History NZ Database

This is probably the most important book published in recent times as it shows how in 27 years the Treaty of Waitangi has been reinterpreted, the "partnership" myth created, tribal corporations set up, public assets transferred to those corporations which are now on the brink of securing a special place in a new, treaty based, written constitution. The treaty was Britain's reluctant response to pleas by Maori chiefs to rescue the tribes from a culture of cannibalism, slavery and inter-tribal warfare that had wiped out about a third of their race by 1840. https://www.hobsonspledge.nz/twisting_the_treaty

This on-line edition of the journals of Cook's first Pacific voyage has been arranged to allow comparison of the journal Cook kept aboard H.M.S. Endeavour with those written by his fellow voyagers, Joseph Banks and Sydney Parkinson, as well as the official record of the voyage written by John Hawkesworth and published in London in 1773. https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20120321013542/http://southseas.nla.gov.au/index_voyaging.html

New Zealand was catapulted kicking and screaming from the Stone Age to the Space Age within 200 years of Captain Cook setting foot there, becoming the last major landmass in the world to be settled by humans. https://www.amazon.com/Great-Divide-story-Zealand-Treaty-ebook/dp/B007XVWCAA

Captain Cook’s first week in New Zealand was a bloody one, as he and the Maori tested each other’s mettle. The usual routine in the more politically-correct New Zealand history books is to imply that Cook shot innocent Maori because he and his crew were unfamiliar with Maori haka and challenges. Cook may have been new to NZ waters, but he and his officers were not entirely stupid. They had, after all, spent a lot of time in the Pacific islands, and had on board the Tahitian chief Tupaea as their cultural advisor and translator. https://investigatemagazine.co.nz/27473/the-truth-about-captain-cook-and-maori-its-not-what-michael-king-told-you/

If modern New Zealand History is to be taught to all students in schools as promised by Jacinda Ardern then the curriculum should not start in 1840. By then Maori had been 500 years in Aotearoa, the last forty of them in a state of almost perpetual warfare. One historian, Angela Ballara has noted that warfare “was endemic in Maori society; it was an integral part of the Maori political system”. Once they acquired muskets it was carried on with a new intensity. Between 1800 and 1840 most traditional iwi were raked fore and aft, and between 40,000 (Keith Sinclair’s estimate) and 50,000 (Ron Crosby’s estimate) people were killed, eaten or enslaved. This was approximately 25% of all Maori in Aotearoa at that time. More lost their lives during the Musket Wars than all the Kiwis killed in World War One and World War Two combined. Lands were pillaged, iwi borders altered, and livelihoods disrupted to an unprecedented extent. https://thebfd.co.nz/2021/01/23/history-in-schools/

Eruera Tirikatene, of Ngai Tahu, was born near Kaiapoi in 1895. When the First World War broke out in 1914 he enlisted in the army and served with distinction in France. After the war he set up a number of profitable businesses, including a dairy farm, a timber mill and a fishing fleet. While visiting Ratana pa in 1921 he became attracted to the teachings of the religious leader and prophet T. W. Ratana, and began living there. He particularly admired Ratana's use of the Treaty of Waitangi as a way of seeking justice for Maori and settling land claims. Ratana's emphasis on land claims particularly appealed to him, as Ngai Tahu had been actively seeking redress for their claims since the 1840s. Tirikatene became one of Ratana's key advisers, and led the movement's inner councils. When Ratana decided to win the four Maori Parliamentary seats, Tirikatene was the obvious candidate for Southern Maori. He narrowly missed in the 1928 and 1931 elections. In 1932 he won a Southe...

Apirana Ngata (1874–1950), of Ngati Porou, was born at Te Araroa on the East Coast. He graduated from Te Aute College, and later completed an MA and a law degree. He was the first Maori to complete a degree at a New Zealand University. He returned to the East Coast and became involved in improving Maori social and economic conditions. Unlike a number of other tribes, Ngati Porou had kept much of their land. The young Ngata, armed with legal expertise and determined to achieve progressive farming techniques and land tenure reform, encouraged sheep farming and investment in land development. By 1916 Ngati Porou were running more than 180,000 sheep. Ngata favoured the incorporation of owners into more workable legal bodies. It was a way to retain tribal ownership and to efficiently use land with multiple owners. It also meant fragmented Maori land titles could be combined into viable farming units. During this early period Ngata was also prominent in the Young Maori Party. This movement w...

Suddenly the tribes discovered that large hunter-gathering areas were no longer necessary for their support, while the variety of material goods and possessions of Europeans were attractive items much to be desired. A rapid transformation occurred of the entire tribal system of values. A veritable frenzy of land selling began, some chiefs travelling to Sydney to sell. Of course they encountered plenty of speculators ready to deal with them. The documents recording the transactions exist there today. https://kapitiindependentnews.net.nz/maori-land-use-2-selling-willingly-to-europeans/

