2014 NZHTA CONFERENCE PRESENTERS and FIELDTRIP INFORMATION
Please read the following abstracts in conjunction with the programme outline, to help inform
your breakout and fieldtrip choices for the Conference. Breakout choices should be made by
using the relevant google form link on the NZHTA website [also being circulated to members via
an email]. NB presenters are listed in alphabetical order.
Dr Maartje Abbenhuis is Senior Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of
Auckland. She works on the history of war, peace, internationalism and neutrality especially in the
period 1815 - 1919. She has published two books - The Art of Staying Neutral. The Netherlands in
the First World War 1914 - 1918 (Amsterdam University Press, 2006) and An Age of Neutrals.
Great Power Politics 1815 - 1914 (Cambridge University Press, 2014) - as well as co-edited two
academic collections - Restaging War in the Western World. Non-combatants experiences 1890 Today (Palgrave 2009) and Monsters in the Mirror. Representations of Nazism in Post-War Popular
Culture (Praeger, 2010). At the moment, she is working on a global history of the two Hague Peace
Conferences of 1899 and 1907, research funded by a prestigious Royal Society of New Zealand
Marsden Grant.
Breakout Title: ‘War as a force of historical change: Approaches, strategies and contexts’.
[Tuesday, Session 7]
In this inter-active workshop session, the historian Maartje Abbenhuis shares her ideas on teaching
the history of warfare and assigning historical relevance to emotively-charged topics.
Dr Felicity Barnes is a New Zealand historian with a particular interest in imperial connections and
settler cultures. Her recent book, New Zealand’s London: A Colony and its Metropolis, published
by Auckland University Press, explores London’s role in New Zealand’s culture, from around the
end of what we often think of as the colonial period - around the close of the nineteenth century up until the 1980s. She is now working on a wider project which will reconsider issues of culture
and identity across the former white settler colonies of New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
Breakout Title: Bill Massey’s Tourists in the Big Smoke: Rethinking the Great War and National
Identity[Monday, Session 2]
New Zealand’s experiences in World War One have become almost inextricably intertwined with
narratives of national identity. In numerous histories, the deadly shores of Gallipoli and the mud of
the Western Front are not only scenes of staggering mortality but also of a kind of redemptive
rebirth. Away from home, and amongst the British, it is claimed, soldiers found themselves to be
something distinct: they had become New Zealanders.
In these histories, nascent New Zealandness is formed in opposition to Britishness. But war could
forge bonds as well as break them. This paper will re-evaluate our conventional assumptions by
examining another important, yet overlooked war time site: London. From 1916, London was the
centre for New Zealand’s military command, but for the soldiers themselves, it had a much more
important function. It was the main site of leave for soldiers escaping the routine of the main
camp in nearby Sling, the boredom of a convalescent hospital or the carnage of the Western
Front. As thousands of ‘Bill Massey’s tourists’ hit the streets of London, volunteer organisations
like the YMCA and the New Zealand War Contingent Association sprang into action, ready to
convert the ‘big smoke’ into a familiar ‘Home away from home’. Drawing on the diaries and letters
of soldiers, this paper will examine the effects of this experience on issues of identity, arguing that
the old nationalist model of alterity – New Zealand versus British – and even newer interpretations
that allow for a continuing sense of Britishness, obscure a much more subtle process of identity
formation.
1
Dr Joanna Cobley, with Caroline Sydall
Joanna Cobley has an interdisciplinary background in history, art history, education, sociology, and
museum studies. She currently teaches New Zealand history at the University of Canterbury and
has extensive experience in the museum sector and working with public history. As a practitioner
she enjoys reflecting on ways that students engage in applied learning contexts. This research
projects draws on Joanna’s educational research experience on teaching teachers how to use
museums, evaluating the efficacy of museum education programmes, and feminist practices of
consciousness raising.
Caroline Syddall is Library Research and Information Services Librarian at the Macmillan Brown
Library at the University of Canterbury. Caroline has extensive experience liaising with historians,
students and general members of the public engaging in New Zealand research in public libraries
and within the university context.
