Unsettling Newsletter

Back in March this year I launched Unsettling: Aotearoa New Zealand History, a  brand new history newsletter on a dedicated email newsletter platform. 

In my first post, I talked about how I saw this as an extension of my goal to help raise awareness of Aotearoa New Zealand history. But also, since the past permeates the present in so many ways, how I expected from time to time to also introduce a historical lenses to contemporary debates.  

I’ve done that with various issues, including the odious Treaty Principles Bill, cuts to the historian roles at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the outrageous assault on basic legal principles represented by the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Amendment Act and other matters.

 

 

But I have also traversed a range of other topics, from the invasion of Parihaka, He Whakaputanga (the 1835 Declaration of Independence of New Zealand),  the Waitangi Tribunal’s 50th anniversary, the 1852 New Zealand Constitution Act and a heap of other historical subjects. 

I hosted an online workshop on Aotearoa NZ history for premium subscribers in June, and had a giveaway of a signed copy of my new book in October. 

One of the most important posts came back in May, based on research done specifically for the newsletter, that highlighted hitherto unknown New Zealand connections with Caribbean Slavery. 

And there’s much more to come. For example, I’m about to publish a piece introducing some of Robin Hyde’s extraordinary journalism reporting on government efforts in the 1930s to evict Ngāti Whātua from Ōrākei. 

If you are interested in reading more just enter your details in the subscription form below. You can subscribe for free or take out a monthly premium subscription for full access to the archives and all future posts. 

  

Comments

New comments are not allowed.

Popular posts from this blog

The Sexual Frontier - Contrasting Māori and European Attitudes towards Sex and Nudity in the Colonial Era

Image
In pre-contact Māori society young unmarried men and women had a high degree of sexual freedom. With the exception of a few high-born women who were ceremonially bethrothed, pre-marital sex was considered socially acceptable, though blatant promiscuity was frowned upon and a certain level of discretion expected.   Sex was considered a normal and healthy part of every day life, with no particular taboos around it. Copulating couples were depicted in carvings and bawdy stories and waiata concerning sexual exploits or the size of men’s penises were common. Te Puawai o Te Arawa, 1905, 1/1-003279-G, ATL That relative openness extended to same-sex relationships, of which there is ample evidence from waiata and other traditional sources. Tutanekai, for example, who famously swam to Mokoia to be with Hinemoa, was also known to have had an initimate male companion known as Tiki. (By contrast, in the eighteenth-century Royal Navy death was the mandatory penalty for anyon...
Read more

Treaty Principles Bill

Image
Submissions on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill close on 7 January 2025 and can be made here . The Waitangi Tribunal has concluded that 'if this Bill were to be enacted, it would be the worst, most comprehensive breach of the Treaty/te Tiriti in modern times'. I have posted my submission to the Justice Committee on the Bill below.   At the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti, 19 November 2024 My name is Dr Vincent O’Malley. I am a Fellow of the Royal Society Te Apārangi (FRSNZ), a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction, besides multiple other awards and prizes. For more than thirty years now I have worked as a professional historian, researching and writing on Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the New Zealand Wars and related matters, including a number of acclaimed and best-selling books. I draw on this background and expert knowledge of the topic matter, in making the following submission stron...
Read more

A Stain Upon History: The Ngatapa Massacre, January 1869

Image
Imagine this: somewhere between 86 and 128 people, captured or surrendered at the end of a siege, are stripped naked, lined up against the side of a cliff, and summarily executed without trial by government forces. Couldn’t happen here, many people would probably say. But it did, and the story behind the worst massacre in New Zealand history deserves to be more widely known. In July 1868 Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki and nearly 300 other mostly East Coast Maori escaped from the Chatham Islands (Wharekauri) and made their way back to the mainland. This group, known as the Whakarau, had been held at Wharekauri since 1866. None of their number had been tried, and the government admitted that they were being held as ‘political offenders’ while arrangements were made to confiscate their lands back home. Judith Binney suggested that Te Kooti had been included among those illegally imprisoned at Wharekauri because he was regarded as a threat by rival traders back in Gisborne (Turanga). Te Koo...
Read more