Artist follows in ancestors footsteps

Captain William Mein Smith

Following  in Artistic Ancestor Footsteps

The World’s History books are filled with volumes about conflict between settlers and indigenous people, who’s lands were settled and conquered, and New Zealand is no exception to this.   However there has always been a handful of free-thinking settlers who had the vision and courage to go beyond the predominant ignorance and prejudices of the time.  One such enlightened gentleman was Captain William Mein Smith, a former captain in the British army.  Arriving in 1840 he was to be New Zealands’ first surveyor general.   After 5 years in Wellington, Mein Smith moved to the Wairarapa with his family, where he and his friend and entrepreneur Samuel Revans, purchased land for a sheep and cattle station just outside of what is now Martinborough, where they became successful runholders, farming over 50,000 acres of land.  Mein Smith, a quiet and likeable man was also a very capable and talented artist who went on to produce many beautiful watercolour and pen and ink paintings of Wellington and the Wairarapa, which can now be seen at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington (all 98 of them.)  Most important historically are the pen and ink drawings from 1840 -42 for the New Zealand Company.  These form part of a superb collection of one hundred company pictures by Mein Smith, Heapy, Fox and Kettle.

Mein Smith continued his surveying in the Wairarapa, defining the boundaries of Masterton and Greytown in 1856 and laying out the town of Featherston.    He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1851 to 1853, and represented Wairarapa from 1858 to 1865 on the Wellington Provincial Council.  As government district surveyor in Wairarapa,  Mein Smith surveyed Crown purchases and determined Maori reserves.  It was perhaps during these times that he became friendly with the local Maori at Papawai just outside of Greytown.  Mein Smith was held in great esteem by the local Maori and to honour him, a carved ‘totara Whakairo’ (carved figure) was erected alongside other famous Maori Whakairo including the leader Nukupewapewa, at Papawai Marae.  He is possibly the only Pakeha to be bestowed such a honour in all of New Zealand.  In 1865 Mein Smith retired to Woodside, near Greytown, where he and Samuel Revans established a sawmill. He died at Woodside on 3 January 1869.  Mein Smith is buried alongside Samuel Revans in the Greytown cemetery.

Just ten minutes down the road from the Captain’s final resting place lives one of his direct descendants, Tania Williams, also an artist.  When Tania left her adopted country Australia in 2004 to ‘rediscover her New Zealand roots’ she was thinking metaphorically.  Then two years ago Tania found herself in Featherston.  She thought it was a nice little place, close to Wellington, but without the city noise.  Although Tania knew about William Mein Smith from his prints on the wall of her parents’ home, she had no idea what part of New Zealand he was from.

It was only when she moved to Featherston that she discovered that Wairarapa was an actual place, not just a place name in the family history books.  And it wasn’t until after she had bought a house here, that Tania learned that this was in fact the home of her artistic ancestor.  So without trying, Tania had literally stumbled upon the roots she had set out to discover, only they were not metaphorical, but very real and tangible.  Tania was even more fascinated when she learned of the connection between Mein Smith and the Papawai Marae, as she also has a strong interest in indigenous cultures, leading her to complete a degree in Anthropology a few years earlier. Much of Tania’s art is inspired by indigenous cultures, esp that of the Maya of Guatemala and Mexico, but she also has an interest in Maori culture.   This interest in indigenous people seems to run in the Williams family, as Tania’s Father Russell Williams, a recognised painter in the Hawkes Bay area in the 60s, was also very taken by the Maori, and hence most of his many portraits were of Maori people.  He died a few years ago without ever knowing about the Maori connection with his great great great grandfather, which no doubt would have made him very proud.

This happy discovery has come at a pivotal time in Tania’s life.  After working as a naturopath for over 20 years Tania decided to throw in the towel as she wanted to follow her dream of making a living as an artist. Tania is not the first person in her family to make a career out of art.  As well as her father who was an art teacher, both of Tania’s brothers make a living from art related work in Australia.  Although Tania has been painting and drawing since a young child, she has never tried to make living out of it as it seemed too daunting.  Stereotypes inform us that art is a bad choice of career unless you want to remain poor for the rest of your life, and for these reasons, and because she was a girl… her father discouraged her form pursuing an art career.  However after 20 years as a naturopath, Tania decided it was time to challenge these stereotypes and set out to make art her business.  So taking inspiration from William Mein Smith, Tania set out to do just that, and the result was Arte Spiral.