Breakout Title: “Hands-on, minds-on” at the Macmillan Brown Library and Archive. [Monday,
Session 2] History teachers, librarians and archivists are trained to work with collections and
primary source material. This paper looks at the student experience from HIST128: New Zealand
History From Waka to Weta taught at the University of Canterbury (UC). UC’s Level-100 history
curriculum includes teaching research skills and ensuring that students understand how to use
primary sources. But how do we measure this?
Over two workshops students were introduced to visual and material evidence from the Macmillan
Brown archive and a variety of reference sources. The next step was for students to engage in their
own social history primary source assignment.
In essence students were asked to explore the ways in which history is made and what makes
history. These ideas were drawn from the introduction of Bronwyn Dalley & Brownyn Labrum’s
edited book Fragments: New Zealand Social & Cultural History (2000: 1). There is no one way of
doing history, the methodological tools vary, and so too do the ways of presenting history.
In this project students moved into the world of material fragments to explore a social history
event in New Zealand. They were asked to investigate the social constructions of the event and
how its significance changed over time (ibid: 2).
Methodologically the research project was informed by feminist theory and practice. The course
content was shaped by a mission of social justice. It was hoped that students might be challenged
by the ideas investigated and approach the topic critically.
The data set drew from student assignments and exam responses. Questions shaping the project
included how students perceived primary source documents and how they incorporated the source
material into their course work assessments. The knowledge would then inform the way history
research is taught at undergraduate level and can easily be transposed into the high school
framework.
2
Brent Coutts is a history teacher at Baradene College of the Sacred Heart in Auckland. His recent
textbook ‘Protest in New Zealand’, written with Nicholas Fitness, was published in 2013 and is
focused on Year 12 and 13 History, with each chapter providing an essay option for students. His
students are engaged in the ‘Shared Histories Partnership programme’ with a school in Chauny,
France jointly researching into the level of disobedience and rebellion of soldiers on the Western
Front, opposition to conscription and the treatment of conscientious objectors in both France and
New Zealand.
Breakout Title: Those Who Refused To Fight in World War I [Tuesday, Session 6]
Brent Coutts presents an alternative to teaching military history about World War I. The historical
significance of the minority who refused to fight will be discussed. His students have approached
the topic of WWI by looking at Pacifism before the war, Socialist objectors and Christian Pacifists,
Conscientious Objectors and Opposition to Conscription. He will focus on teaching approaches to
this context, and how the topic is an essay option for the external examination.
Dr Allan Davidson has degrees in history and theology. His doctoral thesis examined British
missionary attitudes towards India in the early nineteenth century. He taught church history in
Papua New Guinea (1977-81), at St John’s College, Auckland (1982-2009) and the University of
Auckland (1990-2008). In 2010 he was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for
services to history. Allan has written extensively about the history of Christianity in New Zealand
and the Pacific. His most recent publication, for which he was the general editor, is Te Rongopai
1814: ‘Takoto te pai!’ Bicentenary reflections on Christian beginnings and developments in
Aotearoa New Zealand (2014).
Keynote: Missionary Beginnings in New Zealand – Bicentenary Perspectives
The Reverend Samuel Marsden’s service and sermon on Christmas Day 1814 alongside Rangihoua
Bay in the Bay of Islands marks the formal inauguration of missionary work and permanent
European settlement in New Zealand. The participation of Maori leaders in these beginnings
raises important questions about the differing expectations parties had of each other. Marsden is
a contradictory figure and his role in Australian and New Zealand history is subject to widely
varying assessments. The first missionaries and their families endured considerable trials from
both internal and external pressures and their contributions have often been overshadowed by
the later missionaries. Historiographical debates have taken place over: the contrasting missionary
and Maori worldviews; the ‘Fatal Impact’ view of early contact; civilisation and / or
Christianisation; the role of indigenous agency; the contribution of women; the nature of
conversion. This paper will critically review some of these conflicting perspectives and set the
missionary beginnings in both a wider national and international perspective.
Dr Martyn Davison has been a secondary school teacher since 1996. He began teaching in
Plymouth, England, and took the plunge to these Pacific shores in 2002. Martyn has a particular
interest in the teaching and learning of historical concepts such as evidence and
empathy. He completed the Doctor of Education programme at The University of Auckland, in
2013 and continues to enjoy teaching history to secondary school students in Auckland and
developing strong contacts with other history teachers.
