The Meeting Place - A New Zealand History Blog

Over the past week or so I have appeared in print and on TV to argue the case for greater recognition of the New Zealand Wars. Last Sunday I did a live interview on the Q+A programme. Here is the link to the full interview. Here is the story that ran on the TVNZ website ('Let's Not Be Selective About the History We Remember'). And here is the online version of the opinion piece ('Historical Amnesia over New Zealand's Own Wars') that was published in the Dominion Post and the Press a few days later. Bryce Edwards also referred to these in his Political Roundup for the New Zealand Herald ('Anzac Fatigue and Dissent'). My comments generated quite a bit of debate and discussion. It is great to see a conversation happening about these issues. One point I wanted to pick up on was the suggestion that I should have raised these concerns earlier. In fact, I did so, expressing reservations about the impending Waikato War sesquicentennary nearly two years ag...

In my previous post I discussed the first part of a recent journey around sites associated with the Waikato War, ending with Rangiriri. For the most part it is possible to track these sites from a northern to southern direction, with the first part of the war progressing from the Queen's Redoubt at Pokeno in July 1863, south to Rangiriri by November of that same year. One site that does not quite fit this pattern is Pukekohe East Church, the scene of a significant engagement on 14 September 1863. It is some distance north of the Queen's Redoubt launching post for the invasion, indicating just how little progress the British made in the early part of the war. A war party consisting of Ngāti Maniapoto and other iwi attacked local militia holed up in the church but came off badly, suffering as many as forty killed. In 1929 the government erected a memorial boulder to those who died. Other memorial plaques, including one to those defending the church, were stolen in 2...

Over Waitangi weekend I spent four days touring sites associated with the Waikato War as part of research for my future book on the conflict. As I had only previously visited a handful of these sites before, the journey was important in helping me to develop a better understanding of the war. There is nothing quite like seeing with your own eyes. And some stops were completely unscheduled, like this street sign in Hamilton. Preparation is important for a trip like this: many of the key Waikato War sites are poorly signposted and finding them is not always easy. I took with me three guides. One was an excellent free guide written by Neville Ritchie for the Department of Conservation. Another was David Green's Battlefields of the New Zealand Wars: A Visitor's Guide (Penguin, 2010). And the third was the Heritage New Zealand app developed specifically as a touring guide to the Waikato War. Each included suggested itineraries. I chose to start (or rather end) my journey...

In 1977 the most ambitious historical drama for television produced in New Zealand screened on TV One. The Governor was a six-part series based on the life of Sir George Grey, the two-time governor and later premier of New Zealand in the nineteenth century. Written by Keith Aberdein, based on a concept devised by Michael Noonan, and directed by Tony Isaac, The Govenor set out to shatter myths about ‘Good Governor Grey’. The Grey played in this series by British actor Corin Redgrave was a duplicitious, scheming and untrustworthy figure, responsble for bringing untold misery on Māori with his unscrupulous actions.  New Zealand was a land of just two television channels in the 1970s but even allowing for this The Governor attracted huge audiences. It seems to be a popular myth that the series was never repeated. In fact, its popularity was such that it was shown again in 1978 (in the midst, as Trisha Dunleavy notes, of the Bastion Point occupation and a growing Pākehā a...

The history of Māori travel and engagement with the outside world is a remarkable one. It is explored in a new work to be released as part of the BWB Texts series in March 2015. Here is some information on the work from the publisher's website . The Māori monarch and his entourage found sympathetic ears in the British press and public. Newspapers published tips on correct pronunciation of his name, explained his illustrious lineage and the troubled history of war and confiscation suffered by the Waikato tribes and printed sketches of the party. Socially, too, they were in high demand. London’s bobbies found it impossible to control crowds gathered to witness some of the party’s early outings. From the late eighteenth century, Māori travellers spread out from New Zealand to Australia, Britain and the world. Most travellers eventually returned home, bringing something of their own ‘new world’ experiences with them. This book is a series of vignettes of this histo...

KARORI HISTORICAL SOCIETY The next meeting will be held on Tuesday 2 December 2014 at St Ninian’s, Newcombe Crescent, Karori at 7.45 pm. Members and friends welcome Talk Our speaker is Vincent O'Malley, who will speak on 'The Waikato War in Public Memory'. The Waikato War was a decisive turning point in New Zealand history. Yet the recent 150th anniversary passed by most New Zealanders largely unnoticed. That stands in contrast to earlier anniversaries of the same war and more especially to the current World War One centenary. This talk examines how and why the Waikato conflict has been remembered (or forgotten) historically and asks what that says about its place in current public memory. Vincent is a Pakeha New Zealander of Irish and Scottish Highland descent. He has a BA (Hons) in History (1st Class) from the University of Canterbury and completed his PhD thesis at Victoria University of Wellington in 2004. Vincent has published widely in the area of Crow...

The Waitangi Tribunal yesterday released its report on Stage One of the Te Paparahi o Te Raki (Northland) Inquiry. Stage One of this inquiry was solely concerned with two key agreements: the 1835 Declaration of Independence of New Zealand/He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni; and the 1840 Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty of Waitangi. The Tribunal's own press release summarises the report's findings: Treaty Signatories Did Not Cede Sovereignty in February 1840 – Tribunal The rangatira who signed te Tiriti o Waitangi in February 1840 did not cede sovereignty to the British Crown, the Waitangi Tribunal has concluded. The Tribunal today released its report on stage 1 of its inquiry into Te Paparahi o te Raki (the great land of the north) Treaty claims. The report concerns the ‘meaning and effect’ of the Treaty in February 1840, when the first signings of te Tiriti took place in the Bay of Islands and the Hokianga. Stage 2 of the inquiry, which is under way, w...