The Maori Language Strategy 2003 identifies a significant role for broadcasting in supporting the use of the Maori language and the development of positive attitudes towards it. Even as the Maori Language Strategy was being developed and written, exciting innovations were occurring in the digital environment with potential to stimulate further language revitalisation efforts through broadcasting and other related media, for example, Maori language learning podcasts. In 2007, the Maori Broadcasting and e-Media Outcomes Framework was developed to support new opportunities for promoting the Maori language and culture on other electronic media. This publication summarises key findings from two research projects on Maori language and culture content preferences and general broadcasting and related media use. https://www.tpk.govt.nz/en/a-matou-mohiotanga/broadcasting/use-of-broadcasting-and-e-media-maori-language-and/online/1

Belgrave is a former research manager for the Waitangi Tribunal and has been critical of its reports. The book  includes a chapter examining the ways the Treaty has been re-interpreted over the years to serve the needs of the time. Historical Frictions explores the role of the courts and of various types of commissions in mediating and reinventing historical narratives of colonisation. Author Michael Belgrave shows how the courts became from 1840 places where different narratives of discovery and conquest, of loss and displacement and of claims to resources and mana were debated. These legal debates were not only between Maori and Pakeha; Maori also used the courts to maintain or reclaim traditional rights between Maori and Maori. From this perspective the Waitangi Tribunal is less radical than is often supposed and is seen to be carrying on a similar function to earlier tribunals and courts in the transformation of historical narratives. Historical Frictions covers a number of iss...

In the absence of a universally acknowledged civil government and laws to provide for land ownership, in 1840, the various tribes owned NOTHING. They simply used or occupied it until a stronger bunch of bullyboys came along and took it off them. The only universally acknowledged system of laws was "te rau o te patu" [the law of the club] aka "might makes right." Throughout the 1830s, various Maori chiefs were begging the Crown to intervene in New Zealand. It seems clear that in the lead-up to the signing of the Treaty, most chiefs had come to view British sovereignty and its associated rule of law as the only way to put a conclusive end to the Musket Wars that had ravaged the land for almost two decades prior to 1840. With the coming of the musket, the various tribes possessed for the first time weapons of mass extermination with which to be revenged upon traditional enemies. The farsighted came to see that only outside intervention could arrest this ever-escalating...

Here are a few accounts of this revolting, subhuman practice, culturally institutionalised among pre-European Maori. Hundreds more can be found if one goes looking. Daniel Henry Sheridan, a member of a shore-based whaling party, describes the defence of the Nga-Motu Pa from 28 January to 23 February 1833, by its Maori occupants and a small number of European traders: ‘To the gun I was stationed at, they dragged a man slightly wounded in the leg, and tied him hand and foot until the battle was over. Then they loosed him and put some questions to him, which he could not answer, nor give them any satisfaction thereof, as he knew his doom. ‘They then took the fatal tomahawk and put it between his teeth, while another pierced his throat for a chief to drink his blood. Others at the same time were cutting his arms and legs off. They then cut off his head, quartered him and sent his heart to a chief, it being a delicious morsel and they being generally favoured with such rarities after an eng...

So what does history tell us about our voting system and why did we change to MMP? For a start, in 1978 and 1981, the Labour Party received more votes than the National Party but National remained the government, because they held more electorate seats. That is how First Past the Post (FPP) works. In 1978 the Social Credit Party (now Democrats for Social Credit) received sixteen percent of the vote, but only one seat in Parliament, then twenty one percent of the vote in 1981 which gave them only two seats in Parliament. In 1984 the New Zealand Party received twelve percent of the vote, but no Members of Parliament. These results, along with a growing distrust of politicians due to many broken election promises, and New Zealander's innate belief in fairness, led to calls for a Royal Commission, and change. https://betterdemocracynz.blogspot.com/2010/02/mmp-to-disembowel-or-develop.html

Thousands of Maori died in the intertribal Musket Wars of the 1810s, 1820s and 1830s. Many more were enslaved or became refugees. Northern rivals Ngapuhi and Ngati Whatua led the way, but all the tribes were soon trading for muskets. Muskets (ngutu parera) changed the face of intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically altering the rohe (territorial boundaries) of others. By the 1830s campaigns had become too costly. With European diseases also taking a heavy toll, warfare gave way to economic rivalry. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/new-zealands-19th-century-wars/the-musket-wars

War changed the face of New Zealand in the 19th century. Tens of thousands of Maori may have died in the intertribal Musket Wars between the 1810s and the 1830s. Muskets revolutionised intertribal warfare, decimating some tribes and drastically shifting the boundaries of areas controlled by others. Thousands fled their traditional lands, complicating questions of ownership and opening large areas to potential Pakeha (European) settlement. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/new-zealands-19th-century-wars/introduction

Coverage from NZ current affairs shows in August 2015 following death of former Labour Prime Minister (1984-89) David Lange. Clip of Oxford Union debate (0:55​), footage of final press conference as Prime Minister(6:41​), John Campbell interviews Geoffrey Palmer, Roger Douglas, and Richard Prebble (8:39​), and news coverage of Lange memorial on 20 August (21:20​). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJhjTP8K0Mk

The Plucked Parakeet of Hataitai In the days that lie behind, a certain small hamlet of the sons of Ira, situated on the Hataitai peninsula, was surprised by the sudden appearance of a party of raiders of the Rangitane and Ngati-Apa clans of Rangi-tikei, under a chief named Pae-ngahuru. At the very moment that the alarm was given, the chief of the hamlet was about to partake of a meal. The food was just being taken from the steam oven, and was too hot to be eaten hurriedly. Feeling the want of a little light refreshment ere he entered the fray, our worthy chief looked round for some substitute. Seeing some plucked but uncooked parakeets suspended from a food stage hard by, he seized several of them and ate them as he proceeded to meet the enemy. In the light that ensued he succeeded in killing the leader Pae-ngahuru, and when about to despatch him, he cried : - " You cannot prevail against the man of the kakariki hitia (plucked parakeet)." To commemorate the above incident th...

