Reverend Samuel Marsden and the Maori Mission

The purpose of this research is to produce two essays for two books commemorating the 200th anniversary of the first Christian service in NZ on Christmas Day 1814. Each will examine Marsden and his mission to the Maori through a focus on his Maori seminary at Parramatta 1815-1827, in the first, making comparisons with Marsden’s attitudes to Aboriginal mission and, in the second, investigating to what extent the Maori saw Marsden as both Tohunga (priest) and Rangitira (chief) in their transactions. - The NZ publication based on papers presented November 2012, due late 2013 - The Australian publication based on papers to be delivered in July 2013 at Moore Theological College, due early 2014. Letters and diaries/journals of Marsden and contemporaries, newspaper reports, anthropology, secondary histories.