History New Zealand

A new stage production in Auckland looks at life for Ngati Whatua through the eyes of one their most prominent tupuna, Apihai Te Kawau, who signed Te Tiriti O Waitangi in March 1840. Audio

From harem pants to scandalous hemlines, Auckland Library's latest exhibition showcases what we wore in the 1950s through 1990s Audio

From a standing start of little tank engines chugging along wooden rails, New Zealand built a vast rail network, made up of enough steel rail to wrap halfway around the moon. Video, Audio

Marine mammals were a source of food and clothing for Māori and Moriori, and valuable oil for Europeans. Hunting them brought cultures together, made fortunes and cost lives but today it's saving them… Video, Audio

Moriori are the original people of Rēkohu (aka Chatham Island or Wharekauri) & they have a tragic and inspiring story. Unfortunately, that story's often been twisted into, well, utter rubbish. Video, Audio

The discovery of gold drew tens of thousands to New Zealand in search of fortune. It was a hard life, but diggers brought mateship, fashion & egalitarian ideas that changed the country forever. Video, Audio

New Zealanders have battled Covid-19 for more than two years, but if you think it's the first time disease has knocked us around, well, this one's for you. Epidemics have long been part of our story. 

The 1950s saw an explosion of youth culture. “Bodgies and widgies' ' tearing round on motorbikes & hanging out in milk bars scandalised many Kiwi adults. Was “the teenager” invented in the 1950s? And… Video, Audio

The first 500 years of Māori settlement in Aotearoa saw significant, dynamic changes to how people lived; changes that challenge the idea of Māori culture as something carved in stone. Video, Audio

No-one knows for sure who first introduced rabbits to New Zealand, because no-one wanted to take the blame for what became one of New Zealand's biggest environmental and economic disasters. We start… Video, Audio

The Aotearoa History Show is back with 14 new episodes diving deep into some of the key issues, events and characters that helped shaped our country. Video

It’s the final episode of the Aotearoa History Show! Rogernomics, Ruthanasia and the referendum on MMP saw the total restructuring of our economy and voting system. Plus a snapshot of the changing… Audio

The 60s, 70s and 80s were rowdy decades. Kiwis were getting out in the streets and raising their voices about the rights of Māori, women and LGBT people, nuclear energy, the environment. Plus the most… Audio

A second world war swept the globe, dragging New Zealand once more onto the battlefield, this time in the Pacific as well as Europe. In the likes of Crete, Greece and North Africa and on Pacific… Audio

With World War I and the flu epidemic past, the good times rolled through the 1920s. Then came the bust of the Great Depression, prompting widespread poverty - that was worse for some - and the rise… Audio

It’s the war that claimed more New Zealand lives than any other. It’s also the event that’s often claimed as the "foundational moment” where we “became a nation”. But is that really true? In this… Audio

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… Audio

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… Audio

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.  Audio

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… Audio