Simon Walker interviews Muldoon Campaign ad from 1975 - the Dancing Cossacks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erScQkPr5kQ

A Political Game explores an issue whose origins are to be found in the fi rst decades of this century. It is about the battle for the soul of New Zealand, about an affl uent period in our history when internationalism was popular and idealism was affordable. IN BROAD brush-strokes we learn the context of rugby, politics and apartheid from 1921 through to 1996 and today. What did we do, and why did we do it? What effect did we have not only on New Zealanders attitudes towards sporting and other contacts with South Africa, but on wider related issues such as New Zealands foreign policy? Outside South Africa itself, nowhere was the impact of that countrys racial politics greater than it was in New Zealand. What does this tell us about ourselves? Why was the New Zealand/South Africa rugby connection the subject of such an intense and protracted debate? Rugby did more than mirror emerging cultural values; it stimulated national pride and national feelings. It brought a nation together, pro...

This chapter consists of five letters found by the author in the columns of the “Sydney Monitor” of 10th, 17th, and 20th April, and 1st and 4th May, 1833, giving an account of the defence of the Nga-Motu Pa from 28th January to 23rd February, 1832. by its Maori occupants, aided by a party of Europeans traders resident at that place. As the author lays no claim to a knowledge of Maori history, he asked Mr. W. H. Skinner, Commissioner of Crown Lands for Nelson, and formerly a resident of New Plymouth, who has given the subject of the Maori invasions of Taranaki special study, to write an introduction to the “letters” and to supply explanatory notes of the names given and the customs referred to in them. These Mr. Skinner has done, and a perusal of his work will show how much would have been lost had his information not been at the reader's disposal. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-McNOldW-t1-body-d1-d3.html?fbclid=IwAR1Chk6p9uF0zQmwVMNTrSRoFzYJzL2TZRo9oTQtB_OAApSAN6mfNBg...

I will commence my remarks on the growth of the remarkable traffic in Maori dried heads with an account of a battle as given by Rutherford—an eye-witness—in his graphic narrative over seventy years ago. From such a battle as that which he speaks of, the traders derived no small advantage; and the traffic became so great a scandal that in 1831 it was stopped by legislation. Rutherford says: “The two bodies then advanced to within about one hundred yards of each other, when they fired their muskets. They only fired once, and then throwing their muskets behind them, where they were picked up by the women and boys, drew their meres or tomahawks out of their belts; when the war-song was being screamed by the whole of them together, in a manner most dismal to be heard, the two parties rushed into close combat. They now took hold of the hair of each others' heads with their left hands, using the right to cut off the head. Meanwhile, the women and boys followed close behind, uttering the m...

'Though stronger evidence of this horrid practice prevailing among the inhabitants of this coast will scarcely be required, we have still stronger to give.' - Captain James Cook This Horrid Practice uncovers an unexplored taboo of New Zealand history - the widespread practice of cannibalism in pre-European Maori society. Until now, many historians have tried to avoid it and many Maori have considered it a subject best kept quiet about in public. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6459207-this-horrid-practice Author unbowed on book's horrid reaction https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/east-bays-courier/601301/Author-unbowed-on-books-horrid-reaction

This documentary describes the epic struggle between New Zealand's teachers and free market radicals during the 1980s and 90s. In 1984 neoliberal zealots came to power intent on transforming public education. Schools were to be run as businesses competing in the marketplace. Battle was joined over the transfer of teachers' employment from central government to schools, a process called "Bulk Funding". Parents supported teachers in protests and strikes as students faced an increasing unequal education system. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=78rRtaO_ZWo

The documentary series Revolution mapped the social and economic changes in New Zealand society in the 1980s and early 1990s. Revolution (part one) - Fortress New Zealand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZXpeUQ0tD8 This first episode focuses on NZ's radical transformation from a heavily regulated welfare state to a petri dish for free market ideology. It includes interviews with key political and business figures of the day, who reveal how the dire economic situation by the end of Robert Muldoon's reign made it relatively easy for Roger Douglas to implement extreme reform. Revolution won Best Factual Series at the 1997 Film and TV Awards. Revolution (part two) - The Grand Illusion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7drcQVvpM0 This second episode argues that in its first term in office, the Labour Government promoted neoliberal reform via illusory ideas of consensus and fairness, while PM David Lange mined goodwill from its indie anti-nuclear policy (famously in an Oxford...

