Otago University Press invites you to book launch on Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Otago University Press invites you to celebrate the launch of Pewhairangi: Bay of Islands Missions and Maori 1814 to 1845 by Angela Middleton

4 pm Sunday, 2 November 2014
Whare Waka Café
Waitangi Treaty Grounds

Tau Henare Drive
Paihia

RSVP publicity@otago.ac.nz by Friday 27 October

Exploring the foundations of our bicultural world

Pēwhairangi/ The Bay of Islands is one of the earliest sites of Māori and Pākehā interaction and a place rich in history and mystique.  Pēwhairangi: Bay of Islands Missions and Māori 1814 to 1845 is the first book to be written on this intriguing location in over twenty years and the only book to examine the first decades of missionary settlement.

‘Pēwhairangi offered the opportunity to explore the foundations of our bicultural world through archaeology and the written record,’ says author Angela Middleton.

Pēwhairangi: Bay of Islands Missions and Māori 1814 to 1845 tells the story of the missions, their relationship with Maori and their development leading up to 1845 when dissatisfaction with the outcome of signing the Treaty of Waitangi led to the war in the North. The story begins in 1814 when three English families land in the bay below Rangihoua pā, under the protection of its chief and inhabitants. This small group, building their homes on the steep Hohi hillside within walking distance from the pā, marked the first permanent European settlement and the earliest church mission. Further mission communities would follow, at Kerikeri, Paihia, Te Puna and Waimate.

More than anything Pēwhairangi is a story of people: of the chiefs Te Pahi, Ruatara, Hongi Hika, Tāreha, Korokoro, of the missionaries John King, Thomas Kendall, James Kemp, John Butler, George Clarke, William Yate and Henry Williams, of the mastermind Samuel Marsden, and of the wives and children of all these men: Hongi’s wife Turikatuku and daughter Hariata, Hannah King and Hannah Butler, Hone Heke and George Clarke junior, Marianne Williams and Charlotte Kemp.

The Bay of Islands has been the focus of Middleton’s research for over twenty years. Her archaeological research in particular has given her unique insights. Many archaeological artefacts recovered during the course of digs have been photographed for the book, enlivening the historical story with rich detail. Illustrations, paintings, sketches and maps further enhance this important historical account. 

About the author:

Angela Middleton is a consultant archaeologist and honorary research fellow in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Otago. Pēwhairangi draws on the author’s ongoing examination of the archaeology of missionisation in New Zealand as well as its international comparative context. She has published Two Hundred Years on Codfish Island (Whenua Hou, 2007), Te Puna: A New Zealand mission station (2008) and Kerikeri Mission and Kororipo Pā: An entwined history (2013). ISBN 978-1-877578-53-3, $50