NLA, PIC Drawer 1219 #S1627
Sam Neill with Raymond Kowelut, and his daughter Jessica Downey, Nome, Alaska. RAYMOND KOWELUT: My people have lived on walrus for thousands of years . . . You got to get used to it. When I was growing up we had to eat it at a young age because that’s all we can eat sometimes – just walrus or seal. But the taste of walrus is . . . well, you have to get used to the taste.
SAM NEILL: It tastes like rancid fish!
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
A View of Kealakekua Bay, John Webber, c.1781–83. Cook chose to return to Hawai‘i to wait out the winter before making another attempt on the North-West Passage. When Cook anchored in Kealakekua Bay, his welcome was a carnival. Thousands of canoes surrounded the ships, 10,000 people lined the cliffs and hundreds of men and women swarmed on board and up the rigging, almost capsizing the Discovery. They were unceremoniously hauled down and tossed overboard. This enthusiasm was not to last.
SLNSW DL PXX 2/vol.6, FL5602644
Scarlet Hawaiian Honeycreeper, Vestiaria coccinea, George Shaw, 1791. Red feathers were highly valued in Tahiti and Hawaii. When Cook arrived on Hawai‘i, the paramount chief, Kalani‘ōpu‘u, presented him with his own ‘ahu ‘ula (feathered cloak) – estimated to contain four million feathers. It was an act of generosity that Cook and his men failed to reciprocate.
SLNSW, ML 591/13 vol. 3
Sam Neill with Anne Lokomaika‘I Lipscomb at the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Honolulu. SAM NEILL: Never outstay your welcome. If there’s one moral to this story, it’s that, isn’t it? ANNE LOKOMAIKA‘I LIPSCOMB: That’s right. Hospitality is so valued, but the flip side is that if it is not respected then there are enormous consequences.
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
A chief of the Sandwich Islands, John Webber, 1787. This painting of a Hawaiian chief was created by Webber seven years after the third voyage, to show the warlike nature of the Hawaiians, with the shifty eyes of the chief’s followers suggesting the imagined uncertainties and suspicions of Hawai‘i’s people towards their leaders. It was an attempt by Webber to show that the people who killed Cook were untrustworthy and violent – a notion modern Hawaiian activists have fought hard to right.
National Library of Australia, PIC T265 NK1
Death of Cook, John Webber, c.1781–83. The exact events leading to Cook’s death are contested. Webber’s version aligns with the noble description provided in the official edition of the journals and has Cook bravely trying to hold off the fire from his men in the boat.
State Library of NSW, DG 26, FL3234891
Sam Neill at Kealakekua Bay. SAM NEILL: I’ve been thinking about Cook’s killing here and there seems a terrible inevitability about it. Cook had enjoyed such good luck throughout his three voyages around the Pacific and that luck had finally run out. That luck had led to hubris and that overconfidence had consequences.
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
A plaque in Kealakekua Bay – here drowned by a high tide – reads, ‘Near this spot, Capt. James Cook met his death February 14 1779’.
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
Sam Neill and Gordon Kanakanui Leslie, Ho’ala Kealakekua, at the Cook memorial at Keakakekua Bay. GORDON KANAKANUI LESLIE: I don’t think our leaders back then wanted to kill him. I think they had great respect for him . . . they liked him. They probably didn’t like some of the behaviour in the short time Cook and his men were here. But I think they revered him as a great navigator.
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
Sam Neill, Cook memorial, Kealakekua Bay.
SAM NEILL: ‘Cook discovered these islands’ it says . . . that’s just the sort of thing that 250 years later still gets poor old Cook into trouble all around the Pacific. A claim – incidentally – that he himself would never have made.
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
The ditty box Cook’s crew created for his wife, Elizabeth. Along the edge of the box is the inscription: ‘Made Of Resolution Oak for Mrs. Cook by Crew’. Inside is a tiny painting showing his death, and a lock of his hair.
Photos by Bonnie Fan, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
Sam Neill with Matahi Tutavae (left) and Henarii Hoffman (right) of the Tahitian Voyaging Society, at Matavai Bay, Tahiti.
MATAHI TUTAVAE: Our ancestors got it right. That’s why they were one people, even though the ocean is so huge. We were able to communicate and go back and forth. We were just one people back then . . . Unfortunately with colonisation we went in different directions . . . Now we need to reconnect to our cousins of the Pacific because we have common stories, even though we’re so far apart from each other.
