The British politician and lawyer Sir John Eldon Gorst (1835-1916) arrived in New Zealand in 1860, shortly after the outbreak of the Taranaki Wars (from 1860 onwards), with idealistic intentions of working with Bishop Selwyn and the Maori. He took on various governmental roles that required contact with the Maori, including those of school inspector, magistrate and, later, Civil Commissioner for the Waikato region, whose powerful chiefs had not signed the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi. In 1864 he published this book analysing the social and economic situation in New Zealand, the rapid deterioration of relations between Maori and Europeans (which he ascribes largely to errors and neglect on the part of the British administration) and Maori demands for self-government. He describes, often as an eye-witness, the complex political wrangling that took place, and sets out his own views about the past and future relations between the two ethnic groups.

Robert McNab (1864-1917), lawyer, politician, and historian, was one of the most prominent and influential of New Zealand's early intellectuals, renowned for his meticulous gathering of historical resources. The result of nine years of painstaking research, this book was developed from a series of articles on Southland history published in the newspaper Southern Standard in the late 1890s. Murihiku spans the history of European exploration and settlement in the South Island, from the voyages of Abel Tasman and Captain Cook to the arrival of the sealers, whalers, missionaries, and the early settlers in the years leading up the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The book was first published in 1905. After extensive research in archives in Australia, the USA, and Britain, McNab produced a more substantial edition in 1907. This third edition appeared in 1909. McNab was elected fellow of the Royal Geographical society in 1908.

Educated at Sandhurst, Sir George Grey (1812 98) became Governor of South Australia when he was not yet thirty. Later he served as Governor of New Zealand and High Commissioner for South Africa, and in the 1870s he enjoyed a period as Premier of New Zealand. Although he liked to portray himself as 'good Governor Grey' some of his contemporaries found him ruthless and manipulative. Like many other Victorian administrators, he was convinced that the 'savage' natives needed to be 'raised' properly in order to become more like Europeans. In this 1841 publication, Grey writes about two expeditions to North West Australia that took place under his leadership in 1837 9. In Volume 1, he tells of the difficulties that the expedition encountered while seeking a site for settlement, including an incident when the spear of a 'coloured man' wounded him and he shot the 'wretched savage'.

Ernest Powell Giles (1835-97) is best remembered as one of the first explorers of South Australia. Powell emigrated to Australia with his parents in 1850, settling in Adelaide. From 1861 he was leading small-scale expeditions along the Darling River, searching for land suitable for cultivation. Following the completion of the Overland Telegraph Line between Adelaide and Darwin in 1872, Powell embarked on five expeditions attempting to discover an overland route between Adelaide and Perth. These volumes, first published in 1889, provide a detailed and dramatic account of his discoveries. Based on Powell's personal journals, these volumes describe in vivid detail the hardships and dangers of exploration in Australia in the nineteenth century, while providing an evocative description of the South Australian landscape before colonisation. Volume 1 contains Powell's account of his first two unsuccessful expeditions of 1872 and 1873, including his discovery of the Gibson Desert and Lake Amadeus.

John McDouall Stuart (1815-66) was a surveyor and a pioneering explorer of Australia. Born in Scotland, he emigrated in 1839 to Australia where he worked in surveying and made many expeditions into the outback. The treks he undertook from 1858 to 1862 are the focus of this account, published in 1864, and are compiled from Stuart's notes by William Hardman (1828-90). During these periods of exploration he managed - though suffering from scurvy - to cross the continent, and he also discovered various rivers and geographical features. Hardman's account uses Stuart's journals to give an account of six historic and often gruelling expeditions. The first was to the north-west; the following two were explorations around Lake Torrens; the fourth was an attempt to find the centre of the territory; a fifth involved a forced retreat after an aboriginal attack; and in the final one Stuart traversed the continent.

Van Diemen's Land was the name originally given to the island known today as Tasmania, Australia, and it was settled by the British in 1803 as a penal colony. Before writing this history of the island, the author, Henry Saxelby Melville (1799-1873), a journalist, was imprisoned in 1835 for contempt of court over an article he wrote about an ongoing trial. While experiencing the prison system at first hand, he completed this work, which examines the history of Van Diemen's Land, focusing on the period from 1824 to 1835, and offers harsh criticism of the colonial administration and penal reforms enacted by lieutenant-governor Colonel George Arthur (1784-1854). Melville also includes an essay of his views on the island's system of prison discipline. He initially had the book printed on the island, but later smuggled copies to London where it could be freely published and read.

