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Bruce W. Hayward & Sascha Nolden | 2024
New Zealand’s earliest geological maps and the argument they generated between Hochstetter and HeaphyGeoscience Society of New Zealand Annual Conference 2024: Abstracts Volume. GSNZ Miscellaneous Publication 167A, Geoscience Society of New Zealand, Wellington, p. 94.
The earliest ‘geological’ maps in New Zealand were simple outlines with comments on the presence of certain rock types written on them. Two pre-1860 unpublished maps have recently been located that we claim are the earliest New Zealand geological maps. Both maps have coloured areas corresponding to the outcrop of different rock types and both have the same title ‘Sketch of the geological formation of the Auckland District’. The earliest, dated 1857, annotated in brackets ‘corrected up to February 1859’, was made by Charles Heaphy and presented to the Auckland Mechanics’ Institute on 9 February 1857. This newly discovered map is in the library of the Geological Society of London having been sent by Heaphy in 1859 to accompany his manuscript on the volcanic geology of Auckland. A black and white lithograph of the central portion of this map was published with his article in the QJGSL in 1860.
The second map was made by Ferdinand Hochstetter based on his fieldwork in early 1859 and was drafted by William Boulton in the Auckland Survey Office. This map was left in Auckland in July 1859 for the use of the Provincial Council and is now held in the Auckland Museum. Hochstetter’s recently translated diary and other documents indicate that soon after arriving in Auckland Hochstetter borrowed Heaphy’s map from the Mechanics’ Institute wall and traced it as a guide for his fieldwork. |
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Bruce W. Hayward & Sascha Nolden | 2023
Hochstetter’s long lost Auckland diaryGeoscience Society of New Zealand Annual Conference 2023: Abstracts Volume, GSNZ Miscellaneous Publication 164A, Geoscience Society of New Zealand, Wellington, p. 101.
The “Father of New Zealand geology”, Ferdinand von Hochstetter, was in New Zealand from December 1858 to October 1859. He spent time in both Auckland and Nelson provinces studying the rocks and landforms, preparing maps of the geology, and collecting natural history and ethnological specimens for museums in Vienna. Apart from the first two weeks in Auckland, Hochstetter recorded his travels and observations in a series of five diaries, hand-written in German. These diaries provided the base material for his later publications on New Zealand and its geology. Of the five diaries, the last two, on Nelson, have been translated and published by GSNZ.
For more than a century Hochstetter’s Auckland diary was believed to be lost until it was found in 2010 by Sascha Nolden, together with a number of unpublished sketches, photographs and documents in the keeping of his descendants in Basel, Switzerland, and digitally repatriated. This Auckland diary has now been transcribed and translated by Sascha Nolden and published by GSNZ. Although extracts from his Auckland diary were published by Hochstetter, the translation clearly spells out, for the first time, much more detail of where, when, how and with whom he travelled around, mapping Auckland’s volcanoes and making multi-day forays to the west (Henderson, Te Henga, Huia, Whatipu), south (Waiuku, Port Waikato), east (Maraetai, Ardmore) and north (Whangaparaoa). The diary also provides more clarity on the validity of the competing claims by Heaphy and Hochstetter that the other plagiarised their work on Auckland’s volcanoes. |
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Sascha Nolden | 2022
Hochstetter und HaastHochstetter Workshop: Zum Auftakt der Edition der Forschungstagebücher von Ferdinand v. Hochstetter. Ein Projekt von ÖAW und NHM. 31. Oktober 2022.
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Sascha Nolden | 2022
The New Zealand Cartography of Sir Julius von HaastConference paper presented at ‘GeoCart’2022: 10th National Cartographic Conference’, Wellington, 24 August 2022.
This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of Sir Julius von Haast, who was born in Bonn on 1 May 1822, and died in Christchurch on 16 August 1887. Haast was a pioneering surveyor and cartographer, who contributed to early topographical and geological surveys in the New Zealand provinces of Auckland, Nelson, Canterbury, and Westland. He was the founder and first director of Canterbury Museum and a promoter of New Zealand courts at international exhibitions, including his final appointment as Commissioner to the London Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886. Haast took every opportunity to contribute to mapping and ensured that maps featured prominently in Canterbury Museum and at New Zealand and international exhibitions. This paper reviews Haast's New Zealand maps and cartographic legacy.
