THE SAMOAN MAU MOVEMENT: NEW ZEALAND OCCUPATION OF SAMOA

1. 10
THE SAMOAN
MAU MOVEMENT
NEW ZEALAND
OCCUPATION OF SAMOA

2. TALUNE AND INFLUENZA
On 7 November 1918 Talune brought
a virulent strain influenza to Samoa
from New Zealand. Over the next few
months at least 8500 people died.
In most countries the death toll from
that disease, often called Spanish Flu,
was around 2-5%. In Samoa the death
rate was more than 20%.
The steamship Talune at the Napier
breakwater in 1908.

3. PROCLAMATION OF OCCUPATION
•New Zealand’s occupation of Samoa
officially began after the Proclamation of
Occupation, read by colonel Robert Logan on
30 August 1914.
Robert Logan, reading a Proclamation
of occupation at the flag-raising
ceremony in Apia on 30 August 1914.

4. GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR
•German prisoners of war were sent to New
Zealand for the remainder of the WW1.
•More than 60 Germans were transported
from Samoa to New Zealand.
•By 1917, 41 internees were detained on
Motuihe Island, in Auckland’s Hauraki
Gulf, including the ex-Governor Erich
Schultz-Ewerth.
Internment camp, Motuihe Island.

5. UNOPPOSED OCCUPATION
•New Zealand’s wartime
occupation of Samoa was
largely unopposed.
•Logan’s inexperience led
to Samoans reasserting
their traditions and
political influence.