The Meeting Place - A New Zealand History Blog

Earlier this week came the official announcement that I had been awarded the John David Stout Research Fellowhip for 2014: The Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies is delighted to announce that the John David Stout Research Fellow for 2014 will be Dr Vincent O'Malley, research director of HistoryWorks Ltd. Dr O’Malley’s most recent book, The Meeting Place: Maori and Pakeha Encounters, 1642-1840 (2012), was a finalist in the general non-fiction category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards this year. He is the author of four books on relationships between Maori and Crown and Pakeha, in addition to many book chapters and journal articles, and  reports for the Treaty of Waitangi settlements processes. During the fellowship, Dr O’Malley will be working on a book on the Waikato War, 1863-4. This was a pivotal turning point in the history of New Zealand, yet no major study has been undertaken since 1879; it is apt that Dr O’Malley will be exploring this subject in ...

This week I gave a paper at the New Zealand Historical Association biennial conference, held at the University of Otago. My paper explored the understandings of British parliamentarians as to the impact of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 on Maori communities. Here is the abstract: Asked to nominate the point at which relations between Maori and Pakeha had really begun to turn sour in the nineteenth century, many historians would likely nominate the passage of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. As Chichester Fortescue famously told the House of Commons in 1861, from the time of the 1852 Act the governor had been ‘[o]bliged to act under a Constitution which appeared to have been framed in forgetfulness of the existence of large native tribes within the dominions to which it was intended to apply’. With the benefit of hindsight it is all too easy to assume that ‘absent-minded imperialists’ really had forgotten their obligations to Maori. But a close analysis of British Parl...

On the anniversary of the invasion of Parihaka I am reposting my earlier piece on the events of that day, with additional links at the bottom of the page to further sources of information available online and some transcription corrections. ++++++++++++ On 5 November 1881 Native Minister John Bryce led 1600 Armed Constabulary into the South Taranaki settlement of Parihaka, arresting leaders Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi. Over the following weeks the remaining residents were forcibly dispersed and the settlement destroyed. The ‘crime’ of the people of Parihaka had been to peacefully resist the confiscation of their lands. Over the years, these events have been described — and the enormous injustice that occurred — exposed in a number of secondary works. These include George Rusden’s 1883 History of New Zealand , Dick Scott’s influential account Ask That Mountain (1975), Hazel Riseborough’s Days of Darkness (1989), and Rachel Buchanan’s The Parihaka Album (2010). Yet o...

Following the invasion of Waikato by British imperial troops in July 1863, local Maori sought to slow their advance south through the construction of a series of defensive pa (fortifications), of which Meremere was among the most impressive. Its construction was first observed by General Cameron on 15 August, when he noted that Maori had assembled there in considerable numbers and occupied a commanding post on the right bank of the Waikato River, about two miles beyond the junction with the Whangamarino River. Rifle pits were being thrown up in all directions and one observer estimated that there were already about 1100 men there by the end of August. Construction of the pa soaked up a considerable proportion of the total number of defenders available to the Kingitanga. But with British troop numbers continuing to surge, and the Waikato River now commanded by armed steamers that were capable of causing enormous damage, continuing occupation of Meremere was becoming increasingly untena...

There are multiple accounts as to the origins of the Kingitanga, or Maori King Movement, which came to prominence with the instalment of Potatau Te Wherowhero as the first Maori King in 1858. Much less common is a detailed insider’s description of the emergence of the movement and its aims and objectives. Honana Te Maioha belonged to Ngati Mahuta and was a cousin of Matutaera, better known as King Tawhiao, the second Maori King. He was intimately involved in the Kingitanga and had been active in its formation. In 1882 he gave a detailed description of how the movement had come about. It emerged at a time when the Kingitanga was at the forefront of public attention. The year before King Tawhiao had laid down his arms at Alexandra (Pirongia) and declared an end to the war fought in the 1860s. Subsequent to this he travelled to a number of European settlements, includiing, in January 1881, to Auckland. There, Tawhiao and his entourage, including Honana Te Maioha, were feted by a grat...

The importance of the Treaty of Waitangi to Maori is reflected in their strong interest in meeting with the person of the Crown; their Treaty partner. This was reflected in the sending of various Maori delegations to London to seek an audience with the monarch, but in the early twentieth century there were two opportunities for Maori to welcome royal visitors to their own country. In 1901 the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (the Duke being the second son of Edward VII) toured New Zealand. The focus for Maori was on the royal visit to Rotorua, with thousands from iwi all over the country (except Tainui Kingitanga) organising a Maori welcome and cultural display. Next was a post-war tour by the Prince of Wales (Prince Edward, son of George V) in 1920. The Rotorua leg of the tour was again the focus for Maori, featuring a warm welcome from thousands of Maori, followed by an enormous Maori pageant.  Te Arawa haka at Rotorua during the 1901 royal tour (PA1-f-064-03, ATL) 1...

Although my book was not a winner on the night, I thought I should share a couple of images from the NZ Post Book Awards held this week. The judges noted that 62 books were entered in the general non-fiction category - more than any other - so it was very gratifying for The Meeting Place: Maori and Pakeha Encounters, 1642-1840 to be recognised in the top four. The judges commented in their general remarks that this was a 'fine and illuminating example' of history writing. In their detailed comments on my book they stated that: The hopeless miscomprehension and miscommunication of initial encounters between Māori and Pākehā at times bordered on the darkest of tragi‐comedies, but it was inevitable – although not inevitably well recorded in our history books – that as time went on comprehension, communication and eventually mutual accommodation would come to pass. It was not simply a case of Maori bending to the will of Europeans, but of both finding what Vincent O’Malley calls...