History

As a second-generation Asian NZer, I have no idea how to celebrate Lunar New Year

Rebecca Zhong reflects on bite-sized noodles and intergenerational differences.

Students left waiting as Aotearoa NZ histories curriculum delayed

Schools won't have to start teaching the content until 2023.

A short history of Te Wiki o te Reo Māori

Te Wiki o te Reo Māori has a long and significant history, and we all should learn about it.

Māori may have been exploring Antarctica as far back as the seventh century

New research shows Māori and other Polynesian voyagers have been navigating Antarctica for a long time, despite the dominant narrative in the past 200 years focused…

Reflecting on Captain Cook's many mistakes

"We'd go places, we'd see something we like and name it after ourselves!"

The man who has been photographing Waitangi for 50 years

John Miller (Ngāpuhi) is an award-winning documentary photographer from Auckland. He has dedicated most of his 70 years to documenting political protests and other significant moments…

One of my ancestors created the Treaty of Waitangi. Another protested against it.

Hawaiiki James Morrison is a direct descendant of ancestors who had opposing views on Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He aha ōna whakaaro mō te Tiriti? Over…

How writing about a barcode formed Kii Winston’s identity | The Outliers

Arriving in Kaitaia from Barbados as a child, Kii Winston Small felt isolated and unsure of where he stood in the world. But tracing back his…

The time I tried to tag the Endeavour, and other thoughts on racist monuments

Statues of colonisers, slave traders and racists are being pulled down as part of a global reckoning with racism. In light of that, for this month’s…

The stories underneath the concrete

Making an effort to learn about the history beneath our feet.

Illustrations of what I think about on Waitangi Day

This Waitangi Day, we asked illustrators from across Aotearoa to draw what they think about on February 6th. Their images speak of resilience, courage, tenacity and…

Ihumātao feels like how I wish Auckland felt

Sixty-two days ago, Fletchers moved in on Ihumātao, police at their side. Behind them, their diggers and bulldozers waited, ready to claw up earth to make…

Raupatu: Land confiscations explained

The word 'whenua' means both 'placenta' and 'land' in te reo. This is no coincidence - it reflects the deep and symbiotic connection Māori have with…

NZ's history of terrorism

We revisit three terrorist attacks that have occurred in New Zealand before the Christchurch mosque attacks, as well as the government's attempts to control terrorism -…

Re:visit - Remembering the Springbok Tour

During the Springbok rugby tour of 1981, New Zealand was divided over a system of racial segregation thousands of miles away. Many Kiwis protested against the…

History of the Kiwifruit

Yes, the rumours are true - kiwifruit originated from China. The fruit that we tie so closely to our national identity, that shares a name with…

Remembering the School Journal

Have you ever wondered how Aotearoa got it's name? Take a trip down memory lane with the myths, legends, and creative quips of the New Zealand…

3 generations of Asian women talking about Chinese New Year

Enough with Christmas, let's take a peek at Chinese New Year and get to the bottom of what's really inside those little red packets.

This online meme has a dark backstory

We've all seen the memes but do you know the weirdly detailed backstory behind this set of stock images?

The horrific history of child abuse in New Zealand

The Kahui twins, Nia, and Moko - names etched into Aotearoa's dark history of child abuse. How does this keep happening?

What is Halal?

Halal is surrounded by a bunch of misconceptions so we did some myth busting to find out what makes halal meat different, or in this case,…

The genetically engineered food we eat everyday

Before coming in all shapes and sizes, watermelons were teeny tiny! Welcome to the world of genetic engineering in food - some of the most common,…

A Hidden History of Women in the East End

Mary Ann, Mary Jane, Elizabeth, Annie and Catherine - do these names ring a bell? What if we said Jack the Ripper? This alternative London tour…

How NZ caused a deadly pacific pandemic

84 years after influenza killed 22% of Samoa's population, New Zealand apologised for not doing more to protect Samoan citizens. So what actually happened in 1918?

New Zealand colonised the Pacific

Re: looks into the often contradicting relationship New Zealand has with Pacific Island nations.

The woman who fought to say 'kia ora'

In 1984 Dame Rangimarie Naida Glavish was almost fired for saying 'kia ora'. We take a look at how her protest paved the way for Te…

How NZ became nuclear free

Aotearoa is proudly nuclear free, but it took some grit to get here. So how exactly did Kiwis kick it to the curb?

The right to protest

From marches to flying dildos, Kiwis love to exercise their right to protest. Although for many across the globe, getting their voices heard isn't so easy.

What came of the Occupy Movement?

The Occupy movement was designed to open up debate around the problems of capitalism, but what did it actually achieve? And was that even the point?

How the Māramataka was replaced

The Māori lunar calendar, Māramataka, is having a resurgence in Aotearoa. But why was it set aside in the first place?