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Sascha Nolden | 2022
The Correspondence of Sir Julius von HaastHaast Symposium: Celebrating the Life of Sir Julius von Haast. A conference to mark the bicentenary of the birth of Sir Julius von Haast, founder of Canterbury Museum. Saturday, 30 April – Sunday, 1 May 2022.
This paper describes the correspondence of Sir Julius von Haast (1822–1887) held in the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, reviews examples of letters published to date, and outlines the concept for a project to prepare a Haast Bicentenary Edition.
The overview of the archival holdings, including their arrangement and description, gives an insight into the arrangement of the collection, the hierarchical structure of the finding aid and indexing through name authority terms and how this aids discoverability for researchers. The legacy interfiling and sorting of letters are noted, with a lack of clear delineation between the main corpus of inward correspondence and Haast’s autograph collection of letters originally addressed to others, resulting in blurred provenance and loss of original order. The review of the publication of letters includes those published during Haast’s lifetime, and the monumental biography by his son, Heinrich Ferdinand von Haast, published in 1948, which incorporated a rich selection of excerpts from letters, including translations. Identifying the various efforts to publish selected letters and editions of correspondence since the collection was donated to the Alexander Turnbull Library, gives an insight into scholarly engagement with the collection, and the contribution and added value achieved through published editions in print and digital formats. In outlining the concept for a project to prepare a scholarly annotated edition of correspondence, the possible arrangement is delineated, following the major language subdivisions, and within each language group the arrangement by correspondent in alphabetical order, and the letters of each correspondent in chronological order. This approach aligns with what was originally attempted and aimed for in the arrangement of the collection by the Alexander Turnbull Library. The requirements and various possible roles of contributors to the project are considered, including the tasks of description, transcription, translation, annotation, proofing and formatting. The options for forms of output in print editions and encoding for digital publication are considered, and a suggestion for the hosting of such a digital edition is made. The fact that the extant collection comprises mostly inward correspondence provides an opportunity to look at the holdings of other archival institutions to see whether Haast’s outward correspondence can be identified and integrated into the edition. This would result in a deeper insight into Haast’s conversations, a fuller understanding of his correspondence networks, and ultimately contribute to a richer documentation of nineteenth century New Zealand history of science and the life and work of Sir Julius von Haast. |
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Christoph Schindler & Sascha Nolden | 2021
The travel diaries of Georgiana von Hochstetter from the years 1876-188915th ERBE-Symposium, Eggenburg, 2021. Cultural Heritage in Geosciences, Mining and Metallurgy - Libraries - Archives - Collections - Abstracts, pp. 149-151.
A scholarly annotated edition by Christoph Schindler and Sascha Nolden. Georgiana von Hochstetter (1842-1905), nee Bengough, was born in Bordeaux on 22 July 1842, and married Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) on 2 April 1861. They had eight children together, four sons and four daughters. On 30 April 1876 Ferdinand was appointed the first director of the Natural History Museum in Vienna, and in this position, he went on regular travels in Europe, attending meetings, visiting museums, viewing collections, and networking with colleagues. In later years as his health deteriorated these journeys also included visits to health resorts and spas.
Georgiana accompanied her husband on most of his travels during the period 1876 to 1882, and it was during these journeys that she wrote extensive personal travel diaries. The ten diaries presented in this edition capture a unique insight into the life and experiences of the Hochstetters, representing an important biographical primary source, written with an authentic immediacy and in an uncensored personal manner. Georgiana documented the progress of their journeys, the locations visited, and the people encountered, including professional contacts and members of the family. After her husband’s death Georgiana went on one final trip to France in 1889 to visit her relatives and to see the sights of Paris, especially the Exposition Universelle complete with a trip up the newly erected Eiffel Tower. |
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Sascha Nolden | 2018
The New Zealand Cartography of Ferdinand von HochstetterConference paper presented at ‘GeoCart’2018’ 5 September 2018, Wellington. Extended abstract in: Cartographies of Change: Then, Now and Tomorrow, CartoPress, Occasional Publication No. 4, New Zealand Cartographic Society, 2018, pp. 9-12.
Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) was the first qualified geologist and experienced geological field surveyor to complete extended topographical and geological surveys in New Zealand. Hochstetter had previously spent a number of years contributing to geological surveys in the Bohemian Forest for the Geological Survey of Austria. The New Zealand surveys completed under the direction and leadership of Hochstetter in 1858-1859 encompassed an extended area of Auckland and Nelson provinces. The results of these surveys were taken back to Europe and became the basis for the first New Zealand geological maps to be printed in colour (chromolithography), and together with the topographical maps were compiled as the first New Zealand atlas, and the first atlas to be published in New Zealand.
