During the Conference days of the Australasian Society for Historical Archaeology (see the blogpost of 26. Sept. 2022), I met Bill Edwards, manager of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga and Dr. James Robinson, Archaeologist of the same Institution.
Dr. James Robinson delivered a paper entitled “Land and Sea,the archaeological and historical evidence of European interaction with tangata whenua on Moturua Island in the Bay of Islands: 1769–1940s”. Bill Edwards talked about the “Seascapes of encounter, the archaeological and historical evidence of European voyagers early contact with tangata whenua in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand.”
Throughout the Conference, I used many occasionaries and moments to have chat with them by a cup of tea, for lunch, or during the boat trip, and even after the Conference, I visited them twice in the Office of the “Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga” in Keri Keri, where we not only continued our conversations but also “fall” into “rabbitholes” of both their Library and their mapping programms in the office.
Apart from Bill and James, John O’Hare, a journalist, also worked in the Council and invited me very spontaneously to talk about my research. I readily used the opportunity to introduce my topic to a local audience. The article can be found in the “Northern Advocate” Newspaper (behind a paywall)1 , but is also free accessible on the blog of the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.2
- Whaling heritage brings researcher to New Zealand, in: The Northern Advocate, https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/bay-news-fleet-celebrates-40-years-okaihau-bowls-on-a-roll/X52EX7N4GOR4EUUGE56LIVJCIE/, [Last Access: 2.11.2022]. [↩]
- Whaling Heritage draws researcher to New Zealand, in: Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, https://www.heritage.org.nz/news-and-events/blog/whaling-heritage-draws-researcher-to-new-zealand, [Last Access: 2.11.2022]. [↩]