New Zealand has always proudly worn its status of being the first country to enfranchise women. But not many know that it took a further 40 long years to get the first woman elected to Parliament. In fact women were not even entitled to stand as candidates in national elections until 1919 – 26 years after they won the right to vote in those elections. Even then there was resistance, with editor of the Auckland Star stating that it would open the way for ‘a class of aggressive females who, thirsting for publicity, would be constantly pushing themselves forward into positions for which they are in no sense fitted’. The journey ‘from the home to the House’ was a shamefully protracted one for New Zealand women, as many male parliamentarians who grudgingly accepted the franchise being extended to women staunchly resisted any further progress. Their political machinations and filibustering were highly effective. Eventually, with an additional 130,000 voters enrolled, politicians began to realise that women’s votes – and even women’s voices – mattered. However, it was not until 1933 that the first woman was elected to the New Zealand Parliament, when Elizabeth McCombs won the Lyttelton seat, following the death of her husband, the sitting MP. The history of women striving to share in governing the country, a neglected footnote in the nation’s electoral history, is now captured in this essential work by Jenny Coleman. She has drawn on a wide range of sources to create a rich portrayal of a rapidly evolving colonial society in which new ideas and social change were in constant friction with the status quo.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 338

Dimensions: 150 x 230 mm

Publication Date: 30-05-2020

In Crossing the Lines, Brent Coutts brings to light the previously untold history of New Zealand homosexual soldiers in World War II, drawing on the experiences of ordinary men who lived through extraordinary times. At the centre of the story are New Zealand soldiers Harold Robinson, Ralph Dyer and Douglas Morison, who shared a queer identity and love of performance. Through their roles as female impersonators in Kiwi concert parties in the Pacific and Egypt they found a place to live as gay men within the military forces, boosting the morale of personnel in the Pacific Campaign and, along the way, falling in love with some of the men they met. Crossing the Lines is a richly illustrated account that follows the men from their formative pre-war lives, through the difficult wartime years to their experiences living in a postwar London where they embraced the many new possibilities available. It is a story of strong friendships, the search for love and belonging as homosexuals within the military and civilian worlds, and the creation of the foundation of the queer community today.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 336

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 07-08-2020

In 1869, a businessman from China’s Guangdong Province first set foot on New Zealand soil at Port Chalmers. It was the beginning of an illustrious career that would change the shape of commerce and industry in Otago and Southland. ‘Merchant, Miner, Mandarin’ depicts the fascinating life of Choie Sew Hoy – from his early days in China before emigrating to Australia and then New Zealand, to his death in 1901 as one of Dunedin’s most prominent entrepreneurs. The store Choie Sew Hoy established in Dunedin’s Stafford Street was a huge success, while his revolutionary gold-dredging technology improved the fortunes of the gold-mining industry in Otago and Southland. He backed dredging, quartz crushing and hydraulic sluicing ventures in the goldfields of Ophir, Macetown, Skippers, Nokomai and the Shotover. Sharp as a razor, Sew Hoy was a visionary, able to spot opportunities no one else could, whether sending vast amounts of unwanted scrap metal from New Zealand back to China, or joining famous Taranaki businessman Chew Chong’s fungus export trade. Sew Hoy was also a local character, always elegantly dressed and with legendary success in horse racing. His self-assurance and charm gained him entry to the Chamber of Commerce, the Jockey Club, the Masons and even the Caledonian Society. A benefactor to many social causes, he supported hospitals and benevolent associations to help his fellow Chinese immigrants. When the success of the Chinese in New Zealand aroused hostility, he fought the prevalent racism and unfair government legislation of the day. A man of two worlds, Choie Sew Hoy was a success in both. Richly illustrated and deeply researched, ‘Merchant, Miner, Mandarin’ is both the compelling biography of one of the most distinguished figures of New Zealand business and an intriguing account of late 19th-century society, industry and race relations.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 288

