National Library of New Zealand Events

More Oral History workshops: Essential of Oral History, day one and day two

Workshops elsewhere and Māori-English bilingual courses are also available. For the bilingual courses, please contact Taina Tangaere McGregor, the Oral History Adviser, Maori, on 04 462 3976.

Over the hill to Greytown

A Friends of the Dorothy Neal White Collection event

The Friends of Dorothy Neal White Collection have great pleasure in inviting you to our end of year event. Author Tania Connelly will be speaking about her newly launched picture book Over the Hill to Greytown.

Seasonal drinks and festive nibbles will be served.

Abstracting Oral History: Auckland

Limited to 8 participants.

More Oral History workshops: Essential of Oral History, day one and day two

Download the registration form (pdf, 191KB)

Workshops elsewhere and Māori-English bilingual courses are also available. For the bilingual courses, please contact Taina Tangaere McGregor, the Oral History Adviser, Maori, on 04 462 3976.

Using archival material to support Aboriginal languages

Join visiting language experts Dr Michael Walsh and Dr Jakelin Troy to hear about their research locating archival material to support the revitalisation of Aboriginal Languages.

Dr Walsh will talk about his work locating and identifying resources relevant to Australian languages within the collections of the Mitchell Library in Sydney. Dr Troy will be talking about her research into the language of the Sydney area and using archival material to reconstruct it.

Examples of Māori material will also be featured.

See information on Michael and Jakelin's recent presentations at the Hidden Gems Symposium in Sydney.

Media coverage of archival material discovered at the Mitchell Library as part of Dr Walsh’s research.

Get in line! (November)

A Next in line event

Cory Mathis, winner of the Young Cartoonist Award 2013, will run fun, interactive workshops for 5- to 12-year-olds. Children can try their hand at cartooning and learn practical drawing tips to improve their pictures. Guiding the children through drawing a picture and faces, Cory will introduce the basic concepts of caricature.

Spaces are limited. Book your spot by emailing atloutreach@dia.govt.nz. Children need to be accompanied by a caregiver.

Email the curator, Melinda Johnston, for more information.

Cory Mathis, Baby Kumra, 2013.

Byte Back! Getting a handle on your digital files

A family history monthly talk

Do you create your family history on a computer? Save your research on a disk? Take digital photos? If the answer is yes then this session is for you!

In our last talk for the year, Leigh Rosin and Jessica Moran, the Library’s Digital Archivists, will give you practical advice on how to manage your digital files and media. Learn the basics about the care and handling of physical media like CDs and hard drives, as well as good practice in file naming, organisation and back ups.

Space is limited, so please book your spot by emailing atloutreach@dia.govt.nz or phoning Cellia Joe on 04 462 3935

'The computer failed to understand Cecily's reasoning'. May, 2008. Ref: DCDL-0006458.

1913: still relevant after all these years?

Dr Jim McAloon will introduce three speakers, discussing the relevance of the 1913 strike to workers a century later.

The Battle of Featherston Street, during the 1913 New Zealand Waterfront Strike. Ref: 1/2-160127-F.

1913: still relevant after all these years?

The Great Strike was about local and particular labour issues which are canvassed well in the collection, Revolution, The 1913 Great Strike in New Zealand (Canterbury University Press in association with the Trade Union History Project, 2005), edited by Melanie Nolan. But the 1913 Great Strike was a battleground of democracy. Workers and others battled over the shape of New Zealand society and the role of unions in it. Professor Melanie Nolan will further explore how these issues are relevant today.

Melanie Nolan is Professor of History, Director of the National Centre of Biography and General Editor of the Australian Dictionary of Biography in the School of History at the Australian National University (ANU). As general editor she has published the Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 18 (2012) and a history of the Australian Dictionary of Biography, The ADB’s Story (2013).

The New Zealand Waterfront in 2013: Back to the future?

The 1913 general strike was fought on and around the waterfront in Wellington and other ports. In the century since, maritime workers have remained a central part of New Zealand’s social and industrial history and class struggle, through key events such as the 1951 lockout and more recent struggles against casualization and insecure jobs.

After a sustained attack on workers rights for the last generation, have we come full circle and are maritime workers fighting the same battles today? Joe Fleetwood, National Secretary, Maritime Union of New Zealand will explore how have things changed and how have they stayed the same.

Joe Fleetwood was elected National Secretary of the Maritime Union of New Zealand in 2009. Joe has been a seafarer and a member of the New Zealand Seafarers Union and now the Maritime Union for over thirty two years. He previously served a term as National Vice President of the Maritime Union, and served as Secretary of the Wellington Seafarers Branch MUNZ. Previous to this Joe served as job delegate for around 25 years. Joe is a fifth generation seafarer and dock worker.

Solidarity on the waterfront since 1913

More information coming soon! The Rail and Maritime Transport Union will also discuss the development of solidarity on the waterfront since 1913.

Part of a series of talks for the centenery of the 1913 Great Strike. Presented by the Museum of Wellington City & Sea, the Labour History Project and the Alexander Turnbull Library. Supported by the Maritime Union of New Zealand and the Rail & Maritime Transport Union.

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

Essentials of Oral History day two: Wellington

The Oral History Centre of the Alexander Turnbull Library is offering workshops for people considering using oral history in their work, community or personal projects. The workshops will be tutored by Judith Fyfe, oral historian and lawyer, and Lynette Shum, Oral History Adviser, Alexander Turnbull Library.

By the end of the workshop participants should have a basic understanding of how to record an oral history interview, and what to do with it afterwards.

The course is limited to 14 participants. The fee includes morning and afternoon tea.

Day two: Recording seriously. This workshop will build on the introductory course, reviewing work completed and covering in more detail interview techniques, project planning and technical, ethical, and legal issues.

See day one of Essentials of Oral History

See the afternoon's programme

Workshops elsewhere and Māori-English bilingual courses are also available. For the bilingual courses, please contact Taina Tangaere McGregor, the Oral History Adviser, Maori, on 04 462 3976.

Cartoon colloquium: Looking at women and cartoons today

A Next in line event

What challenges face women cartoonists? How are women being represented in comics and cartoons? Who's working now to push these forms forward? Our Cartoon Colloquium is an opportunity to think about the reasons for the low profile of women cartoonists, discuss issues of gender identity and politics, and showcase those who are already there.

Practising cartoonists and academics will highlight women already making comics and cartoons, ponder the landscape they work in, and discuss the gaps that still need filling.

Spaces are limited. Book your spot by emailing atloutreach@dia.govt.nz.

Email the curator, Melinda Johnston, for more information.

Sharon Murdoch, "Are you looking at me?", 13 April 2013. Ref: DCDL-0024808.

Colloquium programme

11:30

Introduction and welcome.

11.35 Dr Barbara Garrie, Lecturer in Art History, University of Canterbury

will introduce Linda Nochlin’s famous question, ‘Why have there been no great women artists?’ How might the lessons learned in art history be applied to our understanding of women cartoonists and women in cartoons?

12.00 Dr Sondra Bacharach, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Victoria University of Wellington

will consider the ethical implications of representations of women in cartoons. What is the moral dimension of comics and cartoons, and how do our prejudices and stereotypes inform our moral assessments?

12.25 Dr Bronwyn Labrum, Research Co-ordinator, School of Design, Massey University

will speak about the history of women cartoonists and women in cartoons in the context of New Zealand's wider visual culture.

12.50

Short break.

12.55 Dr Tim Bollinger, comic artist and researcher

will offer a brief introduction to women's comics, and women in comics, in New Zealand.

1.15 Robyn Kennealy, comic artist

speaks about the intersection of feminism and neo-liberal ideas in her comics.

1.30 Valerie Love, Research Librarian, Digital Materials, Alexander Turnbull Library

will discuss portrayals of the LGBT community in New Zealand cartoons.

1.40

Afternoon tea break.

1.55 Sharon Murdoch, Wellington-based cartoonist

regularly publishes in major New Zealand papers and will speak about her experience as a woman cartoonist and the role of whimsy in her cartoons.

2.10 Dr Melinda Johnston, Research Librarian, Cartoons, Alexander Turnbull Library

asks whether cartoonists and historians in New Zealand have privileged a so-called ‘savage’ and ‘masculine’ style of comment, and how women cartoonists might negotiate a place within this context.

2.20 Hayley Heartbreak, entrant in the 2013 Young Cartoonist competition

“Don't scare the boys”: On the notion of influences, defending your corner and establishing yourself as a female artist when everyone is telling you you're a threat to the status quo.

