Tuai

Another reason for visiting this part of the world again is because of a book I was given, Tuai: A Traveller in Two Worlds. It is the story of a young Maori man who travelled to Australia and then the UK in the early 1800s.

He spent a year in London and Shropshire between 1818 and 1819, and this is the vicarage where he lived. Most of the buildings in these shots are from this time, the late 1700s so he would have seen these too.

He was the younger brother of Korokoro, a major chief from the Bay of Islands who was in competition with Hongi Hika for access to missionaries, European technology and skills. He and his travelling companion Titere were supposed to spend most of their time in Shropshire reading, writing and praying but unsurprisingly seemed to try and do anything but.

They spent a lot of time down at Ironbridge and were taught skills in many of the factories there. We know he learnt how to make china plates and these images are  from inside the building where that took place.