The Meeting Place - A New Zealand History Blog

History has rarely felt more topical or relevant as, all across the globe, nations have begun to debate who, how and what they choose to remember and forget. From the removal of the statue of Captain Hamilton formerly displayed in the centre of the city that bears his name, to the renaming of sites that recall colonial violence such as Von Tempsky Street and the town of Maxwell north of Whanganui, on the 159th anniversary of the British Army's invasion of the Waikato, Vincent O'Malley discusses how we remember and forget our own history.  Read more in recent BWB Text  Fragments from a Contested Past: Remembrance, Denial and New Zealand History , co-authored by Joanna Kidman, Vincent O'Malley, Liana MacDonald, Tom Roa and Keziah Wallis. Where:  New Zealand Fabian Society 2/57 Willis Street, Wellington (take the lifts behind Unity Books - to the second floor). When: 5.30pm, Tuesday 12 July 2022   Visit the Fabian Society website to register to attend in pe...

In 2019 I was commissioned by Hamilton City Council and Waikato-Tainui to prepare an historical report providing an historical portrait of Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton, after whom the city of Hamilton is named, along with Sir George Grey, Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky, and John Bryce, each of whom have streets in Hamilton named after them. My report was released last week. It is available to download from the council website here . See also this report from the Waikato Times on its release. Prior to release of the report, a statue of Captain Hamilton erected in Civic Square had been removed .   A few weeks earlier I spoke with Kim Hill on Morning Report about some of the broader issues around memorialisation and statues that have been brought into focus with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the killing of George Floyd by police in the United States and the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, England.  See also this recent episod...