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Sascha Nolden | 2016
Geologen der k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt und ihre Korrespondenz mit Julius von Haast in NeuseelandLecture presented on 28 April 2016 at Geologische Bundesanstalt in Wien, co-hosted by Geological Survey of Austria and Freunde des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien.
Thematisiert werden Briefe und andere Archivalien, die von Mitgliedern und ehemaligen Mitgliedern der 1849 gegründeten k. k. Geologischen Reichsanstalt in den Jahren 1862 bis 1887 an Sir Julius von Haast (1822-1887) nach Neuseeland geschickt wurden und sich heute in den Sammlungen der Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington befinden.
In diesem Kontext werden die von Wissenschaftlern gepflegten Netzwerke zur Ermöglichung von Gedanken-, Schriften- und Sammlungsaustausch erläutert. Beleuchtet werden Aspekte der gegenseitigen Abhängigkeit zwischen denjenigen, die in den europäischen Metropolen unmittelbaren Zugang zum wissenschaftlichen Schrifttum und zu Sammlungen hatten, und denen, die im Gelände in unerforschten Gegenden am anderen Ende der Welt Gelegenheit hatten, Neues zu beobachten und zu entdecken sowie reichhaltige Sammlungen zu erwerben. Wobei auch besonders der Einfluss der österreichischen Geowissenschaftler auf die Entwicklung und Erforschung Neuseelands in Augenschein genommen wird. |
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Sascha Nolden | 2015
Sir Julius von Haast’s contribution to New Zealand science: expanding horizons, networking, ambition and controversyConference paper presented at ‘Finding New Zealand’s Scientific Heritage’, 23 November 2015, Victoria University of Wellington.
Exploring the archival documentary heritage legacy of Sir Julius von Haast in search of evidence of the growth and expansion of a world wide web of correspondents aimed at the facilitation of the exchange of knowledge information, specimens and publications.
Sir Julius von Haast (1822-1887) was one of the most influential German-born New Zealand scientists of the nineteenth century, who contributed to the development and establishment of scientific institutions, research, exploration and discovery, using a carefully managed network of contacts around the globe to facilitate the exchange of information and knowledge, specimens and publications, but more subversively perhaps also aimed at the accumulation of honours and awards, in the fulfilment of a desire for personal recognition and ambitions for increased professional status. The results of Haast's efforts and endurance are evident from the maps and reports of the geological survey of Canterbury and Westland, and the establishment and building of the collections of Canterbury Museum. However the finer details of his activities and the nuances of his approach to scientific endeavour and collegial cooperation only become fully evident through the archival and documentary heritage of Haast's life and work found in the Haast family papers held in the Alexander Turnbull Library. This paper is partially based on some of the interim results of the author's work on this significant resource for the research into the history of New Zealand science, donated to the library more than 60 years ago. The project aims to complete a revision of the archival collections with the aim of making retrospective enhancements to the descriptive records and review name authorities. Among the expected outcomes is an increase in value to researchers by making the contents more discoverable through online finding aids resulting in better access and retrieval of a range of invaluable historical and biographical data relevant to New Zealand's scientific heritage research. |
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Sascha Nolden | 2014
Hochstetter and the 150th Anniversary of the Publication of his Geology of New ZealandLecture presented at meeting of Auckland Branch of Geoscience Society of New Zealand, 17 June 2014.
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Sascha Nolden | 2013
Illegible to publishable: the transcription, translation and editing of nineteenth century manuscript letters“Visualising Correspondence Networks”, Victoria University of Wellington, 2 September 2013.
Dr Sascha Nolden is an Auckland based MIS student at Victoria University who has worked on a number of projects involving the transcription and translation of manuscript letters, including some from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library, which formed the basis to his doctoral research. He is a regular collaborator, contributor and editor for projects which involve the transcription of what others might describe as illegible source documents, and specialises in the translation and annotation of historical letters, diaries and other manuscript material, especially relating to the Germanic connections with New Zealand and the Pacific in the nineteenth century.
