NZ History

In 1875 the clipper Strathmore ploughs into the jagged rocks of the remote Crozet Islands, en route to New Zealand, drowning half her passengers and crew. Left alive are a 3-year-old boy, 47 men and Fanny Wordsworth, the author's great-great-great grandmother. This compelling narrative tells the story of her courage, and survival, against the odds. First published 2010.

Reprint, previously out of print. Small format. This concise little book tells you about 40 million of New Zealand's inhabitants - sheep! It describes sheep farming in the North and South Islands, the history of farming, the farming year, sheepdogs, shearing, mustering and agricultural shows. The book is an ideal introduction to New Zealand's sheep farming industry. The text is illustrated throughout with colour photographs. The author Dr Clive Dalton came to New Zealand to do sheep research and spent many years helping to get rese... read more

At the heart of this groundbreaking book are personal stories from women who have had abortions. Their experiences - which encompass suffering and resilience, isolation and community - are deeply moving, and vividly convey forty years of change.

From the late 1950s to the mid 1980s, when most of them were closed down, the New Zealand government maintained 26 residences for children and teenagers. Some of those children had the bad fortune to come from families with large numbers of children and who couldn't cope financially. Plucking a child out and putting him in a home to ease the burden was seen as a solution. Other children in came from profoundly dysfunctional backgrounds or were profoundly dysfunctional themselves. Could putting them all together in close quarters, s... read more

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When Europeans landed in New Zealand in the nineteenth century, they brought with them a culture that had been shaped over thousands of years - a culture that determined their values and attitudes, their food and dwellings, their occupations and recreation. In the crates and portmanteaus carried off the ships were the material trappings of that culture. While many excellent general histories begin with the arrival of Maori and Europeans in New Zealand, this epic and fascinating book goes back to the beginning to address some fundam... read more

Fascinating tales about 50 of New Zealands most notorious citizens from 1806 until the present.

Finalist in the General Non-Fiction category NZ Post Book Awards 2010.. Beyond the Battlefield by Gerald Hensley is the dramatic unknown story of New Zealand's involvement in World War II told for the first time here in an accessible, popular and enjoyable read. Savage, Nash, Fraser, Freyberg, Churchill, Roosevelt, Menzies, all great names from New Zealand and world history during the Second World War and all involved in the story of New Zealand's response to the global conflict and therefore the destiny of our nation.

Promised New Zealand is the true tale of refugees who fled Nazi terror in Europe for a safe haven on the opposite side of the world ÃÃÂÂÂ&Acir... read more

Full of brightly coloured memories and glittering things, with contributions from those who were there, let Dr Glam be your guide through the glorious decade when orange and brown vinyl reigned supreme and too much was never enough.

The wreck in 1866 of the General Grant in the desolate sub-Antarctic Auckland Islands is one of the world's great nautical mysteries, a story that still tantalises and thrills. When the ship was crushed in a cave beneath a sheer cliff face, a few crew members and a handful of passengers managed to escape in a lifeboat. For more than two years they lived a hand-to-mouth existence on a nearby island before they were rescued. This story is extraordinary in itself, but soon compelling legends spread that the ship had sunk with a fabulo... read more

The complete history and operation of Denniston's Incline.With much new information and many previously unpublished photographs, this work details the incline and its supporting industries. Chapters include the history, functional operation of the incline, operation of the Conn's Creek branch railway, the people that made it work, rolling stock, Westport wharves, and the current attractions at Denniston today.

Promised Land is an illustrated history of Central Otago's settlement by one of the region's most vocal advocates, artist Grahame Sydney. Before gold was discovered there in 1862, Central Otago was known as the 'Wasteland' and was home to no more than 40 to 50 pastoralists. However as soon as two prospectors announced they had struck gold, this sparse, inhospitable region was suddenly transformed into a secular 'Promised Land', into which legions of hopefuls marched, energised by dreams of earthly reward. Unfortunately the majority... read more

Lighthouses have a mystique, a romance, and an almost biblical significance about them. Elegant structures located on remote and exposed sites where the land is challenged by the sea, they beam light into the darkness and transform uncertainty into knowledge and safety. They are the subject of legends and yarns, shanties and poems, written and oral history around the world. New Zealand's lighthouses - their location, design, construction, operation and demanning - have been well documented in Helen Beaglehole's comprehensive histor... read more

Soon after the missionaries arrived in nineteenth-century New Zealand, Maori began converting to protestant Christianity in large numbers. Without the manpower or materials to build their own churches, missionaries largely relied on Maori to build houses of worship. As a result, the early churches drew on strands from the British ecclesiastical tradition as well as elements from Maori art and architecture to produce a distinctive and arresting new style. The last of these whare-style churches was destroyed when the Rangiatea church... read more

New Zealand Historians Write About Where History Happened A number of New Zealand’s leading historians write about their own favourite historical places – where the past comes alive. Special events or times in our history are linked with their own personal memories and the physical presence of these places today. Anne Salmond muses on her home town of Gisborne, Jock Phillips visits Wanganui, John Wilson recalls adventures on Stewart Island, Michael Kelly reflects on the Basin Reserve, and the fate of the Kiwis at Ga... read more

The 2002 election, called unexpectedly, was both a landmark and a puzzle. "Voters' Veto", and authoritative account of this election, is the fifth book in AUP's 'Vowles and Aimer' servies of electoral studies, which began in 1993 and is based on surveys of over 5000 voters and data from election candidates. It continues a unique and immensely valuable ongoing picture of New Zealand voters' behaviour over more than a decade of change and drama. The book studies the 2002 campaign, the candidates, the media, the issues, the leaders, ... read more

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In Reading on the Farm, Lydia Wevers uses the library on Brancepeth Station in the Wairarapa, its staff and users as the ground for an extended reflection on the meaning of books, reading and intellectual life in colonial New Zealand. Drawing on station records, the archive produced by the library, and the books themselves, she offers a compelling interpretation of the social world of books and the cultural significance of reading. The books themselves come to life, in close examination of their borrowing histories, physical condit... read more

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