Matthew D. Polson Portuguese explorers Antonio d’Abreu and Francisco Serrano reportedly first saw New Guinea in 1512, although the Spaniard Don Jorge de Meneses is credited with the actual discovery…
Mountain magic: Mountaineering in North-West Otago, 1882-1940
Lee Davidson The advent of mountaineering is a very recent phenomenon, one which is not undertaken in the spirit of economic exploitation. A study of its development and its context…
Valuable ally or invading army? The ambivalence of gorse in New Zealand, 1835-1900
Michael L.S. Bagge The myth that Carl Linnaeus fell on his knees at his first sight of gorse growing in England ‘thanking heaven for having created a flower so beautiful’…
Unconquerable enemy or bountiful resource? A new perspective on the rabbit in Central Otago
Rachael Egerton Since the first recorded releases of rabbits in 1838, the rabbit has been many things to many people. Efforts to eliminate it continue, and disagreement persists over how…
The 1895 Snowstorm
Julian Kuzma The winter of 1895 did not begin well for sheep farmers. New Zealand lamb sold for only five pence a pound on the Smithfield market, mutton for four…
Looking for Arcadia: European environmental perception in 1840-1860
James Beattie The twenty years between 1840 and 1860 saw the growth of a permanent European presence in the Dunedin area, thanks to full-scale planned colonisation begun in 1848 by…