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Having lived in England since October 1766 and with his father’s connections to the
Royal Society and Society of Antiquaries, Georg was naturally also able to walk among the same
circles as the likes of Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, the resident scientists on Cook’s first
expedition in 1768-71, and other like-minded and influential people, and learnt much of his
knowledge from his father. His understanding of the South Seas was complemented further by his
undoubted translating of Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s Voyage autour du monde (1771) under
the guidance of his father (even though the published version was credited to the latter) 12 and his
reading of standard British compilations of the previous, albeit unreliable, European accounts of
the South Pacific, including the popular but sometimes inaccurate and embellished collection by
John Hawkesworth, which gives, among others, an account of Cook’s first voyage. 13 So when it
came to his second voyage in 1772-75 the Forsters would have been well acquainted with the
earlier accounts and stories of New Zealand and the Maori in particular. 14 Following the
discovery of the west coast of New Zealand by the Dutch explorer Abel Janszoon Tasman in
December 1642 the indigenous Maori were given the reputation of a treacherous and warlike race
after murdering three members of his crew and mortally wounding a fourth at Taitapu, which he
soon afterwards named ‘Murderers’ Bay’ (now known as ‘Golden Bay’). 15 As a consequence,
this image remained unchanged for over a century until the first British voyage of Captain Cook
Unley: Australian Humanities Press, 2004, 245-60; Michael E. Hoare, “Die beiden Forster und die pazifische
Wissenschaft”, in: Georg Forster in interdisziplinärer Perspektive Beiträge des Internationalen Georg Forster-
Symposions in Kassel, 1. bis 4. April 1993. Herausgegeben im Auftrag der Georg Forster-Gesellschaft e.V. von
Claus-Volker Klenke im Zusammenarbeit mit Jörn Garber und Dieter Heintze. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1994, 29-
41; Michael E. Hoare, Three Men in a Boat: The Forsters and New Zealand Science. Melbourne: Hawthorn, 1975;
Michael E. Hoare, “The Forsters and Cook’s Second Voyage 1772-1775”, in: Captain James Cook: Image and
Impact: South Sea Discoveries and the World of Letters. Vol. 1. Edited and Introduced by Walter Veit. Melbourne:
Hawthorn, 1972, 107-116; J. R. Forster, Journal, vol. 1, 55-122; John A. Asher, “Georg Forster”, in: Welt für sich,
171-80; John A. Asher, “George Forster, German Literature and the South Seas”, in: Enlightenment and New
Zealand, 1773-1774: Essays commemorating the visit of Johann Reinhold Forster and George Forster with James
Cook to Queen Charlotte and Dusky Sounds. Ed. Michael E. Hoare. Wellington: National Art Gallery, 1979, 5-8;
Sascha Nolden, German and Austrian Naturalists and the Avifauna of New Zealand: The Lives and Ornithological
Work of Johann Reinhold Forster, Georg Forster, Ernst Dieffenbach, Julius von Haast, Ferdinand von Hochstetter,
Andreas Reischek and Otto Finsch. MA Thesis. University of Auckland, 2002, 6-14.
12 Louis Antoine de Bougainville, A Voyage Round the World. Performed by Order of His Most Christian Majesty, in
the Years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769… [1771]. Translated from the French by John Reinhold Forster. London:
Printed for Nourse and Davies, 1772.
13 John Hawkesworth, An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for making
Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and Successively Performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis,
Captain Carteret and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow and the Endeavour. 3 vols. London: Strahan and
Cadell, 1773.
14 See, for example, Georg Forster, “Sendschreiben eines Freundes in London an den Übersetzer [Zu: Nachricht von
den neuesten Entdeckungen der Engländer in der Süd-See, 1772]”, in: Georg Forsters Werke. Sämtliche Schriften,
Tägebücher, Briefe. Bd. 5: Kleine Schriften zur Völker- und Länderkunde. Bearbeitet von Horst Fiedler, Klaus-Georg
Popp, Annerose Schneider, Christian Suckow. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1985, 13-26.
15 See Salmond, Two Worlds, 63-84; Between Worlds, 22-24.
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