Abel Tasman and his Journal

1895

Special Collections G236 T3 HN86 1895

[Dunedin]: Otago Daily Times Print

On 20 November 1934, the Institute became the Royal Society of New Zealand Otago Branch, and then more properly, the Otago Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand. Many have delivered learned papers to its members. One such was Dr Thomas Moreland Hocken who, on 10th September 1895, read his booklet, Abel Tasman and His Journal, a translation from the Dutch of the New Zealand portion only. This work gained him kudos from those interested in the Dutch explorer. However, it was only much later that he gave full credit to the translator, his wife Bessie, who was the linguist in the family. Indeed, even as late as 1908, he not only persisted with the claim that he had done the translation himself, but he also maintained he had lost (forgotten?) his Dutch language skills!