Meet the NZHistory.net.nz team

NZHistory.net.nz is produced by a small team within the History Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and draws on the experience and skills of some of New Zealand's leading historians.

NZHistory.net.nz team:

• Neill Atkinson, Senior Historian, oversees the content of NZHistory.net.nz. He has written on the social history of rail and maritime transport, as well as on New Zealand political, labour and sports history.
• Imelda Bargas, Historian, is a recent addition to the NZHistory.net.nz team. Her main areas of interest are heritage, politics, war and history in schools.
• Damien Fenton, Senior Historian, has joined the team to work on various First World War Centennial projects.  His areas of interest include both the First and Second World Wars, Southeast Asia during the Cold War and New Zealand and Australian defence and foreign policy.
• Jamie Mackay, Web Editor, is primarily responsible for the technical development of NZHistory.net.nz content. A trained historian, Jamie worked for five years on the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography project before starting NZHistory.net.nz in 1998.
• Jean Sergent-Shadbolt, Administrator/Content Officer, contributes to both NZHistory.net.nz and the Vietnam War Oral History Project.
• Steve Watters, Historian, co-ordinates The Classroom section of the site, which is aimed at teachers and students from Years 6 to 13. Before joining the History Group, Steve taught history in secondary schools in the Wellington area for a number of years. He has also been the main compiler of Today in History.

Other History Group contributors:

• Bronwyn Dalley, the Chief Historian, played a key role in the development of NZHistory.net.nz. She specialises in New Zealand social and cultural history, particularly in relation to welfare, sexuality, crime, daily life and public history.
• Paul Diamond, Senior Oral Historian, manages the Vietnam War Oral History Project and its associated website, VietnamWar.govt.nz.
• David Green, Editor/Historian, writes and edits History Group publications. His areas of interest include 19th-century Maori/Pakeha relations, especially the New Zealand Wars; public sector history; and the role of sport in New Zealand society.
• Ian McGibbon, General Editor War History, specialises in the history of New Zealand's defence and foreign policy, and military history.
• Gavin McLean, Senior Historian, specialises in business, local and imperial history, and has also written widely on maritime transport, exhibition and heritage history.
• Alison Parr, Senior Oral Historian, is interested in the social history of war and its impact on society and individuals. She co-ordinates the war oral history programme, From memory, and works with other oral historians to gather the memories of New Zealanders' experiences of war, including the Second World War, J Force and Korea.
• Gareth Phipps, Website Content Officer, works part-time on VietnamWar.govt.nz.
• Tim Shoebridge, Historian, has recently joined the History Group.

Other contributors:

Kynan Gentry was a key member of the NZHistory.net.nz team from 2005 to 2008. Emma Brewerton, Susan Butterworth, Mark Derby, Megan Hutching, John E. Martin, Simon Nathan, Claudia Orange, Jock Phillips, Roberto Rabel, Ben Schrader, Monty Soutar, Carl Walrond, Redmer Yska and others have also contributed content to NZHistory.net.nz as staff members or contract historians at the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.