Post #627349 by TikiTomD on Fri, Mar 2, 2012 2:44 PM

Continuing Dr. Funk’s story as recounted by Leilani Burgoyne in “Going ‘Troppo’ in the South Pacific: Dr. Bernhard Funk of Samoa 1844–1911”...

When we last left Dr. Funk, he had just experienced a very public, unpleasant marital separation in 1881, followed by divorce in 1882, after only six months of marriage to the daughter of a South Seas pirate.

Though he was unlucky in love and marriage the first time, our courageous doctor tried again by 1888 and apparently found a lasting soul mate in the daughter of Talea, a Samoan chief. Her name was Senitima, and she was described as both charming and intelligent. Here’s her photo from Leilani’s paper, its source cited as the Regional Museum of Neubrandenburg...

Senitima quickly became fluent in perfect German as well as English, and adopted a European lifestyle, continuing to do so even after her husband’s death in 1911.

Some of you may have noticed a slight discrepancy in marriage dates between the 1893 stated by Dr. Funk’s great grandniece in the Samoa Observer article previously posted here and the "by 1888" of Leilani’s paper. It was indeed a long time ago...

There’s no information on how Dr. Funk and Senitima met, but it’s clear from the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson and Dr. Augustin Krämer that they went to social functions everywhere as a pair. An example of this is found in a group wedding photo taken in front of the British Consulate in Samoa between 1890 and 1898, from the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington, New Zealand (per Leilani, Dr. Funk and Senitima are in the second row, far right)...

Here’s the relevant area of the photo, showing Senitima and Dr. Funk, as well as another individual on the row below...

After Dr. Funk’s death, Senitima received two payments from the German administration, one in 1912 and another in 1914, for “helping to spread the German language in Samoa.” Leilani cites this as further evidence of the high level of respect accorded this Samoan woman.

Senitima was buried in her home village of Iva, on the neighboring island of Savai`i. Inseparable from her husband in life, their graves lie on opposite sides of the world.

In her paper, Leilani cites with grateful appreciation the help of Senitima’s grandniece, Nina Kirifi-Alai. After a bit of searching, I located Nina Kirifi-Alai, currently Director of the University of Otago’s Pacific Island Centre in Dunedin, New Zealand. Here she is in a photo taken with the US Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, David Huebner, when he visited Dunedin on April 7, 2010...

Note the beautiful Oceanic artwork, including the Cook Islands Fisherman’s God above the Ambassador’s head...

Nina graduated from the University of Auckland with Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Women’s Studies and Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degrees. She is from Iva, Savai`i, Samoa, and holds the high chief title of Tofilau. Married with 3 children, she is also a poet. Her poems are published in various anthologies, including A Good Handful: Great New Zealand Sex Poems...

And Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English...

-Tom

[ Edited by: TikiTomD 2012-03-05 04:49 ]