2.35 Sarah Laing, comic blogger

will talk about her experience as a comic artist and blogger.

2.55 Pamela Stirling, Editor in Chief, the Listener

shares her experience of the publishing industry.

3.15

Discussion and wrap-up.

Organising Today, Shaping Tomorrow

Women shaping the future for all of us

Chaired by Marianne Elliott, with Helen Kelly, Mothla Majeed, Victoria Manning, and Chennoah Walford.

The National Library invites you to a free public panel discussion.

Tirohia Mai's final panel focuses on the future, on how this generation of women are responding to the opportunities and challenges they face and how they are contributing to shaping the future for all of us.

Part of Wellington Zinefest 2013

The panel

Chairperson: Marianne Elliott

Marianne grew up on a farm in Tokoroa and in Papua New Guinea. She is a human rights lawyer who has worked in Gaza, at the New Zealand Human Rights Commission and in Afghanistan. In Zen Under Fire she records and reflects on her experiences in Afghanistan. She has a flourishing yoga and mentoring consultancy and is co-owner of a Mexican restaurant in Wellington.

Helen Kelly

Helen is the first woman to hold the position of President, Council of Trade Unions. Unions have been crucial to making progress on equality for women, yet as a male dominated movement, unions have, in the past, also put up barriers to women workers' full and equal participation in the labour force. Labour force issues are at the heart of enduring inequalities experienced by women in Aotearoa New Zealand, in particular the low pay and precarious conditions in female intensive industries; and the continuing difficulties of combining paid work and family responsibilities. How are unions organising today to shape tomorrow?

Mothla Majeed

Mothla is an international cooperation analyst in the public service. An arts and law graduate from Victoria University, she has volunteered in the social justice sphere since moving to Wellington including assisting lawyers at Whitireia Community Law Centre in Porirua to provide legal advice and advocacy to those usually without access. She brings the perspective and experiences of a first generation New Zealand woman. Mothla, who calls herself an Algerian-Iraqi-via England-New Zealander, came here as a four year old. "I'm glad I live in Aotearoa" but "it's the constant allegation that I'm not 'from' here because of my name and features that hurts". Mothla views Te Tiriti, the Treaty of Waitangi as key to a better future for all in Aotearoa.

Victoria Manning

Victoria is a Policy Adviser with the Disabled People's Assembly. In the 1990s Victoria emerged as one of the leaders of young disabled people determined to claim their place as fully participating citizens. She helped organise disabled students at Victoria University and, with Kim Robinson, successfully took the complaint to the Human Rights Commission that led to the establishment of the text-voice relay service that enables hearing impaired people, and those with speech difficulties to use telephones. As a bi-lingual mother of two young children with many years’ experience in policy level advocacy Victoria is acutely aware of the challenges facing disabled women and the work needed to make New Zealand more inclusive of disabled women.

Chennoah Walford

Chennoah is a first year law student at Victoria University, studying politics, international relations and theatre. She is also an actor and dancer who this year helped found the Clitlective, a feminist theatre collective committed to equality for all genders. Chennoah is the youth member on the Board of Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand. An Amnesty activist since secondary school at Tauranga Girls, she is passionate about the Amnesty campaign My Body My Rights and about stopping sexual violence, including sexual violence against men.

Demystifying the ISBN

Librarians love zines

And librarians love zines with ISBNs even more. Join Amy Joseph (National Library), Monty Masseurs (Wellington City Libraries), and Claire Harris (zine-maker), for a chat about the library services zine-makers can use.

The panel will talk about ISBNs, pre-publication cataloguing, Legal Deposit, and the Public Lending Right, the zine collection at WCL, and the experience of a zine-maker using these.

Fear no art

Join Ruth Harvey, Manager Programmes and Experiences at Puke Ariki, for a talk about her time with AS220.

Ruth has recently returned from a residency at AS220 arts organisation in Rhode Island, USA. She will share her insider's view of AS220's vibrant, experimental, and entrepreneurial culture, and reflect on how fostering creativity and providing space can transform communities.

More information from Te Papa

Space is limited, so email natserv@tepapa.govt.nz to book a spot.

Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

What were the consequences of the 1913 strike on the main parties involved? Focussing on four key individuals – the labour leaders Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser, the Police Commissioner John Cullen, and a Levin dental technician named Bernard Freyberg who served as a special constable in Wellington during the strike, Mark Derby will explore what happened to them afterwards.

Members of the Labour cabinet in the foyer of Parliament Buildings, 1936. Ref 1/1-018218-F.

Mark Derby is a Wellington historian and writer working for Te Ara – the online encyclopedia of NZ. He is also a long-time committee member of the Labour History Project and has researched and published widely on the 1913 strike. This talk will draw partly on one of his books, The Prophet and the Policeman – the story of Rua Kenana and John Cullen, (Craig Potton, 2009).

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 19: 1913: still relevant after all these years?

OCLC talk - Richard Wallis and Chris Thewlis (Auckland)

The National Library is delighted to offer Te Puna member libraries the opportunity hear Richard Wallis (Technology Evangelist at OCLC) talk about the Semantic Web and Linked Data technology and Chris Thewlis (Regional Manager Australiasia at OCLC) talk about metadata management initiatives on the WorldShare platform.

These latest metadata initiatives come as part of the New Zealand national agreement with OCLC for supply of bibliographic records and are an exciting development.

You will be able to listen to Richard talk, then take part in a discussion about what this means for libraries and librarians.

You can read about Richard Wallis's background and current role You may also be interested in his recent presentation at IFLA

OCLC talk - Richard Wallis and Chris Thewlis (Wellington)

These latest metadata initiatives come as part of the New Zealand national agreement with OCLC for supply of bibliographic records and are an exciting development.

You will be able to listen to Richard talk, then take part in a discussion about what this means for libraries and librarians.

You can read about Richard Wallis's background and current role You may also be interested in his recent presentation at IFLA

Essentials of Oral History day two: Auckland

The Oral History Centre of the Alexander Turnbull Library is offering workshops for people considering using oral history in their work, community or personal projects. This workshop will be tutored by oral historian, Megan Hutching and Lynette Shum, Oral History Adviser, Alexander Turnbull Library.

By the end of the workshop participants should have a basic understanding of how to record an oral history interview, and what to do with it afterwards.

The course is limited to 12 participants (first in first served!). The fee includes morning and afternoon tea. You will need to bring your own lunch, or there are cafes reasonably close by.

See day one of Essentials of Oral History

See Abstracting Oral History

Workshops elsewhere and Māori-English bilingual courses are also available. For the bilingual courses, please contact Taina Tangaere McGregor, the Oral History Adviser, Maori, on 04 462 3976.

OCLC talk - Richard Wallis and Chris Thewlis (Dunedin)

These latest metadata initiatives come as part of the New Zealand national agreement with OCLC for supply of bibliographic records and are an exciting development.

You will be able to listen to Richard talk, then take part in a discussion about what this means for libraries and librarians.

You can read about Richard Wallis's background and current role You may also be interested in his recent presentation at IFLA

Flashpoint of history

On this date in 1913 the Specials took control of the waterfront from the striking workers. To mark the events of the time there will be a street parade starting at the Museum of City and Sea.

Four of Massey's Special Constables on horseback, 1913. Ref: 1/2-029096-F

The parade will feature six horses in period saddlery, six mounted Special Constables in period costume, and a number of ‘Strikers’ with placards, also in period dress who will travel onto Post office Square, turning right into Lower Willis Street, onto Jervois Quay then left onto Brandon Street, across Featherston Street to Lambton Quay and then across Whitmore Street to the front of Parliament and the parade will terminate in the open space in front of the Cenotaph.

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

Women and Work: Opportunities and Challenges

Women managing the challenges of the modern working life

Chaired by Dr Judith Aitken, with Marianne Elliott, Serena Lemuela-Curtis, Dr. Nicola Gaston, Bianca Zander.

The National Library invites you to a free public panel discussion.

A lifetime of paid work is now expected as much of women as it is of men. The panel highlights young women making an impact in science, working in IT, creating and building new businesses and confronting the myriad of challenges that endure still, including combining motherhood and paid work.

Download the registration form (pdf, 191KB)

The panel

Chairperson: Dr Judith Aitken

Judith has had a distinguished career as a public servant, author and community worker. She has been Chief Executive of the Ministry of Women's Affairs and Chief Review Officer at the Education Review Office (1992-2000). Judith has also published extensively, A Woman's Place: A Study of the Changing Roles of Women and Men in New Zealand being her first major publication. She is currently a member of the Wellington Regional Council and the Capital and Coast District Health Board.

