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Item British humanitarians and the founding of New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand. EMBARGOED to 14 November 2026.(Massey University, 2024) Wyatt, PhilippaThis thesis reconsiders the intentions of the British humanitarians who sought to implement a ‘new system’ of ‘humane colonisation’ inaugurated by the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. It addresses two principal questions. First, it attempts to understand how scholarly interpretations regarding humanitarians have changed over time and come increasingly to deny any protective intentions. It begins with Keith Sinclair who, although initially critical of humanitarians, came to greatly appreciate the importance and influence of humanitarian thinking and its Christian basis. It then follows the historiographical marginalization of humanitarianism during a period of intense historical revision in the 1970s and 1980s when humanitarianism was dismissed along with long–held ‘myths’ of racial harmony. ‘New Imperial History’, while reintegrating New Zealand with the empire, has likewise continued to present all humanitarians, particularly missionaries, as little more than active agents of imperialism. Secondly, this thesis seeks to provide a revision of that existing interpretation through a re–examination of the intentions of leading humanitarians in 1840. What that assessment reveals is that their goal was to create a more just and equal society, both at home and within the empire. This was understood to be necessary given the ‘crisis of civilization’ these men were then facing as evident in the growing poverty of the working poor within Britain and the increasing mistreatment and exploitation of indigenous peoples in the empire. It was the urgency created by that crisis that not only fueled a revival of faith but united these men as Christians, and led them to then seek to change their society and the empire as a whole through what was to be a radical programme of social and political reform based on ‘moral politics’. What they sought was to empower the poor and marginalized to better help themselves by assisting with their development to a position of ‘social equality’ and independence through educational and social reforms. With regard to Māori, what that meant was implementing a programme of targeted assimilation that could equip them with the education and skills they needed to compete more equally with Pākehā, while maintaining that which was important to their culture and identity, particularly their language. Securing the independence and greater protection of the vulnerable both at home and abroad was also understood to be dependent on securing their greater legal equality and civil rights, and what was a movement inspired by Christian faith and ‘love’ in turn became a civil rights movement that eventually sought to achieve in New Zealand what these men called ‘amalgamation’: the peaceful union of the two races on the basis of a shared faith and equal rights and laws. This was the great hope of the ‘new system’ of ‘humane colonization’ that came to be first attempted in New Zealand. It was also the hope of many Māori leaders, who likewise understood the Treaty to have created a union based on ‘one faith, one love, one law’.Item Colonial discourses of deviance and desire and the bodies of wāhine Māori : a thesis presented in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Creative Arts at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2024) Allen, Elizabeth AnneThis research traces how colonial ideologies of race, gender, and sexuality contributed to nineteenth and early twentieth-century representations of wāhine Māori and questions how these repetitive inscriptions might continue to have a negative impact on perceptions of wāhine Māori and kōtiro Māori in contemporary culture. As a Mana Wahine study, I demonstrate that fundamental codes of the developing colonial state were affirmed by how Pākehā guarded sexuality, ordered gender, and surveilled race. As a wahine Māori centred project, it examines the colonial dimensions of “domesticity,” the “civilising mission,” and the ‘paternalism of liberalism’ in Aotearoa/New Zealand, specifically, on the assumption that differentiations of race and colonial power were essentially ordered in terms of Western notions of gender. Of particular concern is the management of wāhine Māori sexuality, procreation, child-rearing, and marriage as a mechanism of colonial control of their bodies. Focusing on spaces of perceived proximity and desire as a source from which we can search for newly recognisable forms of social perceptions in relating, it offers an engagement with myriad forms of art across multidisciplinary fields to provide a unique window into a colonial exercise of the imperial project that had a direct impact on the bodies of wāhine Māori. A critical examination of the colonial metaphors around desire and degeneration, of the intimate and affect, attempts to decolonise its representative paradigms by addressing the consequential structural and material histories that, for wāhine Māori, resulted in meting out differential futures based on ‘fabulated’ divisions of worth, prompting the central questions of the dissertation, how are bodies similar or not? How are bodies available or not? How are bodies knowable or not? And to whom?Item The reshaping of political communities in New Zealand : a study of intellectual and imperial texts in context, c. 1814-1863 