Author claims New Zealand Wars were avoidable

Author claims New Zealand Wars were avoidable

The New Zealand Wars and the bloodshed that went with it could have been avoided.

An AUT University history professor believes this to be the case and says the New Zealand Wars during the 1860s were unnecessary.

Professor Paul Moon, history professor and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society at University College in London, is launching his acclaimed book The Edges of Empires which looks at the personalities and events of the 1850s and 1860s.

“The book traces events in the 1850s and shows that even as late as 1859, there were numerous opportunities for the Government and some Maori to avoid resorting to war,” Professor Moon says.

Professor Moon is no stranger to shedding an alternative and sometimes controversial light over topics close to New Zealanders’ hearts. In 2008 he published This Horrid Practice: The myth and the reality of traditional Maori cannibalism which drew both criticism and acclaim from a number of quarters. This year, in his new book, he challenges the view that the 1850s were some kind of ‘golden age’ in New Zealand history.

“If anything, Maori and Pakeha were growing further apart during this decade, Maori land was beginning to be acquired illegally by the Government, and the country was hit hard by an economic depression,” he says.

Used to delving into private and official records Professor Moon has used his analytical skills and nose for unearthing facts to conclude that the responsibility for the wars lay largely with the failure of both Maori and the Government of the time to understand what motivated each other.

“Maori were anxious to protect their land from efforts by the Crown to acquire it, and saw military defence as their only option.  The Crown, for its part, continued to believe it could disregard Maori apprehension and hope that it would somehow fade away over time.”

The book is available at Whitcoulls and Dymocks from May 5 and is published by David Ling Publishing Ltd.

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