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It was the beginning of Reischek senior’s notoriety. So much of Sterbende Welt was exaggeration<br />

<strong>and</strong> even invention. There seems little doubt that had the collector himself been alive he would not<br />

have allowed parts of the diaries <strong>and</strong> reminiscences to be published in the form they were,<br />

particularly in English. This would be especially true of the bald account of how he abused [King]<br />

Tawhiao’s hospitality in the King Country, bribed local Maoris there <strong>and</strong> broke tapu. These<br />

actions did his reputation nothing but damage. In New Zeal<strong>and</strong> it eventually led to vilification of<br />

the Reischek name <strong>and</strong> to dem<strong>and</strong>s for the return of the corpses; in Austria it made the museum<br />

authorities uneasy about their claims to Maori items in the Reischek collection. Had the account<br />

not been published it is probable that few people other than King Country Maoris would have<br />

known how the corpses were acquired <strong>and</strong> there would have been no indelible stain on the<br />

Reischek reputation. 5<br />

In recent years Erich Kolig 6 has done much to give balance to the often one-sided argument of<br />

the respected New Zeal<strong>and</strong> historian Michael King regarding the at times dubious methods<br />

Reischek employed in collecting items of ethnological importance <strong>and</strong> the seemingly boastful <strong>and</strong><br />

exaggerated manner of the narrative, 7 as well as the myth perpetuated by Reischek junior<br />

surrounding his father’s name <strong>and</strong> position in Maori folklore. 8<br />

Andreas Reischek was born on 15 September 1845 in Linz in Upper Austria, although he<br />

was not legitimated under the same name as his “Finanzoberaufseher” father until 1854, four<br />

years after his parents married. Reischek’s mother, Barbara Danzer, did not therefore die shortly<br />

after his birth as is generally believed. 9 Reischek’s interest in the natural world began at an early<br />

age when growing up under the care of Frau Puchrucker, the widow of the head gardener at<br />

Weinberg Castle in Kefermarkt, in which the exotic natural history collections <strong>and</strong> hunting<br />

trophies from the African <strong>and</strong> Asian expeditions of the castle’s owner, Ludwig Egbert von<br />

5<br />

King, Collector, 159.<br />

6<br />

Kolig, Umstrittene Würde; Erich Kolig, “Der Österreicher Andreas Reischek in Neuseel<strong>and</strong>: Ehrenhäuptling oder<br />

Erzfeind der Maori?”, in: Novara 1 (1998): 41-55; Erich Kolig, “Andreas Reischek <strong>and</strong> the Maori: Villainy or the<br />

Nineteenth-Century Scientific Ethos?”, in: Pacific Studies 10:1 (1986): 55-78; Erich Kolig, “Collector or Thief:<br />

Andreas Reischek in New Zeal<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> the Problem of Scientific Ethics in the 19 th Century”, in: Archiv für<br />

Völkerkunde 39 (1985): 127-46; see also Gerhard Aubrecht, “Andreas Reischek (15. 9. 1845 – 3. 4. 1902) – ein<br />

österreichischer Ornithologe in Neuseel<strong>and</strong>. Illustrierte biographische Notizen”, in: Kiwis und Vulkane: Zum 150.<br />

Geburtstag des Neuseel<strong>and</strong>forschers Andreas Reischek. Ed. Gerhard Aubrecht. Linz: Oberösterreich L<strong>and</strong>esmuseum,<br />

1995, 9-50; K. E. Westerskov, “The Austrian Andreas Reischek’s Ornithological Exploration <strong>and</strong> Collecting in New<br />

Zeal<strong>and</strong> 1877-1889”, in: Festschrift for E. W. Herd. Ed. August Obermayer. Dunedin: University of Otago, 1980,<br />

275-89; Nolden, German <strong>and</strong> Austrian Naturalists, 68-90; James N. Bade. “Andreas Reischek”, in: Welt für sich,<br />

215-26; Dietmar Henze, “Reischek, Andreas”, in: EEEE 4, 574f.<br />

7<br />

See King, Collector; Ray G. Prebble, “Reischek, Andreas 1845 – 1902: Taxidermist, collector, naturalist”, in:<br />

DNZB 2, 416f.<br />

8<br />

See Andreas Reischek, Jr., “Ein Leben für die Heimat: Zum 50. Todestages des Neuseel<strong>and</strong>forschers Andreas<br />

Reischek am 3. April 1952”, in: Jahrbuch der Stadt Linz (1951): 6-15; Andreas Reischek, Jr., “Ein Freund der<br />

‘Wilden’ und der Tiere: Wie der Bäckergesell aus dem Mühlviertel Andreas Reischek Stammeshäuptling der Maori<br />

auf Neuseel<strong>and</strong> wurde”, in: Österreichischer Volkskalender 60 (1949): 146-59; Andreas Reischek, Jr., “Andreas<br />

Reischek: Ein Österreichisches Forscherleben: Zu seinem 30. Todestage am 3. April 1932”, in: Bergl<strong>and</strong> 14:2<br />

(1932): 26-32, 42-44; cf. Theodor Kerschner, “Andreas Reischek Zum 50. Todestag am 3. April 1952”, in:<br />

Oberösterreichischen Heimatblätter 6:2 (1952): 146-55.<br />

9<br />

Aubrecht, “Andreas Reischek”, 11f.<br />

222

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