In 1832, aged just seventeen, the future colonial governor Edward John Eyre (1815-1901) set sail from London for Australia. The farming life that awaited him laid the foundations of an enduring interest in the topography, anthropology and zoology of his adopted homeland. Following an initial expedition in 1839, in 1840 Eyre set out on his pioneering trek from Adelaide to Western Australia. The year-long adventure financially ruined the explorer, but won him the coveted gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for discovering Lake Torrens. Published in 1845, this two-volume account of the expedition made Eyre a household name in Britain and fuelled popular interest in the former penal colony. Volume 2 leads readers through various dramatic episodes including the plundering of the camp, a 'night of horrors', forced marches, and hunting kangaroos. It concludes with a fascinating account of the celebratory aborigine reception that awaited the survivors.

Fairness and Freedom compares the history of two open societies - New Zealand and the United States - with much in common. Both have democratic polities, mixed-enterprise economies, individuated societies, pluralist cultures, and a deep concern for human rights and the rule of law. But all of these elements take different forms, because constellations of value are far apart. The dream of living free is America's Polaris; fairness and natural justice are New Zealand's Southern Cross. Fischer asks why these similar countries went different ways. Both were founded by English-speaking colonists, but at different times and with disparate purposes. They lived in the first and second British Empires, which operated in very different ways. Indians and Maori were important agents of change, but to different ends. On the American frontier and in New Zealand's Bush, material possibilities and moral choices were not the same. Fischer takes the same comparative approach to parallel processes of nation-building and immigration, women's rights and racial wrongs, reform causes and conservative responses, war-fighting and peace-making, and global engagement in our own time-with similar results. On another level, this book expands Fischer's past work on liberty and freedom. It is the first book to be published on the history of fairness. And it also poses new questions in the old tradition of history and moral philosophy. Is it possible to be both fair and free? In a vast array of evidence, Fischer finds that the strengths of these great values are needed to correct their weaknesses. As many societies seek to become more open - never twice in the same way, an understanding of our differences is the only path to peace.

The fighting on the Kokoda Track in World War II is second only to Gallipoli in the Australian national consciousness. The Kokoda campaign of 1942 has taken on mythical status in Australian military history. According to the legend, Australian soldiers were vastly outnumbered by the Japanese, who suffered great losses in battle and as a result of the harsh conditions of the Kokoda Track. In this important book, Peter Williams seeks to dispel the Kokoda myth. Using extensive research and Japanese sources, he explains what really happened on the Kokoda Track in 1942. Unlike most other books written from an Australian perspective, The Kokoda Campaign 1942: Myth and reality focuses on the strategies, tactics and battle plans of the Japanese and shows that the Australians were in fact rarely outnumbered. For the first time, this book combines narrative with careful analysis to present an undistorted picture of the events of the campaign. It is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the truth of the Kokoda campaign of 1942.

John Lort Stokes (1812-85) was a naval officer on board H.M.S. Beagle - the same ship that had carried naturalist Charles Darwin around the world in 1831-6. Stokes served on that expedition and on the following commission, which was a survey of Australia in which the crew was charged with discovering more about the largely unknown land mass. The expedition set off in 1837 and Stokes did not return to England until 1843 - after 18 years of service on the Beagle - when he began work on this two-volume account of the voyage, which was published in 1846. This work provides a detailed narrative of the journey, including interaction with indigenous peoples and observations about the natural world in Australia, making it an important source about the early years of the European colony. Volume 1 covers Stokes' time exploring north-west Australia and includes illustrations of plants, insects, and reptiles.

John Lort Stokes (1812-85) was a naval officer on board H.M.S. Beagle - the same ship that had carried naturalist Charles Darwin around the world in 1831-6. Stokes served on that expedition and on the following commission, which was a survey of Australia in which the crew was charged with discovering more about the largely unknown land mass. The expedition set off in 1837 and Stokes did not return to England until 1843 - after 18 years of service on the Beagle - when he began work on this two-volume account of the voyage, which was published in 1846. This work provides a detailed narrative of the journey, including interaction with indigenous peoples and observations about the natural world in Australia, making it an important source about the early years of the European colony. Volume 2 sees the expedition explore the Victoria River, and later venture north into the Indonesian archipelago.

