The Baron von Hugel/Sir Arthur Gordon Collection.

Since our trip to UK was all about Keith and his search for roots, he gave me a choice of ONE thing I wanted to do in England that we could do together.  Naturally I chose the "Chiefs and Governors" Exhibition currently on at The Cambridge Museum of Archeology.

 We arrive at the Cambridge Museum of Archeology. 

Please note that I'm wearing my equally old Fijian necklace.  

I thought it would like to meet its contemporaries.

Feeling very honoured and most chuffed at being able to see this very special exhibition for myself, I took literally hundreds of shots of the exhibits on the grounds that so many folks in Fiji wouldn't be in a position to make it to Cambridge to see these treasures and I wanted to share my good fortune.

If you don't already know all about this, Cambridge is currently displaying the Fiji collections put together in the 19th century by the ethnographer and traveler Baron von Hugel and Fiji's first Governor Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon.


And before anyone says, as so many folks have already said to me, "It's national theft. These items should be returned to Fiji" can I just say that Fiji cannot afford to preserve its own history in the way it has been so clearly well preserved by the Cambridge Museum of Archeology.

 This is Andrea, the curator of the Fiji collection 

and she loves the treasures she cares for 

so please don't let your political correctness 

interfere with what obviously works.

In fact, Fiji Museum is perfectly happy with the arrangements as they stand so please stop this nonsense immediately.

To be honest, a top-of-the-line, glossy coffee table book to be sold in the lobby of Fiji Museum is all we really need ...

... and, hey, we got that. So why such outrage?

And let me just throw in a little story.  I have a great treasure intrinsically linked within the history of a small Pacific Island nation. When this first came into my hands, I wrote to their museum to say I'd acquired it and to ask if the nation would like it returned, and got a letter back saying "After much discussion among the people most concerned, we have to tell you that we cannot afford to take care of it nor do we have the resources and expertise to conserve it the way it should be conserved.  As long as we know where it is, we're happy." and the letter concluded with "Can you please find a museum with money and resources to donate it to?" 

So that's where I stand on this issue, so let's just leave it and talk about something much more interesting:

  Baron von Hugel:

Someone said to me recently "There are no photos of Baron von Hugel in Fiji" and I was most proud to be able to say "That so isn't so." and show them this photograph:

 

 Middle of the middle.

Can you see it there?

It's in Constance Gordon-Cumming's photo album

and underneath is the caption

"The Rival Collectors: 

Young Arthur, Baron von Hugel and Captain Knollys."

And please note the photo below which is of the lobby of Sir Arthur Gordon's house in Fiji with his magnificent display of Fijiana.  And how strange is it that Interior Designers in the Pacific are only now discovering this Oceania style of design - well, actually it was earlier but that was just so "Tiki" we were all right to detest it - yet here are the Gordons rocking it out back in the 1870s.

(I'm currently attempting to sway old friend Robert - a famous interior designer - to come up with a new interior design style to be called "Governor Gordon" which places hard-edged, business-minded, dark-wood, Scots-style Victoriana within a light Pacific theme, just as Governor Gordon did it ... which turns out to be quite odd because nothing is currently exciting Robert more at the moment than the interior of Robert Louis Stevenson's house - called Villa Vilmae or something - in Samoa which does exactly that.) (However, I think that Villa Vilmae - or whatever - does a more light-hearted and decorative Victoriana which, to my mind, doesn't work quite as well in the Pacific context as Governor Gordon's darker, more earnestly "Scottish" and hard-edged belongings brought out from Victorian England.)

(OK, what Robert says originally got him so excited - the point where his passion started - wasn't so much Victorian furniture in the Pacific but how Pacific ethnography was displayed back in Victorian England.  Naturally, on hearing this, I sent him this old photograph of how Baron von Hugel displayed his Fiji collection back in that era ...

... and he found it as thrilling as I do.  So that's his starting point, collections like this, and everything else, everything else that has arisen since, has stemmed from there.)

Anyway, after that long aside, finally here's the story of Baron von Hugel in Fiji along with a portrait of Baron von Hugel in later life ...  

 

Doesn't he look like Kenneth Branagh 
should play him in the film version.

 ... that hang in the lobby of these Exhibition Rooms:

 The lobby.

I probably should confess that I think I'm a little in love with the Baron at the moment.  I found a copy of his Fiji Journals in Cambridge ...

