The first 10 Dominican sisters arrived in Dunedin in 1871. The congregation expanded rapidly, establishing schools throughout Otago and Southland, and eventually reaching as far north as Auckland. Fo
This volume of Charles Brasch’s journals covers the years from late 1945 to the end of 1957, when the poet and editor was aged 36 to 48. It begins with his return to New Zealand after World War II to
Bounded by the wild waves of the Pacific on the east, and the more sheltered harbour on the west, the Otago Peninsula is a remarkable landscape. Today a habitat for a diverse array of wildlife includi
An out-of-the-way corner of the South Island, the Catlins is a beautiful and relatively unspoilt area with many natural attractions, including that rare thing on the east coast, native forest. Neville
Seabirds Beyond the Mountain Crest tells the fascinating story of New Zealand’s endemic Hutton’s shearwater, a species that breeds only at two remote locations, high in the Kaikoura Mounta
Everyone knows Australia was once a penal colony, but few realize that New Zealand prisoners were sent there. During the mid-nineteenth century at least 110 people were transported from New Zealand to
By the nineteenth century the ancient parish churchyards of Britain, burdened with generations of dead, were unable to cope with the strain of rising numbers of corpses. Partially decomposed bodies we
While other British settler societies ? Australia, Canada, the US and South Africa ? have states or provinces, New Zealand is a unitary state. Yet New Zealanders today hold firm provincial identitie
The Depression of the 1930s was a defining period in New Zealand history. It had its own vocabulary ? swaggers and sugarbags, relief work and sustenance, the Queen Street riots and special constable
The First New Zealand Himalayan Expedition, in 1951, was initiated by Earle Riddiford, who with Ed Cotter and Pasang Dawa Lama made the first ascent of Mukut Parbat, their target peak in the Garhwal
Ka ngaro te reo, ka ngaro taua, pera i te ngaro o te moa. If the language be lost, man will be lost, as dead as the moa. In 1800, te reo Maori was the only language spoken in New Zealand. By 1899,
New Zealanders started hearing things in different ways when new audio technologies arrived from overseas in the late 19th century. In The World’s Din, Peter Hoar documents the arrival of the fi
The story of tiny Niue’s involvement in the Great War has captivated people since an account was first published by Margaret Pointer in 2000. In 1915, 160 Niuean men joined the New Zealand Exped
Many New Zealand writers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century traveled extensively or lived overseas for a time. In The Expatriate Myth, Helen Bones presents a challenge to this conventi
This book celebrates 30 years of Pasifika theatre in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Pacific Underground, Pacific Theatre, The Laughing Samoans, The Conch, The Naked Samoans, Kila Kokonut Krew –
Phoney Wars looks at the lives of New Zealanders during the greatest armed struggle the world has ever seen: the Second World War. It is not a political, economic or military history; rather it explor
The New Zealand Wars were defining events in the nation’s history. Filming the Colonial Past, an engaging new book from Annabel Cooper, tells a story of filmmakers’ fascination with these
Born in 1949, Bluff-based Cilla McQueen is one of New Zealand’s best-loved poets. Poeta: Selected and New Poems brings together a definitive selection of her poetry spanning five decades, arrang