Dimensions: 210 x 265 mm

Publication Date: 19-06-2020

In 1858 Canterbury settler Thomas Potts protested against the destruction of tōtara on the Port Hills near Christchurch. A decade later, as a member of Parliament, he made forest conservation a national issue. Through his writing he raised the then novel idea of protecting native birds on island reserves, and proposed the creation of national ‘domains’ or parks. As a pioneering colonist, acclimatist and runholder, however, Potts’ own actions threatened the very environments he sought to maintain. This makes him a fascinating subject as we confront present-day problems in balancing development and conservation. This book is about, and partly by, Potts, and through him about New Zealand and the course and consequences of colonisation. It describes and interprets his life, from his early years in England through to his 34 years in New Zealand. Excerpts from Potts’ vivid 1850s diary, written from close to the edge of European settlement, are published here for the first time. Thomas Potts of Canterbury also reproduces 11 long-forgotten essays by him from the 1880s, in which he reflected on the 1850s and what had happened since – both to New Zealand’s natural environment and to Māori and Pākehā. Sixteen pages of contemporary images supplement the text. Thomas Potts of Canterbury will appeal to anyone interested in the early history of Canterbury, in environmental change, and in early efforts in New Zealand towards conservation. It is a story of conflicting goals, magnificently exemplified in the life and writings of a man who strove, 150 years ago, to be both colonist and conservationist.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 342

Dimensions: 170 x 240 mm

Publication Date: 20-09-2020

In the aftermath of the Christchurch terrorist attacks of 15 March 2019, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared: ‘We are all New Zealanders.’ These words resonated, an instant meme that asserted our national diversity and inclusiveness and, at the same time, issued a rebuke to hatred and divisiveness. Ko Aotearoa Tātou | We Are New Zealand is bursting with new works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry and visual art created in response to the editors’ questions: What is New Zealand now, in all its rich variety and contradiction, darkness and light? Who are New Zealanders? The works flowed in from well-known names and new voices, from writers and artists from Kerikeri to Bluff. Some are teenagers still at school; some are in their eighties. Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, Asian, new migrants, young voices, queer writers, social warriors … Aotearoa’s many faces are represented in this unique and important compendium. In a society where the arts, especially marginalised arts, are under threat, this anthology shows that creative work can explore, document, interrogate, re-imagine – and celebrate – who we are as citizens of this diverse country, in a diverse world. A list of all contributors can be found at https://wearenewzealand.org/.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 280

Dimensions: 165 x 210 mm

Publication Date: 20-10-2020

‘Rape Myths as Barriers to Fair Trial Process’ opens the courtroom door on rape trials to investigate how and why they re-traumatise complainants. Despite decades of targeted law reform, adult complainants still report that the process of being a witness is a significant point of re-victimisation. This book contains the findings of four years of research that compares the trial process in 30 adult rape cases from 2010 to 2015 (in which the defence at trial was consent) with 10 cases from the Sexual Violence Court Pilot heard in 2018. The aim of the research was to find out at which points in the questioning process the complainant displayed heightened emotionality, including distress, and why cross-examination (in particular) is so resistant to reform measures. Researchers also considered the extent to which the current rules of evidence and procedure are applied appropriately and consistently, and identified examples of best practice in order to develop proposals for changes to law and process. Elisabeth McDonald is a Professor of Law at the University of Canterbury. She has taught and published in the areas of sexual and family violence, law and sexuality, criminal law and the law of evidence for 30 years, as an academic and as the Policy Manager for the evidence law reference at the New Zealand Law Commission. Elisabeth is the author of a number of evidence law textbooks and online legal resources, as well as co-editor of ‘From “Real Rape” to Real Justice’ (2011) and ‘Feminist Judgments Aotearoa: Te Rino, the Two-Stranded Rope’ (2017). In June 2018, she became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for Services to Law and Education.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 584

