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agriculture and Christianity, not just within the confines of the mission stations but also in their
own communities, their often educated character which led to their being ably involved in various
European ventures, and the civilised characteristics of the two chiefs taken to Vienna whom he
found to be well-mannered, learned and far from simple savages. His Social Darwinian views
neither prevented him from levelling criticisms at the Government for undertaking the wrong
measures and ignoring the urgency of the situation before the outbreak of the wars, nor relating
Maori concerns that showed they were indeed justified to feel neglected by the Crown. And while
there was comfort in the ‘law of nature’ during the wars of the 1860s, which declared that the
Maori must fall before the European, war, nevertheless, had both an economic cost and a human
cost, meaning the immediate welfare of the colony was still in the balance. Thus, in doing so, he
produced the first detailed German account of the New Zealand Wars.
Although there is common material between Hochstetter and Haast, the fact that the latter
did not complete his studies in natural science and was involved in the book trade, and that he
came to New Zealand first and foremost as a German immigrant advisor to Willis, Gann & Co, all
contributed to produce a series of articles which, by and large, offer the general reader a more
relaxed and emotive but less philosophical style than the at times more serious and studious work
of Hochstetter. Given his naturalist-geologist background, Haast, not surprisingly, shares
Hochstetter’s environmental concerns and likewise agrees that nature should not simply make
way for colonisation and opportunism. Further similarities in viewpoint can also be explained, to
a degree, by the fact that both explorers borrowed numerous elements from each other’s writings.
However, it is German immigration which plays a major role in his contributions. While he
championed this cause with the aid of popular German stereotypes, it is clear that the Germans
were just as patriotic as the British, if not more so, and never missed an opportunity to mention
the achievements of their fellow immigrants in British colonies. However, his views should not
be dismissed as mere patriotism. Much like with Krull’s observations, the ‘Germanness’ of his
fellow colonists still remains in the ‘Antipodes of Germany’, despite their having to deal with
various disappointments and hardships along the way. Here, wealth, independence and an assured
lifestyle can be guaranteed to the German immigrant through their supposedly superior national
traits of industriousness and soberness which make them suited to colonial life even more so than
the British, leading to Haast also sharing Krull’s notion of their being a perfect example to the
British, which the latter, to some extent, also believed. Even on the goldfields, where life can lead
to despair or death, a sense of class equality prevails to combine with his already preconceived
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