The prolific writer William Howitt (1792 1879) embarked for Australia in 1852 and spent two years there travelling and panning for gold. His experiences resulted in several books that appealed to the Victorian public's avid interest in Antipodean exploration. Published in 1865, when New Zealand had only been recognised as a country for a generation, this two-volume work describes 'scenes of danger and of wild romance, of heroic daring and devoted deaths, such as few countries have to show'. It gives a valuable account of early European exploration and settlement in Australia and New Zealand as well as insights into European travellers' responses to this previously unknown continent. Volume 1 covers the early voyages of discovery to the Antipodes made by explorers including Abel Tasman and Captain Cook, and later expeditions up to the 1840s, including Fitzroy and Darwin's voyage around Australia and New Zealand aboard the Beagle.

Michael Davitt (1846-1906) was a prominent and influential figure in Irish politics in the nineteenth century. A fervent supporter of Irish independence, he was imprisoned more than once in England, but later became a Member of Parliament for Irish constituencies. In this book, first published in 1898, Davitt records a journey of seven months through the Australasian colonies, noting his impressions of the areas he passed through and discussing the political and social norms across the different regions. He examines land laws in many of the areas and describes the different industries then emerging. He also reports on the treatment of aborigines, ranging from 'exterminating the aborigines' in Tasmania to the 'efforts to protect them' in Western Australia, and finally focuses on prisons and prisoner welfare across the colonies he visited. This book offers a wealth of information on many aspects of nineteenth-century Australasia.

The physician and ethnographer Edward Shortland (1812-93) first travelled to New Zealand in 1841, a year after the Treaty of Waitangi. He became private secretary to Governor William Hobson, and quickly learned the Maori language. First published in 1851, this book describes Shortland's experiences on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island while conducting a census of the local Maori settlements in 1843. It documents South Island Maori myths, traditions and everyday life, and includes genealogical tables and a short word-list of the local dialect. It also describes a French Company agent at Akaroa reporting the successful introduction of French vines, the Scottish settlement at Dunedin, and the productivity of several whaling stations. Shortland reminds prospective settlers of the importance of understanding the 'ideas and prejudices' of the Maori, whose many qualities including 'natural bravery and love of freedom' guarantee them continuing 'political weight in their own country'.

Samuel Butler (1835-1902) became famous with his satirical Utopian novel Erewhon, based on his experiences as a sheep farmer in New Zealand and published, initially anonymously, in 1872. This earlier book, published in London in 1863 while he was still abroad, is a compilation of his letters home. Having obtained a degree in Classics from Cambridge, Butler had left England in 1859 with generous funding from his father, who hoped that making his fortune in the colonies would cure his son's ambition to become an artist. Butler was highly successful in his farming enterprise, and his letters provide both financial details and information on the practicalities of animal husbandry, pasture management and colonial life. Butler also explored Canterbury and travelled to the Southern Alps, and describes vividly the landscapes, flora and fauna of South Island. This classic source for New Zealand history also sheds light on Butler's later work.

Throughout history, gold has been the stuff of legends, fortunes, conflict and change. The discovery of gold in Australia 150 years ago precipitated enormous developments in the newly settled land. Immigrants flooded in from Asia and Europe, and the population and economy boomed in spontaneous cities. The effects on both the environment and indigenous Aboriginal peoples have been profound and lasting. In the most unexpected ways, gold has shaped modern Australia. In this book, a team of Australia's most prominent historians and curators have collaborated to produce a cultural history of gold and its impact on the development of Australian society. Like a handful of tailings, Gold brings together a collection of stories that have been left out of standard Australian histories. In between runs a critical analysis of the relationship between gold and social change, race relations, gender, the environment, entertainment and industry.

Sir Timothy Coghlan (1855 1926) was the statistician for New South Wales from 1886. He produced the world's first example of national financial accounts, and is regarded as Australia's first 'mandarin'. His advice was sought by state and federal governments on matters as diverse as tax, public sanitation and infant mortality. In 1905 he took up an appointment as a New South Wales government agent in London, remaining there for the rest of his life. First published in 1918, this monumental book is Coghlan's very personal history of Australia, embracing materials, population growth, trade and land. Population growth and its importance for economic prosperity had always interested Coghlan. In Volume 1, he emphasizes the initial difficulties presented to economic growth by a population consisting mostly of convicts. With many statistical data, he also explores early immigration, trade, land distribution and attempts at agriculture.