Breakout Title: There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact: Using evidence in the
history classroom [Tuesday, Session 6]
This presentation explores how to encourage students to think historically about evidence. It does
this by: clearly interpreting the meaning of evidence; identifying students’ thinking in developing a
sophisticated grasp of the concept; and presenting a number of practical activities that can
influence learning to use evidence.
3
Dr Mark Derby is a Wellington historian and writer, educated at Naenae College and Victoria
University. He has recently worked for the Waitangi Tribunal and Te Ara - the online
encyclopaedia of NZ. He is the author of several books, including The Prophet and the Policeman
(Craig Potton, 2009) and Kiwi Compañeros - NZ and the Spanish Civil War (Canterbury University
Press, 2009. Spanish-language edition published 2011 in association with the University of CastillaLa Mancha, Spain).
Breakout Title: Maori in World War 1 - the capture of Rua Kenana
[Repeat sessions - Tuesday, Sessions 6 and 7]
At the outbreak of WW1, Maori and non-Maori generally lived in separate communities, with only
limited points of contact between them. In the first weeks of the war Maori rushed to
enlist alongside non-Maori, but overwhelmingly, from those tribes which had supported the Crown
in the New Zealand Wars. The Tuhoe prophet Rua prophet was an anti-authoritarian of long
standing, and his followers mostly obeyed his somewhat cryptic injunctions against
enlistment. This paper will explore the circumstances around Rua’s 1916 arrest, and subsequent
events that saw a number of his followers put on soldiers’ uniform.
Dr Aroha Harris belongs to Te Rarawa and Ngapuhi iwi. She is a senior lecturer in History at the
University of Auckland and a member of the Waitangi Tribunal. Her upcoming book, a
collaboration with Professor Atholl Anderson and the late Professor Judith Binney, Tangata
Whenua: an illustrated history, is due on the bookshelves in November.
Keynote: Aotearoa, the Treaty and the Future
In 2015, Aotearoa New Zealand will have the opportunity to mark two anniversaries: 175 years
since the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and forty years since the establishment of the Waitangi
Tribunal. This seems a timely moment, therefore, to contemplate both the history of Te Tiriti itself
and four decades of inquiring into, negotiating and settling Treaty claims. But equally, we might
also look forward from the past, turning our attention to the future possibilities for a postsettlement world: What can we reasonably expect as the Tribunal’s investigations into historical
claims draw to an end, and successive governments complete remaining settlements? Are
settlements shaping our future now and if yes, how? And when the process is over, why should
the Treaty continue to matter?
Associate Professor Mānuka Hēnare (PhD)
Manuka belongs to Te Rarawa, Te Aupōuri and Ngati Kurī iwi of North Auckland is a historian and
anthropologist of Māori and the Pacific Peoples. He teaches management, strategy, philosophy
and ethics, and Māori economics and business history. He is a member of the Historical Society of
NZ, the Anthropology Association of NZ, the Royal Society of New Zealand and the Institute of
Directors. He has published extensively on the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand and
the Treaty Waitangi. He currently leads a team of historians who have written three substantial
oral tradition and historical reports for Ngā Puhi Claimants in the single largest Treaty of Waitangi
Tribunal Claim known as Te Paparahi o Te Raki Inquiry (Northern) Waitangi Tribunal (WAI 1040).
Manuka is a member of the Department of Management and International Business; Associate
Dean Māori and Pacific Development; Director, Mira Szászy Research Centre for Māori and Pacific
Economic Development in the University of Auckland Business School.
Breakout Title: He Whakaputanga o Nu Tireni me Te Tiriti o Waitangi: The New Zealand
Declaration of Independence 1835 and the Treaty of Waitangi 1840 [Monday, Session 3]
4
Sarah Hooper, Rangoitoto College and Bronwyn Houliston, Macauley High School.
