The New Zealand Historical Association

Everyone will have been profoundly shocked by the massacres in the Christchurch mosques on Friday afternoon. Many of us will find it hard to comprehend that such hatred could be held, and expressed, against people of Islamic faith, gathering for worship. We know that some of our members in Christchurch will have been close to … More Our thoughts with the people of Christchurch

In 2015, Germany welcomed about one million refugees. In the months following this act of humanitarian outreach, a fierce debate arose, sparked by a set of violent incidents on New Year’s Eve 2015/16. Media reports repeated already established stereotypes about Muslim men and their disregard for women and women’s rights, branding them sexual offenders. German … More Seminar: Eva Bischoff, ‘Facing the Uncanny: Masculinity and Race in Postcolonial Germany’

The exile after the Communist coup in 1948 in Czechoslovakia and the fate of Czechs and Slovaks abroad, who sought the return of freedom and democracy to their homeland are an integral part of Czech modern history. However, this phenomenon is still neglected and the general public has only fragmentary information about it.  Researchers are … More Seminar: Martin Nekola, ‘Czechoslovak Cold War Refugees in New Zealand’

Peter Wells’ death on 18 February 2019 brings to an end a life of remarkable creativity, courage and originality. To historians Peter may be best known for his two recent books: The Hungry Heart (2012), a study of the life of William Colenso, and Journey to a Hanging (2014) a study of Rev Volkner and … More Peter Wells, 1950-2019

Members will recall that the NZHA has supported the New Zealand History Teachers’ Association call, last year, for greater attention to the teaching of this country’s colonial history in secondary schools. The History Teachers’ Association has now launched a petition; the link and the accompanying media statement from Waitangi Day follow.  Please feel free to … More NZHTA puts petition to Parliament

A reminder that the closing date for the call for papers for our biennial conference is 31 March 2019. We welcome proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, buzz sessions and other forms of presentation. We particularly encourage proposals from post-graduate students, early career academics, teachers and those working with and for heritage institutions and collections. Dr … More NZHA Conference: Kanohi ki te Kanohi: Histories for our Time

The Waitangi Tribunal, based in Wellington, is currently advertising a Senior Researcher/Analyst role in the Research Services team. Applications are encouraged from those with broad and in-depth professional and intellectual knowledge of research methodology and a proven track record of delivering complex research assignments. Strong analytical skills and knowledge of, and expertise in, New Zealand … More Waitangi Tribunal careers: Senior Researcher/Analyst

The Waitangi Tribunal, based in Wellington, is currently advertising roles for Researcher/Analysts in the Research Services, Inquiry Facilitation, and Report Writing teams. These roles would suit someone with a tertiary qualification in New Zealand history, Māori studies, public policy, law or other relevant disciplines, or relevant professional experience. More information is available on the Ministry … More Waitangi Tribunal careers: Researcher/Analysts

The NZHA would like to congratulate the winners of the 2019 New Year Honours List. In particular, we acknowledge the works of Peter Lineham, Alison Jones, Edmund Bohan, Helene Wong, and Gaylene Preston for their contributions to historical fields. More information on this year’s Honours List can be found here: https://dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2019

The NZHA made a submission to the National Archival and Library Institutions Ministerial Group outlining our concerns regarding the restructuring of our national archival and library institutions (Archives New Zealand, the National Library of New Zealand, andNgā Taonga Sound and Vision). For the benefit of our members we post the response from NALI below, which … More NZHA submission to NALI

The New Zealand Historical Association extends its congratulations to the recipients of the 2019 Judith Binney Fellowships and Writing Awards. The Judith Binney Fellow for 2019 is Dr. Nēpia Mahuika (Ngāti Porou), Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Waikato. Three Judith Binney Writing Awards have also been announced. The recipients are: freelance writer … More Judith Binney Fellowship and Writing Awards Recipients Announced

‘France and beyond: the Global World of ‘Ngāti Wīwī’.  7-10 July 2020, Auckland.  [Tribe ‘Oui Oui’ was the local name for the French in NZ.]   In July 2020 the first ever Joint George Rudé Seminar and theSociety for French Historical Studies Conference will be held in Auckland hostedby the Universities of Auckland and Massey. Co-presidents Tracy … More Advance Notice: Joint George Rudé Seminar and the Society for French Historical Studies Conference

Kia hiwa rā! Kia hiwa rā! The New Zealand Historical Association invites proposals for papers and presentations at our biennial conference, to be held at Victoria University of Wellington Te Whare Wananga o Te Ūpoko o Te Ika a Māui, from the 27th to the 30th of November, 2019. Meetings, encounters, exchanges, kisses, words, conversations, … More NZHA Conference: Kanohi ki te Kanohi: Histories for our Time

