Heritage et AL

In 1849, Auckland, the capital of the recently established colony of New Zealand, was a centre of cultural flux. Māori, settlers, traders, government, and missionaries navigated their relationships to each other and Tāmaki Makaurau amidst colliding cultures and disputes over land and authority. By this time, the Manukau Harbour had become a flourishing centre of Māori-missionary relations, boasting prosperous agriculture, trade, and an enthusiastic adoption of Wesleyan Methodist faith. However, the Manukau’s peaceful bi-cultural exchange would be short lived, ending as tensions between the settler government and Māori developed into the Waikato War. Manukau tribes Ngāti Te Ata Waiohua and Ngāti Tamaoho had close ancestral ties with the Waikato. After the establishment of the Kīngitanga in Waikato in 1858, Māori in Manukau were treated with increasing suspicion by the settler government and many fled or were evicted from their homes by July 1863. A unique perspective into their experien...

Last year in the Special Collections reading room I came across a slim volume titled Religion and theosophy, a lecture delivered on Sunday afternoon in the City Hall, Auckland, New Zealand on Sunday afternoon, March 26th, 1893 by Lilian Edger, M.A. Intrigued by the title I wondered about who the woman was who had given this lecture. After a little digging I found Lilian Edger was a scholar, lecturer, author, educator and prominent Theosophist. More well-known is her older sister Kate who was the first woman in New Zealand to gain a university degree. Lilian was also an outstanding scholar, obtaining her B.A. at 18 and her M.A. with double first-class honours a year later from Canterbury College. Ref: Theosophy in New Zealand, New Series v.7:no.2, April-June 1946, page 47, Auckland Libraries, SERIAL 212 T39.

Ref: Vincent O'Malley. The great war for New Zealand, Waikato 1800-2000,  Bridget Williams Books, 2016, Auckland Libraries, 993.3 OMAL. On 12 July 1863 British Imperial Army troops crossed the Mangatāwhiri River which marked the boundary between British occupied territory and land under the authority of the Kingitanga (the Māori King movement). The crossing of this boundary by military troops, just south of the city of Auckland, was a declaration of war. The invasion of the Waikato had begun. Ref: Sketch map of the North Island of New Zealand, shewing approximately the loyal and rebel districts, 1869, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, Map 2563a.   Vincent O’Malley’s latest work The great war for New Zealand: Waikato 1800-2000 provides a vast repository of research to support his view that the Waikato war, the epicentre of the New Zealand land wars, was the defining conflict in the history of Aotearoa New Zealand. He believes that the war had a greater imp...

Now on in the J.T. Diamond Room, Waitakere Central Library is our Dalmatians out west exhibition. The exhibition features images from Auckland’s Dalmatian community and will run until 30 August 2016. This is the second in a series of blog posts based on the themes in the exhibition. Music, dance, social occasions and weddings Music and dance were mostly the domain of the two Yugoslav organisations , the Yugoslav Club Inc., and the Yugoslav Benevolent Society (The Croatian Benevolent Society).  Annual Ballroom competitions were conducted and cups were given out to the best foxtrot, waltz and tango dancers.  Ref:  Sisters Danica and Fleur Martinovich dressed for the ball in dresses they made themselves, 1946.  West Auckland Research Centre, Auckland Libraries. DGHS Collection.

Now on in the J.T. Diamond Room, Waitakere Central Library is our Dalmatians out west exhibition. The exhibition features images from Auckland’s Dalmatian community and will run until 30 August 2016. This is the first in a series of blog posts based on the themes in the exhibition. Early Dalmatian settlers of West Auckland The first Yugoslavs to settle in New Zealand are thought to be sailors from the Frigate Novara which berthed in Auckland in 1858. There was then a small influx of Dalmatian migrants, mainly from Podgora, in the mid to late 1870s with many working in the gumfields around Dargaville, Ahipara and Riverhead. In 1903 the first vineyard in Oratia was established by Ivan and Katherine Vella, the first Dalmatians to arrive in the district, and by 1913 they had six acres of grapes. They also grew apples and peaches on the land. In 1904 Tony Borich, Mate Borich, Jack Sunde and Stanko and Lovre Marinovich bought 160 acres of land in Oratia. Ref:  Lov...

The horse has had a long history in NZ and were first introduced to NZ in the 19th century. European settlers relied heavily on horses to transport everything, not quite the kitchen sink but almost! Horses were essential for farming and were the main form of transport in both rural and city areas for European settlers and Māori. The first iwi to have a horse was Ngā Puhi. They were given a mare, which was one of the first horses introduced into NZ. Horses were later traded with other iwi and used in the New Zealand Wars during the 1860s. Whilst not native to NZ, the horse has adapted well to the environment. By the 1870s, there were feral herds in the central plateau in the North Island, which came to be referred to as the Kaimanawa horses.These 'wild' horses are associated with the Ngāti Tūwharetoa people, particularly the Ngāti Tama Whiti hapū. Horses have remained popular and many people take still take part in horse riding and attend racing activities. Keen to find ...

Highly adaptive, intelligent and capable of eating pretty much anything, pigs are one of the real survivors of the animal kingdom. Pigs have long been domesticated by humans and this close relationship is evident in the number of sayings in the English language, which relate to pigs - most of which are not very flattering to the poor pig! These idioms, many of which are seen as clichés, include: 'fat as a pig', 'making a pig of oneself', 'pig in a poke', 'happy as a pig in mud', 'road hog', 'porky pies'. Expressions about pigs are also found in other countries around the world including Europe and Africa. In NZ, early explorers brought with them a range of new food sources including pigs. Pigs became an important food for Māori and were often gifted to other iwi. Pigs and baskets of potatoes were also used as a form of currency. Further, feral pigs along with seals, goats, shellfish and roots were an important food source for shipwrecke...