Marianne Elliott

Human rights lawyer, with experience in Gaza and Afghanistan as well as New Zealand; author of Zen Under Fire; co-founder and owner of Wellington Mexican restaurant La Boca Loca. Marianne is an advocate for self-employment, for women as entrepreneurs building their own businesses.

Serena Curtis-Lemuelu

Director, SV8 Consulting Ltd. Serena specialises in project management, business and systems analysis. Her projects have included The Pacific Island Safety and Prevention Project for the development and implementation of Whānau Ora and project management of the World Bank, NZ Department of Labour review of the recognised seasonal workers schemes in six Pacific countries. Before setting up her own business Serena worked in the health sector. A highly successful rugby and rugby league player herself and still playing, she also currently coaches Poneke Poneke Colts (U21 grade).

Dr. Nicola Gaston

Senior Lecturer, School of Chemical and Physical Sciences at Victoria University & Principal Investigator at the MacDiarmid Institute. Before coming to Victoria University Nicola worked at the IRL (now Callaghan Institute) and in Dresden at the world renown Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems. She researches and publishes on the structural electronic and optical properties of nanoparticles and nanostructures.

Bianca Zander

Novelist, screenwriter, journalist and currently creative writing lecturer at AUT. Bianca has written for the NZ Listener, Sunday Star Times and DomPost. She has produced radio shows and written for film and television. Her first novel is The Girl Below and a second is on the way. she combines writing and lecturing with motherhood.

Dylan Horrocks – Looking for the magic pen

A Next in line event

One of the most original and authoritative voices on the New Zealand comic scene, Dylan Horrocks’s comics have been published around the world. In his talk, Horrocks will share some lessons he’s learned over the years from drawing comics, comic strips, political cartoons and graphic novels: lessons about cartooning, art and life.

Horrocks is the author of the celebrated graphic novel Hicksville, which has been published in five languages and nominated for awards in the US, France, Italy and Spain. He also produces the comic book series Pickle and Atlas, has worked as a writer for DC Comics, drawn political cartoons, illustrated books, and has written essays and prose fiction.

Dylan Horrocks's visit has been made possible with the support of the Guardians of the New Zealand Cartoon Archive.

Dylan Horrocks, Self-portrait, collection of the artist.

Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

Peter Clayworth brings you a talk on Wellington 100 years ago. He describes a city plunged into industrial warfare, in a world of conflict, rapid social change and technological innovation.

Crowd gathered in Post Office Square, Wellington, during the 1913 Waterfront Strike. Ref: 1/2-048787.

In 1913 the people of Wellington were embracing the new technologies of motor cars, aeroplanes, gramophones and the mass entertainment of the silent cinema. Newspapers reported on Scott’s death in Antarctica, civil war in Mexico, the Suffragette’s sabotage campaign in Britain, and bloody strikes in Dublin, Johannesberg and Colorado.

Thousands of Wellington citizens turned out in April to see HMS New Zealand, the warship the patriotic New Zealanders had paid for to help Britain’s arms race. Within five months patriots and ‘revolutionists’ were fighting in the streets. Wellington became a battleground between militant Red Fed strikers and ‘Massey’s Cossacks’, the special constables.

This talk gives a brief glimpse into the world behind the headlines in one the most eventful years in Wellington’s history.

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

November 19: 1913: still relevant after all these years?

Reds & Wobblies

During and immediately after the First World War, the New Zealand Government enforced a strict censorship regime due to fears of political and industrial unrest. The mail, literature, and speeches of radicals – especially the Industrial Workers of the World (known as the Wobblies) – was under state scrutiny, and led to raids, arrests, and deportation of those deemed seditious.

Cartoon from the Observer, 16 December 1916.

Jared will highlight the actions of a government fearful of social revolution in a time of worldwide turbulence, and discuss the working-class radicalism that caused such fears. From the ashes of union songwriter Joe Hill to Australian Seaman Noel Lyons, the repressive actions of the New Zealand government will be placed in an international context, challenging the notion of New Zealand as an egalitarian society free of despotic power.

Jared Davidson is a member of the Labour History Project with an interest in the intersections of power, culture and class. He is the author of two books: Sewing Freedom: Philip Josephs, Transnationalism & Early New Zealand Anarchism (2013), and Remains to be Seen: Tracing Joe Hill's Ashes in New Zealand (2011). Jared currently resides in Wellington, where he works as a research archivist at Archives New Zealand.

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

November 19: 1913: still relevant after all these years?

Essentials of Oral History day one: Wellington

By the end of the workshop participants should have a basic understanding of how to record an oral history interview, and what to do with it afterwards.

The course is limited to 14 participants. The fee includes morning and afternoon tea.

Day one: An introduction to oral history methodology. How to plan an oral history project, choose the best equipment, achieve clear audio recordings, select informants, follow ethical procedures, develop questioning techniques, process oral history and make the material available for use. Bring a recorder if you have one you intend to use for recording. Exercises to be completed before Day Two will be discussed.

See day two of Essentials of Oral History

Workshops elsewhere and Māori-English bilingual courses are also available. For the bilingual courses, please contact Taina Tangaere McGregor, the Oral History Adviser, Maori, on 04 462 3976.

What is she wearing?

A family history monthly talk

Due to popular demand, Walter Cook, of the Alexander Turnbull Library’s Arrangement & Description team, will repeat his Family History Month talk on how 19th and early 20th century photographs can be dated through understanding changes in woman’s fashion and clothing.

Space is limited, so please book your spot by emailing atloutreach@dia.govt.nz or phoning Cellia Joe on 04 462 3935

Unidentified women, ca 1860. Ref: 1/4-007066-G.

"Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

Māori workers are largely absent from early twentieth-century New Zealand labour history. Commonly thought of as rural people, Māori are not mentioned in histories of organized urban craft workers and industrial unskilled workers who joined the socialist and syndicalist influenced New Zealand Federation of Labour in 1910.

Masthead of The Maoriland Worker .

Perusing the pages of the Maoriland Worker (the Federation of Labour newspaper) between 1910 and 1914, it appears Māori were subjects of political columns, union updates, and Red Fed organizing. Most striking is the figure of the half-caste Māori scab, who is demonized for endangering union organizing by their willingness to cross the picket line and join employer initiated arbitration unions.

Most regular in the pages of the Maoriland Worker is the Māori shearer, who unobtrusively is a member of the Shearers’ Union, has a Māori organizer, and is expected to become “one” with his or her Pakeha brothers and sisters in the “best interests” of the union. This talk analyses why there were such powerful differences between these two conceptions of Māori and focuses on shearing and mining work between 1910 and 1914.

Cybèle Locke is a history graduate of Otago and Auckland universities, who has published widely on labour history. Currently a lecturer in the History Programme at Victoria University of Wellington, she was a participant in the activist movements of the late twentieth century.

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

November 19: 1913: still relevant after all these years?

Essentials of Oral History day one: Auckland

By the end of the workshop participants should have a basic understanding of how to record an oral history interview, and what to do with it afterwards.

The course is limited to 12 participants (first in first served!). The fee includes morning and afternoon tea. You will need to bring your own lunch, or there are cafes reasonably close by.

See day two of Essentials of oral history

See Abstracting Oral History

Workshops elsewhere and Māori-English bilingual courses are also available. For the bilingual courses, please contact Taina Tangaere McGregor, the Oral History Adviser, Maori, on 04 462 3976.

Get in line! (October)

A Next in line event

Spaces are limited. Book your spot by emailing atloutreach@dia.govt.nz. Children need to be accompanied by a caregiver.

Email the curator, Melinda Johnston, for more information.

Cory Mathis, Baby Kumra, 2013.

An Introduction to Oral History Techniques

Come to an introductory workshop that will teach you how to get started with oral history and video recording techniques.

You'll learn about:

Māori research methodologies
best equipment
agreement forms
ownership and copyright issues
ethical considerations
developing questioning techniques
abstracting, and
preservation of tapes.

You will need to bring a video camera. Book your spot by emailing atloutreach@dia.govt.nz or phoning Mereana Taungapeau on 09 365 8819.

Making New Zealand home

Migrants and women of different ethnicities discuss the opportunities and challenges facing them in Aotearoa

Facilitated by Dr Pushpa Wood, Director of the Financial Literacy Centre, Massey University.

The National Library invites you to a free public panel discussion.

Join us for a good discussion with plenty of audience participation. Entry is free, but please book a spot by emailing Jason Hansen by September 12.