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Sascha Nolden | 2013
The Basel Hochstetter Collection: Cataloguing a Viennese explorer’s accumulation of archival documentary evidence of 19th Century New Zealand"Austrian Visitors to Oceania: Their Activities and Legacies”, symposium, University of Auckland, 12 July 2013.
This paper gives an overview of the progress and results of a project that aims to document and publish New Zealand material from the estate of Ferdinand von Hochstetter, who visited and explored extensive parts of the provinces of Auckland and Nelson in 1858-1859 and continued to build his collection of paintings, drawings, photographs, maps and prints through ongoing exchanges with correspondents. The first volumes of the catalogue that have been released to date will be reviewed and some of the inherent challenges and issues will be discussed, including preservation issues encountered when working with the original material, limitations to digitisation and reproduction and finally a few words on the aims and vision for the future of the project will be shared with the anticipation that this may then lead towards discussion and questions.
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Sascha Nolden | 2012
Viennese Connections: Julius von Haast & Ferdinand von HochstetterPublic lecture, The Friends of the Turnbull Library, Wellington, 17 October 2012.
Sascha Nolden is a German-born NZ-based graduate of the University of Auckland, who completed a PhD thesis on Ferdinand von Hochstetter and his correspondence with Julius von Haast, a project involving letters held in the Turnbull Library. Sascha’s talk offers a closer look at the relationship of Ferdinand von Hochstetter and Julius von Haast, two geologists who emerged as founding museum directors in Christchurch and Vienna. He will reveal fascinating details in Hochstetter’s letters, and discuss dimensions of power and influence in the 19th-century Viennese connections with New Zealand. Sascha’s illustrated monograph, Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand, 1858-60, co-authored with Dr Mike Johnston of Nelson, was published by Nikau Press in 2011. He has co-convened an international interdisciplinary Hochstetter Symposium at the University of Auckland and acted as guest curator for exhibitions on Hochstetter at the Sir George Grey Special Collections at Auckland Library and Nelson Provincial Museum.
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Sascha Nolden | 2011
Illustrating New Zealand: Image Sources and Engravings of Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s Publications on New Zealand"Austria in the Pacific”, symposium, University of Auckland, 20 June 2011.
Ferdinand Hochstetter (1829-1884) arrived in Auckland on 22 December 1858 on board the Austrian frigate Novara and spent 9 months exploring the provinces of Auckland and Nelson. While his main focus was on the geological structure and mineral resources, he was also fascinated by the unique flora and fauna and took a great interest in the Maori and their culture. Recording what he observed in his diaries and sketchbooks he created a detailed documentation of his journeys. However it is undoubtedly the contribution of others combined with his own that made his visit and subsequent publications on New Zealand a success. Examining the wood engraved illustrations prepared by Eduard Ade and chromolithographs by Arno Meermann based on sketches by Julius Haast, Charles Heaphy, Augustus Koch, and photographs by John Crombie, Bruno Hamel and John Kinder, this paper will look at the sources of a selection of New Zealand illustrations especially from Hochstetter’s New Zealand published in 1867, and the influence of the artists and engravers on the European perception of New Zealand in the nineteenth century.
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Sascha Nolden | 2008
Ferdinand von Hochstetter and the Novara Expedition in AucklandPublic lecture series in conjunction with Ferdinand von Hochstetter exhibition, Auckland Central Library, 17 September 2008.
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Sascha Nolden | 2008
Karl von Scherzer and the Novara Expedition in Auckland
“Ferdinand Hochstetter and the Contribution of German-Speaking Scientists to New Zealand Natural History in the Nineteenth Century: An International Interdisciplinary Symposium”, Research Centre for Germanic Connections with New Zealand and the Pacific, Old Government House, University of Auckland, 2 September 2008.
Karl von Scherzer (1821-1903) was the official historiographer, ethnologist, economist and chief scientist on the Austrian Novara expedition (1857-59). In this paper we look at the New Zealand section of Scherzer’s official account of the expedition which first appeared in a three-volume German edition under the title Reise der Oesterreichischen Fregatte Novara um die Erde and subsequently in English as Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, and aim to provide a comparative overview of these published accounts and the New Zealand section of Scherzer’s unpublished diary. Looking more closely at the Auckland chapter of the bestselling travel account, we also find a section by Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) on his travels in New Zealand undertaken as part of his extended exploratory journeys in both the North and South Island of New Zealand. The letters of Scherzer to Sir George Grey and other New Zealand correspondence are discussed, thus placing the contribution of Scherzer in the broader context of Austro-New Zealand scientific relations at the time of the Novara expedition. Newspaper accounts and other published and unpublished sources will be drawn on to create a more complete impression of the visit to New Zealand 150 years ago.
