Auckland Libraries is delighted to host the final presentations of the Auckland History Initiative’s Summer Research Scholarship students of 2026. Since its founding in 2018 the Auckland History Initiative has sought to support student engagement with histories of Auckland and build relationships with Iwi and Auckland’s cultural institutions. As part of this mission, since 2019 the Initiative has partnered with the Auckland Libraries Heritage Trust to offer summer research scholarships to University of Auckland history students dedicated to uncovering the histories of Tāmaki Makaurau.
Join us for the final presentations of the 2026 summers scholars, taking place across two sessions on Wednesday 28th January and 4th February 2026.
These are the speakers and topics presented on 4th February:
1. Rosa Willis
Title: How Tennis Brought the World to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
The story of international tennis in Auckland began as a trans-Tasman affair. Australia provided Auckland with its first international matches, and together the two countries competed as one in the Davis Cup. In 1920, Auckland held its very own Davis Cup competition, putting Auckland on the map of international tennis. However, things took a turn from here after this Australasian relationship dissolved. While international tennis existed in Auckland throughout the 1930s to 1950s there were limitations, including a lack of regular international practice from geographic isolation and financial issues, that held back our potential. This changed in 1956 when Auckland staged its first official International Invitation tournament, the beginnings of what we now know today as the ASB Classic. From here the focus rested on how to attract international tennis into Auckland. Everything from court surfaces and the facilities of the Auckland Lawn Tennis Association’s Stanley Street site revolved around this new tournament. In 1969 a turning point came with the first Auckland Benson and Hedges Open, and Auckland joined the international tennis moment of the new ‘open era.’
2. Matthew Kirman-Martin
Title: Kinder House and the Parnell Grammar School
Nowadays, Kinder House operates as an art gallery, with little to hint at its nineteenth-century past. As such, many Aucklanders may not realise that the house was first occupied by the Reverend John Kinder, the first Headmaster of the Parnell Grammar School from its 1855 opening. This school was one of the earliest in the Auckland region, and despite closing in 1893, it shaped Auckland’s educational landscape for decades. This project explores the origins of the school and the educational aspirations of colonial Auckland. It also examines the experiences of the school’s pupils, who they were and what they studied, before exploring how elements of the school continue to influence Auckland to the present day.
3. Emily Zhu
Title: Tiritiri Matangi: Open Sanctuary
Only a scenic 80-minute ferry from central Auckland, Tiritiri Matangi Island is best known today as a native bird sanctuary: a haven of birdsong, guided walks, and restored bush. Yet for centuries, the island was occupied and used by Māori, and later by Europeans, in ways that shaped and relied on both land and sea. By the 1970s, conservationists from New Zealand with the support from the World Wide Fund for Nature, saw an opportunity to launch one of New Zealand’s most ambitious ecological restoration projects: transforming the island into an 'open sanctuary'. This allowed the public to visit and learn, while also allowing for native forests to be replanted, pests eradicated, and rare birds reintroduced. Despite facing legal, logistical, and environmental challenges, Tiritiri Matangi is a living, breathing example of how careful human sustainment can revive nature, telling a remarkable story of survival, change, and ecological transformation.
4. Penny Valentine
Title: Foundations of a City: the history of Winstone Limited in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland
Inspired by the researcher’s family's connection to Winstones, this project examines the company Winstone Limited from its founding by William and George Winstone in 1864 until its amalgamation with Fletcher Challenge in 1988. Winstones played a crucial role in (re)shaping the Tāmaki Makarau that we see today, with the goods they carted and later produced serving as essential materials for building infrastructure, and the act of quarrying changing the silhouettes of the city's maunga. From Point Britomart to the Grafton Bridge to Maunga across the city, Winstone's legacy is far-reaching. This project considers their quarries - the activity for which the majority of people remember Winstones today - the substantial contribution to the construction industry, as well as the economic, environmental, and social developments that resulted. Examining the nature of the Winstone company, its evolution over time, the challenges it faced, its role in the community, and the factors that enabled it to endure, tells a story of how companies survive and operate from a colonial context to the modern day and how significant their impact on the city has been.