Ngā Pukapuka | Books

WORDS: ANNA KNOX

The Time Traveller’s Guide to Hamilton Gardens

Peter Sergel and Grant SheenanRRP $80 (Phantom House)

Hamilton Gardens, voted in the top 1 percent of tourist attractions globally on Tripadvisor, tells the story of human gardening histories throughout the world. A new book with text by the garden’s longtime director, Peter Sergel, and images by award-winning photographer Grant Sheehan (see ‘Picture this’, issue 174, Spring 2024), documents the extraordinary success of this living museum.

Organised into seven time periods, from ‘Gardens of the Ancient World’ to ‘Gardens of the New Age’, 30 existing and proposed gardens from these periods are represented, including Te Parapara Garden, the Japanese Garden of Contemplation (considered the best in the world outside Japan), the Mansfield Garden (the imaginary garden of the writer’s ‘The Garden Party’ brought to life), the Hamilton East Cemetery (a particularly good national example of a mid-19th-century colonial cemetery) and the Surrealist Garden.

However, it’s the story of the community-funded transformation of a foul smelling city rubbish dump into the international phenomenon the gardens are today that is the most interesting. Unfortunately, it’s also the most sparsely covered. Peter focuses instead on a punchline-filled account of human history for each period and the history of each type of garden, including colourful anecdotes such as ones about the man who lost his hairpiece, and the worker who got stuck in the mud and was extracted by a digger.

Peter writes in wonderfully easy prose, like he’s talking to you over a cup of tea and a biscuit – although his constant pop-culture references and groan-worthy asides (you can almost hear the drumroll and the cymbals clang) will appeal to some readers more than others.

One gets the sense, though, that this tone is somehow inseparable from Peter’s gardens project and his personality, and is perhaps an essential part of the answer to the question he faced in the early days as a director with zero funding and a grand vision: “In a conservative, provincial and very risk averse environment, how can we persuade people to accept and support something radically new and unfamiliar?”

The Invasion of Waikato / Te Riri ki Tainui

Vincent O’Malley RRP $39.99 (Bridget Williams Books)

At times, Dr Vincent O’Malley’s new book, The Invasion of Waikato / Te Riri ki Tainui reads like a piece of dark fiction. It’s 1863 and British Crown officials are trying to assert control in New Zealand and obtain new land. But they feel threatened by the recent rise of a new monarch in the Kīngitanga or Māori King Movement and invade the Kīngitanga lands with the intention of destroying the movement. A bloody and brutal battle ensues. The Crown imports thousands of imperial troops to take on the Māori, who are outnumbered four to one and encountering terrifying artillery, like gun boats, for the very first time. The Māori use a series of elaborate ground fortifications, or pā, and muskets as their main defences.

The book is far from fiction, of course; it’s an intricately detailed and sensitive account of a pivotal and often forgotten part of our history.

Vincent’s rich research is accompanied by stunning photos, including portraits of rangatira and their families, as well as annotated maps and historical documents.

Crisp prose portrays the bravery and desperation of the Māori defenders: “As the British sap steadily crept between eight and 15 yards of the outer defences, it became just a matter of time before the pā’s walls were breached. Later in the morning, Carey ordered one of the Armstrong guns to be hauled into the sap to speed up the process.”

An earnest examination of how the invasion has been remembered and forgotten over time, and how we have struggled – or neglected – to commemorate such a terrible series of events appropriately, this book is an essential read.

The Near West: A History of Grey Lynn, Arch Hill and Westmere

Tania MaceRRP $70 (Massey University Press)

The Near West: A History of Grey Lynn, Arch Hill and Westmere is a story of people and buildings. I spent much of my twenties bouncing around drafty Grey Lynn villas all with the same layout: two rooms at the front with heavy sash windows, creaky but sturdy floorboards, and French doors at the back opening to a modest, green backyard. The houses we could afford to rent were filled with character but in desperate need of a lick of paint. Despite this, I knew very little of the history of Grey Lynn and its neighbours, Arch Hill and Westmere.

The sturdy Victorian-style villa is the main character in Tania Mace’s extensive new book: a comprehensive and illustrated history of Auckland’s inner west. Beginning with a brief chapter on Tāmaki Makaurau’s origins, covering how Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei gifted a 3000-acre (1210-hectare) block of land to the Crown, which would later become the city of Auckland, Tania guides the reader deftly through the many guises the inner west has worn, from early residents (among them British, Māori, Pasifika and Chinese) striving to make lives for themselves, to Dame Whina Cooper’s purchase of 1 Cockburn Street in 1951 as she became a “guiding light” for Māori who were new to the city, and the formation of advocacy group the Polynesian Panthers, who found a home on Keppell Street.

Many of the crumbling villas that once housed working-class immigrants and bohemian creatives like Theo Schoon (a flamboyant artist known for Javanese dancing and an obsession with Māori gourds) now gleam with fresh coats of white paint and sell at auction for millions.

Divided into 10 chapters that could be read as a series of short stories, the book is rich with archival photography. For anyone interested in local New Zealand histories, it’s a highly satisfying read.

Review by Julia Gabel

Other titles of interest

Grid: The Life and Times of First World War Fighter Ace Keith CaldwellAdam ClaasenRRP $65 (Massey University Press)

Illustrated biography of Air Commodore Keith ‘Grid’ Caldwell CBE, MC, DFC & Bar, Croix de Guerre, one of New Zealand’s greatest military heroes.

Edith Collier: Early New Zealand ModernistEdited by Jill Trevelyan, Jennifer Taylor and Greg DonsonRRP $70 HB (Massey University Press)

Featuring over 150 artworks, examining the continuing impacts of Whanganuiborn and British-trained Edith Collier and her artistic legacy.

Echos from HawaikiJennifer CattermoleRRP $50 (Otago University Press)

Comprehensive illustrated account of taonga puoro ancestral musical traditions and instrument-playing techniques.

Becoming Tangata Tiriti: Working with Māori, Honouring the TreatyAvril BellRRP $29.99 (Auckland University Press)

Stories from 12 non-Māori professionals, activists and everyday individuals who have attempted to bring te Tiriti to life in their work.

Leslie Adkin: Farmer PhotographerAthol McCredieRRP $70 (Te Papa Press)

A superb selection of the work of one of New Zealand’s finest early photographers.

The Welcome of Strangers: A History of Southern MāoriAtholl AndersonRRP $59.99 (Bridget Williams Books with Ngāi Tahu Archive)

Richly illustrated exploration of the distinct lifestyles and histories of the southern Māori communities of New Zealand from a leading Ngāi Tahu archaeologist.