AustLit

'In November 1846 five young Maori warriors arrived in Hobart from New Zealand after being sentenced to transportation for life. Their arrival n the penal colony caused a sensation. Tasmanian colonists condemned their New Zealand counterparts for the treatment being meted out to local indigenous peoples, lobbied for the humane treatment of the men while they were in Van Diemen's Land, and advocated for their repatriation to their homeland. While consent to repatriate the men was being sought from London, the warriors were initially housed at the Hobart Penitentiary. During their first few days there, each man's portrait was painted in luminous watercolours by noted colonial artist John Skinner Prout. Hohepa Te Umuroa was perhaps the most compelling looking of the five. His portrait was also painted by Wiliam Duke, this time in oils. The afterlife of Duke's portrait, specifically the story that became attached to it, is the focus of this article and is situated within a wider debate about history and historical fiction.' (Introduction)