In this extensively illustrated lecture, we will travel across what the author has termed the 'garrison world'. This is the world of redcoat soldiers, their officer commanders and the small number of women who existed in and around the regiments.
Our travels take us from Taranaki and Auckland to Sydney, Kolkata (Calcutta), Jamaica, Dublin, London and beyond.
Items in the Alexander Turnbull Library provide crucial navigation in these travels and they will be highlighted in the talk. Why is this military world of significance beyond the history of imperial wars and how does it speak to us in the 2020s?
Charlotte Macdonald (FRSNZ) is Professor Emerita at Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington. She is the author of Garrison World: Redcoat Soldiers in New Zealand and Across the British Empire (BWB, 2025). She has recently become co-editor of the New Zealand Journal of History with Dr Keri Mills (AUT).