Unless you can answer the following questions, you have no idea of New Zealand’s true history. Questions 1. Who smuggled 800 muskets from England into New Zealand in 1820? 2. Who went on a rampage south slaughtering thousands of men, women, and children for the fun of it and the feasts that followed? 3. Why did the 13 Ngapuhi Chiefs write to the King asking for protection? 4. Why was the Declaration of Independence a complete failure? 5. How and when were the boundaries of New South Wales extended to include New Zealand, placing New Zealand under the dependency of New South Wales? 6. Who drafted the instruction for Lt. Governor Hobson to write the Treaty of Waitangi? 7. What did tangata Maori give up in the Tiriti o Waitangi? 8. What did tangata Maori gain by the Tiriti o Waitangi? 9. How did New Zealand become a British Colony? 10. How did Lt, Governor Hobson become Governor of New Zealand? 11. How was New Zealand’s Government formed under one flag to make laws, irrespective of race, ...

This feature documentary tells the story of the neoliberal revolution in New Zealand from its origins in the early 1980s to the mid 1990s. A small group of economists and businessmen led by Labour's finance minister, Roger Douglas, succeeded in transforming a small social democracy into their version of the model free market state. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PISea_Tc4k

The reality is that a group of radical Maori sovereignty activists had come together with extreme environmentalists and so-called peace campaigners, to support the Tuhoe “cause”. Combined they created a potent mix of anti-establishment fanatics and career protestors with a potential for revolutionary action. Thanks to the leaking of a detailed Police affidavit that outlined the case against the group, and the brave decision of the former Editor of the Dominion Post Tim Pankhurst to publish the story by investigative journalist Phil Kitchin in November 2007, New Zealanders were able to see for themselves what was really going on. You can read the news story, “The Terrorism Files” here . At training camps deep in the Ureweras, these activists dressed in camouflage gear and participating in military-style drills, were using lethal weapons and firing live ammunition. They undertook counter-intelligence training, they were shown how to ambush vehicles and extract passengers under live f...

The latest article this week was called Highway to Hell about the Great South Road from Auckland to the Waikato. It featured the views of Taitimu Maipi the kaumatua who last year defaced the statue of Captain Hamilton in the city that bears his name. Maipi described Hamilton, who was killed in action at the Battle of Gate Pa, as “a murderer”. The ‘Highway to Hell’ article was riddled with false claims and inaccuracies and inspired Bruce Moon and Roger Childs to write letters to the editor of the Dominion Post. Neither was published, so here they are. https://waikanaewatch.org/2021/03/06/stuffs-our-truth-isnt-so-truthful/

A report by the Waitangi Tribunal, two years ago, that argues the Ngapuhi chiefs of Northland did not agree to cede sovereignty is contradicted by statements made by chiefs at Waitangi, on February 5, 1840, and by the statements of more chiefs at Kohimarama in Auckland in August 1860. Missionary William Colenso attended the Treaty debate among chiefs on February 5, 1840, and the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi the next day and wrote an account of the events. He recorded statements by various chiefs, and these statements reveal that the chiefs understood the implications of ceding sovereignty as set out in Article 1 of the Treaty of Waitangi. https://www.hobsonspledge.nz/chiefs_understood_that_ceding_sovereignty_meant_british_rule

The chiefs who were present at the opening of the Conference numbered 112, of whom the following is a list:— Ngapuhi (Bay of Islands)—Tamati Waka, Wiremu Kaitara, Huirua Mangonui, Wiremu Hau, Tango Hikuwai, Wi Tete, Hori Kingi.Parawhau, (Whangarei)—Manihera, Wi Pohe, Taurau Tirarau. Ngatiwakaue,(Rotorua)—Ngahuruhuru, Taiapo, Tukihaumene, Winiata Pekamu, Eruera Kahawai, Ngamoni, Tauaru, Ngarama, Pomate, Tauahaka, Rotobiko Haupapa, Henare Kepa, Pererika, Herewini Amohau, Henare te Pukuatua, Taoangaanga. Ngatipikiao, (Rotoiti and Maketu)—Rirituku te Perehu, Rewi, Hona, Anania, Te Pirihi.Tapuika, (Kai Tuna Rerei)—Moihi Kupe, Rota te Wharehuia. Tuhourangi, (Tarawera Lake)—Kihirini, te Tuahu. Ngaiterangi, (Tauranga)—Tomika te Mutu, Wiremu Patene, Hamiora Tu, Hamuera te Paki. Ngatihe, (Maunga Tapu)—Maihi Pohepohe, Menehira Rakau. Ngatiatea, (Awa-a-te-Atua)—Te Makarini. Te Tawera—Maketu Petera, Te Rongotoa, Wakaheke [unclear: Pauro], Tamati Hapimana,page 5 Ngatitematera (Hauraki)—Karaitiana Tu...