Parking is in the streets surrounding the building. On Saturday there are usually plenty of parks. Entry to the National Library is either off Molesworth Street or off Aitken Street. If you come in from Aitken Street, which is on the Lower Ground Floor, you can catch a lift to the ground floor from the foyer.

The panel

Annie Coates, originally from Myanmar; teacher and community worker, winner of the Prime Minister Social Hero Award.

Elizabeth Chan, Kiwi Chinese; Deputy Convenor of the Young Lawyer’s Committee.

Anna Guenther, half American and half Kiwi; co-founder of PledgeMe, New Zealand first crowdfunding programme.

Sudha Thomas, radiographer who previously worked in India and the Middle East. Associated with the Hindu Council of New Zealand.

Co-organised by the National Library of New Zealand, the Office of Ethnic Affairs, the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origins – Wellington (GOPIO), and Wellington Graduate Women.

Preservation workshop

Vicki-Anne Heikell, the Alexander Turnbull Library's Field Conservator, will lead a hands-on preservation workshop.

The workshop will include a seminar on the fundamentals of preservation, information about how to assess your taonga and treasures, a Q&A session, and a practical exercise to make a protective box or folder.

More about the Ventnor from Radio New Zealand

Photo by Michael Hall. Ōmaio marae, Te Whānau-a-Apanui.

The Ventnor and the Ancestors

In 1902, the SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga, en route to China. Some of the crew, including the Captain, lost their lives. The remarkable cargo lost included the remains of nearly 500 Chinese people, whose final return had been sought by their families and clansmen.

What followed this tragedy was a period of forgetting for most of the Chinese community involved, but unbeknownst to them, bones gradually washed ashore and have been cared for by the local iwi.

Lynette Shum (Oral History Adviser, Alexander Turnbull Library) will talk about the chartering and voyage of the Ventnor, from research using the Turnbull's collection, and of her experiences of being part of momentous events over 100 years later that brought the descendants of both the Chinese and Māori together and the memorials they have left.

Two lifeboats from the steamer "Ventnor" on Omapere Beach. Ref PAColl-5312.

An introduction to the Turnbull

A hands on workshop will help you discover, successfully navigate through, and access digital collections online. You will also learn about the other services and resources the National Library and Alexander Turnbull Library have to offer.

This workshop will also highlight collection items of interest on the Auckland region.

Parnell, Auckland, 1904. Ref: 1/1-002838-G.

Tiaki Taonga Booth

It's Antiques Roadshow time, as Alexander Turnbull Library staff answers questions and provides preservation advice for treasures/taonga in the home. You're invited to bring treasures and taonga from home – things like family documents, photographs, books and works of art on paper.

Vicki-Anne Heikell (ATL Field Conservator) and Margaret Morris (ATL Paper Conservator) will be on hand to fill you in on all the details.

Fijian women finding a voice

A Fijian Language Week event

Dr Alumita Durutalo and Nina Nawalowalo both successful Fijian women in their careers and daughters of Chiefs from their own villages and districts in Fiji, speak about their experiences living in Aotearoa.

The speakers

Dr Alumita Durutalo is a native Fijian from the province of Tailevu on the main island of Viti Levu. She is currently a lecturer both in the Indigenous Studies and Pacific Islands Studies programmes at Otago University. Alumita gained her BA and MA at the University of the South Pacific in her native Fiji, before achieving her PhD at Australia National University. Before coming to Otago early this year, she was teaching at USP, lecturing in Politics and International Relations. She is currently teaching Indigenous Theory and Method, the core paper of the Master of Indigenous Study degree. She is a well-respected Pacific scholar in her area.

Nina Nawalowalo is a celebrated theatre director, whose Fijian father is a chief from the island of Kadavu in the Southern part of Fiji. She has directed many plays and movies and undertaken tours around the world. In 2007 Nina was awarded The Pacific Innovation and Excellence Award, recognising her contribution as a Pacific artist to the performing arts in New Zealand. Nawalowalo's innovative storytelling was evident in her company's first work, Vula, which had actors performing on a stage flooded with water as they told the story of Pacific women's connections to the sea. She is now undertaking a 2 year project in the Solomons funded by EU/British High Commission.

Knowledge, Fantasy and Forgetting

A Friends of the Turnbull Library event

The thirteen-volume Oxford History of the Novel in English covers the whole history of the novel in the English language. Jane Stafford and Mark Williams of Victoria University and Ralph Crane of the University of Tasmania have been editing one of the volumes to be called ‘The World Novel to 1950’.

The volume has presented particular challenges and opportunities for editors and researchers. This is a study of the minor and the peripheral. ‘The world novel’ is a capacious category. How does one connect so many utterly different experiences of empire, settlement and nationalism? The editors will discuss the problems of research in areas where knowledge remains incomplete, new technologies for preserving historical memory of early literature, and the particular difficulties of editing a large volume by so many hands.

Jane Stafford is associate professor of English at Victoria University of Wellington. She is the author with Mark Williams of Maoriland: New Zealand Literature 1872-1914 (VUP 2006) and editor with Anna Jackson of Floating Worlds: Essays on Contemporary New Zealand Fiction (VUP, 2009) and The AUP Anthology of New Zealand Literature (2012).

Mark Williams is professor of English at Victoria University of Wellington. His books include Post-Colonial Literatures in English: Southeast Asia, New Zealand and the Pacific (G.K. Hall, 1996) and Patrick White (St Martin’s Press, 1993). With Jenny Bornholdt and Gregory O’Brien he edited the Montana Book Award-winning Anthology of New Zealand Literature (2012).

A century of remarkable women in the PSA

For 100 years women in the PSA have struggled for pay and employment equity in the public sector.

For more than half a century women in the public sector were paid less than men and had few opportunities to progress in their careers.

Delegates to the first PSA Women's Conference, 1955. Photo News Limited photograph. Courtesy of the Public Service Association.

It was thanks to a small band of spirited and determined women campaigners that the Government Equal Pay Act was passed in 1960. They were supported by many male trade unionists committed to the principle of equality.

The struggle for pay and employment equity, however, was far from over. But the PSA’s remarkable women were up to the challenge.

More talks

October 1: Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

November 19: 1913: still relevant after all these years?

Fijian Kava Ceremony and Traditional Dance

A Fijian Language Week event

Local Fijian youth group Wellington Fijian Wesley Youth Group, accompanied by elders, will demonstrate the yaqona (kava) Ceremony. This ancient customary practice involves the mixing of the yaqona and formal speeches citing traditional lineages. The yaqona ceremony will be followed by meke, Fijian traditional dance.

Munting Tinig

The National Library invites you to a free performance by the Munting Tinig Filipino Children’s Choir and Ukulele Orchestra.

Songs in English, Filipino and Maori and some fabulous ukulele playing by young Filipino children. After the performance audience members will be invited to try playing ukulele under the guidance of the orchestra's ukulele mentor.

A great free Saturday activity for adults and children.

Teachers, bring your secondary class in for our specially-tailored exhibition tour and workshop

Songs of work and workers and Sites of struggle

The opening of the People's History 2013 series with Songs of work and workers, performed by the Song Snatchers, followed by the launch of The sites of struggle, a brochure to accompany a walk around Wellington's inner city showing sites of significance during the 1913 Strike, and the opening of an exhibition of images from the collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library that illustrate the events of that conflicted time.

‘Without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn’, wrote Ralph Chaplin in his famous song ‘Solidarity Forever’, calling to attention the singular contribution we make as workers. Many songs have been written about the struggles, pain, enjoyment, humour and dignity of work, so join the Song Snatchers for a session of songs from New Zealand and international worker history.

Woman washing the dishes, 1958. Ref: EP/1958/0939-F.

The songs will include some sung by workers during work, such as sea shanties, or about particular jobs, including on the farm or at sea (whaling, sealing, fishing), or at home (housework). Union and solidarity songs get a good look in; along with some very famous songs about strikes and workers’ struggle for a fair go.

Many of the songs are well-known, but a few more obscure numbers will be introduced. The Song Snatchers have researched the songs and invite you to raise your voices and join in. Words supplied!

The Song Snatchers is a group of friends who like singing together, and searching out the history and meaning of songs. For Songs of work and workers, the group includes Robin Brew, David Johnstone, Anne Russell, Marie Russell and Garry Smith.

