These sentiments are exactly why I enjoy writing this blog!
Henry Ford once insisted history was ‘bunk’, declaring: ‘We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.’
History has also been listed as ‘one damn thing after another’ – an aphorism likely first uttered by Arnold Toynbee.
Reconstruction by unknown artist of the Treaty of Waitangi being signed. New Zealand. Department of Maori Affairs. Artist unknown : Ref: A-114-038. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22701985
So why should we bother with it? Those of us who did history at school – certainly in New Zealand in the twentieth century – probably got sick of having to memorise lists of English monarchs and being told that New Zealand didn’t have a history. I know I did.
Fact is, New Zealand does have a history – and a very interesting one. It’s a history that encompasses everything that makes…
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On this day in Fredonia... 