Memoranda of the Arrival of Lieut.—Governor Hobson in New Zealand, and of the Subsequent Assembling of the Native Chiefs at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, the Residence of the late British Resident, James Busby, Esq., on Wednesday and Thursday, the 5th and 6th days of February, 1840, for the Purpose of meeting His Excellency. January 29th. 1840,—This morning Her Majesty's ship "Herald," Captain J. Nias, arrived in the Bay of Islands and anchored in the harbour, having on board Lieut.—Governor Hobson and his suite. 30th.—Early this morning circular letters were printed at the press of the Church Missionary Society for the assembling together of the Native chiefs at Waitangi, to meet the newly-arrived Governor, on Wednesday next, the 5th day of February. http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Stout69-t3-body-d2-d1a.html

Over recent months, I’ve talked to a number of friends who disagree with what Hobson’s Pledge is trying to achieve.  They have accepted the “current orthodoxy” that Maori chiefs really didn’t cede sovereignty when they signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, or perhaps didn’t understand that that was what they were doing; and that because the Treaty created a “partnership” between Maori and the Crown, this entitles the descendants of those who signed the Treaty to some special political status nearly 180 years later. https://www.hobsonspledge.nz/don_brash_and_dr_michael_bassett_discuss_the_rationale_behind_hobson_s_pledge_the_treaty_and_sovereignty

At the 1860 Kohimarama conference 200 Maori chiefs pledged their loyalty to the Crown, promising to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi. Twenty months later Rewi Maniapoto's men broke their pledge and took part in the ambush in Taranaki that restarted the war. Rewi's men terrorised the Waikato missionaries and settlers who had gone out of their way to help Waikato develop their land with new plants, building flour mills and finding millers. https://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/letters/8496997/A-light-on-history

Many of us have grave reservations about the content the new, soon-to-be-compulsory history curriculum. As political commentator Chris Trotter writes in Taking Control Of The Nation’s Story: “If Maori nationalist historians can seize control of the new, soon-to-be-compulsory, history curriculum, then the necessary ideological preparations can be made for a radical constitutional transformation”. We have a right to expect a fair view of our history that it will be taught in a factual and unbiased manner. However, our hopes are already being dashed - the indoctrination of children through fake history is already being realised. Ti Tiriti o Waitangi – a comic book, by Ross Calman, Mark Derby and Toby Morris – a book full of a great many errors of fact and interpretation - being a case in point.  This is being touted as a graphic novel providing a fresh approach to the story of Te Tiriti o Waitangi. It is already available in many primary and intermediate schools in New Zealand. https:...

Governor Thomas Gore Browne (Governor 1855-1861) convened the first of many large meetings on the Treaty, partly in an attempt to draw attention away from the King movement and the fighting. It should also be noted that the idea of the Treaty as a holy covenant between Maori and the Crown had been present since 1840, when the missionaries appear to have used the term to encourage Maori chiefs to sign. The term was further developed at the Kohimarama meeting, in Auckland. Over four weeks at Kohimarama, a wide range of Maori from outside those groups fighting the Government discussed the Treaty and their concerns over land. The Kohimarama Covenant proposed a Native Council and other ideas, some of which were embodied in the first Native Land Act two years later. The Native Council, however, was never set up. The Government continued to face unremitting political pressure to provide land for waves of new migrants. https://schools.look4.net.nz/history/new_zealand/time_line2/kohimarama_cove...

Some of the myths on which the treaty industry is based In  order  for  one  minority  group  of  New  Zealanders  –  part-Maoris  –  to  get  special  privileges  and  ownership  of  formerly  publicly  owned  resources  like  forests  and  the  foreshore  and  seabed,  it  has  been  necessary for the tribal elite and their collaborators in academia, the media,  Parliament  and  the  judiciary  to  misrepresent  New  Zealand  history so that in every situation – past and present – European New Zealanders  are  portrayed  as  wrongdoers  and  “Maoris”  (now  part-Maoris) as the so-called victims.This  distortion  of  history  is  a  necessary  pre-condition  for  the  tribal  grab ...

Time Line of events up to 1850 Time Line of events 1850 - 1900 Time Line of events 1900 - 1950 Time Line of events 1950 - 2000 Time Line of New Zealand disasters New Zealand Premiers & Prime Ministers Links https://schools.look4.net.nz/history/new_zealand

Only in the last 25 years has anyone considered it an established fact that the Treaty of Waitangi created a partnership between Maori and the Crown. For almost 150 years, this view was largely unheard of. Moreover, there is not a shred of evidence that the British authorities intended to establish such a partnership, nor that the chiefs saw this as the Treaty’s object. Lord Normanby’s 1839 instructions to Captain William Hobson demonstrate that the Crown’s purpose was “sovereign authority over” those of the “accepting aborigines of New Zealand” who would agree to place themselves “under Her Majesty’s dominion.” Modern-day revisionists claim the Maori understanding of the Treaty was that “chiefly authority” would be preserved under the “governorship” of the Crown. The Maori version of the Treaty supposedly failed to convey the meaning of the English version, and the Treaty negotiations failed to clarify the difference. https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2013/04/reuben-chapple-partner...

Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne was baptised at St Malo, Brittany, 24 May 1724. He belonged to the upper bourgeoisie, and although he did not belong to the nobility by birth, by being appointed a Chevalier of the Order of St Louis later in life he acceded to it by military title. He added a territorial designation to his name, from the village in Brittany where his ancestors came from, Le Fresne, but this is not his surname which is Marion, and we will refer to him as such throughout this essay. He joined the merchant navy and went to see in 1741. In effect he was a corsair during the War of the Austrian Succession which put France at loggerheads with England. Ships lay in wait around the coast of Brittany and especially the narrow inlets of the Channel Islands to pounce on British ships returning from the West Indies or West Africa laden with precious metals, white wine, oranges, lemons, corn, and rye. Many of these hauls supplied all of France in foodstuffs and were lucrative for the mar...

