The Fountainhead
p. 98 · Read in the full issue
Of Niue's Heads
Books entirely devoted to Niue Island are so rare that when one turns up for review , it is worthy of special notice, no matter how small it is. Such a book (40 pages) is “Henry Head of Niue Island”, by Joye Taylor, a grand-daughter of the book's subject.
Henry Head, patriarch of one of Niue’s best-known families, was an Englishman who, after serving in the British Navy and working on the Western Aus tralian goldfields, took passage in the missionary ship “John Williams” and was shipwrecked on the coast of Niue in 1867.
After the wreck, he was cared for by the missionary, Dr. John Lawes, and his wife, who were then the only Europeans on the island. He later turned down an opportunity to return to Australia, and settled down to help Lawes in his missionary and Bible translation work.
Head married the High Chiefs daughter and had 15 children; was appointed Deputy Commissioner for Niue in 1879; and wrote the letter to Queen Victoria asking her to make Niue a British protectorate.
He died when he was well into his nineties, but Joye Taylor’s book—which has been published for the New Zealand Department of Island Terri tories—does not say when. — RL.