 Word On Books
with Jeremy Fenton
The Fox Boy
By Peter Walker, Published by Allen & Unwin
 After New Zealand became a British colony in 1840, the English and Maori nations co-existed under the flawed (but workable at the time) Treaty of Waitangi. The treaty guaranteed the Maori people rights and full citizenship, with the prevailing British view being liberal enough to encourage 'mixed' marriages and uphold native rights to land ownership.
This peace - unfortunately - didn't last for more than two decades.
In 1860 the Maori's engaged for the first time in seriously fighting the British (for a number of legitimate reasons, but chiefly over territory), after the period of relative non-hostility virtually unprecedented in the history of European expansion into 'new' territories.
In the aftermath of a particularly fierce battle in 1869 (and English defeat) in the Taranaki forest, a Maori boy named Ngatau Omahuru was abducted by the British. As strange as it sounds, at this time in New Zealand's history there was a certain tradition of 'mutual kidnapping' between the Maori and English (a fact attested to by the landmark named Cape Kidnappers).
This particular boy - no more than 5 years old - was taken from his people and given the new name of William Fox after he was adopted by Sir William Fox - the New Zealand Prime Minister (a larger-than-life character who was described as leading an 'extraordinary, vexatious and vituperative existence'). The new younger William Fox was to be 'educated' to become a lawyer and 'proper English gentleman'.
The author of Omahuru's story (The Fox Boy - The Story of an Abducted Child), Peter Walker, first become interested in the boy's life when he saw a photograph of the child taken just a few days after his kidnap. Despite the English finery he was decked out in, Walker noted that the boy looked as though he'd 'seen a ghost'.
In his explorations Walker discovers that the boy played a crucial role in New Zealand's history, one that until now has remained largely hidden. Despite all his 'education', Omahuru was still a Maori in heart and mind - and determined to prove himself so.
The Fox Boy is an enthralling account of a little boy on one of the biggest adventures in a small country's history, while being as much about the author's personal journey amongst the Maori spirit world and the seemingly diametrically opposed world of eccentric English scoundrels.
It's a fascinating story that will more than appeal to anyone who enjoyed The Songlines by Bruce Chatwin (and this one's a true story).
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