Dimensions: 210 x 296 mm

Publication Date: 03-06-2020

Masterton-born Len Frances joined New Zealand’s war effort when qualifying for service in November 1940 and training became serious with the Pacific War’s outbreak in December 1941. He was called into camp immediately, spending the first months of 1942 at Masterton’s Solway Military Camp, training for the infantry. After officer training, he was posted to anti-aircraft guns and helped prepare reinforcements in the Wellington area – and married Jean. Part of the 10th reinforcement, Len left New Zealand in July 1943, reverting to the ranks in Egypt to join 6th Field Regiment as a gunner. He served right through the Italian Campaign, feeding the guns at Sangro River, Cassino, Florence and up the Adriatic coast to Trieste, occasionally taking a little time out to continue accountancy studies. Len kept a diary for 31 months, detailing military and other experiences in the land of his father’s birth, a Kiwi-Italian in the midst of total war. His story is also that of a young husband separated from wife and family half a world away. The Author A lifetime interest in military history led Masterton-born author Neil Frances to write on these aspects of Wairarapa’s past. On the Move Again is his sixth book published by Wairarapa Archive/Fraser Books. While previous volumes examined people, events and places, this new book is more personal, based on the diary of his father, a gunner in Italy during World War Two.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 170 x 245 mm

Publication Date: 24-04-2021

The story of the magnificent passenger and cargo ships that made New Zealand – and the colourful characters who manned them. Masters, engineers, deck officers, radio operators, seamen, cadets, shore staff and passengers talked to maritime historian Nick Tolerton for this brilliantly illustrated book, full of salty tales of adventures at sea and ashore, war, storms, smuggling, eccentric characters, and fun and misadventures in port. Special features include harrowing excerpts from the previously unpublished diary of a passenger on New Zealand’s worst immigrant ship on which 44 people died on the voyage to New Zealand and the recollections of New Zealand’s last Cape Horner. This fascinating story of the golden age of seafaring is complemented by 400 photographs, most of them previously unpublished.

Bind: hardback

Pages: 329

Dimensions: 210 x 295 mm

Publication Date: 30-07-2021

Trams Still Around New Zealand is true to its title, detailing the existence of 99 trams; 85 New Zealand trams and 14 trams from Australia now resident here. Between the covers the reader will discover that the tramcar in New Zealand is far from a street vehicle of the past. Already the tram has returned to the streets of Auckland and Christchurch. Coverage is given to each of the trams now running within the boundaries of transport museums in New Zealand, those that are in storage but not yet running, with coverage also of trams still used as baches around New Zealand. Each tram portrayed has its history outlined with generous photographic coverage of each tram in original condition, as stored, and finally as restored (if that has occurred). Also featured are the Wellington and Dunedin cable-cars. Wrapping up this most interesting book is a broad coverage of the various tramway societies and groups.

Bind: paperback

Pages: 160

Dimensions: 210 x 280 mm

Publication Date: 20-10-2021

Hjilmar Dannevill travelled the world in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sometimes using aliases, sometimes disguised as a male, and claiming to be researching venereal diseases on behalf of a wealthy Austrian businessman. She arrived in New Zealand in 1911 and falsely presented herself as a qualified medical professional while helping to set up a private health home run by women. In the hostile anti-foreigner environment of World War 1, doubts about her sex, identity, qualifications and motivations, as well as suspicions about her relationships with women, drew the attention of police and military authorities. In May 1917, although she tried to defend herself, she was declared a German spy and imprisoned. Like many other women who formed transnational networks stretching across Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific to New Zealand, in defiance of sex-role stereotypes, Dannevill pursued life, work and female relationships around the globe. According to the authorities she was ‘a thorough humbug and fraud’ and ‘just the sort of person who would take up such a job as a political spy or pimp.’ But who was Hjilmar Dannevill? Why did she lie? Why was she persecuted? Was she a spy?

Bind: paperback

Pages: 250

Dimensions: 152 x 228 mm

Publication Date: 31-10-2021