JUDITH BINNEY FELLOW 2023
Dr Linda Te Aho
Dr Linda Te Aho (Ngāti Korokī Kahukura, Ngāti Mahuta) is an Associate Professor at Te Piringa Faculty of Law, University of Waikato. She grew up in Tokoroa.
Linda teaches and researches in the areas of Tikanga, Indigenous Peoples’ Rights, and Māori Land Law. She has published a number of articles and book chapters that feature kōrero tuku iho and other mātauranga passed through generations.
As the Judith Binney Fellow for 2023 Linda will use the grant to produce a history of Ngāti Koroki Kahukura, exploring complex issues relating to iwi and hapū identity in the Waikato, and analysing the impact of Treaty settlement processes on smaller claimant groups.
Her proposal ‘Kotahi te iwi, e rua ngaa marae–A history of Ngaati Koroki Kahukura’ impressed the Judith Binney Selection Panel which noted the project will use ‘multiple sources and approaches…to give voice to hapū and allow iwi to share stories and mātauranga. It offers the valuable perspective of smaller claimant groups on Ngāti Koroki Kahukura’s Treaty settlement process, the longer, deeper histories, including the role of the 19th century leader Tioriori.’
Linda says her project ‘examines how collective identity has been developed and sustained in a tribal area that spans the infamous aukati (confiscation) line following Te Riri Pākehā (Māori Land Wars) and includes an exploration of the complexities of identity inside and outside the aukati (confiscation) boundaries.’
JUDITH BINNEY WRITING AWARD 2023
Dr Sebastian Hepburn-Roper
Dr Sebastian Hepburn-Roper is a recent PhD graduate in History from the University of Otago. He is Dunedin-born and was raised in Invercargill. His research focuses on the intersection between maritime, economic, social and imperial history in the context of pre-colonial New Zealand and the wider Tasman/Pacific world.
Sebastian will use a Judith Binney Writing Award for his project ‘Firearms on the Fringe of Empire: Muskets in the Pacific World, 1800-1840,’ expanding on work carried out for a PhD thesis looking at the ways in which British and to a lesser extent American and French commerce in the Pacific maritime world was responsible for the spread of firearms across the region.
Sebastian says: ‘I have always had an interest in the past generally but my passion for New Zealand history was sparked at university as I began to realise how little I knew about my own country’s past. My thesis focussed on the firearms trade between Māori and Pākehā, and how this trade fuelled the inter-iwi Musket Wars, as well as the expanding colonial economy of New South Wales.’
Almost 20,000 firearms, mostly muskets, were exported by Sydney merchants to New Zealand from 1829-1840 to be traded with Māori. This was uncovered by researching published manifests of vessels leaving Sydney, a resource that was previously largely untapped.
‘This work provides the only substantial record of firearms trade across the period of the Musket Wars and reveals that the scale of the trade was far larger and more rapid than had been supposed, he says, adding: ‘This is also important because it highlights that via New South Wales, the British Empire was already exerting economic and Imperial influence over New Zealand and Māori prior to the signing of the Treaty in 1840.’
‘I plan to address how New Zealand was linked via maritime networks to both the wider Pacific and the British Empire, and explore the role of firearms in facilitating these economies.’
JUDITH BINNEY WRITING AWARD 2023
Dr Claire Macindoe
Dr Claire Macindoe is an Ōtepoti/Dunedin-based early career researcher and historian of 20th century public health and medicine.
The Judith Binney Writing Award will enable Claire to revise her PhD thesis ‘The Radio Doctor – Broadcasting Health into the Home: Assessing New Zealand’s changing Public Health needs through the talks of Dr H. B. Turbott, 1943 – 1984’ into a manuscript for publication.
Dr Turbott’s radio talks were a significant health education tool during the 20th century, and addressed a wide variety of health and social issues across a 40 year span. Reflecting many of the most pressing health issues of the time, his broadcasts spanned a wide variety of topics, such as child rearing, vaccination, communicable diseases, healthy ageing, and nutrition.
Dr Turbott’s time spent working with East Coast and Waikato Māori. He became a long-standing advocate of working with Māori to address health inequities, acknowledging that Pākehā could not dictate Māori health responses. His later years saw him rise through the Department of Health to the role of Director-General of Health.
Claire says: ‘After two years of COVID pandemic my research into public health measures and the communication of Government health messages is very relevant. It is important to acknowledge previous efforts, how and why they were undertaken, and who they aimed to reach.’
‘I was incredibly taken by the idea of people tuning in to listen to these brief health talks, taking notes, and educating themselves from the comfort of their armchair,’ Claire says. ‘The impact that disease and medicine can have on a whole society, even those not directly affected, is fascinating.’