Disability and difference on the New Zealand frontier: Possible skeletal dysplasia in 19th century Milton, Otago

Abstract

The mid-nineteenth century saw extensive diaspora from Europe to the antipodes. New Zealand in particular was marketed to the poor and middle-classes of the United Kingdom as a "Better Britain"; a pastoral utopia of abundant resources and easy living. These campaigns actively targeted young, able-bodied persons with the aim of creating a thriving and productive colony. The rural community of Milton, Otago, on the South Island, was a farming settlement established predominantly by immigrants from the UK. The University of Otago undertook an excavation at St. John's Anglican burial ground (SJM) in 2016 with the aim of reconstructing some aspects of the lives of these 19th century European (Pākehā) settlers. One of the 27 individuals recovered, burial 29, was an adult female with a striking thoracic deformity and several other features suggestive of a skeletal growth disorder. Here, we combine multiple lines of bioarchaeological evidence to create an osteobiography of this individual and discuss the implications of our findings for conceptions of disability, status, personhood, and social value in Victorian frontier society.