Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity
“The ‘Unity in Diversity and Diversity in Unity’ project seeks to fill a knowledge gap around some of John Webber’s works by providing the missing multiple Indigenous narratives. This requires embracing different ways of knowing, seeing and doing to bring together, for the first time, a body of Indigenous knowledge and narratives specific to the Webber plates that were part of the official publication of Cook’s third and final voyage.”
We first shared about the Unity and Diversity and Diversity in Unity (UDDU) project on Thursday 25 February 2021 to acknowledge that 244 years from that date, the Resolution was moored at Meretoto (Ship Cove) where Captain James Cook and his crew, including John Webber, were based at the Tōtaranui (Queen Charlotte Sound area) from 12 to 25 February 1777. Their last day in Tōtaranui was 25 February 1777 before they left Aotearoa to explore the wider Moana Oceania region.
To align with the announcement of our project on a Thursday, we decided to host our online Lagi-Maama Talanoa Thursdays for each of the five islands on the last Thursday of each month, starting on Thursday 29 April 2021 with Aotearoa followed by; Cook Islands on Thursday 27 May, Tonga on Thursday 24 June, Tahiti on Thursday 29 July and finishing with Hawai‘i on Thursday 26 August 2021.
Image caption above: Georgia Prince, Principal Curator Printed Collections, with Toluma’anave Barbara Makuati-Afitu viewing the John Webber plates at Te Kura Taiwhiti, Research, Heritage and Central Library at Ngā Whare Mātauranga o Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland Libraries, 18 March 2021.
Image caption: L-R: Toluma‘anave Barbara Makuati-Afitu, Hikule‘o Fe‘amoeako Melaia Māhina & Hūfanga-He-Ako-Moe-Lotu Professor ‘Ōkusitino Māhina at Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, Visible Voices Project, September 2019.