This newsletter was launched in March 2025. 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. 

That has included the appalling Treaty Principles Bill, cuts to the historian roles at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, the deeply concerning amendments to the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act, AI and stolen books and other matters. 

There has also been a range of posts covering purely historical issues, from George Grey’s ‘Plan of Native Government’, the invasion of Parihaka, the 1852 New Zealand Constitution Act, the Waitangi Tribunal at fifty, a great new tool for historical research and a heap of other historical subjects and new resources. 

I also hosted an online workshop on Aotearoa NZ history for premium subscribers last year, along with giveaways of signed books and festival tickets for events in which I have appeared. And that will continue, with a further book giveaway of the new edition of The Treaty of Waitangi Companion for paid subscribers when it is launched in November. 

The post that continues to receive the most visitors to the newsletter archives highlighted previously little-explored New Zealand connections with Caribbean Slavery. 

That one put a fair bit of time to research and pull together but seemed important to share widely. And it is great that people continue to read it. 

Subscribers on the free plan have been able to read most of those posts in full. But if you are on the free plan, you may be unaware that there are more posts reserved exclusively for premium (paid) subscribers. 

I have decided to open up some of these recent posts to all subscribers for a limited time. 

For the next ten days, you can read several recent premium posts. 

Read about the Te Here ā Nuku (Nelson Tenths) Bill that passed its third reading last week (I was there at Parliament for the occasion).

Te Here ā Nuku (Nelson Tenths) Bill • Buttondown

On Tuesday, I was privileged to witness the third and final reading of the Te Here ā Nuku (Nelson Tenths) Bill at Parliament, bringing an end to long-running...

Learn about how Māori landowners in the Tūranga district were required to pay the price for environmental destruction caused by others and how the government in the early 1960s was less than honest with them when it acquired their lands. 

Mangatū Forest: A Story of Environmental Destruction and Land Loss • Buttondown

A recent story in Newsroom discussed a protracted legal case from the Tairāwhiti region involving the efforts of local Māori to have a piece of land returned...

Or find out about an 1882 delegation of northern rangatira who travelled to England in the belief that their Treaty partner, Queen Victoria, would address the grievances of her Māori people if only she heard them personally. 

The 1882 Petition to England • Buttondown

In 1882 three rangatira from northern New Zealand travelled to London on an explicitly political mission. They had been selected by Ngāpuhi to convey a...

Just click on the links to read these posts. And if you decide you would like to read more of the premium archives, anyone who upgrades to a paid subscription before 6 September will go into the draw to receive one of three signed copy of my first book, Agents of Autonomy, published way back in 1998. (Sorry, NZ addresses only).