Story: European ideas about Māori

'Memories: the last of her tribe'

'Memories: the last of her tribe'

Charles Goldie's 1913 oil painting expressed the view that the Māori were a dying race. This idea followed from the Social Darwinist assumption that strong races such as Europeans would inevitably out-compete lesser races such as Māori. Goldie's subject is envisaged as the inevitable victim of a scientifically understood process.

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Aigantighe Art Gallery
Artwork by Charles Goldie

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How to cite this page:

James Belich, 'European ideas about Māori - The dying Māori and Social Darwinism', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/artwork/29880/memories-the-last-of-her-tribe (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by James Belich, published 5 May 2011