Mark Pacey

Mark Pacey completed a degree from Massey University in 2017 with a double major in History and Defence Studies. He has had an interest in military history since childhood and specialises in the Pacific theatre of World War Two.

While studying at university, Pacey published his first book “Grand Pharmacies”, a history of pharmacies in the Hastings and Havelock North area in 2015, self-published under his own “Gosson Publishing”.

Shortly after graduating from university, he was employed by the Wairarapa Archive in Masterton and has expanded on his original role of Archive Assistant and now is in charge of the archives outreach programmes with the title Local Heritage Specialist. He has now published over 200 articles for newspapers, magazines and journals on Wairarapa and New Zealand history covering a wide range of topics.

Always wanting to make history as accessible as possible to the general public, Pacey has given public presentations and talks to various groups from children in schools to the elderly in rest homes. He also hosts a weekly radio show in which he discusses local history. He has also written and directed a documentary film on the United States Marines and their time in Wairarapa and is currently working on a short documentary on the World War One and Two camps at Featherston and the Featherston Museum.

He has continued to publish books and is now the author of 12 books, with recent publications being on shipwrecks, sports and Wairarapa history.

Another recent book Pacey wrote and published is “Our New Zealand Home” which is on the United States Marine Corps in New Zealand. This was also the subject of Pacey’s first documentary film “Never Forgotten” which also covered his designing and construction of a war memorial to the marines. His next project is a study of the prisoner of war camp that was in Featherston during World War Two which was home to over 800 Japanese. He is halfway through the writing process for this project.