In telling the story of John Webster's long and colorful life for the first time, this biography also explores the wider transformation of relationships between Maori and Pakeha during the 19th century. In this remarkable biography, Jennifer Ashton uses the life of one man as a unique lens through which to view the early history of New Zealand.

Questions of identity and belonging have been in the spotlight in New Zealand in recent years, and 'Celebrating Forgetting' investigates these through the history of Maori and Croatian communities in the far North. The author examines Maori-Croatian relationships on the gumfields and beyond

This book examines suburban development in New Zealand and its conflict with and impact on local horticulture and food security. Drawing on an ethnographic study of Auckland’s rapidly expanding urban periphery, combined with comparative case studies from California in the USA and Victoria in Australia, the book examines how the profit-making strategies of property developers and landowners drastically reshapes work and life at the edge of cities. With a significant portion of the world's croplands lying adjacent to cities, the accelerating pace of urban sprawl across the planet places unprecedented pressure on the productivity and even existence of these vital food bowl regions. The book examines how the demand for more land for development at the urban periphery collides with concerns over local food security and the protection of ecosystem services. It analyses land use policy, historical records, and physical patterns of development, alongside participant observation of local events. It combines this with interviews with government officials, property developers, landowners, local residents and horticulturists. By combining these narratives of the hectic and lucrative business of suburban property development with the collapse of local horticulture, this book shows how the realignment of the New Zealand's interests of financial profitability over other concerns led to the transformation of urban peripheries from a productive food bowl to an investment vehicle. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of urban food and agriculture, urban planning and development and rural-urban studies.

Presents a biography of mountain climber and adventurer Edmund Hillary, providing a chronicle of his life, from his childhood in New Zealand, to his ascent of Mount Everest. Includes photographs.

"This book looks at merchant seafarers employed in both the coastal and international trades during the past 100 years. "They had a vibrant sub-culture, with its own language, songs, rituals and myths, which exerted an influence on the development of male identity in this country". This history begins in the early years of commercial shipping from about 1840, when Maori played a prominent part in the coastal trade, and closes after World War II"--Publisher's description.