Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Heiress To Tangurau Part One







Heiress to Tangurau was a twenty part New Zealand based story serialised weekly in English girls comic Princess. Illustrated by English artist Leslie Otway the first installment appeared in the May 12th 1962 issue. Heiress tells the tale of orphaned Tina Rogers who inherits a sheep farm in New Zealand. The story flirts with stereotypes, Tina presumes her new guardian Te Ariki Maru, a 'Maori witch doctor', will be a grass skirt wearing native but Heiress is actually very accurate in its depictions of New Zealand of the time and featured elements of Maori folklore. The story would indicate the writer was very familiar with New Zealand and possibly an ex-pat. My first guess is it may have been the work of Noel Cook, a direct descendant of Te Rauparaha, who was working on Fleet Street at that time.

Click images below for larger view.






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