Unbekannt

This photograph shows a section of property owned by the Deutsche Handels- und Plantagengesellschaft (DH & PG), likely in Vailele. The house in the background to the left appears to be that of Captain Kurt Hufnagel. He managed the Vailele plantation between 1881 and 1911. He and his family lived on the property. The Vailele plantation was both a prominent gathering place for the German-Sāmoan community and a battle ground where both civil wars were fought, one between 1887 and 1894, and one between 1888 and 1899. A Sāmoan man can be seen standing beside a cart tending a cow. To the right one can sense the sea behind the faleo’o where plantation workers scraped copra for drying.

Author: Charlotte Klinge, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa