Thanks to Stuff
Politics professor Richard Shaw has released a book called The Forgotten Coast, which looks at his family’s history in Taranaki and includes some uncomfortable things.
The book examines how land in Taranaki was historically confiscated from the people of Parihaka following the invasion of the village. In November 1881 Māori were evicted from Parihaka by 1600 armed constabulary and volunteers who invaded the pā. Farms were destroyed, women raped and men arrested.
Land was sold to settlers, including Shaw’s great grandfather Dick Gilhooly, who was part of the invading force.
READ MORE:
* Book extract: The Forgotten Coast
* From Parihaka to He Puapua: It’s time Pākehā New Zealanders faced their personal connections to the past
* Historian's Parihaka research was a game-changer
“All that stuff gets forgotten, put to one side,” Shaw told Stuff. “I don't know why that happens, it's not unusual.
Most of the people I went to school [with], the kids from the coast, had not grown up with those kinds of stories and we were all living on land that was basically stolen from other people and given to military veterans.”
Shaw said people talked about land confiscation, but it had been stolen, which people chose not to address.
As a descendent of someone involved, he said he wasn’t motivated by guilt and while he wasn’t responsible for what happened, he was responsible for figuring out the history.
“We have responsibilities as a descendant of the person who did it. Don't tell them the bulls... story, tell the whole story, not just the good bits.”
Shaw got the idea after he read another book, The Parihaka Album, by Rachel Buchanan, which asked: “What stories do your dead tell you and what do you know about your history?”
He started researching in the national archives and Waitangi Tribunal.
“I realised I didn't know much about my history at all and thought it was time I started finding that out.”
He found a lot of the land settlers had lived on was confiscated. Some things were disturbing and unsettling, and it was an eye-opener looking at his family’s involvement.
“I had no idea [Gilhooly] was an occupier.”
His family hadn’t known the stories of how their ancestors were involved.
Shaw said there was some indifference, but now others wanted to know more. He hadn’t had any negative family reactions.
Since he started the work he has had more than 120 people contact him about it, and only four people had negative responses.
The book is on sale at Bruce McKenzie Booksellers in Palmerston North.
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