New Episode! Cook starts to explore more of the Society Islands, with Tupaia’s direction and knowledge proving invaluable. historyaotearoa.com/2025/10/05/1...

📢 A group of tā moko artists have studied over 200 toi moko, or Māori ancestral heads with the hope of identifying their iwi and eventually returning them home.

It’s October tomorrow so while I remember, here is the next tourism poster from my calendar! Railways Dept. 1948

Welcome back 1951 waterfront dispute

Well done Kārearea www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

New Episode! Now that the Endeavour no longer has any need to remain in Tahiti, a bunch of people start making decisions about their future, some less well thought out than others. historyaotearoa.com/2025/09/28/1...

Maori scholar, Makereti Papakura writing at her desk c.1910. The room is decorated with a mix of Maori & European mementoes whilst the rafters are painted with traditional kowhaiwhai patterns. Makereti will be awarded a posthumous degree in Oxford tomorrow, almost a century after she died in 1930.

An update to the medal from Cook’s second expedition that was found in Wellington!

While doing some research for work I found this incredible 1886 aerial view of Auckland in the Auckland Libraries Heritage collection! It's zoomable in high detail on the website — kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/coll...

New Episode! Cook finally does the thing he came halfway around the world to do: Observe the Transit of Venus. historyaotearoa.com/2025/09/21/1...

STOP THE COUNT

It’s not quite national telly but Ben also came onto HANZ to speak about pekapeka, probably my personal favoured BOTY episode! Give it a listen if you haven’t already! historyaotearoa.com/2021/10/23/7...

BRING THE BAT BACK YOU COWARDS

A rain cape made from leaves of tikumu, the mountain daisy. Tikumu was called 'the leather plant' by Pākehā settlers in the 1800s because of the suede-like texture of its leaves. This specimen is in Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens.

@thebhp.bsky.social @thoc.bsky.social Not sure if you are knitted sweater kinda guys but if not, maybe it's time for a bold new fashion statement by wearing the Bayeux Tapestry and a 'Corrupt Councillor'!

Voting is now open! Check out the latest episode of HANZ (pinned on my profile) if you want to learn about one of the candidates!

New Episode! It’s that time of year again! BOTY is back! As is tradition, I’ve picked a bird to tell you all about and hopefully pick up your vote. This year we are discussing the ngutu pare, the wrybill! historyaotearoa.com/2025/09/14/m...

Just found out that my boss listens to the podcast. Which at first I was like “wow, that’s neat!” But now I realise she is gonna hear about how horny Joesph Banks is and how he is having 4somes. Might make for some awkward work chat…

New Episode! We return to May 1769 where the quadrant, a vital piece of equipment was stolen and then recovered. In the course of this, Tutaha had been arrested against Cook’s orders. Today we see how this affected the pair’s relationship. historyaotearoa.com/2025/09/07/1...

A few days late but here is the tourism poster for Sept! Railways Dept. 1936

🚨🚨🚨 TAKAHĒ GOOD NEWS KLAXON 🚨🚨🚨

NAILED IT IN ONE

New Episode! Tupaia is trying to navigate his way through the ever changing and deadly world of Tahitan politics as the two major leaders of the island clash. Can he come out the other side unscathed? historyaotearoa.com/2025/08/31/1...

An absolutely fantastic find of a medal that was made for Cook to trade with indigenous peoples. According to Te Papa, 2000 of these were made. As you might heard in the podcast, they are used both as a trading resource but also to leave as evidence of being at a given spot ‘first’

New Episode! Tupaia escapes to Tahiti and soon realises that if he wants to survive he needs to make himself useful. The island is going through a rather chaotic time politically and he is known to be a smooth operator, in more ways than one… historyaotearoa.com/2025/08/24/e...

someone from our discord just told me about how albatrosses only recognize their chick if theyre actively sitting on the nest, so if the chick falls or climbs out the parent doesn't recognize them anymore until they climb back in & all I can think of is

Project Seal is probably my favourite part of NZ WWII 'lore'. Just an insane idea that is kind of a mark of humanity's hubris. That we thought we could create and control one of nature's most terrifying and destructive forces: tsunamis.

Having a look at James Cook's secret instructions and under the copyright info it says "Creator Status: Creator(s) Considered Dead" Given the document was written 250yrs ago, I fucken hope so.

Everytime I see nooks like this I'm always super interested in given them a read but I also know that the cost of doing so is at least a few braincells

Wild to think that only a few months ago I was looking up my family member who signed the women's suffrage petition on this website. Absolute shame

The Aratere ferry has retired today after nearly 30 years of sailing the Cook Strait. Here is an article that talks a little about some of the significant events she had during that time! www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

New Episode! James Cook has now met Tupaia, high priest of Tahiti and advisor to the chief Purea. He is going to become very important to our story so it is worth going back a few years in the timeline to talk about his early life. historyaotearoa.com/2025/08/17/1...

Yesterday was World Lizard Day, check out these awesome resources on the ORC website!

Just found out that the Salvation Army uses military titles for their ministers which is kinda wild. Even wilder, the current General of the Salvation Army (the head of the organisation) is a Kiwi born in Dannevirke of all places!

New Episode! Final preparations are underway for the Transit of Venus as the equipment is calibrated only to find shock a vital instrument is missing! Where did it go?! Listen to find out! historyaotearoa.com/2025/08/10/1...

Tourism poster for August! Internal Affairs Dept. c. 1925

New episode! Now that they had made contact, Cook quickly sets to work establishing friendly relations with the Tahitians while also trying to assess who the movers and shakers are in their society. Turns out, Tahitian politics is kinda complicated! historyaotearoa.com/2025/08/03/1...

History is often all around us in all sorts of ways and you wouldn't even know! Unfortunately in Aotearoa it means you probably won't look at those places the same way again but remembering is the first step towards not repeating the same mistakes.

New Episode! The Endeavour crosses the Pacific and arrives at her destination, Tahiti. However, pretty quickly Cook is concerned that his crew will run amok so he puts procedures in place to ensure everything goes smoothly between them and the local Polynesians. historyaotearoa.com/2025/07/27/1...

Tonight my four year campaign comes to an end! Will the heroes prevail?

New Episode! James Cook’s expedition finally gets underway as they sail across the Atlantic bound for the South Pacific. But not before they get into a spot of bother in Rio along the way… historyaotearoa.com/2025/07/20/1...

@historyaotearoa.bsky.social check out that Zealand Nova coastline

I’m in the South Island so of course, we have to make the traditional pilgrimage. This time in a category 1 historic site! The original brick building was built in 1907 to act as govt offices for the town!

I’m in Greymouth and it’s funny that one of their signs talks about Abel Tasman and James Cook which essentially amounts to ‘neither of them came here’ lol

I LOVE TRAINS

New Episode! Just as he was about to head off, James Cook was told that he had to take on a new group of people on his expedition, which caused a number of issues. The leader of these late arrivals was none other than Joesph Banks. historyaotearoa.com/2025/07/13/1...