The majority of New Zealanders, including most Maori, have been through an education process which has convinced them that the original Maori name for the country was Aotearoa, and that this was arbitrarily replaced by European invaders. Historian Michael King exposed the myth once and for all when he pointed out that Aotearoa was selected and popularised as a romantic Maori name for our islands by Pakeha writers such as William Pember Reeves and Stephenson Percy Smith, as well as the Education Department's School Journal. http://www.stuff.co.nz/blogs/opinion/205670/i-Aotearoa-a-European-hoax-i

With creation of the Auckland supercity in 2010, the ruse to impose and normalise Treaty partnership at the local government level was effected by way of the first Key National government legislating into existence the Independent Maori Statutory Board (IMSB) as the Trojan horse. Notoriously, IMSB members exercise unelected race-based voting rights on Auckland Council committees. Former Act Party leader Rodney Hide was the Minister of Local Government charged with steering through Auckland supercity legislation and opposed formation of the IMSB. His stand was defeated by a nefarious pro-IMSB deal cooked up between National and the Maori Party, but Act has earned a worthy legacy of opposing racial privilege. As the IMSB was voted into being by Parliament, so it can be abolished by Parliament. https://www.nzcpr.com/ending-racial-discrimination-in-local-government/

Richard "Dicky" Barrett (1807–1847) was one of the first European traders to be based in New Zealand. He lent his translation skills to help negotiate the first land purchases from Maori in New Plymouth and Wellington and became a key figure in the establishment of the settlement of New Plymouth. He was described by Edward Jerningham Wakefield, son of New Zealand Company founder Edward Gibbon Wakefield, as short, stout and "perfectly round all over" and fond of relating "wild adventures and hairbreadth 'scapes". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicky_Barrett_(trader)

An important feature of early cross-cultural contact in New Zealand was the role of intermediaries (kaiwhakarite) who acted as go-betweens – people from one culture who lived within the other culture and helped bridge the gap between the two. Europeans knew that there was money to be made in New Zealand from whaling, sealing, and harvesting flax and timber, and intermediaries helped smooth the way. Relationships with Maori women offered a degree of protection, as Pakeha were less likely to be attacked if women were present. Maori were also aware of the potential benefits of establishing relationships with Europeans. Women were used to attract and keep a Pakeha in the community, making contact with other Europeans likely. As hapu and iwi sought to gain an advantage over their rivals, acquiring a European trader became a matter of mana as much as economics. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/maori-european-contact-pre-1840/the-go-betweens

The Dominion was launched on the first Dominion Day, September 26, 1907, with the specific purpose of providing a strong conservative voice in the capital where the other morning paper, the New Zealand Times, was poorly run and had a Liberal Party heritage, and the much stronger Evening Post was more interested in business than party politics. When the morning daily was launched just a year after Richard John Seddon’s death, the Liberals had been in power for 16 years and would be for another five. However, under Sir Joseph Ward, the party was in decline while the Dominion’s directors and shareholders were an impressive list of leading conservative MPs and substantial Canterbury, Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa runholders. Of particular concern to them were the Liberal policies on labour laws, pensions and land tenure, including the break-up of large rural estates. Unsurprisingly, the newspaper was a persuasive promoter of William Massey’s Reform Party and its policies. https://paperspast.na...

The Maoriland Worker is widely considered the most important publication of the New Zealand labour movement. Early in the 20th century the labour movement had two main strands – those wanting revolution and those working for reform and both had publications reflecting their views. Militant trade unionists did not fit easily into either camp. The Shearers’ Union in Christchurch felt the full weight of press condemnation after a 1910 wage dispute and decided to begin their own paper, The Maoriland Worker, as a monthly. The first eight issues of the newspaper were produced in Christchurch under editor Ettie Rout, one of the founders of the newspaper. When the shearers’ and miners’ unions combined forces, the paper now represented the ‘Red’ Federation of Labour and, early in 1911, moved its publishing office to Wellington. The paper, now a weekly, grew rapidly in circulation and influence under the editorship of Australian Bob Ross. It had a circulation of 8,500 by 1912 and 10,000 by the b...

Papers Past is divided into four sections: 1 - Newspapers The Newspaper section contains digitised NZ and Pacific newspapers from the 19th and 20th centuries. 2 - Magazines and Journals The Magazines and Journals section contains digitised NZ journal publications. Many of the publications were mixed in with the newspapers in the previous Papers Past, so if you can’t find an existing title in the Newspapers section, try the Magazines and Journals section as well. 3 - Letters and Diaries The Letters and Diaries section contains digitised full-text manuscripts. Currently this section contains only the papers of Sir Donald McLean. 4 - Parliamentary Papers The Parliamentary Papers section contains digitised reports from volumes of the Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives (AJHRs) and the Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/about