Breakout Title: The Critical Classroom – An interactive workshop
[Monday, Session 2]
This workshop will look at the importance of critical thinking and how to explicitly teach it to
students from both a decile 1 and a decile 10 perspective. You will find out what it is, why it is
important and how to bring it to life in the History classroom. You will get to take part in activities
that include looking at argument in essay writing, source interpretation, prioritisation, SOLO
taxonomy and graphic organisation of notes for revision. There will also be a take-home pack of
resources available at the end of the workshop.
Dr Peter Lineham teaches history at Massey University’s Albany Campus in Auckland. He is a
member of the School of Social and Cultural Studies and has just been appointed Regional Director
of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He holds the MA from the University of
Canterbury, a BD from the University of Otago, and his PhD is from the University of Sussex. His
early work was on religion in 18th and 19th century England, but most of his extensive range of
publications focus on aspects of the history of religious movements in New Zealand. His papers
and books range over Brethren, Anglicans, Adventists, Mormons and Methodists. He also
frequently speaks and comments on trends in current religious movements.
Breakout Title: The Historiography Of The New Zealand Missions
[Monday, Session 2]
2014 is the 200th anniversary of the advent of Christian missions in New Zealand, with the arrival
of Samuel Marsden and his team of three artisan missionaries in the Bay of Islands and the first
Anglican service on 25 December. This mission has had an uneven reputation with New Zealand
writers and historians. They were very unpopular with later European settlers, and their reputation
was marred among Maori by disenchantment with the Treaty of Waitangi which they had strongly
supported. Later writers have divided along these lines and this paper will explore this scholarly
and popular debate.
John Minto is a political activist best known for his involvement in the protests against the 1981
Springbok tour of New Zealand.
Breakout Title: Rugby, racism and the 1981 Springbok tour to New Zealand [Tuesday, Session 7]
John will talk about the physical and human resources available for teachers to use if studying
rugby relations between New Zealand and South Africa in the 20 th century – and the 1981
Springbok tour in particular.
Dr Deborah Montgomerie is Associate Dean (Students) for the Faculty of Arts’ at the University of
Auckland. She is the author of two books about New Zealand during the Second World War and
one of the editors of The Gendered Kiwi, a collection of essays discussing New Zealand gender
relations. She was the co-editor of the New Zealand Journal of History for ten years from 2003–13.
Breakout Title: ANZAC Girls, ‘Our Boys’ and the Mothers of the Nation: Gender relations in New
Zealand during World War II.[Monday, Session 3]
A discussion of the challenges of integrating gender into the teaching of mid-twentieth century
war history.
5
Tigilau Ness
I am a 1st generation NZ born Pacific Islander of Niue ethnicity. Born and bred in Auckland
central. I joined the Polynesian Panther Party in 1972 as a 17 year old. Involved ever since in the
struggle against racism and oppression of my people in NZ, and all people world over; Maori land
march 1975, Dawn Raids 1976, Bastion Point land occupation 1978, Waitangi Treaty protests,
imprisoned over the South African Spring Bok Tour 1981 - met and thanked by Nelson Mandela
1995. Known as the Grandfather of Reggae music in NZ - Life Time Achievement Award 2009
Pacific Music Awards, proud father of NZ hip hop icon Che Fu. Inspired by the Black Panther Party
of America and the civil rights movements of the 1960's.
Breakout Title: A Pacific Perspective [Monday, Session 3]
A lot of my presentation will be an expansion of the above profile and also a unique perspective
from a Pacific point of view of life, art, music, education, politics today, and thoughts on where NZ
Aotearoa is heading.
Dr Christopher Pugsley
Dr Christopher Pugsley is a freelance historian. He was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War
Studies, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst from 2000-2012. He retired to Waikanae Beach in New
Zealand where he continues to research and write. A former infantry Lieutenant Colonel in the
New Zealand Army, he was commissioned from the Royal Military College Duntroon and attended
the British Army Staff College at Camberley and has held appointments at universities in New
Zealand and Australia. He received his PhD from the University of Waikato with a thesis on the
discipline and morale of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the First World War. He is an
Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities, University of Canterbury, New Zealand, Senior
Research Fellow in Humanities at the University of Buckingham; a Distinguished Alumni of the
University of Waikato and Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He was elected Vice President of
the Western Front Association in April 2013.
