Book details

  • Genre:history
  • Sub-genre:Australia & New Zealand
  • Language:English
  • Pages:300
  • eBook ISBN:9781623092139

Behold the Moon

The European Occupation of the Dunedin District 1770-1848

By Peter Entwisle

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Overview


Behold the Moon describes the European history of the Dunedin district (New Zealand) before the arrival of the Scottish settlers in 1848.It details a forgotten war between Maori and Pakeha sparked by a Maori chief's theft of a red shirt and a sealer's excessive revenge. It describes William Tucker's residence at Whareakeake and his fostering of an export trade in hei-tiki, the rise and decline of sealing and flax trading before permanent European occupation was started in 1831 by the Weller brothers, whalers and New Zealand-wide traders.

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Description


Behold the Moon describes the European history of the Dunedin district (New Zealand) before the arrival of the Scottish settlers in 1848.It details a forgotten war between Maori and Pakeha sparked by a Maori chief's theft of a red shirt and a sealer's excessive revenge. It describes William Tucker's residence at Whareakeake and his fostering of an export trade in hei-tiki, the rise and decline of sealing and flax trading before permanent European occupation was started in 1831 by the Weller brothers, whalers and New Zealand-wide traders. There is an impression that the Scots who came in 1848 entered an empty territory and bought this excellent real estate from a few tattooed tribesman who inexplicably wished to give up their ancestral land. By contrast the Creed manuscript by a missionary reports fatal encounters from a spiraling feud between Maori and Pakeha in what is now the Dunedin district.

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About The Author


Peter Entwisle has lived for many years in Dunedin, New Zealand where he is an historian, art historian and curator.

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