The Meeting Place - A New Zealand History Blog

Here is the programme for a one-day conference to be held at Massey University, Palmerston North campus, on 16 May 2014. Programme Time Topics Speakers 9.15 - 9.30 am Welcome korero and housekeeping Kerry Taylor 9.30 - 10.45 am Anniversaries and commemorations: concepts and contexts Jock Phillips, Ministry for Culture and Heritage Rituals of Remembrance: How people commemorated past events throws light on why they remembered and what they chose to remember Margaret Tennant, Independent scholar Foundation stories and debateable dates: organisations and origins Chair: Bronwyn Dalley 10.45 - 11.00 am Break 11.00 - 12.30 pm War anniversaries Damien Fenton, Massey University 'The Battle for Australia Day: a triumph of myth over history' Vince O’Malley, HistoryWorks ‘Remembering (and forgetting) the Waikato War’ Puawai Cairns, Te Papa (Ngāti Pūkenga, Ngāti Ranginui, Ngāiterangi) ‘The cultural memory of conflict with a focus on the Gallipoli Campaign’ Chair:

Events associated with the Borderland Exhibition Ōrākau, from a tāngata whenua perspective.  Monday 24 March. 12.15pm - 1.00pm Ōrākau, as told by Ngāti-Maniapoto Kuia Rovina Maniapoto, gathered from the manuscripts written by her elders and related in their kōrero of the past. The venue for this free lunchtime talk is the Tiakiwai Conference Centre, lower ground floor of the National Library building, cnr of Molesworth & Aitken Streets, Wellington.  There is an entrance from Aitken Street , or, down the marble staircase from the Ground Floor foyer. Ōrākau Paewai and other NZ war sites.   Tuesday 25 March. 12.15pm - 1.00pm Te Kenehi Teira speaks about the registration of the Ōrākau Paewai wāhi tapu area, and what was involved to get the site of this famous battle analysed and researched. He will also talk about the wider context of the work that the New Zealand Historic Places Trust is undertaking, in relation to sites from the New Zealand Wars.

It is International Women's Day today. So what better time to discover that one of your own ancestors was a suffragette? Searching the database of the 1893 suffrage petition on the NZ History website, I came across Fanny M. Hannan of Seaward Bush, near Invercargill. Fanny is my great-grandmother. She was one of more than 25,000 signatories to the petition, which, when stitched together, was more than 270 metres in length. First page of the 1893 Suffrage Petition, http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/suffrage-petition-1893 After a long struggle, the suffragettes finally achieved their goal, when on 19 September 1893 a new Electoral Act was signed into law, making New Zealand the first country in the world where women gained the right to vote. As for Fanny, she lived long enough to see the First Labour Government come to power in 1935, passing away in 1941, as New Zealand fought the Second World War. And it seems Fanny was not the only member of her family to sign the pe

  Date: 26 March, 2014 Time: 12.15pm – 1.00pm Cost: Free Location: Douglas Lilburn Room, level 1, National Library building, corner Molesworth and Aitken Streets Contact Details: Space is limited, so email ATLoutreach@dia.govt.nz to save a spot. Historian Vincent O’Malley speaks about Ōrākau, and how it has been remembered (or forgotten) historically. He will discuss historical coverage of the 50th and 100th year commemorations in 1914 and 1964. Part of Borderland: The World of James Cowan , on at the Turnbull Gallery "Ake! Ake! Ake!" Rewi defying the British troops at Orakau, 1893. Ref: C-033-004 .

                                                                                                                                         26 March                Kevin Lavery - Chief Executive, Wellington City Council                                    My Vision for Wellington Hunter Building, Lecture Theatre 119 2 April                     Marc Wilson - School of Psychology, Victoria University “City of flower-pots, canyon streets and trams, O sterile whore of a thousand bureaucrats!”  (James K. Baxter, Wellington, 1953, p.77) 9 April                     David O’Donnell - Theatre Programme, Victoria University                                    End of the Golden Weather?  A Short Performance from a Dramatic City 16 April                   Brigitte Bonisch-Brednich - School of Social & Cultural Studies, Victoria University                                    (title to come) 7 May                       Russel Norman - Co-Leader Green Party