Statue furore over Captain Nobody rages
His statue provoked acts of vandalism and endless emotive debate but Captain Hamilton was more of a historical footnote than a titan of the past.
A new historical report about Hamilton and three other colonial figures was made public yesterday afternoon after it was commissioned by WaikatoTainui and Hamilton City Council.
Debate has raged in recent weeks about the past deeds of the British naval commander who died in combat and whose name the city carries.
The 47-page account by historian Vincent O’Malley is expected to inform discussion about how colonial figures are recognised in Hamilton.
A life-sized bronze statue of Hamilton was removed from public display on June 12, following threats by Huntly Kaumãtua Taitimu Maipi to tear down the monument during a weekend Black Lives Matter march.
Maipi attacked the statue using a claw hammer and red paint in 2018, arguing Hamilton was a ‘‘murderous a..hole’’.
Yet O’Malley’s report, which draws on a range of historical sources, describes Hamilton as a ‘‘relatively minor historical figure’’ who died during the battle of Pukehinahina (Gate Pã ), having been in New Zealand less than six months.
Hamilton was one of 31 British killed at Pukehinahina, a battle that claimed the lives of 19–32 Mãori.
‘‘Captain John Hamilton is a minor figure in New Zealand history, to the extent that he does not appear in either major New Zealand biographical dictionary ... and is chiefly remembered today for the city named after him,’’ O’Malley wrote.
‘‘He was one of more than 18,000 British officers and men who served in the New Zealand Wars of 1845-72, actions that are no longer widely seen in the straightforwardly heroic terms they once were among some groups.’’
O’Malley’s report also profiles former New Zealand governor and politician Sir George Grey, Prussian-born solider and artist Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky, and former Native Affairs Minister John Bryce.
All three men have Hamilton streets named after them.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate said O’Malley’s report is an ‘‘eyeopening’’ read which will undoubtedly shape future conversations about the four men.
She expects the full report will be made available on the council’s website soon.
‘‘I believe the community needs to have city-wide conversations around matters of historical interest in Hamilton and historical cultural offence,’’ Southgate said.
‘‘We need to have that conversation, and we need to involve many people in those conversations. The more people that read this report, and start to think about these histories, the better.’’
Southgate hasn’t formed an opinion on any of the men profiled.
Waikato-Tainui recently called for Hamilton City to be changed back to Kirikiriroa.
‘‘I’m not jumping to any conclusions about the city name or street names,’’ Southgate said.
‘‘There are despicable actions that have occurred at the hands of those gentlemen, and we’ve certainly got to
remember those have occurred. What we do with the information ... is a conversation for the whole city.’’
Speaking to Stuff, O’Malley said his report provides a broad, factual narrative of the lives of Hamilton, Grey, von Tempsky and Bryce, while leaving it to readers to come to their own conclusions about the men.
‘‘Occasionally I did draw on the works of other historians ... and some of their comments and judgments about those figures but, on the whole, I avoided making too many of those sorts of judgments myself about those men,’’ he said.
O’Malley said Hamilton was the most challenging figure to research and write about because of the paucity of information about his life. As part of his research, O’Malley accessed Hamilton’s naval records in the United Kingdom as well as contemporary New Zealand newspaper accounts.
‘‘One of the things that I established was that he [Hamilton] was, it appears, part of the force that occupied Nga¯ruawa¯hia in December, 1863, for example, which I think is significant.
‘‘But Captain Hamilton is a very minor figure in New Zealand history.’’
Maipi said he’s eager to read O’Malley’s report and discuss the work with Southgate and Hamilton Deputy Mayor Geoff Taylor. Taylor recently called for Maipi to be prosecuted for pledging to tear down the Captain Hamilton statue.
‘‘Once I’ve read it, I’d like to sit around the table with the mayor and deputy mayor and talk about the statue. If people read these stories, they’ll understand why we feel the way we do, and why I did what I did.’’
I’d like to sit around the table with the mayor and deputy mayor and talk about the statue.
Taitimu Maipi