Today marks an important date in New Zealand history. One hundred and fifty years ago one of the bloodiest battles of the New Zealand Wars took place between British troops and Māori warriors at their defensive earthworks at Rangiriri. By the time the battle was over early the […]
On 3 December 1917, the men of the 1st Canterbury and 1st Otago battalions assembled along the front line opposite a German strongpoint that was backed with pillboxes, machine-guns, trenches; and at the heart of the position, the ruins of Polderhoek Chateau. At midday the whistles blew and […]
I’ve previously posted battlefield guides for two of the most famous battlefields in Europe; Omaha Beach and Waterloo. Today’s guide is for a lesser known battlefield, but one that is a lot closer to home – at the top of the North Island of New Zealand. Known today […]
Last night I attended a screening of ‘Utu: Redux’ as part of the 2013 New Zealand International Film Festival, and what better place to experience a classic Kiwi film than in Dunedin’s beautiful Regent Theatre. As a semi-obsessive aficionado of historical costume drama it would be wrong for […]
Today I have another couple of envelopes and another story, this time from wartime Wellington – a city that has had a bit of a shaky time lately. I came across this pair of covers (fancy philately term for used envelopes) back when I was a teenager. At […]
Today marks one hundred and fifty years since the first skirmishes of the Waikato Invasion were fought. I’m not an expert on the subject but it feels wrong to not acknowledge such an important date in New Zealand’s history. It isn’t about celebrating; it is about commemorating and […]
Today is D-Day. And I don’t mean that in the figurative sense. Today marks the 69th anniversary of the Allied landings at Normandy on 6th June 1944. The original non-metaphorical D-Day. To commemorate this day of days I thought I’d share some of my personal experiences from a […]
On 25th April 1915, New Zealand and Australian forces landed at what would become known as ANZAC Cove. It wasn’t the first time that New Zealanders went into battle, and it wouldn’t be the last, but the exploits of our soldiers in that campaign have become legendary. It […]
As a follow-up to my earlier post on the HMAS Encounter I thought I’d share another photograph from the same collection. Last time the identity of the ship was written on the back of the image by the photographer, but this time I know a lot less about […]
First of all, apologies for the brief absence on the blog front. I’ve been rather busy lately with the exception of an uncharacteristic migraine which waited until Otago’s regional holiday before ambushing me and rendering me useless, but I can’t complain, at least I’m not off to war […]
History Geek 