The dawn raids began in 1974 when the Labour government, faced with an economic downturn, clamped down on people overstaying their working visas. Samoans and Tongans - welcomed into New Zealand with open arms in the 1950s and 60s to relieve a huge labour shortage - were the main targets. Police with dogs burst into homes at dawn; Pacific people were randomly stopped in the street. A study a decade later showed Polynesians had made up only a third of overstayers but more than 80 per cent of all prosecutions for overstaying. The distressing and divisive raids ended in the late 1970s but they damaged the relationship between Pacific Islanders and New Zealand, tarnishing its image of a rich, multicultural society. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/when-pacific-islanders-were-raided-in-their-beds/IRQ6WGHJS2XYHOEQ76HCEJNBGY/

Research into the life of the first New Zealand Company colonist to step ashore at Petone on January 22, 1840, made me read a lot of 19th century New Zealand history -- both that written close to the period, and the substantial re-writing done by the Waitangi Tribunal from the late 20th century on. The First Colonist - Samuel Deighton 1821-1900, which is advertised on this website, draws upon his letters and other primary sources, early settler histories, biographies, more recent histories, and Waitangi Tribunal reports. I expected tribunal reports to deal with history, but I did not expect them to be finely crafted arguments in support of the claims they purport to investigate. Taxpayers should be outraged that a government-funded body is writing a new history in which the Crown is depicted as deceitful, settlers rapacious, and Maori as helpless victims in need of compensation. https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2010/11/mike-butler-tribunals-twisted-history.html

In the first 40 years of the twentieth century James Cowan was one of New Zealand's most widely read non-fiction writers. He wrote over 30 books and hundreds of articles for newspapers and magazines, mainly about New Zealand's ancient and recent past, its resources and scenic attractions. Although little read today, during his lifetime his writing did much to shape the way New Zealanders perceived their history. He was born at East Tamaki on 14 April 1870. His father, William Andrew Cowan, had emigrated to New Zealand from Ireland in time to fight as a soldier in the Waikato war, and in 1866 married Elizabeth Jane Qualtrough, his second wife. The family was living with Elizabeth's parents at Pakuranga when James was born, and a few months later moved south to a block of land near Kihikihi, where Cowan and his brothers spent their childhood. The farm was part of land confiscated from Maori who had fought against the Crown during the 1860s, and was close to the Puniu River bo...

JAMES COWAN was perhaps the most ambiguous  writer in what may be  called  the Frederick Maning tradition  of  'representing'  Maori to Pakeha. Like  Maning  and  his  epigones,  Cowan  made  much  of  his  privileged  knowledge  of  Maori  culture  and  history;  unlike  them,  however,  he combined  this position  with  the  devices  of  'pioneer'  literature.  Cowan's  combination  of  these  and  other  tradi-tions problematized  the writing  of New  Zealand  history. His favoured  subjects  were  the  geographical  and  racial  'frontiers'  of  New  Zealand  in  the  nineteenth  century;  his  use  of  various  and  not  entirely  compatible  traditions...

PATU-PAIAREHE is the name applied by the Maori to the mysterious forest-dwelling race who, for want of a more exact term, may be described as the fairies of New Zealand. An atmosphere of mysticism surrounds Maori references to these elusive tribes of the mountains and the bush. They are spoken of as an iwi-atua, a race of supernatural beings, and they are accredited with some of the marvellous powers attributed to the world of fairies in other parts of the globe. Some folk-tales of the Maori describe them as little people—but the native fancy does not usually picture them the tiny elves common to the elf-world fairydom. Most of the legends I have gathered give them the ordinary stature of mortals, while at the same time investing them with some of the characteristics of the enchanted tribes of other lands. http://www.jps.auckland.ac.nz/document/Volume_30_1921/Volume_30,_No._118/The_Patu-paiarehe._Notes_on_Maori_folk-tales_of_the_fairy_people,_by_James_Cowan,_p_96-102/p1

“A not altogether idiotic sheep-farmer” was how Herbert Guthrie-Smith of Tutira deprecatingly spoke of himself. Yet from the unlikely base of his remote Hawke’s Bay station, this retiring Scotsman became an influential naturalist with an abiding passion for the land and the native wildlife that was being eliminated from it. He wrote a series of highly regarded books that pressed the conservationist cause at a time when “more grass” was the catch-cry of the country. His most famous work, Tutira, is regarded as a New Zealand classic. https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/guthrie-smith-of-tutira/

"The Islands of New Zealand have long been resorted to by British Subjects on account of the valuable articles of commerce which they produce, and by reason of the peculiar advantages which they offer to whale-ships requiring repair. But the nearness of these Islands to the British settlements of New South Wales and Van Dieman's Land has also led to their being resorted to as an asylum for fugitive British convicts, and such persons having associated with men left in New Zealand by whale-ships and other vessels, have formed a Society which indispensably requires the check of some contending authority. Her Majesty's Government have therefore deemed it expedient to station at New Zealand an officer, with the character and powers of a British Consul, and I have the satisfaction to acquaint you that the Queen has been graciously pleased to select you for that appointment." So wrote Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary in Lord Melbourne's Cabinet, on August 13, 1839,...