 

... and am currently reading my way through his Fiji adventures ...

That's Constance's sketch of Bau, 

the King's Island, on the front.

 ... and so can tell you that he's the funniest fellow imaginable.  He tries so hard to be good, high-minded, saintly and above all worldly humdrum but he's very young and so frequently gives way to mean-spiritedness and when that happens, well, I can't stress how charming mean-spiritedness is when it's coupled with a good heart, a quick wit and a gift for impersonation. I would even go so far as to say that his journal rises to the peaks whenever he descends into those mean-hearted descriptions of the person who has most lately offended him: 

Like, his description of attempting to have a dinner conversation 

with Sir William Havelock (third photo down), 

"who mistakes being a gentleman with being a prig" 

could easily, as is, be turned into a comic routine.

But another person I discovered at this exhibition who I find wonderful and whom I'm also probably a little in love with is Lady Gordon's companion in Fiji, probably an aunt, Constance Gordon-Cumming: 

You can't see her very well in this, can you?  Let me see if I can find another photo:

It was just so unexpected to discover such a gifted, adventurous female lived back in Victorian times and I must say I'm very surprised that the Feminist Movement hasn't grabbed her as an icon many decades back.  She's entirely amazing so I'd love to find out so much more about her.

Oh goodness, I've just looked her up on-line and it turns out that she IS well-known and kinda iconic. Try here:  Constance Gordon-Cumming. 

However, if you need more reason to fall a little in love with her yourself, this will surely grab your heart like it grabbed mine:

 The journal she kept in Fiji.

Heart-stopping and beyond wonderful.

This journal is so perfect it made me ache.  The 1870s are not an era of Fiji history that has much informal, contemporary "insider story" available so to come across any record of what it was like to live in Fiji during this period would have been special ... but to come across such an exquisite record?  Oh my!  I kept thinking "Fiji MUST see this!" so took photographs of every single page, and it wasn't until I was finishing what was starting to feel like a sacred duty that the lovely Andrea, just strolling past, most likely off for lunch since it was lunchtime, saw what I was up to, came over and, instead of scolding me, said "You do know that we've now got funding to put that book on-line?"  Oh my! I can't think of anything more important and more perfect to be out there in cyber-space than a high quality digital version of Constance's Fiji journal and I know that I, for one, am definitely hanging out for it ...

... but if you can't wait that long yourself, here's a taste:

 The interior of a Fijian bure back in 1872.

 The different sail positions of a takia

(a small Fijian sailing vessel) 

with descriptions of what they're intended to do.

It's just so important that those folks in Fiji who are

currently trying to revive the lost waqa traditions see this. 

Fijian decorative arts.

And it was pretty special to see the original of one of her drawings:

 Can you see this up there?

In fact, it's all pretty special. You can see why it quickly started to feel like a sacred duty that Fijians got to see what is in this journal, right?  And that's not even including her paintings of scenes and people from around Fiji during this period that are the most stunning historical record of those early years when there was very little else around that records it, visually or otherwise.

Her painting of Levuka 

with signatures of everyone 

who was in the town that day.

Truly, shrines should be built to this extraordinary Victorian lady.  I can't think of anyone - apart from the Baron and Sir Arthur - who has excited me so much, not in a long long time.

But since this post is supposed to be about the Hugel and Gordon collections, without further ado let's look at a small sample of those, most important piece first:

King Tanoa's torque.

No, Fiji does not want this back.

We have and use King Cakobau's club to symbolise

Fijian power ... although that was literally trashed 
during the 2000 coup ...
but we did hold our breaths when

Our Varaq flew out to Cambridge to see this 

after we heard, for the first time, that Cambridge 

had it, and were all so relieved when he simply

took lots of photographs and left without it.

Already posted that story.

If you know about politics in Fiji you'll understand.

And as well as this symbol of the handover of power, the Gordon collection also has the welcome and respect tabua gifted on Sir Arthur Gordon's arrival and his inauguration:

The Gordon tabua.

Tabuas - whale's teeth - are the sign 

of greatest respect Fijians can bestow.

And other important pieces:  

Pieces from Tui Cakau's coronation tapa

gifted to Sir Arthur Gordon and which you can see

displayed in the 1875 photo above, in

Constance's photo album.