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2020) Carpenter, SamuelThis thesis explores transformations in British and Māori political thought and mentalities through the period c. 1814 to 1863 – from the arrival in New Zealand of Samuel Marsden and the Anglican Church Mission through to the outset of the Waikato wars. It analyses evolving and contested political languages in British metropole and empire, particularly concerning the nature and bounds of British national and imperial community and government. It considers the attempts by Britons, from Marsden, through Busby, then the Church Mission presses to encourage the formation of a native (Christian) political community, and then to maintain it against the threats posed by British colonization ventures. Political thought about nations or supra-tribal political communities contained in the Māori translations of scripture, prayer book and texts of history, law and geography are the focus of several chapters, as are the uses of these new political languages made by Māori protagonists Hone Heke, Tāmihana Te Rauparaha and Wiremu Tāmehana. Drawing on literatures of nationalism, the thesis finds that the emergence of Māori national thought or consciousness – an imagined political community of ‘native New Zealand’ – resembled the early-modern emergence of English and other European nationalisms. This study reveals an historical process in which Christian scripture and liturgies in vernacular languages helped to form a wider collective consciousness in England/Europe, and then argues that a similar process occurred throughout indigenous Niu Tireni (New Zealand). Critically, it was the daily and weekly practice of the Anglican Prayer Book – Te Rāwiri – rather than simply its texts or the Bible translations per se, that engendered a new language of politics and a new global knowledge concerning pan-tribal nations, their kingly polities, and their God-ordained relationship with whenua (land). The thesis therefore re-frames the early political history of New Zealand as a history – or histories – formed by texts variously translated and interpreted, printed and discursively reproduced, read and recited, prayed and sung, and institutionally embodied in native assemblies, legal systems and kingships. It argues that this new textual and discursive world was enabled by the immense diffusion of printed texts, constituted a new indigenous or ‘maori’ public sphere, and generated the imagining of new forms of native or supra-tribal political community. Texts also provoked prominent indigenous actors to ‘write back’ against both colony and empire. The thesis suggests a much larger project to recover and map the diverse political languages and deeper mentalité that shaped the contested terrain of colonialism in New Zealand.Item Mapping waiata koroua (traditional prose) of the Tarawera Eruption, 1886; and its relevance to contemporary natural hazards preparedness and response : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Emergency Management at Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Tapuke, Sylvia HiriwaThis qualitative study maps two waiata koroua about the Tarawera Eruption, 1886, through the experience of Ngāti Haka-Patuheuheu, and directly affected tribes. This research includes a two-day wānanga (cultural learning programme), hui (traditional meeting), whakawhiti kōrero (informal discussions) and semi-structured interviews with Tūhoe, Ngāti Haka-Patuheuheu, and Te Arawa tribal members.Item James Cowan : the significance of his journalism : a thesis presented in three volumes in fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Wood, GregoryThis thesis argues that to understand Cowan the historian, his interest in history and his way of writing history, one must return to the roots of his writing – his journalism. Cowan’s adroit penmanship meant that his history writing existed in close parallel to his journalism. His writing style varied little between the two areas, which meant that he reached a wide group of readers regardless of their reading level or tastes. His favourite topics included travel writing and recent history, that is, history in his lifetime. For a better understanding of how and why he wrote, some key aspects of his life and career have been selected for study. These aspects include his childhood, his early journalism as a reporter for the Auckland Star, and his later journalism for Railways Magazine. Finally, his legacy is considered from the viewpoint of his colleagues and contemporaries. Cowan the journalist was the making of Cowan the historian, and to better understand the strengths of his histories one must appreciate his journalistic background. Past and present cannot be easily separated, and his historical work becomes more clearly articulated in the present with the discovery of previously unknown material from the nineteenth century and representing a quarter of his journalism output. That material has can now be appreciated for what it is – as the wellspring of his writing, the original source of his histories.Item Colonial textile culture in mid-nineteenth century Aotearoa New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2020) McKergow, Fiona MaryHistorians are increasingly paying attention to the intersections between objects, people and places as an aspect of the social and cultural histories of settler colonial societies. This thesis investigates selected textiles of British migrant and settler women in Aotearoa New Zealand as an element of what