The Great War for New Zealand tells the story of the defining conflict in New Zealand history. War in the Waikato in 1863-64 shaped the nation in all kinds of ways, setting back Māori and Pākehā relations by several generations, marking an end to any hopes of meaningful partnership and allowing the government to begin to assert the kind of real control over the country that had eluded it since 1840. Spanning nearly two centuries from first contacts in the Waikato in the early nineteenth century through to settlement and apology in 1995, Vincent O’Malley’s book focuses on the human impact of the war, its origins and aftermath.
In this presentation, Vincent O’Malley reflects on the book’s key messages and its reception, just over a year after publication, and following the inaugural national day of commemoration for the New Zealand Wars. Has the call for New Zealanders to own their history, warts and all, been heeded?
Vincent O’Malley is a founding partner of HistoryWorks, a Wellington consultancy specialising in Treaty of Waitangi research, and is the author of many books on New Zealand history.
Recorded at the National Library of New Zealand, 1 November 2017
The Platform: the radical legacy of the Polynesian Panthers
Crossing the lines: the story of three homosexual New Zealand soldiers in WW2
Reflecting on the value of social media as a history-research tool
Dissenting Voices – New Zealand and the South African War 1899–1902
Inside the Bubble
Kei roto i te miru: inside the bubble
‘Palmy Proud’? Audience and Approach in Writing the History of a Provincial City
Tamihana Te Rauparaha’s life of Te Rauparaha
Te Mana O Te Reo Māori
Unpacking the Suitcase
Māori women and the armed forces in WWII
Memorials, names and ethical remembering
‘Protest Tautohetohe: Objects of Resistance, Persistence and Defiance’
Wairoa Lockout: an oral history
Pūkana: moments in Māori performance
This Mortal Boy
100 years of the Tararua Tramping Club
The Hidden Women of the Public Stage
My Body, My Business
Ocean: tales of voyaging and encounter that defined New Zealand
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Dark Histories
The Best Song Podcast
Irish Songs with Ken Murray
The Rest Is History
American Scandal