Books
Thief, Convict, Pirate, Wife: The Many Histories of Charlotte Badger
Charlotte Badger has been the subject of many stories. She has been portrayed as the thief sentenced to death in a Worcester courtroom; the convict living in the new penal colony of New South Wales; the pirate stealing a ship and escaping to the Bay of Islands; and the first white woman resident in Aotearoa New Zealand. But where did these stories come from and how much can really be known about this fascinating but shadowy figure? And what do the stories we tell about her say about ourselves?
In this book I look at how the tale of Charlotte Badger has developed and changed over time and investigate where each piece of the puzzle came from. In the process, I reveal a life at once more remarkable, curious and ordinary than expected, and bring to life the world of convicts and runaways, sailors and soldiers, governors and missionaries she inhabited.
“History has many cunning passages.” It’s a TS Eliot line I’m overfond of using. This meticulous small book takes us down a pleasing, pleasingly puzzling number of them.
David Hill, The Listener
Fascinating and frustrating, this an insightful historical biography that reveals as much about how we make our histories as it does about Charlotte Badger.
Dionne Christian, Kete
At the Margin of Empire: John Webster and Hokianga, 1841-1900
Settler and trader John Webster spent most of his long life in Hokianga, carving out a fortune from the area’s rich timber resources. Along the way, he cultivated relationships with some of the leading figures of the day, both Māori and Pākehā, including Tamati Waka Nene, George Grey, Donald McLean and Frederick Maning. As a young man he fought under Nene’s leadership against Hone Heke in the Northern War, and then went on to marry one of Nene’s relations. As time went on, he accumulated wealth and the trappings of success, while still having to make the accommodations necessary to live and thrive in a region dominated by Māori.
In this unconventional biography, I use one man’s life as a lens through which to view colonial New Zealand, in particular the North, and to examine the shifting intimate relationships between Māori and Pākehā that characterised the period and helped change the course of history.
The fascination lies in Ashton’s vivid account of the evolving Maori–Pakeha relationships as reflected through Webster’s transition from a raw but streetwise immigrant to a respected and prosperous patriarch. It’s history presented with panache and a keen sense of character.
The Listener
It’s a fascinating portrait of both man and milieu.
North and South
Living a Vision: The Work and Impact of the Blind Foundation, 1990-2015
In 2015 the Blind Foundation celebrated 125 years of life-changing service to people who are blind or have low vision. Charting a period of significant transformation for the Foundation — one full of challenges, rewards and advances — Living a Vision provides a fascinating insight into the changes that shaped the organisation over quarter of a century.
