From the inside front flap: "One February day in 1860, the cutter Betsy sails down the calm Manukau harbour in New Zealand bound for the village of Waiuku. Aboard is an eleven-year-old boy, David Learwood, who has travelled with his parents from the other side of the world to settle here. David finds that life is far from calm beside the harbour and around the Kentish Hotel where the Learwoods are employed. Waiuku is a trading post on the fringe of Maori country. The Englishmen are the newcomers filled with ambition, and the Maoris are restless at the growing loss of their land. When news comes through of fighting in Taranki only two hundred miles away, everyone is shaken. Soon David finds new friends; his schoolmate Adam, Captain Champion, Doctor Topp; and a bond of uncommon depth links him to the Maori boy Honatana. All are swept into a chain of events which includes the visit of the Maori king to a colourful conference; an epidemic of influenza; a cattle-hunt with a tragic outcome and the tense inquiry by a Maori court; much activity on the harbor; and the untiring search of the Maori leaders for peace with justice."
I am carrying on reviewing books written by Elsie Locke. The End of the Harbour is her second historical novel and it is much different from The Runaway Settlers. Rather than focusing on one family and what happens to them, this book focuses on a boy named David and a town named Waiuku, and the events that happened there twenty years after the Treaty of Waitangi was signed.
Waiuku is situated at the bottom of Manukau Harbour, Auckland. There are very well-illustrated maps inside the back and front covers, but here I've provided a Google map for reference.
The Kentish, which is the hotel where David's family stayed and worked in the book, still exists today!
David is the main character and he has immigrated from England with his family. They settle in a country area that is predominantly Maori and straight away David is dealing with a people and language that is very unfamiliar to him. But he makes a friend of a Maori boy his age called Honatana and he becomes his link and guide in the months ahead.
In the background, the First Taranaki War is happening and the rumours and tensions from the conflict affect the community. Many events happen, for example, there is a large hui that the Maori king attends. A young Maori worker is shot dead and a settler convict is suspected of killing him. There is a court case, but tensions arise when there is no conviction. An influenza outbreak happens and many Maori die. Also, there is a dispute that hangs over the community about whether Maori and settlers can worship together on Sunday mornings in the church building. These disputes are heightened as rumours reach the community of the atrocities committed during the Taranaki conflict.
Throughout all of these, there is a deep desire for peace from the Maori King Potatau. This is echoed by his son, and the other Maori elders in events later in the book.
"Hearken, O my people! In the past you followed the Maori gods, but now it is the great God in Heaven. I have only three things to offer you. First, hold fast to the faith; second, hold fast to love; and third, hold fast to the law. Our land has changed. The great God is above all. The white skin, the red skin and the dark skin all bathe in the same water; and the white thread, the red thread and the dark thread are all threaded on the one needle. That is all."
King Potatau's speech, The End of the Harbour, Elsie Locke, page 63, Jonathan Cape, 1968.
The author, Elsie Locke is one of those rare authors that is able to delicately balance historical fiction well. She understands the Maori language and customs well. She also understands the settlers and how they thought. She sees the importance of the missionaries in early colonisation and how deeply they influenced Maori thinking and European settlement. She hasn't made the mistake of brandishing one party as the villain and the other as the victim. However, I did get my tissues out at the end of the book as I felt a deep sense of loss for the Maori people.
What I loved about this book (and many Christian homeschool mums would agree) is the wonderful friendship between Honatana and David. It is compared to "twigs of a tree" and David discovers from a Bible reading in 1 Samuel 20 the wonderful friendship of Jonathan and David.
"And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city."
1 Samuel 20:42 King James Bible
Their bond becomes very close and David begins to feel a deep empathy for his friend and his people. At one point he exclaims, "Oh I wish I was Maori!" Christianity runs through this book from the references to the David/Jonathan friendship, King Potatau's desire for peace because of his belief in the Christian God, and the deep respect for the missionary, Reverend Robert Maunsell. I really enjoyed how the author treated this subject. Many New Zealand history books brush over this subject or vilify it.
The only misgivings I had about the story were the number of characters and the complexity of the plot. At times I thought, how would a young person follow all this politics? There was a lot and it was overwhelming. If you put down the book for more than a few days, you definitely lose the gist of what is happening. I was also waiting for something big to happen. There was quite a big buildup of tension, and then I realised by the last few chapters that there wasn't going to be a big ending. The Runaway Settlers I think was such a success because its focus was laser-like on the family and the few events happening to them. This book had about six lasers going and they were all crossing each other. I enjoyed the book, but I was relieved when it was finished.
I recommend this book for ages 12 and over. Parents will need to be aware that the word "nigger" is used once.