NZ history buzzes with new research and fish and chips

Media release

Manatū Taonga/Ministry for Culture and Heritage

19 December 2012

New Zealand history buzzes with new research and fish and chips

The New Zealand History Research Trust Fund has announced 11 award winners for 2013. The Trust is administered by Manatū Taonga/the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. This year’s winning subject matter covers a range of topics from the history of Māori support of Crown military action in the nineteenth century to the story of arguably New Zealand’s most popular takeaway - fish and chips.

Kūpapa: Iwi loyal to the Crown was this year’s big award winner receiving $60,000. Historian Ron Crosby will use the money to research and write about the significant and extended Māori support of Crown military during the nineteenth century.

“I have long been intrigued to see the term ‘kūpapa’ change from an authoritative definition of being ‘friendly’ to the Crown, to a modern sense of ‘traitor’ – as contained in a recent 1999 Māori language dictionary. That extraordinary change in meaning in the last few decades raises the question of just how that could have so rapidly occurred.

The purpose of this book is to describe the nature and extent of the support demonstrated by various iwi to the Crown from 1840 to WW2, how the Crown failed over time to properly respond to that loyalty, and the causes of the post-war changes in attitude that led to the dramatic turnaround in the sense of the word ‘kūpapa'." Says Crosby

Neill Atkinson, Chief Historian at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage says the range of topics and quality of New Zealand History Awards applications is growing each year.

“Since 1990 the Awards have assisted more than 270 history projects, making a huge contribution to our understanding of New Zealand’s past,” Says Neill Atkinson.

This year, in addition to the eleven history projects funded, five publisher grants have been made to support the publication of specialist works of history.

Awards in History recipients for 2013

• Major award: Ron Crosby, Kūpapa: Iwi loyal to the Crown – $60,000

Other awards:

• Te Awhina Arahanga, History of Fish and Chips – $10,000 – Auckland
• Manuhuia Barcham, The First Māori Renaissance – $12,000 – Palmerston North
• Andrew Francis, ‘A Serious Menace to the Community?’: Internment in New Zealand during the Great War – $6,000 – Wellington
• Steven Loveridge, ‘Sentimental Equipment’: New Zealand, the Great War and Cultural Mobilisation – $6,000 – Wellington
• New Zealand Red Cross, History of the NZ Red Cross – $12,000 – Wellington
• Ngati Awa Research and Archives Trust, Mataatua Wharenui: Mataatua, the House that came home – $12,000 – Whakatane (/ Otago for subject)
• Vincent O’Sullivan, The Questing Mind, the Public Good: A Life of Robin Williams – $10,000 – Dunedin (/Wellington for subject)
• Rebecca Priestley, The Awa Book of Antarctic Science – $6,000 – Wellington
• Georgina White, The Forerunners – $10,000 – Wellington
• Matthew Wright, Coal – From Hero to Zero: the Kiwi Social History – $6,000 – Wellington
The New Zealand History Research Trust Fund publisher grants
• Auckland University Press, for Gerald Hensley’s ‘Friendly Fire: Nuclear Politics and the Collapse of ANZUS, 1984-1987 – $5,000
• Bridget Williams Books, for Barbara Brookes’ ‘History of New Zealand Women’ – $5,000
• Bridget Williams Books, for Melissa Matutina Williams’ ‘Back Home and Home in the City’ – $5,000
• Otago University Press, for Jude Wilson’s ‘The Flying Kiwis: A History of the OE’ – $5,000
• Penguin Books, for Tom Brookings’ ‘The People’s Servant: A Biography of Richard John Seddon’ – $5,000

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