The New Zealand Journal of History invites new and emerging scholars as well as established academics and historians to submit articles on any aspect of the history of New Zealand Aotearoa. This includes New Zealand’s relationship with the wider world, and specifically the Asia Pacific region. They particularly encourage topics relating to Māori history. Here … More New Zealand Journal of History Call for Papers

Postwar West Germans invented a word to describe the difficulty they had with talking about and acknowledging the atrocities they or their parents had committed during the Second World War: Vergangenheitsbewältigung—the attempt to cope with, work through, and overcome a difficult past. This process of Vergangenheitsbewältigung is not unique to Germany; in the wake of … More Public Lecture: Professor Alexander Freund, ‘My People’s Crimes: On the Difficulty of Talking About and Acknowledging One’s Nation’s Atrocities’

125 Years – 200 Events. Suffrage Week 2018 Wow, what a week! Events up and down the motu have been held to mark the 125th anniversary of women’s suffrage in Aotearoa New Zealand. On Suffrage Day, Wednesday 19 September, 200 events were officially notified. Probably many more took place, including the many schools, worksites, bookclubs, … More Charlotte Macdonald: A report following Suffrage Week 2018

The Family as Mnemonic Community symposium is being held at Victoria University of Wellington on 29th and 30th November 2018, preceded by a public lecture on the evening of Wednesday 28th November. The symposium includes an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers who will share their research on family memory and discuss the following broad … More Symposium: ‘The Family as Mnemonic Community’, Victoria University of Wellington

The Ministry of Culture and Heritage is currently is seeking an historian to research and write a major print history of A Company of the 28 Māori Battalion in the Second World War. The book is envisaged as a large-format and richly illustrated work of 80,000–100,000 words, designed to appeal to a general audience. For … More Ministry of Culture and Heritage: Historian/Senior Historian position vacant

The New Zealand Women Historians’ Forum have recently launched a new website as ‘a place to connect, share and advance the work of women historians of Aotearoa New Zealand’. It’s a great initiative, thoroughly endorsed by the NZHA, so please take the time to check it out and engage with your fellow historians!   https://newzealandwomenhistoriansforum.wordpress.com/

Nearly a hundred historians of women’s history met in Portsmouth, UK to commemorate and reflect on the British women’s suffrage campaign at its centennial.  The call was for an international conference and this call was met by a good turn out of historians from seventeen different countries, including New Zealand, Australia, Eastern Europe, the Nordic … More Monica Webb: Reflections from Portsmouth: Women’s History Network Suffrage Centennial Conference

The Judith Binney Trust has just opened applications for the inaugural Judith Binney Fellowships and Writing Awards – and we would be glad if you would circulate this information to the people in your organisation or networks who might be interested. For information about the Fellowships and Awards, please see www.judithbinneytrust.org.nz   Applications for 2019 tenure … More 2019 Judith Binney Fellowships and Writing Awards

Hear iwi share their stories about influential leader Te Kooti – resistance fighter, prophet, writer, and founder of the Ringatū faith. When: Sat 8 Sep 2018, 10.00am–5.00pm Where: Soundings Theatre, Level 2, and Te Marae, Level 4 Cost:  $20 (includes lunch and afternoon tea) https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/whats-on/events/te-kooti-voices-iwi

Ngā iwi o Tāmaki Makaurau – Celebrating the heritage of our people From 29 September to 14 October Discover the colourful characters and diverse cultures and communities who have shaped Tāmaki Makaurau through the years. Explore the sacred spaces of the beautiful Bharatiya Mandir Hindu temple, marvel at Gottfried Lindauer’s majestic Māori portraits, tour Eden … More Auckland Heritage Festival 2018

In 1964 a committee of the ‘great and good’ was established to select suitable designs for the reverses of New Zealand’s forthcoming decimal coinage. It was long believed that the committee’s archive was lost, destroyed at the behest of the then Minister of Finance, Robert Muldoon, by obedient state servants. However, a virtually complete run … More Seminar: Dr Mark Stocker, ‘Muldoon’s Money? New Revelations on the 1967 Decimal Coinage Designs’

Auckland-based landscape architecture studio Xanthe White Design Stuido have teamed up with Uru Whakaaro Limited to build a garden for peace in Le Quesnoy, a village in northern France, as part of the 100 year commemoration of World War 1. The village was freed from German occupation by New Zealand soldiers on the 4th November 1918 … More Rangimarie – A New Zealand Garden for Peace in Le Quesnoy, France