More talks

October 5: Flashpoint of history

October 8: A century of remarkable women in the PSA

October 15: "Tatau tatau" vs "half-caste Maori" scabs

October 22: Reds & Wobblies

October 29: Dreadnoughts, Picture Palaces and Revolutionists

November 12: Savage, Fraser, Freyberg, Cullen

Next in line opens

Next in line: The young cartoonist award opens

Runs from 30 September to 7 December 2013 | 10am – 5pm, Monday to Saturday | Level one

You are invited to take a close look at New Zealand’s social and political landscape through the eyes of up-and-coming cartoonists. Showcasing entries in the New Zealand Cartoon Archive and the New Zealand Listener Young Cartoonist Award, Next in Line includes a range of competition entries, as well as original drawings and cartoons by competition winner Cory Mathis, and cartoons by runners-up Jeff Bell and Toby Morris.

Come along to one of our events, including a talk by Dylan Horrocks

Toby Morris, House prices, 2013. Ref: DCDL-0025755.

Schools programme

Free Next in Line workshops for schools

Offered Tuesday to Thursday
Approximately 60 minutes
Designed for years 9 to 13 for up to 15 students. Groups of up to 30 can be accommodated in a 90 minute class

Book for the Next in Line workshop, or combine it with a Schools tour or visit to Tirohia Mai

Cartoons are a popular part of the school curriculum, and the workshops aim to bring this form of social commentary alive by making it relevant to today’s high-school students. The Next in Line workshops and exhibition tour features cartoons produced by young cartoonists (ages 18–35), and considers issues that speak to young people. In order to build students’ confidence to use cartoons in their wider study, participants are encouraged to ‘read’ the cartoons, learning some of the ways that cartoonists shed new light on contemporary issues.

For more information, email atloutreach@dia.govt.nz

Events programme

Get in line! (October)

Saturday 12 October, 10am – midday
A cartoon workshop for 5–12 year olds with Cory Mathis.

Dylan Horrocks – Looking for the magic pen

Thursday 31 October, Midday – 1pm
"A few things I’ve learned by drawing far too many comics & cartoons."

Cartoon colloquium: Looking at women and cartoons today

Friday 15 November, 11.30am – 3.30pm
Practicing cartoonists and academics will consider issues around women and cartoons

Get in line! (November)

Saturday 23 November, 10am – midday
A cartoon workshop for 5–12 year olds with Cory Mathis.

Making New Zealand accessible

Disabled women claim their place

Chaired by Rosslyn Noonan, with Robyn Hunt, Sara Georgeson, Darcey Jane, and Huhana Hickey.

The National Library invites you to a free public panel discussion about the issues facing disabled people, particularly women, in New Zealand.

Join us for a good discussion with the plenty of audience participation. Entry is free, but please book a spot by emailing Jason Hansen by September 12.

Sign language interpretation will be provided. There will be a sound system.

The panel

Robyn Hunt

Robyn has many years experience in the disability field. She was a founder of New Zealand's first disability TV series and has taken a variety of leadership roles, including DPA. Robyn served for eight years as a human rights commissioner with responsibility for disability and participated in negotiations for the CRPD. She consults on disability, information, communication and engagement accessibility through her consultancy AccEase and is a regular commentator on these and related issues on her blog Low Visionary. She has won several awards, and been honoured for her disability work and advocacy.

Dr Huhana Hickey

Huhana (Ngāti Tahinga) is a lawyer and Lecturer/Research Fellow at Auckland University of Technology and has worked at Auckland Disability Law Services. She is passionate about teaching disabled people about the law so they can advocate for themselves. Dr Hickey is a member of the Human Rights Review Tribunal. Her consultancy researches indigenous disabled human rights and social justice advocacy. She is the first Māori woman, and first disabled person to get a PhD in law from Waikato University.

Sara Georgeson

Sara is from Wellington. Physical access has always been critical for life opportunities, beginning with education. She lived for 10 years at Pukeora, Sara was one of the first residents at Ryder-Cheshire where she moved to study for a degree in social work at Massey University. There she became involved in disability rights as one of the founders of Massey University Disability Action Group. She taught disability subjects at UCOL and became the disability services co-ordinator. Sara has worked for many years in health including disabled women’s health. She has had a long involvement with DPA.

Darcey Jane

Darcey received a psychiatric diagnosis in her twenties, after seeking help for the sake of herself and her children, and consequently experienced the disabling effects of systemic discrimination. Darcey has since been dedicated to the transformation of society based on the empowerment of the individual in accordance with the principles of human rights inspired by her practice of Nichiren Buddhism. Darcey lives in Karori with her teenage sons and Burmese cat.

Those were the days

What were YOU doing in the 70s and 80s?

Were you there, witnessing a time of turmoil, or were you even born?

The events of those years are now part of our history, and affected profoundly the way we live our lives today.

The National Library of New Zealand invites you to a free panel discussion on the enduring issues for women in New Zealand today.

Chaired by Dr Judith Aitken, and with panellists Ripeka Evans, Mary O’Regan, Di Cleary and Prue Hyman, the panel will look back to the achievements of the women’s movement in the 1970s and the persistent challenges facing women in New Zealand today.

Join us for a good discussion with the plenty of audience participation. Entry is free, but please book a spot by emailing Keith Thorsen by September 12.

Book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell

The panel

Judith Aitken

Judith has had a distinguished career as a public servant, author and community worker. She has been Chief Executive of the Ministry of Women's Affairs and Chief Review Officer at the Education Review Office (1992-2000). Judith has also published extensively since her first major publication, A Woman's Place: A Study of the Changing Roles of Women and Men in New Zealand. She is currently a member of the Wellington Regional Council and the Capital and Coast District Health Board.

Ripeka Evans

Iwi affiliations: Ngāpuhi, Te Aupouri, Ngāti Kahu and Ngāti Porou. Ripeka was a member of the pioneering activist organisation Ngā Tamatoa in the 1970s and 80s, and a change agent who established Māori leadership units in the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and other state sector entities. She was the inaugural chief executive of Te Māngai Pāho – the Māori Broadcasting Funding Agency from 1993-96. Her current post is as Pou Ārahi Whakahaere at the Ministry of Culture and Heritage.

Mary O’Regan

Mary was the first chief executive of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, after being active in the women’s movement in Nelson (where she lived for a few years) and nationally. Since then she has been national president of the YWCA, and worked for many years as a gender specialist in the Pacific Islands working with government women’s organisations and NGOs.

Di Cleary

Di was the only woman in her law class at Otago University in 1958 – fed up with the hostile environment, she studied for an MA in History instead. She has been active in abortion law reform since 1971. In 1975 she was a national coordinator of WONAAC (Women's National Abortion Action Campaign). She is horrified by New Zealand today: uneven spread of income, levels of unemployment, social problems, banking idiocy, mountain of private debt – fed up with the middle class and toffs and sense of self-entitlement. Her large garden saves Di’s sanity.

Prue Hyman

Prue is the author of Women and Economics: A New Zealand Feminist Perspective. Her research and publications cover labour force participation, earnings, industrial relations, income maintenance, housing, the position of older women, and international issues. She is a former Associate Professor of Economics and Gender and Women’s Studies at Victoria University. She describes herself as an ageing lesbian feminist green lefty activist – and alternative economist.

Ko Wai Au

Trish Beamsley, Research Librarian, Māori, will explore some of the key resources available to assist people researching their Māori heritage.

No hea koe? Where are you from? If you are of Maori descent and want to find out (more) about your Iwi, Hapu, Maunga, Awa, Moana or Marae, we can help.

In this kōrero, Trish will attempt to shed some light on the (often) complex process of researching one's whakapapa/ancestral roots/Māori heritage, utilising the official government records, guides and unpublished collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library. She only has 45 minutes to start you on your journey, so book your place now!

Grab your spot by emailing Outreach Services or phoning 04 474 3056.

Maori group portrait, outdoors; occasion, and location, unidentified, ca 1920. Ref: 1/2-057236-F.

Katrina Young-Drew, Linda Forbes and Dylan Owen – It’s all about me

In this talk, the speakers will discuss and read an entertaining selection of fictional diaries extracts from children’s literature. From angst to laughter, find out the latest diary sensations, what a wombat does all day, and why Adrian Mole’s diaries were so popular in the 1980s.

Katrina Young-Drew, and Linda Forbes are National Library school library advisers. Dylan Owen is a development specialist who also works for Services to Schools.

Part of the exhibition Logs to Blogs: Diaries from the Turnbull Library.

Professor Peter Holland – No antipodean Tuscany

For fifteen years, Peter Holland has used diaries and letter books kept by the first generation of European farmers and run holders as sources of information about the environmental conditions they expected to find in southern New Zealand, what they experienced, and how they developed their properties in response to the challenges of occasionally heavy rainfall, drought, snow, strong winds and extremes of temperature. While some of their actions were appropriate, others had unanticipated environmental consequences for themselves and their successors.

