Heritage et AL

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...

Background After the signing of  Te Tiriti o Waitangi – The Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 the European population of Aotearoa New Zealand began to increase rapidly. Settlers wanted land. From early on, the area around Mt Taranaki had been identified as ideal land for British settlement. The New Zealand Company , an organisation which focused on colonisation and land sales, was involved in the settlement of New Plymouth and several extremely dubious land purchases in Taranaki in the late 1830s and early 1840s. New Zealand Company artist Charles Heaphy produced an enticing, idealised painting of Mt Egmont / Mt Taranaki to attract potential migrants. However, there was nothing to indicate that this was the ancestral tribal land of Te Ātiawa and other Taranaki Māori. When the new Colonial government was established, land purchase officers were officially appointed to purchase Māori land for the Crown, as outlined in the Treaty. Ref:  Heaphy, Charles, 1820-...

Below are eleven of my favourite digitised maps from Sir George Grey Special Collections . There are over 8000 maps in Sir George Grey Special Collections and about 1600 have been digitised.  Ref: New Zealand lighthouse chart, 1900, Sir George Grey Special Collections,  Auckland Libraries, NZ Map 516 A pictorial map showing where lighthouses are situated around the New Zealand coast. Ref: Campbell's beach estate, 1908, Sir George Grey Special Collections,  Auckland Libraries, NZ Map 6564 This map can be classified as real estate advertising. It shows allotments  for sale in Campbell's Bay on Auckland's North Shore.  Ref: 15 freehold allotments, 1865, Sir George Grey Special Collections, Auckland Libraries, NZ Map 4475-5 The map above, with careful illustrations of trees and houses, is from the nineteenth century and shows allotments for sale off Queen Street, Auckland. Ref: George Treacy Stevens, Auckland, 1886, Sir George Grey ...