Little is known about Charles L. Money, who sailed in 1861 from Gravesend to New Zealand, where, as he recounts in this volume, he spent the next seven years, working as a gold prospector, a surveyor, a sheep hand, a baker's boy, and a log splitter. He also spent periods in the military, serving in McDonnell's campaign against the Maori in the second Taranaki war (1863-6), which was instrumental in establishing colonial control of the area, and participating in the notorious Pokaikai raid, an eyewitness account of which is included in the book. Money also, pragmatically, worked with, and occasionally for, the Maori. His narrative provides source material for social tensions in this formative period of New Zealand history, as well as giving a vivid picture of the hardships of emigrant life. It was published in 1871 by Samuel Mullen, the owner of the first literary library and bookshop in Australia.

This 1837 book was ghost-written by the young Edward Edwards (1812-86), later a key figure in the development of British public libraries. It contains two petitions requesting closer British government involvement in the transition of New South Wales from a convict colony to a well run society of respectable emigrants. It includes the names and, unusually for that period, the domiciles of all the petitioners, together with supporting arguments and detailed statistical documentation about the population, economy, laws and governance of the colony. The publication was supervised by the wealthy Australian-born landowner James Macarthur (1798-1867), who was becoming increasingly influential in the political and economic development of New South Wales. He aimed to secure 'the best interests of the Colony, strengthen the ties to the Parent State and render it in every way worthy of its British origin', by elevating 'the moral character of its society'.

Stephenson Percy Smith (1840-1922) arrived in New Zealand as a boy, and in early 1858 travelled six hundred miles exploring the volcanic interior of North Island, including Taupo, Lake Tarawera and the Tongariro-Ruapehu area, returning via Rangitikei and Wanganui. He also witnessed the unrest caused by the rapid European encroachment on Maori lands. After retiring in 1900 from his career as a government surveyor, Smith devoted himself to the study of the Maori and co-founded the Polynesian Society, in whose journal this study originally appeared between 1899 and 1901. Reissued here in its enlarged second edition of 1910, it deals with the inter-tribal 'Musket Wars' of the early nineteenth century, when different Maori communities competed for territory shortly before European settlement began in earnest. Although Smith's interpretations do not meet modern scholarly standards, his pioneering work still provides fascinating insights into nineteenth-century Maori traditions and their colonial reception.

Published in 1892, this two-volume biography chronicles the remarkable life and career of Sir George Grey (1812-98), the 11th premier of New Zealand. William Lee Rees (1836-1912), lawyer, politician and well-known supporter of Grey, co-wrote this work with his daughter Lily, and the books outline how Grey became arguably the most influential figure during the European settlement of New Zealand in the nineteenth century. The volumes proceed chronologically and are organised by the main events in Grey's life. Volume 1 begins with Grey's upbringing and early years, and describes his first voyage to Western Australia, his first government of New Zealand and his time as governor of Cape Colony. In addition to recounting the incidents, adventures and achievements of Grey's life, Rees also conveys Grey's personal principles and aspirations, giving the reader an insight into the character of this colonial governor and servant of the empire.

In 1800-2 the naval officer James Grant (1772-1833) sailed to Australia on board the Lady Nelson, a surveying ship that was the first in England to be built on the sliding-keel principle. In this 1803 publication, Grant assesses the merits of the design and documents various teething problems experienced during the voyage from England to Australia. He describes his stay at Cape Town, and his favourable impression of the living standard of the deported convicts at Sydney, which he found better than that of poor people in England. Grant records his experiences on the coast of New South Wales, his encounters with the Aborigines there, and the presence of coal deposits on the Hunter River, and even reports that the cabra grub is 'no bad apology for a better meal'. He also describes his return journey via Cape Horn, during which he was becalmed in the South Atlantic.

J. S. Polack (1807-82) lived in New Zealand during 1831-7 and 1842-50. An enterprising businessman and land speculator, he traded in timber and flax, and in 1835 set up the first brewery in the country. He also learned the Maori language, and warned against the destructive effects on Maori society of unorganized European settlement, while arguing for the benefits of systematic colonization. This two-volume work, published in 1838, was the first of two successful books by Polack about his experiences in New Zealand and is still regarded as an important and impartial source about the period immediately preceding the Treaty of Waitangi. Volume 2 focuses on Maori material culture and craftsmanship, traditional beliefs and rituals, and warfare (including lurid reports of cannibalism), as well as the early interactions of Maori and Europeans through trade, missions and whaling.