Editor’s Preface

Of the considerable volume of German ethnographic reporting prior to World War I, Richard Parkinson’s Thirty Years in the South Seas is probably the best known, despite the fact that it has never been fully translated into English. Originally published in 1907, the book now commands a very high price, and Parkinson’s work is thus doubly inaccessible to the descendants of the people he described. Translating his work from the German has removed one of these barriers, but the publishers are unfortunately not in a position to remove the cost barrier altogether, although we have considerably reduced it.

In common with Sack and Cusack (1979:xiii), we would like to stress that ‘… a translation is always an interpretation … it is essential to go back to the original if an argument turns on a particular word or phrase…’. As John Dennison makes clear, however, this translation tries to adhere as closely to the original as is possible while producing readable English.

We, like Sack and Cusack, have found that German geographic names were a major problem. In general, the names of larger places (for example, Neupommern: New Britain) have been put into English, while the smaller, many of which no longer exist as settlements with English names, have been retained in German. Readers seeking precise locations will find Scheps and Liedtke (1992) helpful, along with Sack and Cusack (1979). But, with the latter, ‘… we refuse responsibility for sorting out the mess of geographical names…’ (1979:383).

In this translation we have retained the figure and plate numbering of the original publication.

Works such as this would be impossible without assistance from many people and organisations. In this case our major acknowledgment must be to John Dennison, who has laboured over the translation for more than five years, and who has been a pleasure to work with throughout. His generosity in undertaking this enormous translation has few parallels. Three others must also be especially thanked: Ann Dennison, who proofread the original translation for its phrasing and spelling; Marta Towe, who checked the entire translation; and Andrew Wilson, who undertook the original formatting of the entire volume. In the spirit of noting that what may seem a small favour to the giver can solve a major problem for the recipient, we thank, in no particular order, Rob Welsch, Robin Torrence, Margaret Clunies Ross, John Clifton-Everest, Mike Gunn, Wulf Schiefenhovel, Deirdre Koller, and the Computer Access Section of Fisher Library.

The project has been partly financed by Oceania Publications, University of Sydney.

J. Peter White
30 November 1998