Photo by Kirrilly Brentnall, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
Sam Neill in Tahiti.
SAM NEILL: Mo’orea’s volcanic spires are a Pacific icon, like the ocean ageless and eternal. As good a spot as any for me to contemplate the past, the future and what I’ve learnt from my journey travelling in the wake of James Cook.
Photo by Owen Hughes, © 2018 Essential Media & Entertainment
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Books like this only exist as a consequence of the relentless enthusiasm and commitment of a very large group of people. Without the contribution of the many brilliant individuals who were involved in the production of both the TV series and this book, it would be a very flimsy tome. So, I owe sincere thanks to many people.
Firstly, to Sam Neill. Thank you for your willingness to challenge your understanding of the world in which you live and to confront some daunting realities about a place and people you know and love. Your tenacity and acuity brought this project to life, and gave me the opportunity to be involved with this remarkable story. For that, I’ll always be grateful.
I also owe producer Owen Hughes, who co-wrote the series and nurtured it from its early days, an enormous debt of gratitude for his passionate advocacy for this story, and for reading my manuscript and keeping an eye on its historical accuracy. Sincere thanks, also, to Paul Brunton for his unerring attention to detail in his capacity as historical consultant for the book.
The TV series captured extraordinary moments and exchanges between Sam and the people he met across the Pacific, all of which inspired the book and came about thanks to the key production staff: directors Kriv Stenders and Sally Aitken, who also co-wrote the series and served as a valued collaborator as we wrestled the storylines into shape; supervising producer, Aline Jacques; and executive producers, Chris Hilton and David Alrich. I’m deeply thankful to all at Essential Media and Entertainment for entrusting me with this project, in particular David for not throttling me when I was making demands on his time while he was attempting to put the TV series to bed. Most of all, to the researchers on the project – led ably by Kirrilly Brentnall and Johanna Gibson – who managed to wade through inconceivable amounts of material to find the gems we used to bring the series and this book to life. Joh’s additional assistance with research for the manuscript was also invaluable.
At its heart, this is a book about the experiences of the indigenous people of the Pacific. I’m eternally grateful for the insights and stories I’ve been privileged to hear, and am indebted to those people who’ve guided me on this journey. Enormous thanks go to Professor Larissa Behrendt and Annabelle Lee who served as indigenous consultants for the production. The TV series – and, by association, the book – also benefitted from the generous contributions of Robin Inglis and Professor Dame Anne Salmond. With thanks to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for use of palawa kani place names. palawa kani is the language of the Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
There’s a long list of people whose involvement in the TV series also provided the book with its spine. In no particular order, sincere thanks to: Marguerite Lai, Josiane Teamo
tuaitau, Moana’ura Walker, Richard Tuheiava, Moetai Brotherson and Matahiarii Tutavae in Tahiti; Nick Tupara, James (Pop) Milner, Annie Macguire, Kihi Howe-Ririnui, Gordon Toi, Tim Finn, Emeritus Professor Ngahuia Te Awekotuku, Peter and Takutai Beech, Tina Ngata, Kiley Nepia, Dr Peter Meihana, and Raymond Smith in New Zealand. In Australia Bruce Pascoe, Dr Shayne Williams, Rodney Mason, Warwick Thornton, Dr Brett Summerell, Professor Darren Crayn, Jody H Orcher, Gemma Cronin, David Pryce, Alberta Hornsby and Ernie Dingo. In Antarctica and the Southern Ocean: Dr Nick Gales and Tim Jarvis. We were honoured to include Princess 'Ofeina-'e-he-Langi and Princess Marcella Kalaniuvali-Lady Fotofili from Tonga in the production, and also Jeff Laurie and Sepuloni Kitekeiaho; Jocelyn Usua, Joseph Jimmy, Johnny Koanapo, and Chief Sam Usua Eskar in Vanuatu; Ray Williams in Canada; Aaron Leggett, Raymond Koweluk and Captain Phil Pryzmont in Alaska; Dr Rick Knecht, Captain Dave Magone, Laresa Syreson and Denis Robinson in Unalaska; and Nainoa Thompson, Associate Professor Mark D. McCoy, Anne Lokomaikli Lipscomb, Lanakila Mangauil, Lilikalā Kame‘eleihiwa, Gordon Kanakanui Leslie, and Tracy Tam Sing in Hawai‘i. And finally, a dedication to the memory of the late Kingi Taurua, who was a passionate advocate for Ngāpuhi and its people, Māori self-sovereignty and Te Reo.