is defined here as ‘colonial textile culture’. It draws on the collections of mid-nineteenth century clothing and textiles held at two provincial museums in the lower North Island of New Zealand: Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science and History, in Palmerston North, and Whanganui Regional Museum, in Whanganui. Colonial textile culture is examined through six surviving objects associated with migrant women of English, Irish and Scottish ethnic origin. These are presented as part of a wider re-evaluation of textiles in colonial cultural history. A set of journals, a mourning sampler and a workbox allow insights into the more personal aspects of textile culture, while a silk wedding dress, a battle flag and a straw bonnet reflect its more public dimensions. Many of these are revealed to be highly emotional objects, in addition to their sensory dimensions, that were essential to the making of relationships, identities and experiences. The concept of colonial textile culture encapsulates the ways in which textiles in mid-nineteenth century Aotearoa New Zealand variously created and sustained family memories; contested and reinforced notions of social class; related to both feminine and masculine identities; and served as a site of interaction between British migrant and settler women and Māori communities. Colonial textile culture was also a source of commercial opportunity for some women. Finally, it was part of a wider circulation of commodities, ideas and practices throughout the British Empire that provided an underpinning to the extension of settler colonialism.Item I mārama te rironga ko a te Kuīni : the Waipukurau purchase and the subsequent consequences on Central Hawke's Bay Māori to 1900 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Hunter, Michael AllanIn 1820s and 1830s Māori from Central Hawke’s Bay came into contact with Pākehā for the first time and they began to trade. From this contact they began to see the benefits of Pākehā. So they requested the government to establish a Pākehā settlement and offered land for sale. Land was purchased at Waipukurau on 4 November 1851. Donald McLean made sweeping promises of benefits and riches when the deed was signed however these benefits and riches would never come to the Māori of Central Hawke’s Bay. The Waipukurau purchase opened the door for more purchases. The Māori of Central Hawke’s Bay began alienating their land. First through direct purchasing with Donald McLean then through the Native Land Court. Māori would soon find themselves in debt which would lead to the Hawke’s Bay Native Lands Alienation Commission 1873. Central Hawke’s Bay Māori emerged as leaders of the Repudiation Movement of the 1870s and then the Kotahitanga Māori Parliament of the 1890s in order to fight for their lost lands. In 2015 Māori of Central Hawke’s Bay along with Heretaunga Māori settled their Treaty of Waitangi claim with the Crown. However, because they went straight to negotiations, a full report by the Waitangi Tribunal was never completed. This thesis demonstrates a long term and irrevocable effect of the Waipukurau purchase for the iwi and hapū concerned.Item A history of intergroup relations in New Zealand : a trade-off between Māori agency and inclusion : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand(Massey University, 2019) Choi, Yun-Seon (Sarah)Growing fragmentation in historical attitudes can be observed alongside increasing political polarization and conflict in many societies, with both of these trends mutually reinforcing each other. Amidst these dynamics, there is a growing urgent need to understand both the politics and psychology of collective remembering. Although there has been much theorizing about the ways that historical narratives are curated by political elites and institutions in ways that promote a positive and moral image of the nation, there has been a lack of research investigating the ways in which such narratives are actually received, internalized, appropriated, and/or resisted by the individuals that they are directed toward. To address this gap, the current thesis identifies and maps out popular historical narratives that are shared by lay individuals embedded in the national context of the United States. Importantly, how and the extent to which these narratives are connected to the present-day context of nations is a key consideration throughout this endeavour. According to theories of collective remembering (Assmann, 2013; Rigney, 2005), historical narratives that are ‘active’ in public discourse ought to incorporate elements from the nation’s distant, mythologized past in continuity with their more recent, living memories to connect the past meaningfully to the present, and to inform a meaningful and coherent sense of national identity over time. By investigating the dynamics of historical narratives, representations, and identity at the level of individuals, while still incorporating the political and social contexts that they are embedded in, the current thesis contributes to bridging the gap between psychology and politics in the domain of collective remembering. Chapter 2 investigated how communicative memories (memories of public events that have occurred within the lifetimes of people alive or personally remembered today) index the present-day climates of societies. The findings from this chapter demonstrated how recent memories of terrorism drive an extreme negative climate in Western countries, while recent memories of national independence