When I showed these shots to Colette, who collects tapa and knows a great deal on the subject, she couldn't believe that any pieces so old still existed.  "In Fiji's humidity, they seldom survive a century." she said "Yet these are 150 years old." and she was even moreso blown away by the photos I took of the pieces that were gifted to Captain Cook by the King of Tonga, now at the Whitby Museum, that is still in perfect condition after 240 years ...   

 This piece is part of the 

Captain Cook collection in Whitby! 

Those British museums really do know how to conserve and preserve don't they, so kudos to them.

But I should tell you that if you, like Colette, are fascinated by tapa, I noticed that there's a new book out on the subject:

Hope you can make out the name of the author, so you can order your own copy.

Oh, and Cambridge seems to be currently fascinated by how tapa is changing and there was an exhibition of modern tapa pieces in an art gallery nearby:

One of the pieces in a Cambridge art gallery.

Warwick will neither confirm nor deny

that this is one of his new pieces.
Unlike western art and exactly like tartan,
tapa is considered to "have no author".

And another important piece.

 The first Bible printed in the Fijian language.

And other important piece:

The King's davue trumpet used on Bau, 

the king's island, to call his subjects to assemble.

As you can see, those are all important pieces that were gifted to Sir Arthur Gordon as first governor, but Baron von Hugel collected from ordinary Fijians.  These are some of the pieces he acquired:

Flute and cannibal fork.

 Fetishes.

A reconstituted tabua.

Made out of other types of bones fused together.

Cheating, sure, but skillfully so.

 A most curious tabua

shaped to look like a shark.

Club, tabua and cannibal fork.

 Paddles. 

 

And my absolute favourite item.

The most exquisitely carved and decorated

paddle. 

Detail from the paddle above.

I realise you can't see it well but

take my word that it's very special indeed.

Bilos (drinking bowls) and tabua.

Bure lotu.

Spirit houses where the old gods resided.

 Club and bag and bangle and fetish.

Must be a lady's wardrobe.

 

 Spears.

 

Bone needle and cannibal fork.

Paddle, fetishes, pillow, spirit house and 

... can't make out the last item.

 

 Tanoa.

  

Pillows. 

Clubs.

 Musical instruments.

 

 Personal adornment.

 

 Home adornment.

Stunning, right. I was curious as to why he was sold so many precious objects, but the mystery was solved for me when reading his journals.  Turns out that he was also curious about why folks were so readily surrendering such treasures in exchange for fabrics and sewing equipment, and when he asked this of his translators, they told him these Fijians were "lotu-ing" - becoming Christian - and that they were looking for a respectful home for all their 'old religion' stuff.  However he later found out that wasn't quite true.  His Fijian quickly got good enough - it took only about a month, btw - so he was able to understand what people around him, including his translators, were saying and realised that  his translators were lying to the people by telling them that Baron von Hugel was an emissary of Queen Victoria who wanted to see what the Fijians were capable of making ... and so they gave him the very best!

But both stories are equally true.  Fijians were trying to find a respectful home for their 'old religion' accoutrements, but they believed they were sending them as gifts to be seen and admired by Queen Victoria - and since she did see them, this wasn't quite a lie, was it! 

I have hundreds more photos but it is becoming increasingly difficult to put them into this post. I think there's a limit to the number allowed, however let me draw your attention to this:

 If you wish to see more of these collections, 

there's a book and postcards you can buy.

But before I leave this, there's something else that I wanted to tell you about.  What was that again?

Oh, got it:  Here's something that entirely blew me away:

Fijian earrings, right?:






 Here they are in a museum, and you go out on the streets and VOILA!!!

Fijian earrings in situ!

How is this even possible?

And why the hell would they want to?

This is only ONE of the great many photos I took of these seriously crazy young men. These earrings are everywhere across England and I also saw them in Amsterdam. If only these idiots could read what Baron von Hugel had to say about what had happened to Fijian earlobes after these sorts of earrings were taken out. Shudder!  Seriously, if you read this you would NOT want to do this to yourself, BIGTIME!

But absolutely the best part of this entire exhibition is that it appears to have "broken open the reef", as we say in the Pacific, and lots of other Pacific exhibitions and publications are starting to happen out there:

Just one of many new publications now on sale.

No, no, I take that back.  The very best part of the "Chiefs and Governor's Exhibition" is THIS:

Yes, "Chiefs and Governors" is a finalist in the 2013 Best Exhibition Awards.  Yaayyyyy, Go The Baron and the Knight!

And moreso:  GO FIJI!!!