Auckland Museum Institute Humanities Lecture

In his acclaimed 2016 book The Great War for New Zealand, Dr Vincent O’Malley argued that it was in the invasion of Waikato in 1863, and not either world war, that was the defining conflict in New Zealand history.

War in the Waikato shaped the nation in many ways and caused incalculable misery and lasting harm for many Māori communities. But as the same book highlighted, it also sealed Auckland’s future. In this lecture, O’Malley describes how the conflict played out in Tāmaki Makaurau and the legacy it left behind. Vincent O’Malley is the author of many books on New Zealand history including bestselling works The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800–2000 (2016) and The New Zealand Wars / Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (2019), and most recently, Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (2021), all published by Bridget Williams Books. He is a founding partner of HistoryWorks, a group of historians specialising in Treaty of Waitangi research and an advocate for teaching New Zealand history in schools.

This talk will be held online via Zoom. The Zoom link will be circulated to those who have booked for the talk the day prior. Bookings are required, but are free. This event is brought to you by the Auckland Museum Institute, Auckland Branch of the Royal Society Te Apārangi