The Waitangi copy of the treaty was first signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840. It was then taken around the Bay of Islands and Hokianga before being sent further afield. It is estimated that about 240 Māori signed this copy, which is in the Māori language. There are many uncertainties about names, dates of signings and numbers signing at different locations, so it is impossible to give precise figures. Most of the names are from tribes north of Whāngārei and from Tāmaki-makau-rau (Auckland), Waitematā Harbour and Hauraki Gulf. There are conflicting reports of the number who signed at Waitangi on 6 February and immediately after; there may have been 43 (most likely), 45 or 52. Hokianga presents similar problems, as does Waimate North where there was probably only one signing, and not two as sometimes thought. https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/interactive/waitangi-treaty-copy

Find out about Alexander Turnbull and his incredible gift to New Zealand. Help us remember and celebrate Turnbull and the Library with our centenary celebrations. https://natlib.govt.nz/about-us/our-history/alexander-turnbull-library-centenary

A useful reference when challenged on your stance of 1Law4All: 1. The Maoris are indigenous to NZ. Wrong. Unlike the Indians in North America and the Aborigines in Australia, who have been on their land for tens of thousands of years, gaggles of Maoris arrived in New Zealand about 1250 A.D. a mere 400 years before Abel Tasman. At Cape Reinga there is a hillock that, according to Maori lore and the accompanying sign, the spirits of dead Maoris leave from on their journey home to Hawaiki, thus showing that even the modern part-Maoris don’t believe that they are indigenous. http://1law4all.kiwi.nz/2016/04/21/twenty-two-mendacious-modern-part-maori-myths/

The practice of infanticide, and in particular of female infanticide, is of particular importance to the story of the Maori, as this had a significant impact on population dynamics, continuing until the second half of the nineteenth century. Since the practice and impact of infanticide is frequently, and strenuously, denied, it is important to establish quite clearly that it was prevalent and often observed. In fact, infanticide has been remarkably common in many societies throughout history and, in particular, across Asia – the starting point of the Polynesian journey into the Pacific – where a desire for male children and readiness to abort females (now aided by scans in pregnancy) remain to the present day. (21) That theme is taken up further in a later chapter “Was infanticide significant?”. Despite the claims to the contrary by many ‘scholars’, including the influential demographer Ian Pool, there are very many reports of infanticide, which was widespread. https://www.kiwifrontlin...

Hobson's final draft (of the Treaty of Waitangi) was composed and penned by Busby on 4th February at the home of American consul Clendon who supplied the paper for it from his personal stock. At the time he also made his own copy of it. He used this as the basis of his despatch to the American secretary of state, saying it was a "translation" which merely implies that it was in a different language from Te Tiriti. He fully expected. reasonably, to get an official translation in due course but this was never made at the time. It was made at last by Young in 1869. Clendon also made it available to Wilkes who used it as the basis of his despatch to USA. This is indisputable solid fact. https://www.kiwifrontline.nz/enlightenments/clendon-wilkes-and-the-littlewood-draft

As I recall, the dispute around the 507-day occupation of Bastion Point, 5.3 ha of land that was taken under the Public Works Act in 1886 for military use, was settled in 1988, when the land was returned with compensation and an apology. Another dispute detailed in the Wai 9 claim lodged in 1986 by Joe Hawke and others that focussed on grievances around the 700 acres known as the Orakei Block, was enshrined in the Orakei Act 1991 in which nearly 65 hectares were returned to Ngati Whatua o Orakei . The current settlement is Ngati Whatua’s third bite of the cherry...... https://www.kiwifrontline.nz/enlightenments/bastion-point

There were no partnership mentioned, no principles and no reference to fisheries or forests. The Treaty of Waitangi gave Maori equal rights, but not special rights. https://waikanaewatch.org/2021/02/06/what-did-the-treaty-of-waitangi-say/

Racial difference is firmly embedded in New Zealand – in statute, in requirements for special attention based explicitly on race, within local bodies, universities, many professional organisations, and in societies that refuse any discussion or questioning of that conventional wisdom. The idea that we can be divided into separate races is morally repugnant.  Yet here it is, written into law. The separation of New Zealand citizenship into two peoples is between Maori and others, with just who is Maori defined in the Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1974.  “A Maori is a person of the Maori race of New Zealand; and includes any descendent of such a person.” http://kapitiindependentnews.net.nz/this-racist-new-zealand/?fbclid=IwAR2hhv5pvnWroLMqq1Uz9ZZKP9M5L_A8d9pXh4u_uhrsiOtQMm8fxbJo-UQ

The Maori Affairs Amendment Act 1974 redefined a Maori as "a person of the Maori race of New Zealand; and includes any descendant of such a Maori". This hugely widened the definition of who was a Maori. During the debate on the Bill, one MP scoffed that it now seemed so wide that anyone who cycled past a marae could claim to be a Maori. https://www.odt.co.nz/opinion/how-much-maori-blood-enough

Te reo Maori is the language of the Maori people of New Zealand. It was made an official language of New Zealand in 1987. In 2013, 21.3% of Maori and 3.7% of the total population could speak te reo Maori. Maori is a Polynesian language, and part of the Austronesian language family. There are three major dialects – eastern North Island, western North Island and South Island Maori. https://teara.govt.nz/en/te-reo-maori-the-maori-language