German Interest in the Pacific 1840-1918 with special reference to Tonga

James Bade

Tongatapu,1889. Lister Family Watercolour (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington)

Godeffroy and Son

The foundation for the “German South Seas Empire” was laid by the trading activities of the Hamburg firm J. C. Godeffroy and Son which set up a trading station in Apia, Samoa in 1857 and expanded operations to Tonga, the Tokelaus, Fiji, and the Gilbert, Marshall and Caroline Islands.

Theodor Weber, Godeffroy manager in the Pacific

Theodor Weber’s Vailele coconut palm plantation near Apia, Samoa

Godeffroy Apia agency

Workers at Brähne Plantation, Niumate, Tonga

Coconut husks used as heating fuel for drying copra in bad weather. (John Sexton, Auckland)

1878-1879 German flag raised in New Guinea, Samoa, Marshall Islands ¢  The Commander of the Ariadne, von

Werner, raises flag of German Reich in Marshall Islands, New Guinea, and Samoa, and signs treaties with chiefs, in 1878 and 1879. The Reich government refuses to recognise these territories. After collapse of Godeffroy firm 1879, DHPG firm created (Samoa and Tonga), & Jaluit Co. (Marshall & Caroline Islands).

1885-1900: Establishment of German Protectorates in the Pacific ¢  German New Guinea Company founded 1884. ¢  Treaty with Britain cedes NE New Guinea and

Bismarck Archipelago to Germany 1885. Bougainville added 1886.

¢  Marshall Islands claimed 1885. ¢  Caroline and Mariana Islands purchased from

Spanish 1899. ¢  Under treaty with Britain and United States

Samoa becomes German protectorate 1900.

German Samoa www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de

German Protectorates in the South Pacific 1900-1914

 

German-speaking settlements in New Zealand 1843-1914

King George Tupou I, 1845-1893 (www.pmo.gov.to/ourconstitution)

Shirley Waldemar Baker (1836 - 1903) advisor to King George Tupou I and Tongan Prime Minister 1881-1890 (La Trobe Picture Collection, State Library of Victoria.)

Consular House, former British Consul’s residence in Nuku’alofa, now used for formal Palace occasions June 2010

 

Pyritz, Pommern (now Pyrzyce in Poland), the birthplace of many Germans who settled in Vava’u,Tonga

Royal Palace, Nuku’alofa, built by J. C. Godeffroy und Sohn, Hamburg, 1867 (Tonga National Cultural Centre Museum)

Royal Palace, Nuku’alofa, June 2010

European Cemetery, Neiafu, Vava’u

Noble Tu'ivakano, new PM of Tonga (2nd fr. l.), and wife Robyn Sanft (near camera)with Anna (Piltz descendant, (l.) and Fred Wolfgramm (r.) at NZHC dinner with prominent Tongans of German descent, 11.7.06

New PM’s wife Robyn Sanft (centre), German Consul Carl Sanft (2nd fr. l.), Fred Wolfgramm (r.), at

dinner with prominent Tongans of German descent at NZ High Commission, 11 July 2006

Carl Sanft, German Consul in Tonga June 2010

Paula David Diaries

Annotated parallel German-English edition of Paula David’s unpublished manuscript Zehn Jahre auf den Inseln der Südsee. Aus dem Tagebuche einer deutschen Frau (Ten Years on Islands of the South Seas. From the diary of a German Housewife), 1897, covering Paula David’s ten years in Vava’u and Apia from 1887-1897.

Collaborative project with the Leipzig Ethnological Museum (Grassi Museum für Völkerkunde zu Leipzig) and the Sondershausen Museum (Schlossmuseum Sondershausen).

Paula David (r.) with brother Max Leser and sister Sophie Brown in Auckland 1887 (James und Sheryl Mungall, Auckland)

Grave of Paula David’s mother Seraphine Leser and sister Alma Leser, Jewish Cemetery Sondershausen

Neiafu Harbour, Vava’u, c.1890 (1) (Paula David Album)

Neiafu Harbour, Vava’u, c.1890 (2) (Paula David Album)

Germans in Tonga Database

Principal Sources

¢  British Consul Tonga files, held in Western Pacific Archives, Special Collections, University of Auckland Library

¢  Ministry of Justice Archives, Nuku’alofa, Tonga

¢  Enemy aliens files, Defence Department records, Archives New Zealand, Wellington

¢  Aliens Records, Archives New Zealand, Wellington

¢  Archives of the German Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), Berlin.

¢  Cyclopedia of Samoa, Tonga, Tahiti and the Cook Islands, Sydney, McCarron, Stewart & Co., 1907

with assistance from genealogical records held by descendants, particularly Carl Sanft, Nuku’alofa, Tony Muller, Auckland, Fred Wolfgramm, Nuku’alofa, Hilary Revfeim, Tauranga, Julie Hoeft, Auckland, Richard Guttenbeil, Tonga.

Germans in Tonga website link on web page for Research Centre for Germanic Connections

with NZ & the Pacific (or direct link: http://www.artsfaculty.auckland.ac.nz/special/germansintonga/)

Select name from alphabetical list, or search for keyword

Brief details come up for each person – clicking on ‘more’ gives short biography

Short biography of Emil Hellfritz as an example

Upper Moutere 2010. Originally settled by Germans from Mecklenburg in 1843. Now informally known by its former German name Sarau. Vineyards and Sarau festival.

Puhoi 2009. Originally settled by German-speaking Bohemians in 1863.

Sir Julius von Haast, 1886 Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, F30121-2

3 new place names at Port Ross, Auckland Islands, approved 2009 by NZ Geographic Board named by members of the 1874/75 German Expedition to observe the transit of Venus David Bade

Krone Creek

Venus Valley

Seeliger Creek