The Chatham Islands of New Zealand lie east of the main islands of New Zealand. They were originally settled by a peaceful people called the Moriori who lived by a code of conduct that included passive resistance and non-violence. As commendable as this is, it led to their genocide at the hands of the Maori who were skilled in war. The culture of the Moriori was distinct to that of the Maori, but they were still Polynesian like the Maori.
It is believed that the Moriori came to the Chatham Islands from the main islands of New Zealand before 1500 AD. Support for this theory comes from linguistic similarities with the Ngāi Tahu Maori tribe of the South Island. It is also feasible that prevailing South Pacific wind patterns enabled them to reach the Chatham Islands from the South Island during the period of Polynesian colonisation of New Zealand.
Being an isolated group if islands, the Chathams are colder and more exposed to the weather than the main islands of New Zealand. This meant that many crops that grew in New Zealand and hte Soputh Pacific were not able to be cultivated here and as a consequence, the Moriori adopted a hunter-gatherer lifestyle where food was almost entirely taken from the sea. This included fish, seals, and birds. The islands supported around 2000 people only.
The Moriori's pacifist culture substituting warfare for ritual fighting which led to reconciliation rather than halm or death. This code of conduct was attributed to Nunuku-whenua their ancestor .
"...because men get angry and during such anger feel the will to strike, that so they may, but only with a rod the thickness of a thumb, and one stretch of the arms length, and thrash away, but that on an abrasion of the hide, or first sign of blood, all should consider honour satisfied"
This enabled the Moriori to live peacfully and with care for the limited resources they had. They never needed to engage in habitat destruction such as what happened on Easter Island. However their ideal lifestyle was soon to come to an end when they paid the ultimate price for their pacificsm, their near extinction by invading Maori.
On the 19th of November 1835, a European ship arrived in the Chathams carrying 500 Maori who were armed with guns, axes, and clubs. Another ship followed with 400 more Maori on the 5th of December 1835. They proceeded to kill and enslave Moriori and cannibalism was also practiced. Maori warriors walked through Moriori tribal territories and settlements without warning and informed the inhabitants that their land belong to Maori.
According to a Moriori survivor, a council of Moriori elders disucussed the situation and some elder chiefs wanted to fight for their land and their lives. But two chiefs, Tapata and Torea declared that "the law of Nunuku was not a strategy for survival, to be varied as conditions changed; it was a moral imperative."
"[The Maori] commenced to kill us like sheep.... [We] were terrified, fled to the bush, concealed ourselves in holes underground, and in any place to escape our enemies. It was of no avail; we were discovered and killed - men, women and children indiscriminately." A Maori conqueror explained, "We took possession... in accordance with our customs and we caught all the people. Not one escaped....."
After the invasion, Moriori could not marry or to have children with Moriori. Survivirs became slaves of the Maori and many Moriori died from despair. Many Moriori women had children by Maori with a small number of women eventually marriying Maori or Europeans. In 1863 only 101 Moriori were left from a population of around 2,000. Today, there are several thousand people with some Moriori ancestry. In 1933. Tommy Solomon, the last Moriori of unmixed ancestry, died..
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Picture of Tame Horomona Rehe in the city of Christchurch on the South Island. Tame Horomona Rehe (aka Tommy Solomon) lived between the years of 1884-1933. He was the last surviving full-blooded Moriori. Born at Waikaripi in the Chatham Islands, he was raised on a Moriori Reserve at Manukau. He died of pneumonia and heart failure in 1933. A statue of him at Manukau was made in 1986 as a memorial to him.. File Reference: CCL PhotoCD 5, IMG0077: Christchurch City Libraries. |
Moriori are enjoying a renaissance to some degree and have been recognised as original inhabitants of the Chatham Islands, In Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand, they have an area dedicated to their story which is in the area where Maori artifacts and structures are displayed. Some Moriori descendants have made claims under the Treaty of Waitangi which is usually thought of as being an exclusive covenant with the Crown and Maorii.
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