Kirsten Moana Thompson Collection
Picknicking had been an important ingredient in the social life of Germans in Samoa . This photo depicts a picnicking group , complete with party hats , perhaps around 1915-16 . All the men appear to be Germans . Identities appear to be as follows ( left to right ) Max Bartel , Christine Kruse , man obscured lying on ground possibly Ernst Studt , next man probably Walter Klose , Aggie Swann ( later Aggie Grey ), woman under tree Mary Swann , woman in foreground Lissy Tualaga , Henrietta Schuster , Max Neufeldt and possibly Johannes Wesche .
( Previous page ) The departure of hundreds of German residents of Samoa in the repatriations of 1919-20 from New Zealand and Samoa chilled , at least for a time , the party-filled social scene that was a feature of expatriate life in Apia . Nelson Eustis , the biographer of Samoan hotelier Aggie Grey has written of the Grey sisters and their enjoyment of “ the gay times , the concerts , the innumerable tea parties that had become their way of life .” Tea parties was perhaps a euphemism . The Germans seemed to bring a gaiety and sophistication to social life in Samoa as well as a racial tolerance , that despite the strictures against interracial marriage that the Solf regime introduced , ensured that romance and revelry flowed across ethnic lines in a more relaxed way than was to occur under the later decades of the New Zealand Administration period . It was an historical irony : in the latter German years marriage between Europeans and Samoans was banned but there were numerous liaisons between German men and local women ; in the New Zealand years intermarriage was allowed but an imported racism acted as a brake on cross-cultural relationships .
The scene depicted on the preceding page is a sumptuously detailed image , doubtless from the camera of Alfred Tattersall , which shows a celebration in a forest probably near Apia around the years of the First World War ( 1914-18 ). It captures a magical moment of concord between Samoans and Europeans . The fact that quite a few of the people are wearing ula seasea necklaces suggests that it might have been someone ’ s wedding day , possibly that of the woman in the centre who is laughing and dancing , Miss Agnes Swann ( later Aggie Grey ).
It was snapped at exactly the right moment to capture Aggie laughing with her face in profile view . The photo may have been taken after her wedding reception at the Graf property , ‘ Kaiser Heights ,” near Vailima on the day she married Gordon Hay-Mackenzie in 1917 . Other people identifiable in this photo are ( right-to-left ) second man Mr Peter Fabricius ( in white suit ), who married Aggie ’ s sister Margaret in 1913 ; woman in white hat Mrs Antonie Schmidt ; man on the left side in the background with his head down Mr Werner Sasse . On the seat on the right appear to be Aggie ’ s satin cape , parasol and shoes .
| To Walk Under Palm Trees - The Germans in Samoa : Snapshots from Albums | Tony Brunt
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