Peter Buck (anthropologist)

Sir Peter Henry Buck (c. October 1877 – 1 December 1951), also known as Te Rangi Hīroa or Te Rangihīroa, was a New Zealand anthropologist and an expert on Māori and Polynesian cultures who served many roles through his life: as a physician and surgeon; as an official in public health; as a member of parliament; and ultimately as a leading anthropologist and director of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. In his younger years, Buck was highly accomplished as an athlete. At Te Aute College he captained the high school's athletics and rugby teams and while at University of Otago's medical school he was national long jump champion in 1900 and 1903. Buck served as a medical officer to Māori in the years following his medical training in 1905, before completing a doctor of medicine with a thesis on contemporary and traditional Māori medicine in 1910. In 1909 he was thrust into politics, serving as MP for the Northern Maori electorate until 1914. On recesses from parliament, Buck travelled to the Cook Islands and to Niue as a medical officer, where he developed his interests in anthropology. In 1921, following service in World War I, Buck was made director of the Māori Hygiene Division of the Department of Health. He continued to make a name for himself as an accomplished anthropologist of Pacific peoples—including as the leading authority on Māori material culture—and eventually served as director of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii, from 1936 until his death in 1951.

Early life Peter Henry Buck was born in Urenui, in northern Taranaki, the only child of an Anglo-Irish immigrant, William Henry Buck. William's wife Ngārongo-ki-tua, whom he met at Urenui, had been unable to have children and, in line with Māori custom, Rina, one of Ngārongo's close relatives, became part of the household and produced a child for the couple. Rina died soon after Peter was born, and Ngārongo raised him as her own. He claimed to have been born in 1880, but the register of the primary school he attended records October 1877, which is likely to be correct.

Buck's paternal ancestry was Anglo-Irish. Though he was largely brought up within the Pākehā community at Urenui, Ngārongo-ki-tua and his great-aunt Kapuakore instilled a love of Māori tradition and language in him. Buck was descended on his maternal side from the Taranaki tribe of Ngāti Mutunga. After Ngārongo's death in 1892 he moved with his father to the Wairarapa. In 1896, he enrolled at Te Aute College, a school that produced many Māori leaders of the time. In 1899, he was named dux and passed a medical preliminary examination entitling him to attend medical school at University of Otago. Buck was later associated with the Young Māori Party.

Name In his teens, his elders gave him the name Te Rangi Hīroa (also written Te Rangihiroa) in honour of an uncle of Ngārongo's, an earlier notable ancestor. He would later use it as a pen-name. When Te Rangihīroa College at the University of Otago was being rebuilt in 2020, the two-word version Te Rangihīroa of Buck's name was adopted at the request of his iwi descendants, Ngāti Mutunga, on the basis that it was Buck's preferred style.

Medical school and practice Buck did well at Otago Medical School, where he also succeeded in sport, becoming national long jump champion in 1900 and 1903. He completed his MB ChB in 1904, and an MD six years later. His doctoral thesis, completed in 1910, was titled Medicine amongst the Maoris in ancient and modern times. During this time, in 1905, he married Irish-born Margaret Wilson. Their long marriage was often fiery, but was strong, and it was Margaret who often gave the impetus to Peter's career. In November 1905, Buck was appointed as a medical officer to Māori, working under Māui Pōmare, initially in the southern North Island, then in the far north. Between them, Pōmare and Buck campaigned successfully to improve sanitation in the small Māori communities around the country.

Parliament and war

In 1909, Hōne Heke Ngāpua, Member of Parliament for Northern Maori died suddenly. Buck was singled out by Native Minister James Carroll to be his replacement. Buck accepted and was elected in the subsequent by-election. He became a member of the Native Affairs Committee. He did not seek re-election to the seat in 1914, but stood for the Bay of Islands electorate, where he lost by a narrow margin. By this time, Buck had developed an interest in Pacific Island peoples, working briefly as a medical officer in both the Cook Islands and Niue during parliamentary breaks. During the First World War, Buck helped in the recruitment of a Māori volunteer contingent. Buck joined this contingent as medical officer, travelling to the Middle East in 1915. He took part at Gallipoli, later being awarded a Distinguished Service Order for his heroism. He later saw action in France and Belgium, before being posted to the No 3 New Zealand General Hospital at Codford, England, in 1918. Returning to New Zealand, Buck was appointed as Chief Maori Medical Officer, and in 1921 was named director of the Maori Hygiene Division in the Department of Health. Buck participated in the 1919–1923 Dominion Museum ethnological expeditions alongside Elsdon Best, James McDonald, Johannes Carl Andersen and Āpirana Ngata.

Bishop Museum

Buck gained a five-year research fellowship at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1927. At the end of the fellowship in 1932 he was appointed the Bishop Museum visiting professor of anthropology at Yale University. He was promoted to Director of the Bishop Museum in 1936, a position he held until his death in 1951. He also served as a trustee and president of the board of trustees of the museum. During his directorship, Buck applied for U.S. Citizenship, which was denied. According to Buck, he “could not become an American citizen under the ... law for an applicant has to be over 50% Caucasian. The Polynesians are classed as Orientals in spite of anthropological evidence of their Caucasian origin so I could only show 50%.”

Death Buck died in Honolulu, on 1 December 1951 after some years with cancer. His ashes were returned to New Zealand in 1953 and he was honoured with a ceremony at Ōkoki, near his hometown of Urenui, on 8 August 1954.

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