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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