He is regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading military historians. His publications include,
Gallipoli: The New Zealand Story (shortlisted Watties New Zealand Book of the Year 1984); On the
Fringe of Hell: New Zealand and Military Discipline in the First World War (1991); Te Hokowhitu A
Tu: The Maori Pioneer Battalion in the First World War (1995); From Emergency to Confrontation:
The New Zealand Armed Forces in Malaya and Borneo 1949-1966 (2003: shortlisted Templer
Medal 2004); The Anzac Experience: New Zealand, Australia and Empire in the First World War
(Shortlisted Templer Medal 2005, Finalist in History, Montana New Zealand Book Awards 2005). As
well, he has co-edited and contributed to numerous other publications in the last 10 years. He has
completed a study of New Zealand Film 1895-1920 and is currently working on a one volume
history of the New Zealand Division in the Second World War for publication in 2014.
Keynote: Visualising Gallipoli : New Zealand and Gallipoli 100 years on.
Here Dr Chris Pugsley will be discussing the New Zealand Gallipoli Experience as a catalyst for what
then happens on the Western Front and how it shapes the New Zealand response and
commemorations.
Breakout Title: Archival Gallipoli Film and Commentary [Tuesday, Session 6]
In this innovative session Chris Pugsley will be present New Zealand film of the First World War, the
film being provided courtesy of the New Zealand Film Archive. He will talk to film as it was
presented at the time, with musical accompaniment. It is a 45 minute session and there will be
time for questions. It sets out to both recreate how films were seen and the role of the raconteur
but also makes one aware of the riches of the New Zealand Film Archive who Chris works with as a
consultant for the First World War Collections.
6
Breakout Title: Does Gallipoli matter today? (Q & A & debate) [Tuesday, Session 7]
A session that is designed to follow on from Dr Chris Pugsley’s keynote address giving delegates the
opportunity to respond, ask questions and engage in a general discussion on the significance of the
Gallipoli experience.
Dr Damon Salesa is Associate Professor of Pacific Studies at Auckland University and specializes in
the study of colonialism, empire, government and race. Earlier in 2012, his book Racial Crossings:
Race, Intermarriage, and the Victorian British Empire won the coveted international Ernest Scott
prize.
Breakout Title: New Zealand and Samoa: Beginnings [Tuesday, Session 6]
New Zealand's First World War began in Samoa, and it was its most durable and perhaps most
important intervention. This workshop will explain and explore New Zealand's intervention in
Samoa, its assumption of colonial rule there, and the legacies and changes that resulted. This will
be done with a particular focus on Samoan understandings and experiences. We will explore why
we choose to remember some histories more than others.
Breakout Title: The First World War in the Pacific and Memory [Tuesday, Session 7]
Few people realize how important the First World War was in the Pacific, nor how important the
Pacific was to the other theatres of First World War. This workshop will sketch some of these
contours, flesh out strategies for tackling this little known, yet large and complicated dimension of
the First World War, highlighting engagement with indigenous histories and experiences. We will
continue to explore why we choose to remember some histories more than others, issues raised in
the earlier workshop.
Dr Mark Sheehan has been involved in history education matters in New Zealand for over 30 years
as a secondary teacher, lecturer, researcher, museum educator, advisor and textbook writer. As
well as teaching and researching on historical thinking he conducts research on digital literacy,
assessment and the place of knowledge in 21st century curricula. He recently co-wrote (with
Martyn Davison and Paul Enright) History Matters 2: A handbook for teaching and learning how to
think historically which is a companion volume to the book of he edited with Michael Harcourt in
2012 (History Matters: Teaching and Learning history in New Zealand secondary schools).
Breakout Title: ‘A degree of latitude’: What are the challenges of teaching young people to think
historically in a standards-based assessment environment? [Monday, Session 3]
This presentation draws on a recent New Zealand study of over 2,500 history students in 29 schools
that examined how young people learn how to think critically about the past in a NCEA standards
based assessment environment. It focuses on the internal assessment process and considers the
impact of gender and ethnicity on how young people learn to think historically as well as the
importance of teachers’ understanding how the discipline of history operates if they are to make
accurate and consistent judgements when they are marking internally assessed course work.