Of course, without a publisher, there is no book. And the staff at HarperCollins managed to maintain their aplomb and good humour with a complicated project that sometimes seemed to combine the worst aspects of marathon running and speed dating. Sincere thanks go to my wonderful publisher, Catherine Milne, who nurtured this book from the beginning and to my patient and generous editor, Nicola Robinson, who could never have predicted she might, one day, become an expert in Polynesian punctuation. Thanks are also due to the book designer, Hazel Lam, and typesetter, Graeme Jones, who did an extraordinary job under (very, very) challenging conditions.
On a personal level, I’d like to thank my agent, Clare Forster, for her wise counsel and advocacy. Thanks also to Spencer Scott Sandilands, a mentor and friend who – many years ago – introduced me to the wonders of cartography and inspired in me a fascination with early European exploration, and to Alan Erson who brought me aboard Uncharted when it was little more than a log raft in a wide ocean. To Loretta, Victoria, Phoebe, AB, Adrian, and little Stella, thank you for contributing so much to the delightful whirlwind that is my life. And to Willie, for your obsession with George Bass.
As always, and in all ways – to my soul mate and best friend, Andrew, and our just about perfect children, Roman and Cleopatra. Thank you for your love, encouragement and general lunacy. You keep me sane (yes, I know that’s a contradiction in terms). And, this book owes you an Easter.
Thanks are due also to Captain James Cook, who I believe would be horrified by many of the things that occurred in his wake and mortified by what has been perpetrated in his name.
And thank you for joining us on this journey. If there’s one thing I hope this book achieves, it’s that one or two of you out there may be inspired to think a little differently about the ‘history’ so many of us are taught to believe.
Meaghan Wilson Anastasios
FURTHER READING
Peter Adds [et al.]; introduction by Marilyn Head, The Transit of Venus: How a Rare Astronomical Alignment Changed the World, Awa Press, 2007
James K. Barnett and David L. Nicandri, preface by Robin Inglis, Arctic Ambitions: Captain Cook and the Northwest Passage, Heritage House, 2015
J.C. Beaglehole (ed.), The Endeavour Journal of Joseph Banks: 1769–1771 (Second Edition), Trustees of the Public Library of NSW in association with Angus and Robertson, 1963
J.C. Beaglehole, The Exploration of the Pacific (Third Edition), A. and C. Black, 1966
J.C. Beaglehole, The Life of Captain James Cook, A. and C. Black, 1974 Joel Bonnemaison; translated and adapted by Josee Penot-Demetry, The Tree and the Canoe: History and Ethnography of Tanna, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1994
Daniel J. Boorstin, The Discoverers, Random House, 1983
Ian C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient and Modern (Third Edition), Canterbury University Press, 2015
Paul Carter, The Road to Botany Bay: An Essay in Spatial History, Faber and Faber, 1987
Inga Clendinnen, Dancing with Strangers: Europeans and Australians at First Contact, Cambridge University Press, 2005
Vanessa Collingridge, Captain Cook: Obsession and Betrayal in the New World, Ebury Press, 2002
Wade Davis, The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World, Anansi, 2009
Joan Druett, Tupaia: The Remarkable Story of Captain Cook’s Polynesian Navigator, Random House New Zealand, 2011
Martin Dugard, Farther Than Any Man: The Rise and Fall of Captain James Cook, Washington Square Press, 2002
Philip Edwards (ed.), James Cook: The Journals, Penguin Books, 2003
Robin Fisher and Hugh Johnson (eds), Captain James Cook and His Times, University of Washington Press, 1979
Georg Forster, A Voyage Round the World, Vol 1 & 2, University of Hawai‘i Press, 1999
John Gascoigne, Encountering the Pacific in the Age of Enlightenment, Cambridge University Press, 2014
Michelle Hetherington (curator) in association with Iain McCalman and Alexander Cook, Cook & Omai: The Cult of the South Seas, National Library of Australia, 2001
Tony Horwitz, Into the Blue: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before, Bloomsbury, 2003
