Pare (hat)

History

This pare (hat) was made in Palmerston atoll, Cook Islands in the 1990s. It is woven from strips of finely cut rito (young coconut leaf). The structure and stule is consistent with other pare from Palmerston. Generally, hats from islands nearby have a seam down the centre underneath the hat, Palmerston hats do not. The maker of this pare has used a Lion Red beer can label woven to the top of the crown. Usually, a piece of pear-shell takes centre place.

Acquistion History

This pare was gifted to Caroline Hutton (nee Marsters, 1922 - 2002) in the 1990s by relatives from Palmerston. Hutton was a key member of the Cook Islands community in Wellington. Born on Palmerston, Hutton had travelled to New Zealand in the 40s and initially worked as a domestic worker for Dr and Mrs Rennie in Karori. Caroline's daughter, Grace Hutton, donated the pare to Te Papa in 2013.

Significance

The incorporation of a canned beer label in the weaving of locally processed coconut leaf is significant. The pare serves as a material example of the increasing and inevitable fusion of imported goods and local materials in Pacific objects and works of art. This pare features an item that was imported from New Zealand to Palmerston, then re-figured and re-used to be exported back to New Zealand in an innovative way.This pare like collection items feature a synthesis of foreign and local materials and ideas.  

The pare is also an example of trade and exchange between the Pacific region and Aotearoa New Zealand. In this example, Lion Red, a beer brand made by a Aotearoa New Zealand brewery, has been imported to Palmerston atoll and in return a woven hat of touristic value has been exported back.

Trade on a larger scale between New Zealand and the Pacific usually involves the importation of processed food products, general merchandise, machinery and building materials in return for a range of tropical fruits, timber, copra, sugar, coffee and vegetables. Trade statistics from 2009 demonstrate that the Cook Islands as a nation exported an annual figure of $4.3 million of products to New Zealand, compared with importing $290 million worth of products.

Trade since the 1970s and 1980s has largely been one sided with Pacific communities increasingly relying on imports. Palmerston atoll, previously uninhabited at the time of European contact, is now able to have people living there as a result of trade, aid and introduced technology allowing for improved water and food storage facilities as well as radio and relief supplies, making a home for some Cook Islanders like Caroline and the wider Marsters family. This pare allows us to think about the complex nature of trade and exchange in the Pacific in the form of ideas, material goods and people.

References

Crocombe, R., & Marsters, W. F. (2007). Land tenure in a test tube: the case of Palmerston Atoll. A collection of stories of Palmerston Atoll, 157-92.

Mahina-Tuai, K. (2012).'A land of milk and honey? Education and employment migration schemes in the postwar era'. In Mallon, S., Mahina-Tuai, K. and Salesa, D.(eds.) Tangata o le Moana: New Zealand and the people of the Pacific. Wellington:Te Papa Press

McLean, G. (2012).'Barques, Banana Boats and Boeings:Transport and Communications 1860s to the present day'. In Mallon, S., Mahina-Tuai, K. and Salesa, D. (eds.) Tangata o le Moana: New Zealand and the people of the Pacific. Wellington: Te Papa Press