Episodes

  • Prehistoric New Zealand
    Oct 6 2019
    Before people there was the land. We start the story of New Zealand 100 million years ago as tectonic forces tear apart Gondwana and Zealandia/Te Riu-a-Maiu is formed.
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    15 mins
  • Tangata Whenua
    Oct 8 2019
    Around 850 years ago Polynesian explorers found an empty land and the story of people in Aotearoa began. A new culture emerged; tangata whenua had arrived and started to thrive.
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    23 mins
  • Early Encounters
    Oct 10 2019
    Abel Tasman and James Cook's first contacts with Māori were complex and sometimes violent. Europeans brought new technologies, food and ideas, such as muskets, potatoes and Christianity. In some cases this worked out well for Tangata Whenua - but in other cases it was devastating.
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    19 mins
  • Te Tiriti o Waitangi
    Oct 13 2019
    In Europe, factions debated the future of Aotearoa, while Māori had their own ideas how to handle the growing number of Pākehā here. In the end, Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, but the early promise leads ultimately to war.
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    23 mins
  • New Zealand Wars (Part 1)
    Oct 15 2019
    Hunger for land and the rise of Kingitanga prompted Governor George Grey to invade Waikato in 1863. Fighting spread over years and into the Bay of Plenty, devastating Maori. But it was not as one-sided as the British had expected.
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    23 mins
  • New Zealand Wars (Part 2)
    Oct 17 2019
    As British troops leave, settler militia enter the fray. Some Māori chose to fight alongside the Crown while others join new religious movements, which seem to promise a way out of the conflict.
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    19 mins
  • Votes, Depressions & Refrigerators
    Oct 20 2019
    After the wars, politicians had to figure out how to run the new country. Bold choices saw huge spending on infrastructure, the right of women to vote and the start of refrigeration, helping us out of The Long Depression. A new politics arose but old values remained.
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    25 mins
  • Colonists & Courts
    Oct 22 2019
    Through the final quarter of the 19th Century Pakeha settler numbers swelled. The immigrants sought land and started to create a new, distinct culture. But their land gain came at the cost of Maori, as new laws and courts changed ownership patterns. Plus, the story of Parihaka.
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    23 mins