Monumental History

In 2019 I was commissioned by Hamilton City Council and Waikato-Tainui to prepare an historical report providing an historical portrait of Captain John Fane Charles Hamilton, after whom the city of Hamilton is named, along with Sir George Grey, Gustavus Ferdinand von Tempsky, and John Bryce, each of whom have streets in Hamilton named after them.

My report was released last week. It is available to download from the council website here. See also this report from the Waikato Times on its release. Prior to release of the report, a statue of Captain Hamilton erected in Civic Square had been removed.


 

A few weeks earlier I spoke with Kim Hill on Morning Report about some of the broader issues around memorialisation and statues that have been brought into focus with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the killing of George Floyd by police in the United States and the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol, England.

 See also this recent episode of The Hui and our Difficult Histories website for further links.

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