Peter Holland is Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of Otago and author of the recently published book Home in the Howling Wilderness: Settlers and the Environment in Southern New Zealand.

Part of the exhibition Logs to Blogs: Diaries from the Turnbull Library.

Sarah Laing – Let me be frank

Sarah Laing is a novelist, short story writer, and cartoonist. Since 2010 she has been updating a webcomic about her life as a writer and mother called Let Me Be Frank. She will talk about how she goes about deciding what episodes she will turn into a comic, and how the risky process of over-sharing has introduced her work to a wider audience.

Sarah is the 2013 Michael King Writers Centre/University of Auckland Writer-in-residence, where she is writing a graphic novel about Katherine Mansfield. Sarah will be using Mansfield’s diaries as source material for her comics, interwoven with her own experiences as a writer in the 21st century. Her second novel, The Fall of Light, was published in July.

Part of the exhibition Logs to Blogs: Diaries from the Turnbull Library.

Bringwonder the storyteller

Bringwonder the storyteller, New Zealand's first professional storyteller, will perform at the Dorothy Neale White August meeting as a guest speaker. He has over 30 years of experience in storytelling in a wide variety of cultures and topics and has performed both in New Zealand and overseas.

For this evening he will be taking a Celtic focus, mainly Scottish, to celebrate his family roots, as we are now in the Family History month. He is a wonderful teller of tales which can be enjoyed by young and old, so all are welcome.

Great-Uncle Charles and me

It's Family History Month and an ideal time to find out more about the resources and services at the Alexander Turnbull Library and National Library that can help with your family history research.

Diaries from six-week crossings by ship. Letters from the trench in World War One. Scribblings or copperplate handwriting. Your ancestors – and people just like them – will have created all kinds of amazing documents you can find and use in your research.

Jocelyn Chalmers, Research Librarian Manuscripts, will give an illustrated talk showing how manuscripts from the Turnbull collections can add richness to how you tell your family's story.

Bookings are essential! Grab your spot by emailing Outreach Services or phoning 04 474 3056.

What might they have to say for themselves? Family portrait under gum trees, probably Christchurch region. Ref: 1/1-026255-G

Professor Tony Ballantyne – Accounting for the day

This talk will explore the range and significance of the diaries that colonists kept in colonial New Zealand. More broadly, it will also reflect on how we make sense of these forms of cultural productions and the different ways in which they might be deployed by scholars interested in the colonial past.

The talk will begin at 6pm. Refreshments and a chance to view the exhibition will be available from 5.30pm.

Professor Tony Ballantyne is Head of the Department of History and Art History at the University of Otago, where he is also Director of the Centre for Research on Colonial Culture. He has published widely on the cultural history of the modern British empire and on New Zealand colonial history.

Part of the exhibition Logs to Blogs: Diaries from the Turnbull Library.

Family History Month Speaker Saturday

As part of 2013's Family History Month, three speakers will explore different aspects of family history research.

New Zealand’s first ice imports

Nigel Isaacs, Senior Lecturer, School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington, will explore the people, the voyages and the technology required to bring ice to New Zealand before the days of machine made ice. In his research he made extensive use of the same resources used by family historians – newspapers, business directories, magazines, books, archives, Government Gazettes, web searching and even eBay.

What are they wearing?

Walter Cook of the Alexander Turnbull Library’s Arrangement & Description team will give an illustrated talk that will show how 19th century photographs can be dated through understanding changes in fashion and clothing.

The remarkable Mrs Wiltshire: 'Champion female pedestrienne of the world!'

Curator of Manuscripts at the Alexander Turnbull Library, David Colquhoun will talk about his biographical research into "The remarkable Mrs Wiltshire". In 1876 Catherine Wiltshire completed several impressive feats of endurance walking. David has resurrected her achievements in an article for the Turnbull Library Record, which this year has the theme of recreation and sport.

Unidentified family, 1870-1889. Ref: 1/4-007836-G.

Cook Islands craft

It's Cook Island Māori Language Week! Toku Reo, Utuutu `la: My Language, Nurture it.

Learn how to make an `ei katu (head garland) with Teremoana o Ma Hodges. Bring your own flowers and greenery if you can – some will be provided.

Tupuna Joseph at the Porirua Cook Islands Cultural Group's 25th anniversary celebrations, 1996. Ref: EP/1996/1736/3.

See the week's national events calendar on the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs site

Te Kaparima o te Kuki Airani

It's Cook Island Māori Language Week! Toku Reo, Utuutu `la: My Language, Nurture it.

Aere mai ki te kaparima o te Kuki Airani with Teremoana o Ma Hodges. Cook Islands dance is at the heart of Cook Islands culture and is renowned throughout the Pacific. Come along and listen to the history of Cook islands dance and learn an action song. Bring your own pareu (sarong).

Book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell

Tupuna Joseph at the Porirua Cook Islands Cultural Group's 25th anniversary celebrations, 1996. Ref: EP/1996/1736/3.

See the week's national events calendar on the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs site

Dr Kate Hunter – Measly scribblings and notes-to-self

In this talk, Kate Hunter discusses the rich archive of First World War diaries in the Alexander Turnbull Library and the various ways historians use them.

Kate Hunter is a Senior Lecturer in History at Victoria University of Wellington and has been working with diaries in her research for more than 20 years. Kate is currently co-authoring a book, Holding onto Home: New Zealanders and the First World War.

Part of the exhibition Logs to Blogs: Diaries from the Turnbull Library.

On the day

Kate Hunter speaking.

The room was packed.

Kate Hunter and Logs to blogs curator David Colquhoun.

Kate Hunter sharing some history with the audience.

Logs to blogs opens

Runs from 29 July to 28 September | 10am – 5pm, Monday to Saturday | Level one

L-R: Diary (detail), Jack Lovelock (MSX-2240); Portrait of Mary Field Greenwood (A-252-022); Diary (detail), James Cox (MS-0635)

There are so many ways of keeping a diary and so many different stories to tell. From Captain Cook’s second lieutenant to the curator’s favourite blog – a remarkable variety of diaries and diary keepers are introduced in this exhibition.

Events programme

Dr Kate Hunter

Measly Scribblings and Notes-to-Self: First World War Soldiers’ and Nurses’ Diaries

Thursday 1 August, 12pm

Kate is Lecturer in History at Victoria University of Wellington and has been working with diaries in her research for more than 20 years. Her co-authored book Holding onto Home: New Zealanders and the First World War will be published in 2014.

Professor Tony Ballantyne

Accounting for the Day: Diary Keeping in Colonial New Zealand

Tuesday 13 August, 5.30pm. Friends of the Turnbull function. All welcome

Tony is Head of the Department of History and Art History at the University of Otago. In his talk he will explore the range and significance of the diaries kept by settlers in colonial New Zealand, and the different ways scholars might use them.

(Refreshments from 5.30pm on the first floor; talk begins at 6pm)

Sarah Laing

Let Me Be Frank: The Art of Over-Sharing in a Web Comic

Thursday 22 August, 12pm

Sarah is a novelist, short-story writer and cartoonist. Since 2010 she has been updating a web comic about her life as a writer and mother, called Let Me be Frank. She will talk about how she goes about it, and the risky business of over-sharing. Her new novel The Fall of Light was published in July.

Professor Peter Holland

No Antipodean Tuscany: Settlers Learning to Manage an Unexpectedly Challenging Environment

Tuesday 3 September, 12pm

Peter is Emeritus Professor of Geography at Otago University. His new book, Home in the Howling Wilderness: Settlers and the Environment in Southern New Zealand, makes extensive use of settler diaries and letters.

Katrina Young-Drew, Linda Forbes and Dylan Owen

It’s All about Me: Fictional Diaries in Children’s Literature

Thursday 12 September, 12pm

Katrina, Linda and Dylan work in the National Library’s Services to Schools. Hear about angst and laughter in the latest diary sensations, what a wombat does all day, and why Adrian Mole’s diaries were so popular in the 1980s.

Personal views of day to day life

GIllian Headifen, Research Librarian, Oral History, will give an overview of how oral history can be used to provide a social history context for family history research.

What might they have to say for themselves? Family portrait under gum trees, probably Christchurch region. Ref: 1/1-026255-G

Radical voices

In conjunction with the Turnbull Gallery exhibition Revolting! The sound of protest in Aotearoa, the Alexander Turnbull Library is hosting a series of panels talks discussing New Zealand's protest music. Featuring musicians, historians, artists and activists, these talks will also include performances by some of New Zealand's finest protest singers.