Historians of women in, founding father out Historians of women meeting for the five-yearly conference of the International Federation in Vancouver found themselves in the midst of a local controversy about what to do with a man. The man in question was John A. Macdonald, Canada’s first prime minister and one of the Fathers of … More Charlotte Macdonald: A report from the International Federation for Research on Women’s History Conference (Vancouver)

To commemorate 125 years of women’s suffrage, WORD Christchurch in partnership with National Library of New Zealand and Royal Society Te Apārangi have assembled a panel of extraordinary New Zealand women to discuss how far we have come since women were granted the vote, and how far we still have to go in the fight for gender … More Panel Seminar: ‘125 Years: Are we there yet?’

Damon Salesa explores this question in a public lecture, based on the Michael King Memorial Lecture he delivered to a standing-room-only audience at the Auckland Writers Festival in May. Setting a course through the ‘islands’ of Pacific life in New Zealand – Otara, Porirua, Tokoroa, Oamaru and beyond – Salesa envisions a country becoming ‘more … More Seminar: Damon Salesa, ‘Island Time’

Missionaries in western India (Maharashtra) used a variety of methods to impart education in the 19th and 20th centuries, including direct preaching of the Gospel at Central Station, combined Christian and general education, public lecturing and private classes, assisting in translation, Missionary itinerancies, pastoral care of converts and training converts for the ministry. Many of … More Seminar: Dr Neeta M. Khandpekar, ‘Christian Missionaries in Western India (Maharashtra)’

The NZHA has received the following communication regarding natural history collections at Te Papa from Dr James Braund, a science historian and honorary research fellow at the University of Auckland; the issues raised may be of interest to members. As you might have heard, plans are now well advanced to reduce the number of specialist … More Proposed staff redundancies at Te Papa

In the referendum to be held on 4 November 2018 on the future of New Caledonia and its relationship with France, “New Caledonians” will be asked “Do you want New Caledonia to accede to full sovereignty and become independent? Yes or No?” The referendum is the latest development in 165 years of France’s formal presence … More Seminar: Dr Adrian Muckle, ‘Yes or No? New Caledonia’s forthcoming Referendum on Independence’

• To honour the late Dame Judith Binney / Te Tōmairangi o Te Aroha • To inaugurate the Judith Binney Fellowships On Tuesday 14 August at 5.45 for 6 p.m. At the National Library, Molesworth Street, Wellington Speakers: Atholl Anderson (Chair), Cybèle Locke, Damon Salesa, Melissa Matutina Williams, Rawinia Higgins, Bridget Williams This welcome is … More Judith Binney Trust Celebration

By January 1802, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) had, more or less, come to accept that his attempt to persuade the British government to build his panopticon prison was doomed to fail. After a decade of lobbying, beset by impasses and obstructions, Bentham concluded that he and the panopticon had been victims of ministers and … More Seminar: Dr Tim Causer, ‘The evacuation of that scene of wickedness and wretchedness’: Jeremy Bentham, the panopticon prison, and New South Wales, 1802-3’

The NZHA is proud to announce that next year’s conference will be entitled ‘Kanohi-ki-te-Kanohi: Histories for our Time’. The theme welcomes explorations from all types of historical backgrounds and topics, with a particular focus on ‘Face to Face / Kanohi-ki-te-Kanohi’ encounters. The conference will be held at Victoria University, Wellington in November 2019. Further details … More NZHA History Conference 2019 – ‘Kanohi-ki-te-Kanohi: Histories for our Time’

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Come and hear Indira Chowdhury discuss Oral History and Postcolonial Archives in India, followed by a facilitated discussion. 9.30am – 12.15pm, Friday 27 July 2018 45 Pipitea Street (Department of Internal Affairs) Register your interest by Friday 20 July to resourcesnohanz@gmail.com with Indira Wellington in the subject line. There will be a charge of $20 … More Seminar: India Chowdhury, ‘Voices and Forms of Cultural Memory’

Dame Claudia Orange has been elected a Companion of the Royal Society Te Aparangi ‘for her long and distinguished record of service to the humanities’ and particularly ‘her work to improve public awareness, knowledge and understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi, of New Zealand biography, and of the role of museums in telling “our nation’s … More Dame Claudia Orange made Companion by Royal Society Te Aparangi

Blamed for one of Britain’s worst bank collapses in the nineteenth century, to being the first to export New Zealand frozen meat and dairy, Antipodean Empire tells the history of a company’s journey, transforming the raw lands of southern New Zealand into productive farms that are still at the heart of pastoral and agricultural production … More Book: Noel Crawford, ‘Antipodean Empire’

