he Naturalist was fascinating. Fascinating as a study of character, and fascinating as an introduction to the colonial history of New Zealand. The novel is historical fiction to correct the injustice of a history that has been unvoiced: it tells the story of illegal land acquisition but also the story of at least one man who respected the Māori and their customs—but ultimately was powerless to change the course of events. The Naturalist is based on the real life story of Ernst Dieffenbach (1811-1855), a German physician, geologist and naturalist, and the first scientist to live and work in New Zealand. The book tells the story of his travails as a subversive in Giessen in the Duchy of Hesse, his brief imprisonment and exile in London, and his subsequent voyage to New Zealand as an employee of the New Zealand Company and his attempts to rehabilitate his reputation and return home.
Conroy presents this complex character as an idealist who wanted Germany to emulate the democratic reforms of England and France. Ernst imprudently gets involved in an illegal duel too, and what with one thing and another he has to leave what was then not Germany but a patchwork of principalities. (Unification under Bismarck had to wait until 1871, thirty years after Ernst died; democratic reform took even longer). The authorities take a very dim view of Ernst’s activities, and the exile’s lament for his lost home is a poignant theme throughout the novel.
In London Ernst schemes to regain his reputation and the possibility of being allowed home, by making a name for himself. He had studied medicine in Zurich but became fascinated by what was then called natural history, and thanks to the influence of his old teacher Schönlein, in 1839 he gets a berth on the Tory as a ship’s surgeon, surveyor and naturalist. The Tory is a private expedition to New Zealand to buy land for settlement. It is not endorsed by Queen Victoria; she’s turning a blind eye to it, but everyone knows that the land will be acquired one way or another, legally or otherwise. (The Treaty of Waitangi had not yet been negotiated.) Ernst has a higher grasp of ethics than the other members of the expedition but he has to be circumspect in voicing his concerns because he is the outsider in the group. Some of the crew loathe him just because he is German…
In London Ernst formed an attachment to Nora because she has a keen mind and she is impressed by his ideas, but he can’t possibly marry her because he has no money, no career, and no place in society. In New Zealand where mores are different, he grows fond of Hariata, a slave offered to him in gratitude for saving the life of a chieftain’s wife. In one of many ironies in the novel, Ernst is not the only exile: at this stage the Māori have not been driven out of their homes by settlers, but rather have been forced from their homeland in Māori wars, while others are enslaved. A former American slave aboard the Tory has no home to go to either, and Nahiti, the interpreter and guide who went off with Europeans for adventure, is afraid to go home because he has talked up his status as a prince, and fears the consequences when his own people find out.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2019/05/22/the-naturalist-by-thom-conroy/ ( )

This was a very enjoyable book in the genre of 'Wulf' by Hamish Clayton and much earlier novels by writers such as Maurice Shadbolt such as 'Season of the Jew'. Thom Conroy differs from Shadbolt in that his research appears more meticulous and more overt.
Although the division into shorter sections, divided by a feather drawing, appeared at first to give quite a bitty impression to the book, I found it spurred my reading on. Somewhere round the middle of the novel, I had the feeling of 'let's get on with the story'. However on reflection, I decided that this accurately mirrored Ernst Dieffenbach's own life story and the dilemmas he faced.
While this is a novel not a biography, the author makes it easy for the reader to learn about Dieffenbach without having to read his Travels.
The back cover blurb mentions Dieffenbach's prescience in his observations of New Zealand and its people in the period around the settlement of Port Nicholson (Wellington) by the Wakefields and the New Zealand Company in the period 1839-1841. While it almost seems like the modern New Zealand reader is being told 'I knew you would get into this mess by ignoring my message of respect for the land and its people', it is not untimely as we in this country try to make up for the wrongs meted out to Maori in the past through Treaty Settlements, and struggle to wrest back the ecology from the ravages of introduced predators.
I feel that a novel such as this helps the New Zealander of today to populate and story our landscape.One of the key ways Conroy reinforces this is with 'naming'. There is only one very insignificant place named after Dieffenbach in New Zealand, which is how he would have wanted it in contrast to the way in which the New Zealand Company re-named places at will. When the character Dieffenbach talks about the native fauna, he never uses the English name - he uses its zoological name and its Maori name. An example is korimako | Anthornis melanura, it is never a 'bellbird'. We are slowly coming round to using all the Maori names rather than the English names - better that we didn't have to do such re-learning!
The use of the New Zealand fauna illustrations at the beginning of each section is a nice touch, not only reflecting the cover design but threads the ecological - the essence of place, into the story deftly.
One complaint which I'm sure must be a mistake not picked up by the editor: on pp.322 and 332 we have mention of the Governor of New South Wales Sir George Gripps [sic]. Surely this was Sir George Gipps Governor from 1838-1846.
How sad it was that Dieffenbach survived all manner of difficulties and privations in New Zealand, but eventually returned to his German homeland of Hesse and died of typhus aged 44. ( )

Exiled from his home of Giessen and the rest of Germany for his part in plotting a revolution, Ernst Dieffenbach flees to London. Later he is appointed as the naturalist for the New Zealand Company's land buying mission to New Zealand. On board is also Charles Heaphy. Their ship, the Tory, arrives in New Zealand in 1839. The story narrates Diffenbach's exploration of the country, the people he meets, and his concerns about the European influence on Maori and the future of the race and the country. Also covered are other time periods in his life.

Dieffenbach visited Tauranga on 16 June 1841. I was hoping for some mention of his visit during the book but this didn't happen which was disappointing. I also didn't like the jumping back and forth in the time periods during the book. Still, this work brings the story of Dieffenbach to life and adds to our understanding of New Zealand's history. Stunning cover design. ( )