The third of these talks took place on 5 July, on the ground floor of the National Library. The guest speakers included:

Te Kupu (Musician, producer, filmmaker) Musical activism and Upper Hutt Posse, 1985 – 2013.

Makerita Urale (Playwright, documentary filmmaker) The making of Waiata Whawhai, her documentary on Maori protest music.

The evening also included performances by Pounamu (Jacquie Walters & Ariana Tikao) and Upper Hutt Posse.

Have a listen

Download the audio of Radical voices (mp3, 100MB)

A bulldog-terrier in Moutoa Gardens during the occupation, 1995. Ref: EP-Ethics-Demonstrations-Moutoa Gardens-03.

Gregory O’Brien: Imagination and research

Friends of the Turnbull Library Founder Lecture 2013

Greg O'Brien, art-writer, poet, anthologist and essayist, looks at the significant roles played by both inspiration and scholarship in art and literature.

He has spent much of the past three decades exploring the adjacent territories of imagination and research, of inspiration and scholarship. Greg’s illustrated lecture will discuss how curiosity and a state of wonderment are an important component in non-fiction writing, just as research, observation and analysis can be integral to poetry.

He will draw examples from across recent New Zealand art and literature, and from his own work. He will look at how the forms of poem, essay and biography – and, for that matter, visual art-work – function as information-bearing structures while, at the same time, relying upon an imaginative/creative animating principle.

Gregory O'Brien, the recipient of the 2012 Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement in Non-Fiction, has written prolifically on New Zealand arts and letters.

Booking are essential. Reserve your spot by emailing Angela Hill, or calling 04 479 5580.

Abstracting Oral History: Dunedin

Limited to 8 participants.

Download the registration form (PDF, 138KB)

More Oral History workshops: Essential of Oral History, day one and day two

More about the Oral History Centre

Raranga – harakeke weaving

Before the arrival of European settlers, Māori used native flax as a raw material for clothing, food gathering, hunting, fishing, and medicine. Flax weaving almost died out in the early part of the twentieth century, however with a resurgence of interest in traditional flax craft in the latter part of the century, raranga (weaving/plaiting), is now an integral part of our cultural identity.

In this workshop you will be introduced to the history of harakeke (flax), harvesting techniques, tikanga (protocols) and you will learn how to make a putiputi (flower). This workshop is suitable for beginners. Flax will be provided.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Head to Head: poetry at the National Library

Join New Zealand Poet Laureate, Ian Wedde, past-Laureate, Bill Manhire and Hera Lindsay Bird for this lunchtime reading.

Two poets ready to go head to head, by Cilla McQueen.

The National Library is delighted to host this event that will round off Ian’s two-year tenure as Laureate. This will include Ian and Bill going head to head in the creation of a renga – a form of Japanese poetry with a succession of two-verse sections passed back and forth between the poets, resulting in a linked chain of verses – traditionally 100 sections long.

Former Laureate Cilla McQueen has contributed the line drawing of Ian and Bill, rapper-style at work, in the spirit of what Ian assures us will be a take on the rigorous renga art form, "less rigorous in every respect."

The Library is equally delighted to have Dunedin-based poet Hera Lindsay Bird, taking part in this, her first reading at the National Library.

Funny, adroit, widely read, and stylish, Hera is one of the most striking poets to come through the IIML writing programme at Victoria University. In 2009 she was the winner of the Story! Inc. Prize for Poetry and the Maurice Gee Prize in Children’s Writing. In 2011 she won the prestigious Adam Foundation Prize.

This event is free, bring your lunch and get in early as seating is limited.

On the day

Ian, Bill, and Hera read to a packed room. Read more about Bill and Ian's renga on the Poet Laureate blog.

Hakaraia Designs

Young, gifted and of Ngā Puhi decent, David Hakaraia is the genius behind Hakaraia Designs. Fresh from showcasing his work in New York, David presents a way forward for Māori design as it blurs the lines between art, heritage, and the potential for an object to tell stories beyond its function.

David will talk technique, inspiration and his ambitions for the future of Māori design.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Matariki storytelling

Te Kahureremoa Taumata brings home-grown talent to the National Library for a family friendly Matariki story telling session. The talented singer songwriter blends taonga puoru (Māori musical instruments) with enchanting tales and tunes to guitar.

Hear stories of Matariki come alive as Te Kahureremoa leads us to the stars and back.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Writer and Director Zia Mandviwalla

Come and listen to Zia Mandviwalla, writer and director of short films, features, and documentaries, and Anapela Polataivao, lead actor of Zia's short film Night Shift. A Zoroastrian-Indian by birth and parentage, Zia immigrated to New Zealand in 1996. Her work so far has travelled to film festivals worldwide including London, Pusan and Melbourne.

Her films carry a host of awards, including Best Short Film Script at the 2005 NZ Screen Director’s Guild Awards, Best Director and Best Short Film at Fitzroy Shorts in Melbourne and a grand jury nomination at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York in 2008. Zia was also the recipient of New Zealand’s New Filmmaker of the Year Award in 2009.

Since 2010, Zia has been a writer/director represented by Curious Film. Night Shift is her fourth short film. She is currently working on a documentary about the Zoroastrians of India and is developing several feature film scripts, one of which is the larger story from which Night Shift is taken.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Pictures for a family album

Find out more about the resources and services at the Alexander Turnbull Library and National Library that can help with your family history research.

Family portrait under gum trees, ca 1905. Ref: 1/1-026255-G.

You may have a treasured collection of family photographs, but have you thought about how you can use other images in your family history research?

Jenni Chrisstoffels, Pictorial Research Librarian, will show you how you can use the Alexander Turnbull Library pictorial collections to help you with your family history research and to add visual impact to your stories. She will show you how to search for and order relevant pictures through the National Library website and other useful sites.

Palliative care with Ria Earp

Palliative care embraces spiritual and cultural wellbeing as it eases the path of people dying from progressive, incurable disease. Ria Earp has managed the well regarded Mary Potter Hospice over seven years, and in that time has implemented changes to better support whanau needs.

Ria Earp is recognised for her work within Māori communities, from palliative care to her previous leadership roles in the Public Sector; she presents during Matariki as a woman with mana on this holistic approach to care.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Tirohia Mai opens

Women in Aotearoa New Zealand

Runs until 16 November | 8.30 am – 5.00pm, Monday to Saturday | Ground Floor

…womanhood ... is her bitterest foe. For many spheres it quite incapacitates her, and in others … it is made the excuse for impossibly harder conditions and poor pay – Mary Ann Colclough (Polly Plum), women’s rights campaigner, 1836-1885

New Zealand women won the vote 120 years ago. Tirohia Mai looks at where women stand now, how they got here, and how they see themselves in 2013. It celebrates the rich diversity of women and their contributions to making New Zealand what it is today and will be tomorrow.

More about Tirohia Mai

Detail of Robyn White, United Women's Convention, 1979. Ref: Eph-D-WOMEN-1979-01.

Kapa Haka with the Ngāti Pōneke Young Māori club

The Ngāti Pōneke Young Māori Club will bring their experienced kapa haka show to the National Library as a part of our Matariki celebration this year.

Established in 1937, the group was named by Sir Apirana Ngata and gathered young Māori from different iwi affiliations living in the Wellington region.

Since its creation Ngāti Pōneke has continued to perform civic duties, teach kapa haka and to shine on all people interested in Māori arts and culture.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Selling the Dream, and other things...

Peter Alsop works by day as General Manager of the Productivity Commission, but he admits that by night, ‘after the kids are in bed’, he is a passionate collector and follower of New Zealand art. He has been collecting ephemera for a decade, initially focused on tourism publicity before branching out into early NZ advertising more generally (both areas connected by a long-standing soft-spot for hand-coloured photos). Peter grew up in Rotorua, New Zealand’s tourism epicentre, before moving to the creative epicentre of Miramar, Wellington.

Visit New Zealand, wonderland of the Pacific, ca 1930. Ref: Eph-E-TOURISM-1930s-08.

From mid-2010 to October 2012, Peter Alsop led the project development of Selling the Dream: The Art of Early New Zealand Tourism – a 408-page coffee-table book showcasing posters and other publicity that initially sold New Zealand – both to the world and domestically – as a unique tourist destination. An important collection of this work is held in the Ephemera collections of the Turnbull Library, and was drawn on to support the book.