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Sascha Nolden | 2008
Ferdinand von Hochstetter – Father of New Zealand Geology – Commemorating the sesquicentennial of his visit“Geosciences ‘08” Geological Society of New Zealand annual conference, Te Papa Museum, Wellington, 26 November 2008.
When the Austrian frigate Novara arrived in Auckland on 22 December 1858 on its expedition around the globe this marked the beginning of a major turning point for the young geologist and physicist on board. In New Zealand Ferdinand Hochstetter found the opportunity to explore a geologically hitherto largely unexplored country in the service of the New Zealand government and as an extension of the Novara expedition. Although the decision to leave the expedition, at this furthest point of the journey, was not an easy one, he never regretted it later as it gave him the opportunity to spend nine months in the provinces of Auckland and Nelson, and wherever he went he was provided with generous support for his efforts and was thus enabled to make one of the most significant contributions to the results of the Novara expedition and at the same time accumulate collections and observations which were later to form the basis for his publications on New Zealand.
This paper provides a biographical introduction to Hochstetter and an overview of his explorations in New Zealand and goes on to look at Hochstetter’s relationship with other geologists and surveyors working in the field at the time of his visit, including those who wrote to him from parts of New Zealand Hochstetter did not have time to explore in person – including James Crawford in Wellington, Octavius Carrington in Taranaki and Thomas Triphook in Napier. This will provide an insight into his relationship with the pioneer settlers in New Zealand and provide clear evidence of some of Hochstetter’s sources. In closing, an overview of the geological maps and publications by Hochstetter relating to New Zealand will be given with some remarks on their genesis and development, based on archival research looking at Hochstetter’s manuscripts and letters. |
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Sascha Nolden | 2008
Andreas Reischek – Briefe in die Heimat: Neues aus seinem Leben und seiner Forschungstätigkeit in NeuseelandLecture, Österreichisch-Südpazifische Gesellschaft (OSPG), University of Vienna, 15 April 2008.
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Sascha Nolden | 2006
Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s New Zealand MapsSELL Graduate Conference (School of European Languages and Literature, University of Auckland): “Florilegium“, 20 October 2006.
Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) came to New Zealand as a geologist on the Austrian Novara expedition (1857-9) and spent nine months completing extensive pioneering geological and topographical surveys in the Provinces of Auckland and Nelson. His work laid the foundations for some of the earliest topographical and geological maps of parts of New Zealand, which were published by the Justus Perthes Verlag in Gotha, Germany, between 1862 and 1865. His five maps appeared in both German and English editions and exist in at least 14 published versions. The cartographer and geographer August Heinrich Petermann (1822-1878) was the person responsible for turning Hochstetter’s survey data and manuscript map material into the final proofs for the publication of the five engraved maps. The correspondence between Hochstetter and Petermann having been made available to the author by the Forschungsbibliothek in Gotha, has made it possible to follow the development of this important relationship and research the genesis of the maps which were published as the first atlases of New Zealand in German and English, the Geologisch-Topographischer Atlas von Neu-Seeland (1863) and Geological and Topographical Atlas of New Zealand (1864).
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Sascha Nolden | 2005
Ferdinand von Hochstetter in Neuseeland (1858-1859): Neues aus seiner Biographie und wissenschaftshistorische EntdeckungenLecture held on 13 December 2005, Geologische Bundesanstalt in Wien, hosted in conjunction with the Österreichische Geologischen Gesellschaft and the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Wissenschaftsgeschichte.
Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) war einer der Pioniere der geowissenschaftlichen Erforschung Neuseelands. Er gilt in geowissenschaftlichen Kreisen von Neuseeland immer noch als "Father of New Zealand Geology".
