review, and Kenyon Review. He has won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize
in Fiction and his writing has been recognised by Best American Short Stories
2012 as well as the Sunday Star-Times Short Fiction Competition.
NB: Tune in to Thom Conroy and Kim Hill discussing the novel
tomorrow on Radio NZ, just after the 11am news bulletin.
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