The tourism publicity material is an incredible collection of graphic art and an over-looked aspect of New Zealand’s art history and participation on a global stage. Peter will talk about the development of Selling the Dream, along with his current follow-on work on Promoting Prosperity: The Art of Early New Zealand Advertising, and Unheralded King: The Legacy of Marcus King and New Zealand’s hand-coloured landscape – all of which also rely on important Turnbull collection material. His talk will cover all the trials and tribulations of turning passions into publications.

Tea and coffee available.

A Friends of the Turnbull Library event.

Essentials of Oral History day two: Dunedin

The Oral History Centre of the Alexander Turnbull Library is offering workshops for people considering using oral history in their work, community or personal projects. The workshops will be tutored by Helen Frizzell, freelance oral historian and Lynette Shum, Oral History Adviser, Alexander Turnbull Library.

By the end of the workshop participants should have a basic understanding of how to record an oral history interview, and what to do with it afterwards.

The course is limited to 14 participants. The fee includes morning and afternoon tea.

Download the registration form (pdf, 138KB)

See day one of Essentials of Oral History

More about the Oral History Centre

Community Gardening

Matariki is a time for the community to come together. From a place of immense drive, Sarah Adams project manages a community gardening initiative called Innermost Gardens, working with a collective of people to sustain local food growing.

With a background in architecture and permaculture, Sarah presents the face of community gardening. The presentation is followed by a hands-on project to take home to your garden.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Tales of resistance and rebellion

The second of these talks took place at 6pm on 7 June on the ground floor of the National Library. The guest speakers included:

John Lake (photo-media artist engaged in projects documenting various social groups) A History of Wellington in 10 Punk Songs: An alternative history of Wellington over the last 35 years as told through 10 songs of protest from the Wellington punk scene. Check out John's punk history on upthepunks.co.nz.

Sam Buchanan (anarchist activist) Protest and Participation: The politics of the production of music.

Don Franks(socialist agitator and professional musician) Composing and performing protest songs for industrial and political struggles of the last thirty years. Read Don's talk on his site.

Have a listen

Download the audio of Tales of resistance and rebellion (mp3, 106MB)

Mangere Bridge workers on march to Parliament, 1979. Ref: EP/1979/3601/8-F.

Rongoā: Māori medicine

A public talk detailing the history and usage of rongoā: Māori medicine.

Ko Ngāti Rangi, Ngāti Tūwharetoa, Ngāti Kahungunu ōku īwi
Ko Ruapehu te maunga mana
Ko Ngā Turi o Murimotu te maunga tapu
Ko Whangaehu te awa
Ko Tirorangi te marae
Ko Rangiteauria te tangata

Cassandra Stark, a traditional rongoā practitioner, starts our Matariki programme by sharing her journey into the world of rongoā (customary Māori medicine). Rongoā is a holistic approach to dealing with illness by using plant medicines and ritual, including karakia for healing.

Cassandra, a mother of two and grandmother, has lived in the Wellington region for a large portion of her journey, moving back to Whanganui briefly for 7 years to reconnect to tribal vibrations where she undertook Rongoā Wairakau studies with the late Olive Bullock “Te Kopere” her mentor and friend.

Places are limited, so book your spot by emailing Lynette Tyrrell, or calling 04 474 3007.

Wooden carved door displaying the coat of arms for the Maori kings (Te Paki o Matariki) at the Maori meeting house Te Mahinarangi, 1939. Ref: 1/2-025440-F.

Revolting! The sound of protest in Aotearoa opens

Runs from 27 May to 27 July | 10am – 5pm, Monday – Saturday | Level one

L-R: Detail, Eva Rickard, EP/1995/0906/25 | Detail, Woman reacting to violence, EP/1981/2968A/12-F | Detail, The Robbie Horror Show, Eph-D-DOWNSTAGE-1976-01

Revolting! The sound of protest in Aotearoa takes a look at some of the songs and stories behind a few of our peaceful and not-so-peaceful protest movements.

Panel talks

Revolting includes a series of panel talks discussing New Zealand's protest music. Featuring musicians, historians, artists and activists, these talks will also include performances by some of New Zealand's finest protest singers.

17 May: Simon Grigg, Kerry Ann Lee and Redmer Yska, joined by the Wellington Sea Shanty Society

7 June: John Lake, Sam Buchanan and Don Franks, speaking and playing music

Don Franks and Kerry Ann Lee talk with Radio New Zealand

Images of protest

Action and anger in New Zealand's history on DigitalNZ.

Search strategies: tools and tips

Find out more about the resources and services at the Alexander Turnbull Library and National Library that can help with your family history research.

Family portrait under gum trees, ca 1905. Ref: 1/1-026255-G.

Fiona Gray, Research Librarian, will share her knowledge to help you find your way around the Library’s electronic resources and websites.

The Future of the Past

Mark Crookston, from the Alexander Turnbull Library, will talk about the Library's Web Archive, an important collection of New Zealand and NZ-related websites.

Singing from the same songsheet

Nearly every New Zealand-born person over the age of 50 seems to know the words and melodies of the same sea shanties and obscure European folksongs. The reason may lie in last century's radio broadcasts to schools.

Soon after radio was first introduced, keen educators saw the potential of using radio in schools, even though sound quality was unreliable at first. Among the best-remembered broadcasts to schools were the singing sessions, on air for nearly 50 years, which introduced primary school children to folk songs from different lands, sea shanties and other songs.

Musical educators taught songs and the rudiments of music over the wireless, first with a piano and single voice in the studio, and later with a children's 'radio choir'. ‘Singing from the same songsheet’ explores the thinking behind this phenomenon, and presents some of the songs.

'Singing from the same songsheet' is an illustrated talk about the Music to Schools broadcasts in New Zealand from 1931 to 1979, written and performed by 'The Song Snatchers': Anne Russell (piano, voice), Michael Brown (guitar, voice) Jane Shallcrass, Marie Russell and Robin Brew (voices).

A New Zealand Music Month 2013 event

Protest music Aotearoa

The first of these talks included:

Simon Grigg (of Suburban Reptiles, owner of the Propeller and Huh labels and founder of the forthcoming AudioCulture website), on the growth of political protest in popular music in the late 70s and early 80s.

Kerry Ann Lee (artist, punk aficionado and Senior Lecturer in design at Otago Polytechnic) on Glorious Graphics & DIY Distro – a survey of her favourite pieces of radical graphic ephemera acquired over the years and the inspiration and activities around independent distribution project, Red Letter Zine Distro (2001-2005).

Redmer Yska (journalist, historian and writer of several books including: All Shook Up and NZ Truth) spoke about the role of "fellow travellers" inside mainstream media using their papers to help get bands publicity, usually through sensationalism.

The evening was capped off with a performance by the Wellington Sea Shanty Society, singing odes to the men and women of the ocean.

Watch the panel and performance

Revolution 1913? Militant Labour, the Great Strike, and Massey’s Cossacks

Jim McAloon lectures in History at Victoria University of Wellington. His interest in labour movement history is longstanding, and he has written several discussions of the 1913 strike, considering both radical and conservative perspectives. His other historical work includes a regional history of Nelson, a study of wealthy settlers in the South Island, collaborations on Scottish migration and New Zealand society, and reflections on economic policy in postwar New Zealand. He says the Turnbull is a constant inspiration, and his first visit was as a Canterbury MA student to the old Turnbull House – researching the 1913 strike among other matters.

Massey's Special Constables, Customhouse Quay, 1913. Ref: 1/2-049063-G.

His talk deals with the prolonged closure of ports between October and December 1913, the most intense crisis of public order in New Zealand’s 20th century – more intense than the waterfront lockout of 1951 or the Springbok Tour of 1981.

Tension was high. Thousands of workers protested, there were machine-guns placed on some wharves, and the government recruited hundreds of special constables, many of them farmers, mounted and armed with long batons. The specials quickly became known as Massey’s Cossacks, after the blunt-spoken Ulsterman who had led the conservative Reform Party to power in 1912. By mid-December the militant unions had been defeated, and Massey would remain Prime Minister until 1925.

Tea and coffee available.

A Friends of the Turnbull Library event.

Essentials of Oral History day one: Dunedin

The Oral History Centre of the Alexander Turnbull Library is offering workshops for people considering using oral history in their work, community or personal projects. The workshops will be tutored by Helen Frizzell, freelance oral historian and Lynette Shum, Oral History Adviser, Alexander Turnbull Library.

By the end of the workshop participants should have a basic understanding of how to record an oral history interview, and what to do with it afterwards.

The course is limited to 14 participants. The fee includes morning and afternoon tea.

Download the registration form (pdf, 138KB)

See day two of Essentials of Oral History