© 2006 The AuthorsJournal compilation © 2006 The New Zealand Geographical Society Inc. Published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

New Zealand Geographer

(2006)

62

, 1–2 10.1111/j.1745-7939.2006.00043.x

Blackwell Publishing Asia

Editorial

Editorial

Editorial

New Zealand historical geographies

The papers in this special issue are drawnfrom those presented at the 12th InternationalConference of Historical Geographers(ICHG), held at The University of Auckland inDecember 2003. An account of the conferenceappears on the next page. Usually materialfrom these meetings does not appear in anyone place, there being no tradition of pub-lished proceedings or journal special issues.There are exceptions: a book included in thereview section here,

(Dis)Placing Empire

,

Renegotiating British Colonial Geographies

, isdrawn from papers on historical geographiesof colonialism given at the previous ICHGheld at Laval University in Quebec, Canadain August 2001.

This special issue is intentionally anotherexception, taking advantage of an opportunityto present work on New Zealand historicalgeographies heard at the Auckland ICHG.There has been no such collection since

Landand Society in New Zealand, Essays in HistoricalGeography

, published in 1965. This does notmean that the country’s historical geographershave disappeared or been idle; the opportunityto host the ICHG shows otherwise. Their workhas appeared in a great variety of places, includ-ing a range of contributions to the

HistoricalAtlas of New Zealand

published in 1997. TheAuckland meeting also provides a means fromwhich exciting contemporary work in historicalgeography can be brought before a wider audi-ence in one set of covers.

The conference was international in scopeand drew papers by scholars from all over theworld, about ideas, themes and projects rangingenormously in time and place. However thefour plenary addresses were on New Zealandtopics, or presented by New Zealand historicalgeographers whose work reflects some of thetheoretical and thematic concerns of historicalgeography internationally. The speakers wereinvited because they represent the diversityof age and experience of the community of re-searchers in New Zealand historical geography.

Three of these addresses are included here,after revision for print publication.

Dr Matthew Henry, at the time about totake up his first lectureship at Massey Uni-versity, generated considerable discussion withhis address about the intersection of sacrificeand governance in Auckland’s ANZAC (Aus-tralian and New Zealand Army Corps) Dayperformances. Dr Katie Pickles, of the Universityof Canterbury, drew on her research trainingin Canada in the 1990s to explore post-WorldWar I memorials for nurse Edith Cavell oncolonial frontiers. Professor Brian Murton, ofM

a

ori Ng

a

puhi descent, and with many yearsteaching at the University of Hawaii, used hisrecent work on Treaty claims in Northland toexplore conflicts over shellfish on a New Zea-land beach. Along with the richly illustratedfourth address, by Professor Graeme Wynn ofthe University of British Columbia, on NewZealand landscape and identity, these plenarieswere intended to provide a range of perspectiveson New Zealand’s past for the conference’sassorted participants.

The first three addresses have been aug-mented here by a small selection of other paperson New Zealand themes drawn from the con-ference. Dr Gordon Winder, the chair of the con-ference organizing committee, is representedby a version of his well-received work aboutAuckland ‘on the edge’. Emeritus ProfessorPeter Holland’s long-standing contributions toSouth Island environmental histories are illus-trated in his paper. In addition two papersappear in the journal’s regular Geo-Ed section.One, by doctoral student Bruce Wildblood-Crawford, critiques 1960s representations of theagricultural chemical ‘revolution’ on which NewZealand primary production has been so depend-ent. The other, by Jim Williams, of the Kai Tahuiwi (tribe), explores contemporary M

a

ori atti-tudes to water management in the South Island.

Eric Pawson and Michael Roche

Guest Editors