Local

Alice Houston-Page

Posted on September 27 2025

Alice Houston-Page completed her BA(Hons) at the University of Otago Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka in 2023. Her Honours dissertation focused on the anti-nuclear activism of an Ōtepoti women’s group in the 1960s. The group produced a petition protesting French nuclear testing in Oceania that ultimately received over 13,000 signatures from New Zealand women. Alice has a particular interest in post-war histories

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Matthew Grant

Posted on January 30 2025

I am a self-employed registered architect (FNZIA) with over 20 years’ experience delivering a range of building projects across the Waikato and surrounding areas. More recently my work has been in the design and documentation of multi-level, medium- density residential housing. I have experience teaching at tertiary level at Wintec (2006), Unitec (2015), and Open Polytechnic (2015-16).  I have researched

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Samantha Owens

Posted on May 28 2024

Samantha Owens is a freelance music historian based in Karori, Wellington. She has published widely on the performance cultures and practices of Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, 1850–1950, as well as on the music history of early modern Europe, 1660–1760. Her monograph, The Well-Travelled Musician: John Sigismond Cousser and Musical Exchange in Baroque Europe (Boydell Press, 2017), was funded by an

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Georgie Craw

Posted on October 26 2023

I am a researcher, writer and oral historian based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. I have a particular interest in gender, race, and environmental histories.   I have a Master of Arts in History with First Class Honours from the University of Auckland. My thesis, ‘A world beyond the waters: Māori travel in the Tasman World, 1793-1839’, was shortlisted for the

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Natalie Marshall

Posted on August 31 2023

Natalie is currently working part-time as a Heritage Assessment Advisor at the Central Region office of Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, based in Wellington. She is also a freelance researcher, curator, and writer. She was curator of photographs at the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, from 2011 to 2023, and has held previous roles in acquisition, appraisal,

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Melissa Cross

Posted on August 13 2023

I am a freelance historian of English and Irish ancestry, born in Paraparaumu and now living in Island Bay. My training is in musicology, ethnomusicology, colonialism, gender, and film. As a former registered nurse and current part-time medical reference librarian at a tertiary institution, I’m also interested in health, education, equity, and information science. I study te reo Māori, respect

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Natalie Looyer

Posted on July 12 2023

I completed my PhD in History at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington in 2025. My research explored the growth of rock climbing in Aotearoa from 1960 to 2020, using oral history as a key research method. I received a 2026 Judith Binney Writing Award to convert my thesis into a book. I have worked as an oral

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Tony Rasmussen

Posted on July 26 2022

I am a graduate in history from Massey University, Palmerston North. My first professional role was researching Maori Anglican clergy for the Religion and Church People Working Party of the DNZB. In 1992, I joined the Manawatu Museum Te Whare Pupuri Taonga o Manawatu as Research Assistant, developing content on opening exhibitions for what is now Te Manawa. Between 2001-2019,

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Ruth Greenaway

Posted on September 21 2021

I am passionate about recording the stories of people, families, local communities, businesses, and not-for-profit/community organisations. I am experienced in oral history interviewing, research, writing and publishing. I work with graphic designers, editors and publishers. I studied New Zealand, Australian and Pacific history at Victoria University as well as theatre, and women’s studies. I also have a post-graduate Diploma from

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Randolph Hollingsworth

Posted on September 21 2021

Independent Scholar, working on a place-based and cross-cultural history of the 1885 tour of New Zealand by Mary Clement Leavitt, world missionary for the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (see work in progress at hollingsworth.wordpress.com). Women’s history offers an interesting lens by which to view mainstream narratives, and critical inquiry provides new insights into our everyday stories of news and community-based

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Norman Crawshaw

Posted on September 21 2021

Queen’s Service Medal Qualifications: M.A. (Hons), Dip.Ed, Dip.Teaching, Dip. Recreation and Sport. Author of 37 books on the social and industrial history of the Buller and West Coast regions. Teacher for many years, now retired. Involved in many local institutions and Associations.

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Niki Francis

Posted on September 21 2021

Kia ora! I am a Pākehā New Zealander of English, German and Highland Scottish origin who has lived in 10 cities in 6 countries and worked in a wide range of occupations. I have a PhD in history from the Australian National University (2015) where I wrote a thesis in the National Centre of Biography about the Aotearoa New Zealand-born

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Michelle Smith

Posted on September 21 2021

Having completed a BA (History and Education) in 1999 and a BA Honours (History) in 2005, at the University of Auckland, and worked in the disability sector for a number of years, I went back to university on a doctoral scholarship. In 2009, I completed my PhD, ‘Assessing Gender in the Construction of Scottish Identity c.1286-c.1586’, which was conferred in

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Michael Brown

Posted on September 21 2021

Michael Brown has been researching New Zealand music and adjacent topics for over twenty years. Since 2015, he has worked as Music Curator at the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. He was the 2023 JD Stout Fellow at the Stout Research Centre, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. He has researched a wide array of areas relating to New

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