7
Steve Watters, Senior Historian, History Group, Manatū Taonga-Ministry for Culture and
Heritage
Steve joined the History Group at Manatū Taonga in 2005 after nearly twenty years teaching
history and social studies in the Wellington region. Working primarily on the flagship New Zealand
history website, NZHistory.net Steve is also a part of the First World War Centenary programme
Office. This work involves the development of both content and strategies for school engagement
with the upcoming centenary of the war.
Breakout Title: First World War: What do we really know? De-bunking some of the myths
[Monday, Session 2]
In late 2012 roughly 4,000 New Zealanders aged 15 years and over completed a Colmar Brunton
benchmark survey to find out something of their understanding of the First World War. Most
appreciated the role and relevance of the First World War for today. They believed the war had
been relevant in shaping our national identity. A third of respondents believed they had a
‘reasonable knowledge of the war’. However their understanding of the First World War was
limited to a few basic facts. Most believed Gallipoli was the most important front or battle of the
war. The survey reveals clear opportunities to expand knowledge (such as New Zealand’s
occupation of Samoa) and, in some instances, to correct knowledge (such as the Western Front
battles, not Gallipoli, being the deadliest in New Zealand’s military history).
This breakout will discuss some of the myths or misconceptions surrounding our First World War
experiences. It will consider also some of the challenges presented by the opening up of personnel
files for those researching their own family involvement in the war. How well do the official records
match established family ‘facts’?
Breakout Title: ‘Overkill and Over the Top’ [Monday, Session 3]
In 2012 Brian Rudman writing in the New Zealand Herald warned that the upcoming centenary of
the First World War would amount to no more than ‘four long years of Kaiser Bill and Ypres, the
Somme, Mons and Passchendaele and Flanders fields, and yippee we won.’ Our fixation with ‘the
final great apocalyptical struggle between the great European empires’ was ‘unhealthy’. In
questioning both the expense of the commemorations and relevance to New Zealanders today he
asked if it wasn’t time we ‘climbed out of the muddy and bloody trenches of the old world?’
This interactive breakout session asks if we are, as Rudman warns, on the verge of something truly
cringe-worthy. In dissecting the war from every possible angle and in every possible format are we
in danger of information overload? How do we navigate our way through the plethora of what
some have described as ‘war porn’ in our quest for greater understanding of the war and its
impact?
Read on for fieldtrip information…
8
Field Trips
The Civic
This fieldtrip involves a guided ‘behind the scenes tour’ of one of Auckland’s most historic
landmarks. The Civic is designated as New Zealand Historic Places Trust Category 1, which means
it has 'special or outstanding historical or cultural heritage significance or value'. Opened in 1929,
the Civic is internationally significant as the largest surviving atmospheric cinema in Australasia,
where the design is gives the experience of being seated outside with a twinkling night sky.
http://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/thecivic.aspx
Devonport - Torpedo Bay Navy Museum – National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy
Situated at Torpedo Bay on Auckland’s North Shore, the Navy Museum in its current location
opened in 2009 to showcase the importance of New Zealand’s naval history and the strategic
importance of North Head. The re-acquisitioned buildings are of historical importance themselves
and were adapted to accommodate the growing collection of naval artifacts. The fieldtrip will
include an educator’s talk and tour of the area.
http://navymuseum.co.nz/
Auckland War Memorial Museum
Auckland War Memorial Museum is crafted from Portland stone and designed to reflect the heroic
valour of the New Zealand soldier. Amongst other exhibits, it houses the War Memorial Galleries
for World War I and II, Scars on the Heart, a holocaust memorial and ‘The Armoury’ which is the
cenotaph information centre and library. The fieldtrip includes a background session with an
educator to help “unpack” the Museum’s Centenary programme for the teachers.
http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/education/100-years-on-from-the-first-world-war
Auckland Art Gallery - Toi o Tāmaki
This field trip gives you the opportunity to marry history and art in one of Auckland’s most
beautifully crafted and award winning buildings. The field trip includes an interactive session with
educators which involve exploring art and history with a presentation and debate on 'Art provides
an accurate source of information for documenting history'. There will also be a guided tour of
the gallery provided as part of the experience.
http://www.aucklandartgallery.com/
9