In his acclaimed 2016 book The Great War for New Zealand, Vincent O’Malley argued that it was in the invasion of Waikato in 1863, and not either world war, that was the defining conflict in New Zealand history. War in the Waikato shaped the nation in many ways and caused incalculable misery and lasting harm for many Māori communities. But as the same book highlighted, it also sealed Auckland’s future. In this talk, he describes how the conflict played out in Tāmaki Makaurau and the legacy it left behind.
Dr Vincent O’Malley FRHistS FRSNZ is the author of many books on New Zealand history including bestselling works The Great War for New Zealand: Waikato 1800–2000 (2016) and The New Zealand Wars / Ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (2019). Voices from the New Zealand Wars/He Reo nō ngā Pakanga o Aotearoa (2021), won the general non-fiction category at the 2022 Ockham Book Awards. Among various other awards, he has also received the Prime Minister’s Award for Literary Achievement and the Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Humanities Aronui Medal.