The National Oral History Association of New Zealand and Ngā Pātaka Kōrero o Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland Libraries invite you to a presentation and discussion with visiting oral historian Indira Chowdhury. Abstract: This presentation draws on my attempts over the last decade and a half to create archives of different institutions and organisations in the context … More Seminar: Indira Chowdhury, ‘Unheard Voices and Forms of Cultural Memory: Oral History and the Postcolonial Archives in India’

The New Zealand India Research Institute and National Oral History Organisation presents: Commemoration and the Remembered Past: Communities, Places and Memories of displacement by Indira Chowdhury Founder-Director of the Centre for Public History at the Srishti Institute of Art, Design, and Technology, Bengaluru The Partition Museum in Amritsar was inaugurated on 17 August 2017, seventy … More Seminar: Indira Chowdhury, ‘Commemoration and the Remembered Past: Communities, Places and Memories of displacement’

The LHP invites you to our 2018 AGM and a panel discussion with Cybèle Locke, Kassie Hartendorp and Lyndy McIntyre. Campaigns for Wage Justice – Past and Present When: Monday 16 July Where: Wellington Museum Time: 5.30 pm for refreshments / 6pm AGM begins Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/2122382714642868  The Service and Food Workers’ Union and … More Labour History Project AGM: Campaigns for Wage Justice – Past and Present

By January 1802, the philosopher Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) had, more or less, come to accept that his attempt to persuade the British government to build his panopticon prison was doomed to fail. After a decade of lobbying, beset by impasses and obstructions, Bentham concluded that he and the panopticon had been victims of ministers and … More Seminar: Dr Tim Causer, ‘The evacuation of that scene of wickedness and wretchedness’: Jeremy Bentham, the panopticon prison, and New South Wales, 1802-3

There is concern that the preventable and irreversible loss of heritage buildings is occurring in New Zealand. The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is undertaking an assessment of New Zealand’s system for protecting heritage buildings to inform work on how their system could be enhanced. To help inform this assessment, the Ministry for Culture and … More Survey on strengthening New Zealand’s protection system for heritage buildings

The American National Humanities Alliance have recently launched Study the Humanities, a new website designed to help make the case for the value of studying the humanities as an undergraduate. The website aggregates available quantitative and qualitative data that make the case that the humanities help students succeed in a wide range of careers and … More Study the Humanities website launched

The University of Auckland calls for expressions of interest to co-edit the New Zealand Journal of History. Owned by the University of Auckland, the Journal will be produced in Auckland and one of the editors will be University of Auckland-based. The University seeks a co-editor, who can be based anywhere in New Zealand, to work with Linda Bryder, … More Call for expressions of interest to co-edit the New Zealand Journal of History

‘Now that’s what I call history: New historians conference’, August 27-28, 2018, Victoria University There is no single way to research, write, or create history. Often beginning with the personal or the particular, our research communicates the kinds of histories we would like to see told, in the ways we would like to tell them. … More Conference: Victoria University, ‘Now that’s what I call history: New Historians Conference 2018’

Community, Conflict, and “the Meaning of America” Australian and New Zealand American Studies Association Conference 14-16 July 2019 The University of Auckland, New Zealand In 1939, Perry Miller published the first volume of The New England Mind, a foundational text in American Studies.  Looking back, he regarded this book as part of his life’s study … More Conference: ANZASA, ‘Community, Conflict, and “the Meaning of America”‘

New Zealand’s community of European farm wives shared a deeply ingrained philosophy in the mid-20th century and outsiders described the community as immune to change. But how did that community respond to the surge in feminism, women ‘s liberation and towards a more permissive society that took place globally and in New Zealand from the … More Seminar: David Hall, ‘Emerging from a snug and safe cocoon: New Zealand farm wives and feminism in the 20th century’

As the nexus of education and advancement in the common law, the medieval Inns of Court were vibrant and sometimes unruly places. Students and seasoned practitioners lived there together, learning the law and cultivating careers but also dining, drinking and carousing with their fellows. The enduring influence of the Inns on English legal culture is … More Seminar: ‘Manhood, Learning and Legal Authority at England’s Medieval Inns of Court’, Amanda McVitty

We expect a call for entries for the 2019 NZHA book awards to be issued in February next year and will advertise a formal date closer to the time.  

