Polynesian Society
Encyclopedia
University of Auckland
The University of Auckland is a university located in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the largest university in the country and the highest ranked in the 2011 QS World University Rankings, having been ranked worldwide...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, dedicated to the scholarly study of the history, ethnography, and mythology of Oceania
Oceania
Oceania is a region centered on the islands of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Conceptions of what constitutes Oceania range from the coral atolls and volcanic islands of the South Pacific to the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas, including Australasia and the Malay Archipelago...
.
The society was co-founded in 1892 by Stephenson Percy Smith
Stephenson Percy Smith
Stephenson Percy Smith was a New Zealand ethnologist and surveyor. He founded The Polynesian Society.-Early life and career as a surveyor :...
and Edward Tregear
Edward Robert Tregear
Edward Robert Tregear was a New Zealand public servant and scholar.-Biography:He was born in Southampton, England, on 1 May 1846, the son of Captain William Henry Tregear, a descendant of an old Cornish family. Tregear was educated in private schools and trained as a civil engineer. He arrived in...
, largely in response to a conviction, widely held at the time, that the Māori and other Polynesian peoples were a dying race. Smith and his friends hoped that it would help to preserve the traditional lore of the Māori before it disappeared and provide scholars with a forum for learned discussion of their ethnographic research (Byrnes 2006).
The initial membership of the society was 112, which had grown to 1,300 by 1965. Presidents of the Society have included Bishops W. L. and H. W. Williams, Edward Tregear, S. Percy Smith
Stephenson Percy Smith
Stephenson Percy Smith was a New Zealand ethnologist and surveyor. He founded The Polynesian Society.-Early life and career as a surveyor :...
, Elsdon Best
Elsdon Best
Elsdon Best was an ethnographer who made important contributions to the study of the Māori of New Zealand.-Early life and career:...
, W. H. Skinner, Sir Apirana T. Ngata
Apirana Ngata
Sir Apirana Turupa Ngata was a prominent New Zealand politician and lawyer. He has often been described as the foremost Māori politician to have ever served in Parliament, and is also known for his work in promoting and protecting Māori culture and language.-Early life:One of 15 children, Ngata...
, H. D. Skinner, J. M. McEwen and Professor Sir Hugh Kawharu
Hugh Kawharu
Sir Ian "Hugh" Kawharu, ONZ, FRSNZ was a distinguished academic and paramount chief of the Ngāti Whātua Māori tribe.Born in Ashburton, New Zealand, he attended Auckland Grammar School...
. The present President is Dame Joan Metge. Until her death in 2006, the Society's patron was the Māori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Ata-i-rangi-kaahu
Te Atairangikaahu
Dame Te Atairangikaahu, ONZ, DBE, OStJ was the Māori queen for 40 years, the longest reign of any Māori monarch. Her full name and title was Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu...
(1931-2006).
From its earliest days, the society published the quarterly Journal of the Polynesian Society, which became the society's principal means to publish information about the indigenous peoples of Polynesia
Polynesia
Polynesia is a subregion of Oceania, made up of over 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are termed Polynesians and they share many similar traits including language, culture and beliefs...
, Melanesia
Melanesia
Melanesia is a subregion of Oceania extending from the western end of the Pacific Ocean to the Arafura Sea, and eastward to Fiji. The region comprises most of the islands immediately north and northeast of Australia...
, and Micronesia
Micronesia
Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is distinct from Melanesia to the south, and Polynesia to the east. The Philippines lie to the west, and Indonesia to the southwest....
. The Journal is a rich repository of the traditions of Oceania. Its first editors were S. Percy Smith and Edward Tregear. Smith was its chief contributor until his death in 1922. The list of subsequent editors includes W. H. Skinner, Elsdon Best, Johannes C. Andersen, H. D. Skinner, C. R. H. Taylor, W. R. Geddes, W. C. Groves, Bruce Biggs
Bruce Biggs
Bruce Grandison Biggs became an influential figure in the academic field of Māori studies in New Zealand...
, Melvyn McLean and Richard Moyle. The present editor is Judith Huntsman.
In addition to this journal, the society has published many notable monographs, including S. Percy Smith's History and Traditions of the Taranaki Coast (1910) and The Lore of the Whare Wananga (1913–15); A. Shand's The Moriori People of the Chatham Islands (1911); Elsdon Best, The Maori (1924) and Tuhoe (1925); J. C. Andersen, Maori Music (1934); and C. R. H. Taylor, A Pacific Bibliography (1951), and two catalogues of the Oldman Collection of Māori and Polynesian artifacts (2004). Other major works include A. Ngata and Pei Te Hurinui Jones Nga Moteatea (1959-1990), a definitive four-volume collection of traditional Māori song with translations and commentaries, which has recently been published in a new, enhanced edition by Auckland University Press in association with the Polynesian Society.
A history of the Society and its journal, M. P. K. Sorrenson's "Manifest Duty: The Polynesian Society over 100 years", and a "Centennial Index 1892-1991" (D. Brown, compiler) were published in 1991.