See our display of books on Waitangi Day and Early New Zealand History

1. WAITANGI
DAY

2. Tāhuhu Kōrero
The Sayings of Taitokerau
Merata Kawharu
Photographs by Krzysztof Pfeiffer
A collection of about 200 proverbs and
sayings from the Taitokerau region –
stretching from Auckland to Cape Reinga.
It offers insights into interpreting heritage,
cultural values, and the contemporary
relevance of these oral forms.
Auckland University Press 2008

3. The Ngai Tahu Deeds
A Window on New Zealand History
Harry C Evison
Treaty of Waitangi
Deeds – New Zealand South Island
Kāi Tahu (New Zealand people)
Land tenure, History & Maps
Kāi Tahu (New Zealand people)
Government relations
New Zealand History 1840-1853
Facsimiles on lining papers,
Indexed
Canterbury University Press
2006

4. Early New Zealand History
Includes translation of selected
extracts from French records of
the visit (Duperrey, Dumont
D’Urville, Rene Primavere
Lesson and Jules de Blosseville
and reproductions of previously
unpublished illustrations from
the atlas of Jules le Jeune
1971

5. An Illustrated History of
The Treaty of Waitangi
Claudia Orange
This book builds on the author’s award-
winning Treaty of Waitangi, using a
wonderful range of photographs, maps and
paintings to bring the Treaty’s history to life.
Descriptions of key players and moments sit
alongside a clear and informative text that
helps explain the history of this key
document.
Two peoples meeting, agreements made
and broken, claims and protests; all are a
part of the story of the Treaty from before its
signing to the present day.
Never before have the Treaty’s stories been
made so accessible to the general reader.
Allen & Unwin
1990

6. The Meeting Place
Māori and Pākehā Encounters, 1642-1840
Vincent O’Malley
The Meeting Place is an examination of
relationships between Māori and Pākehā
focusing predominantly on the period 1814
to 1840 when, the author argues, both
peoples lived/inhabited a ‘middle ground’
– in the historian Richard White’s phrase –
in which neither could dictate the political,
economic or cultural rules. O’Malley begins
by introducing readers to pre-1814
encounters between Māori and European
from Tasman and Cook to sealers and
whalers. He then provides a thematic
analysis of the 1814 to 1840 period, looking at
economic, religious, political and sexual
encounters as Māori and Pākehā sorted
through the meanings of land, money, gods,
leaders and sex. Finally, he looks at why and
how the middle ground gave way to a world
in which Pākehā had enough power to
dictate terms.
Auckland University Press 2012

7. Pakeha Maori
The extraordinary story of the Europeans
who lived as Māori in early New Zealand
Trevor Bentley
In early 1800s several thousand runaway
seamen and escaped convicts settled in
Māori communities. This is their largely untold
story. They were regarded as unsavoury
renegades by the European settlers, but
amongst Māori they were usually welcomed.
Many took Māori wives and were treated as
Māori, others were treated as slaves. Some
received the moko. Others became virtual
white chiefs and fought in battle with their
adopted tribe; a few even against European
soldiers, advising their fellow fighters about
European infantry and artillery tactics. In this,
the first-ever book devoted solely to the
Pakeha Māori, the author describes in
fascinating detail how the strangers entered
Māori communities, adapted to tribal life
and played a significant role in the merging
of the two cultures. Main focus is on the
period 1799-1840 when Pakeha Māori had
significant political, economic and social
importance in tribal New Zealand.

8. Sketches From Early New Zealand
Some Nineteenth Century Engravings
Compiled by James Buchanan
Introduced by Laurie Barber
Based upon material from
The Illustrated London news,
The Saturday magazine,
The Pictorial weekly,
The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News,
L’univers Illustre
The Graphic
David Bateman
1985

9. The Whale’s Wake
Harry Morton 1982
A History of whaling and whalers in New
Zealand and the South West Pacific
British politician and author Sir John Eldon Gorst (1835-1916) arrived in New
Zealand in 1860, shortly after the outbreak of the Taranaki Wars, with
idealistic intentions of working with Bishop Selwyn and the Maori. He took on
various governmental roles that required contact with the Maori. In 1864 he
published this book, analysing the social and economic situation in New
Zealand, the rapid deterioration of relations between Maori and Europeans
(which he ascribes largely to errors and neglect on the part of the British
administration) and Maori demands for self-government. He describes,
often as an eye-witness, the complex political wrangling that took place,
and sets out his own views about the past and future relations between the
two ethnic groups.

10. Wiremu Tamihana
Rangatira
Evelyn Stokes
A biography compiled from the writings of
Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi Te Waharoa
c1805-1866, a Ngāti Hauā chief. He led a
remarkable life and played a leading role
in the establishment of the Kīngitanga
movement and the election of Pōtatau Te
Wherowhero as the first Māori King.
Huia Publishers
2002

11. Redemption Songs
A Life of Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki
Judith Binney
Book of the Year 1996,
New Zealand Book Awards
Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki was one of the best-known Māori
leaders of the 19th century. Today he is remembered mostly as
a guerrilla fighter, a feared opponent of colonial forces with a
price on his head. The stereotype does him little justice.
Throughout his adult life, in both war and peace, he sought to
redeem his people, and the land. He found the Ringatu
church, which continues to this day. The causes of Te Kooti’s
struggles are larger than personal injustice, he fought a was
against land confiscation and illegal land purchases. Though
frequently described as a murderer, he limited his attacks –
even the most notorious, at Matawhero, Poverty Bay in 1868 –
to specific targets for precise reasons. Judith Binney has drawn
on numerous sources in writing this book. Traces of Te Kooti’s
many journeys remain throughout the North Island, and he left
records of his remarkable life not only in government files, but in
personal letters and diaries, as well as in songs, stories and
sayings among his own people in many places. This biography
conveys the Ringatu perspectives alongside a fresh account of
major events in New Zealand’s 19th century history.
Auckland University Press 1995

12. Tāngata Ngāi Tahu
People of Ngāi Tahu
Compiled by
Helen Brown & Takerei Nort
on (illustrator)
Te Runanga o Ngāi Tahu
This book remembers and celebrates the rich and
diverse lives of the people of Ngāi Tahu.
Spanning time, geography and Kaupapa, fifty
biographies bring Ngāi Tahu history into the present.
The people in the book have contributed to their iwi,
hapū and whanau in myriad ways, here are tohunga
and Rangatira, community leaders, activists and
scholars, fishermen and farmers, sportspeople,
weavers, musicians and many more. All are
descendants of Waitaha, Ngāti Māmoe and Ngāi
Tahu, united by whakapapaka,; they are Tangata
Ngāi Tahi.
Produced by the Ngai Tahu Archive Team to coincide
with the twentieth anniversary of the Ngai Tahu Deed
of Settlement.