Im Rahmen der Novara-Expedition kam er im Dezember 1858 in Auckland an. Er verließ die Expedition, um in Laufe der nächsten neun Monate in der Provinz Auckland auf der Nordinsel sowie in der Provinz Nelson auf der Südinsel geologische Erforschungen durchzuführen. Die junge britische Kolonie Neuseeland war besonders darauf bedacht, ihre Bodenschätze durch einen neutralen und kompetenten Geologen bewerten zu lassen. Die Resultate seiner Bemühungen haben bis heute ihren besonderen Stellenwert als wichtige Quellen auf vielen Gebieten der neuseeländischen Naturwissenschaften behalten. Hochstetters Werke zu Neuseeland in deutscher sowie auch englischer Sprache bilden einen wichtigen Teil seines Oeuvres. Doch lassen sich andere Aspekte seiner Tätigkeit am besten durch verschiedene Archivalien, wie zum Beispiel Briefe und Tagebücher rekonstruieren. Er wird weiters Bezug auf Zeitungsberichte aus der Zeit seines Neuseelandaufenthaltes genommen und Auszüge aus seiner Korrespondenz vorgestellt, um einen vertiefenden Einblick in Hochstetters Beschäftigung mit dem Thema Neuseeland und seine besondere Beziehung zu dieser Inselwelt zu ermöglichen. |
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Sascha Nolden | 2005
Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s visit to Nelson in 1859SELL Graduate Symposium, (School of European Languages and Literature, University of Auckland): “(re)vision and (re)place(ments)”, 21 October 2005.
Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829-1884) has been referred to as the “father of New Zealand Geology”. This paper will look at Hochstetter’s visit to Nelson from his arrival on the Lord Ashley in August to his departure on the Prince Alfred in October 1859. It traces his excursions in the area based on his published accounts and a recently rediscovered diary as well as contemporary newspaper accounts published in the two major Nelson newspapers: The Colonist and The Nelson Examiner. It will look at Hochstetter’s expeditions and geological field work around Nelson, his efforts to identify and assess the potential sources of mineral wealth in the area and the overall impact of his visit. Concluding with an overview of the results of his visit which include the first geological map of the Nelson Province, a published lecture on the Geology of the Nelson area, a chapter on Nelson in both his German Neu-Seeland (1863) and the English New Zealand (1867) and a paper on Dunite, a variety of serpentine from the Dun mountain, named by Hochstetter and still retained in the geological nomenclature to this day. Thus this paper will focus on the latter period of the visit to New Zealand and portray an important episode from the life of Hochstetter, who was one of the most important German geologists to visit New Zealand in the nineteenth century.
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Sascha Nolden | 2004
Aspects of the Genesis and History of Ferdinand von Hochstetter’s ‘Neu-Seeland (1863) and ‘New Zealand’ (1867)SELL Postgraduate Symposium, (School of European Languages and Literature, University of Auckland): European Perspectives, 8 October 2004.
This paper will look at a selection of excerpts from Hochstetter's correspondence relating to the planning, writing and publishing of his two monumental works on New Zealand. Hochstetter's letters give us a better understanding of the development of his ideas on structure and content, and the German and English editions prove to be much more than mere translations of each other. We also find Hochstetter trying in vain to find an English publisher for the English edition, being advised to seek permission to dedicate the work to Queen Victoria rather than the colonists of New Zealand, and struggling to secure funding from the New Zealand Government in exchange for 500 copies of the book.
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Sascha Nolden | 2003
Sir Julius von Haast (1822-1887) and his contributions to NZ OrnithologySELL Seminar, (School of European Languages and Literature, University of Auckland), 18 September 2003.
Sir Julius von Haast (1822-1887) was born in Bonn, Germany. Haast is one of the most important German naturalist explorers to immigrate to New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Haast contributed to geological exploration, surveying and ornithological research as well as his important work as a community leader in Canterbury, where he founded and directed the Canterbury Museum and co-founded the University of Canterbury. Haast held the first Chair in Geology, and lectured in a broad range of subjects. Haast became a scientist of world renown through his work on the extinct bird species of New Zealand, of which, the Moa are only one of a number of important groups of species that were represented in or unique to New Zealand’s avifauna. Today Haast has been described as the czar of Moa bone trade. Haast established a very extensive network of contacts with museums and collectors around the world and using what New Zealand had to offer by way of natural history specimens, he exchanged these for museum specimens from around the world, to build up what was described in contemporary reviews as one of the finest museum collections in the Southern Hemisphere. But looking beyond the extensive programme of exchanges for the museum, which can today be condensed into lists of acquisitions, we find the human links, the people who were writing to and receiving letters and specimens from Haast represented a broad spectrum of personalities from the humble field collectors to major leading scientists of the day, including Charles Darwin.
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© Sascha Nolden 2023