Authors have always used fiction to grapple with the social anxieties of their day and imagine futures both good and bad. Disruption by new technologies, the blending of humans and machines, an end to illness, and human-induced destruction of the environment have all been at the centre of plays, novels and poetry for centuries. But … More Stranger Than Fiction Seminar Series – Stout Research Centre

In 1900, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was the final court of appeal for one-quarter of the world’s people.  It was a key institution of the British Empire.  Despite the major exodus from the Judicial Committee’s jurisdiction in the two decades following the Second World War, New Zealand’s commitment remained steadfast. In 1983, … More Seminar: ‘Leaving their Lordships – Changing New Zealand’s final Appellate Court’, Patrick McCabe

For the past few decades mediation has been optimistically heralded as the “way of the future” in New Zealand’s legal system.  The history of mediation in NZ can be traced back to developments in industrial relations in the late 19th century, but as a self-aware, dynamic, widespread movement its beginnings are much more recent.  Led … More Seminar: ‘Towards a History of Mediation in New Zealand’, Dr Grant Morris

The Royal Society Te Apārangi has two upcoming National lecture series that may be of some interest to NZHA members:   Ornamental to detrimental: The invasion of New Zealand by non-native plants Palmerston North | Palmerston North Central Library, Events Central – register for Palmerston North 7:30pm Wednesday 9 May Napier | EIT, Lecture Theatre … More Upcoming Royal Society Te Aparangi National Lecture Series

The National Oral History Association of New Zealand (NOHANZ) invites abstract submissions for their biennial conference to be held at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, Wednesday 28 and Thursday 29 of November 2018. This year the theme of their conference focuses on the sweet sound of the voice, the singers of tales (te waha kairongorongo), … More Call for Submissions: NOHANZ Biennial Conference 2018

The National Library is interested in finding out what you would like to see on Papers Past – more newspapers, some magazines, the NZ Gazettes, perhaps some books? Fill out their survey by following the link below and let them know. The survey will be open until Friday 9 March. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PapersPast

The University of Canterbury has a two-year fixed-term lecturer’s position in New Zealand History position available. Applications close on 30 November. Details online here.

NZHA is grateful to Jock Phillips and Tom Brooking who took on the large task of judging this year’s History book prizes. The W. H. Oliver Prize is awarded biennially to the best book on any aspect of New Zealand history published. The Best First Book Prize is a new prize, being offered for the … More Short-lists announced for NZHA book prizes

The Department of History and Art History at Otago will be hosting Sir Richard J. Evans, Regius Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Cambridge this October. He is arguably one of the best known historians in the world. Sir Richard is currently President of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and Provost of Gresham College in London. … More Sir Richard J Evans, Wellington, Sunday 15 October

We are delighted to have Professor Mary Jane McCallum, University of Winnipeg, join the line-up of keynote guests at this year’s NZHA conference, Histories Meet. Mary Jane generously agreed to us sharing this abridged version of a talk about Indigenous developments in her History Department that she gave recently as part of the University of … More Thinking about Indigenization in the University

Yes, it has. Go to the Histories Meet website for details and to register.

The National Oral History Association of New Zealand (NOHANZ) regrets to advise that the visit of internationally renowned oral historian Indira Chowdhury to Aotearoa, which was scheduled for Auckland and Wellington in September, has now been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.  

Members of the public have until 9 September to comment on recommendations for the disposal of public records destroyed or damaged as a direct result of the Hurunui-Kaikoura earthquake and aftershocks. Archives New Zealand has notified its Intention to Dispose under the Public Records Act 2005, which you can read online here. Other Intentions to … More Archives NZ, Intentions to Dispose

You’ll have to be quick if you want to apply of the Principal Historian position at the Waitangi Tribunal. Applications close tomorrow. Apologies for the late posting.

The Royal Society Early Career Researcher Forum is running a three-minute video competition for early career researchers and postgraduate students. Organisers say ‘the spirit of the competition is to uncover great science and research stories’ from any discipline in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences. Entries close on 8 September. Find out all you need … More 150 Years of Discovery: Emerging Research Awards

Holly Walker and Barbara Brookes in conversation at the Auckland Art Gallery this Sunday, 13 August, at 3pm. Looks good.

Put your MA in Maori Studies or History to work at the Office of Treaty Settlements. Applications for three permanent positions and one contract close on Tuesday 15 August. Click here for details.

No worries: according to the NZHA kumara vine, the submission portal will remain open into next week.

The Auckland History Initiative is delighted to announce that it will award a prize of $350 for the best graduate student presentation in the Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland theme at this year’s NZHA conference. Details about criteria and how to enter will be posted on the Histories Meet conference website.

Applications to fund initiatives and events that commemorate the New Zealand Wars are open now and close on 9 August. Find out all you need to know: click here.