K.R. Howe (ed.), Vaka Moana: Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific, David Bateman, 2006
Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore, Alfred A. Knopf, 1987
Geoffrey Irwin, The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific, Cambridge University Press, 1992
Murray Johnson and Ian McFarlane, Van Diemen’s Land: An Aboriginal History, NewSouth Publishing, 2015
Alison Jones and Kuni Jenkins, Words Between Us: He Korero, Huia Publishers, 2011
Rüdiger Joppien and Bernard Smith, The Art of Captain Cook’s Voyages, Oxford University Press in association with the Australian Academy of the Humanities, 1985
John McAleer and Nigel Rigby, Captain Cook and the Pacific: Art, Exploration, and Empire, Yale University Press, 2017
Frank McLynn, Captain Cook: Master of the Seas, Yale University Press, 2011
Granville Allen Mawer, Ahab’s Trade: The Saga of South Seas Whaling, Allen & Unwin, 1999
Alan Moorehead, The Fatal Impact: The Invasion of the South Pacific, 1767–1840, Penguin Books, 1968
Eileen Norbert (ed.), Menadelook: An Inupiat Teacher’s Photographs of Alaska Village Life, 1907–1932, University of Washington Press, 2016
Maria Nugent, Captain Cook Was Here, Cambridge University Press, 2009
Patrick O’Brian, Joseph Banks: A Life, Collins Harvill, 1987
Gananath Obeyesekere, The Apotheosis of Captain Cook: European Mythmaking in the Pacific, Princeton University Press, 1997
Ray Parkin, H.M. Bark Endeavour: Her Place in Australian History: With an Account of her Construction, Crew and Equipment and a Narrative of Her Voyage on the East Coast of New Holland in the Year 1770: With Plans, Charts, and Illustrations by the Author (Second Edition), The Miegunyah Press, 2003
Sydney Parkinson, A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, Caliban Press, 1984
John Robson, Captain Cook’s World: Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook R.N., Random House New Zealand, 2000
John Robson, The Captain Cook Encyclopaedia, Random House New Zealand, 2004
Anne Salmond, Between Worlds: Early Exchanges Between Māori and Europeans, 1773–1815, Viking, 1997
Anne Salmond, The Trial of the Cannibal Dog: Captain Cook in the South Seas, Yale University Press, 2003
Anne Salmond, Aphrodite’s Island: The European Discovery of Tahiti, Viking, 2010
Anne Salmond, Two Worlds: First Meetings Between Māori and Europeans, 1642–1772, Penguin, 2018
Laurence Simmons, Tuhituhi: William Hodges, Cook’s Painter in the South Pacific, Otago University Press, 2011
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Bernard Smith, European Vision and the South Pacific, Harper & Row, 1985
Ngahuia Te Awekotuku; with Linda Waimarie Nikora, Mohi Rua and Rolinda Karapu; new photography by Becky Nunes, Mau Moko: The World of Māori Tattoo, Penguin, 2007
Alice Te Punga Somerville, Once Were Pacific: Māori Connections to Oceania, University of Minnesota Press, 2012
Nicholas Thomas, Cook: The Extraordinary Voyages of Captain James Cook, Walker Publishing Company, 2003
Nicholas Thomas, Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook, Penguin Books, 2004
Nicholas Thomas (ed.), The Voyages of Captain James Cook: The Illustrated Accounts of Three Epic Voyages, From the writings of James Cook, John Hawkesworth, Georg Forster, and James King, Voyageur Press, 2016
Glyndwr Williams, Captain Cook: Explorations and Reassessments, Boydell Press, 2004
Glyn Williams, The Death of Captain Cook: A Hero Made and Unmade, Profile, 2008
Glyn Williams, Arctic Labyrinth: The Quest for the Northwest Passage, Penguin, 2010
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
MEAGHAN WILSON ANASTASIOS holds a PhD in art history and cultural economics and has been a lecturer at the University of Melbourne. She is also a researcher and writer for film and TV, including the upcoming Foxtel series, The Pacific with Sam Neill, as well as Shane Delia’s Spice Journey: Turkey and Gourmet Farmer Afloat. She co-wrote the bestselling historical novel, The Water Diviner, based on the script for the film of the same name starring Russell Crowe. She has written for the Age and Gourmet Traveller, and is a regular commentator in the media on art market issues. Her new novel, The Honourable Thief, will be out in August 2018.
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