George Crummer: Picturing the Cook Islands

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries George Crummer built up a business taking pictures of Cook Islanders and general scene photographs in Rarotonga, Aituaki, and Mangaia.

George Robson Crummer was born in Auckland on 14 June 1868. His parents George and Mary Jane Crummer migrated to Auckland from Ireland on the ship the Mary Shepherd in 1866.

In 1890 with a number of business partners, George Robson invested in a topsail schooner called 'Jessie Niccol'. The schooner was employed to sail between the Cook Islands and Auckland bringing fruit, copra, pearl shell, and fungus from the islands and returning with general cargo.

It was in the Cook Islands that George met his wife Upokotio who was the daughter of Tangaiia Mataiapo, a high chief of Takitumu. They married in 1892 and had seven children.

Along with the shipping business, George built up a business taking portraits of Cook Islanders and general scene photographs in Rarotonga, Aituaki, and Mangaia.

Two men and a bicycle, circa 1914, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (C.003054
Cook Islanders with piles of bananas and dead pigs among palm trees. From the album: Cook Islands, circa 1896, Rarotonga, by George Crummer. Te Papa (O.025539)
Family group portrait, circa 1914, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.027738)
These three woman wear matching mu’umu’u (Mother Hubbard) dresses and each holds an umbrella.

Three unknown women, circa 1910, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.028287)
Cook Islands cricket team, 1909, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.028276)
Portrait of a mother and her three children, circa 1914, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.027712)
Unknown man and woman, circa 1910, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.028256)
Traditional dance troupe, circa 1906, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.027735)
Portrait of a man seated with two girls on his left and a boy holding a bicycle on his right. They are standing on whariki (woven mat) and a tivaevae acts as a backdrop.

Family group, circa 1910, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.028290)
View of the wharf showing the bollards and mooring ropes. In the background are a group of buildings including the premises of the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand Limited.

View of the wharf at Avarua, Rarotonga, circa 1914, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.027685)
'Scene in Avarua, Rarotonga’. From the album: Cook Islands, circa 1896, Avarua, by George Crummer. Te Papa (O.025551)
Nuku 'festival', circa 1914, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (B.027639)
Family group portrait, 1914, Cook Islands, by George Crummer. Te Papa (C.003113)