underpinned a positive climate across majority world countries. In Chapter 3, I explored how historical narratives are articulated by individuals (embedded in the American context) to give meaning to these historical representations, and thereby orient the nation’s past to its present. This chapter identified popular historical narratives which were anchored in positive representations of national foundations, and in turn, were positively associated with national identification. However, these were identified alongside a popular counter-narrative that was critical of the mythologization of America’s past. Moreover, there was considerable plurality and fragmentation in the narrative landscape, with many American participants failing to articulate a distinct historical narrative at all. In Chapter 4, I employed an experimental approach to show how this fragmentation is reduced, while endorsement of positive narratives about the nation becomes tighter when individuals are reminded of: 1) national foundations (the past reinforcing the present) and 2) a present-day context of intergroup threat (the present reinforcing the past). In Chapter 5, I discuss the theoretical and methodological implications of the studies and their findings within a dynamic framework of historical narrative and identity. The societal relevance of these findings is discussed in relation to the declining resonance of positive national narratives in the United States, amidst increasing domestic polarization and recent failures of the state to respond to crises. This has implications for the narrative resources that are available to political leaders in their rhetoric to mobilize the national identity of their followers and audience. Nonetheless, such rhetorical work does not occur within a vacuum, and the changing social/political context (see Chapter 4) may (re)activate the narratives that are still available within the minds of ordinary Americans today (see Chapter 3)Item Sir Walter Scott's templar construct : a study of contemporary influences on historical perceptions : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Extramural, New Zealand(Massey University, 2017) Woodger, Jane HelenSir Walter Scott was a writer of historical fiction, but how accurate are his portrayals? The novels Ivanhoe and Talisman both feature Templars as the antagonists. Scott’s works display he had a fundamental knowledge of the Order and their fall. However, the novels are fiction, and the accuracy of some of the author’s depictions are questionable. As a result, the novels are more representative of events and thinking of the early nineteenth century than any other period. The main theme in both novels is the importance of unity and illustrating the destructive nature of any division. The protagonists unify under the banner of King Richard and the Templars pursue a course of independence. Scott’s works also helped to formulate notions of Scottish identity, Freemasonry (and their alleged forbearers the Templars) and Victorian behaviours. However, Scott’s image is only one of a long history of Templars featuring in literature over the centuries. Like Scott, the previous renditions of the Templars are more illustrations of the contemporary than historical accounts. One matter for unease in the early 1800s was religion and Catholic Emancipation. Scott was not a tolerant man when it came to the extremism of Christians, especially Catholics. The Templars are the ultimate fanatics during the Crusades, and Scott’s portrayal is rather scathing. His condemnation extends to Catholicism in general and is present in his characterisation of other men of religion in the novels. However, Scott was a writer of fictions set in history, and their sole purpose was the entertainment of the reader.Item The Ballance tradition and its permeation in Wanganui : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University(Massey University, 1970) Stewart, Kevin LanceWhile the main centres and the West Coast of South Island seemed to be in an uproar in 1912-13 Wanganui remained calm. Why was this? The aim of this thesis is to investigate the unionist and political activity of Wanganui as a secondary centre; to explain not only why no unrest took place in 1912-13 but also to discover what was essentially different about this secondary centre compared to what happened in Wellington in 1912-13. For this purpose the study has been concentrated around the unionistic and political activities of W A Veitch. It is easiest to centre this study around Veitch because he was politically paramount from 1911-35. Frequently he initiated patterns but to a large extent he was able to retain power because he reflected patterns and responded to the actualities of Wanganui politics. The "Ballance Tradition" was the key factor in Wanganui politics. No politician could hope to gain power in Wanganui unless he remained within the limits it imposed. Veitch was keenly aware of this and his political career is an example of the "Ballance Tradition" in action. This was not an ideological tradition. There was little room in Wanganui for ideology as militant labour was to discover. The "Ballance Tradition" was largely one of attitude and of political behaviour which encouraged cooperation between working class and middle class, reflecting the Liberal synthesis of the 1890's. It stressed broadly humanitarian goals which were to be achieved by an evolutionary process. It saw the needs of Wanganui as a whole and was opposed to specifically sectional demands.
