Māori Representation in Parliament Since 1868
In the light of the recent unprecedented suspension of three Te Pāti Māori MPs from Parliament (co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi for 21...
Aotearoa New Zealand History Online Workshop
I have recently been developing an Aotearoa New Zealand History workshop that will cover Te Tiriti o Waitangi/the Treaty but also explore Māori and Tangata...
New Zealand Connections to Caribbean Slavery
A recent article in the Post by journalist and author Denis Welch caught my interest. In it Welch wrote about discovering that Ellice Street in Mt Victoria,...
Teaching Aotearoa New Zealand Histories: The Forgotten History Syllabus Claim
In September 2019 Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced that New Zealand history would be taught in all schools from 2022. It felt like a momentous...
An Uncommon Land
I recently read the proofs of a book to provide comment on it. An Uncommon Land: From An Ancestral Past of Enclosure Towards a Regenerative Future, by...
Pukehinahina (Gate Pā), 29 April 1864
On the 161st anniversary of the battle of Pukehinahina (Gate Pā), fought at Tauranga on 29 April 1864, I am posting a review which first appeared in the...
An historically-aware Aotearoa
Anzac Day, marking the anniversary of the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula on 25 April 1915, is nearly upon us. It has...
Making History on Screen
In 1977 the most ambitious historical drama for television ever produced in New Zealand screened on TV One. The Governor was a six-part series based on the...
The Treaty Principles Bill Rejected
In the end sanity finally prevailed last week and all submissions made on the Treaty Principles Bill will be processed and preserved as part of the official...
The Treaty Principles Bill and the Erasure of History
News that potentially tens of thousands of submissions made on the Principles of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill may not be processed in time to be considered by...
Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill
Back in February this year, I was privileged to attend Parliament alongside a large Tainui waka contingent to witness the passage into law of Te Pire mō...
Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival 2025
I first attended the Featherston Booktown Karukatea Festival in 2022 and, returning in 2023 and 2024, have witnessed the festival increase in popularity...
Captivating Photos
About a decade ago I first came across a photograph of a group of unidentified Māori musicians in a copy of the Turnbull Library Record. According to the...
Unsettling NZ History
Ko Vincent O’Malley toku ingoa He kaimahi hītori au Nō Airangi, Koterangi me Ingarangi ōku tīpuna I tipu ake au ki Ōtautahi E noho ana au ki Te Whanganui-a-...