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Online Dictionary of New Zealand Biography

Front page of the online DNZB site - links to homepage

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage's Dictionary of New Zealand Biography was officially launched by Prime Minister Helen Clark on 19 February 2002. The URL is www.dnzb.govt.nz

The site contains all 3049 biographies from the five-volume DNZB series (and its parallel Maori-language volumes), fully searchable in a wide variety of ways; over 2000 images; and a substantial new feature - Our Land, Our People - presenting 'snapshots' of historical events and trends in graphics and text, including a good number of animated and interactive features adapted from the New Zealand Historical Atlas.

Page from 'Our Land Our People'

For any comments contact the online DNZB team by e-mail at

For a full list of biographies contained on the site see the DNZB Biographies Index

Topics covered in Our Land Our People:

From Hawaiki To Aotearoa

• Aotearoa
• Te Tai Tokerau
• Tainui
• Te Arawa
• Te Moana-a-Toitehuatahi
• Te Tai Rawhiti
• Takitimu
• Te Tai Hauauru
• Te Moana-a-Raukawa
• Te Waipounamu
  

A New World

• The Pacific Frontier, c.1800
• Shipping in the Bay of Islands
• D'Urville's Map of the North
• South Sea Whaling
• Kororareka
• The Seal Trade
• Missionary Influence
• Missionaries in the North

Maori on the Move

• Raiding Parties in the 1820s
• Te Rauparaha's Kapiti Stronghold
• Resettling Cook Strait
• 'A New Zealand War Expedition'
• Raiding Te Wai Pounamu
• A Taua Gathers

Exploring the Land

• Pakeha Explore the South
• Exploring Nelson, 1844�65
• Haast Pass
• Exploring the Wairarapa
• The Explorer's Pack
• 'Mr Explorer' in Westland
• Sutherland of Fiordland
• Fording a River

The Longest Journey

• Sea Voyages Compared
• Migration to New Zealand
• Settlers Under Sail
• British and Irish Migrants, 1874
• Birthplace of Overseas-born, 1881
• Migrants from the Mediterranean
• From Stromboli to Wellington
• Refugees of War
• 'Ten Pound Poms'

A Maori Nation

• The Treaty, 1840
• Signing the Treaty
• The 1834 Flag
• Te Heuheu and Taupo
• Te Kingitanga
• Tawhiao's House
• Te Kotahitanga
• Papawai Pa

The New Zealand Wars

• New Zealand at War
• The Northern War
• The First Taranaki War
• The Invasion of Waikato
• The Assault on Rangiriri
• British Imperial Power
• Colonial Defence Force
• Chute's Taranaki Campaign
• Prisoners of War
• The Pursuit of Te Kooti

The Struggle for Land

• Maori Land Transactions
• The Raupatu Lands
• The Waikato Confiscation
• Change in Waikato Basin
• Surveying the Land
• Parihaka
• Opening the King Country
• The Wairarapa Lakes

ENVIRONMENT AND ENTERPRISE

The Quest for Gold

• The Main Goldfields
• The Otago Rush
• Gold Production by Region
• The Chinese in Otago
• Chinese Goldminers at Work
• Fluming at Kumara
• Biddy of the Buller
• The Thames Goldfield
• Gold Dredging in Otago
• The Waihi Strike

Coal and Community

• The West Coast Coalfields
• Miners Working Underground
• Regional Coal Outputs
• Coaling from the Clouds
• The Denniston Incline
• The Westport Coal Co. 1891
• Coalmining Fatalities
• A Dangerous Occupation
• Miners' Hall, Runanga
• Billy Banjo

Harvesting the Forests

• The Shrinking Forests
• The Trade in Spars
• The Kauri Harvest
• Bullock Team Hauling Logs
• Kauri-gum Exports
• Kauri-gum Diggers
• Auckland's Exports, 1885
• The Timber Trade Under Sail
• From Forest to Pasture
• Carter's Sawmill, Mangaweka

From Exploitation to Conservation

• Conservation Lands, 1991
• Tongariro National Park
• Playground of the North Island
• Arthur's Pass National Park
• Maori and Conservation
• An Island Sanctuary
• Saving the Takahe
• The McKees of Mapua
• The Fight for Manapouri
• Mining and Conservation

Working the Land

• On the Sheep's Back, 1879
• Sheep and Cattle
• The Area in Wheat
• Frozen Meat Exports
• The British Market
• North Island Dairying
• A Taranaki Dairy Farm
• Maori Shearers, 1950s
• Aerial Topdressing
• The Wine Industry

In and Out of Work

• Urban Manufacturing
• Hillside Railway Workshops
• Leather Workers, Auckland
• Hutt Valley Industry
• Engineering Workshops, Christchurch
• The Depression Years
• The Queen Street Riots, 1932
• Union Membership
• Unemployment

Women in the Workforce

• The Female Workforce
• Domestic Servants
• On the Factory Floor
• Marital Status of Female Workforce
• Working for Wattie's
• War Work: Munitions Factory
• War Work: Ford Motor Co.
• In the Office
• Equal Pay for Equal Work

Transport and Communication

• Rail, Telegraph and Cable
• Disaster at Sea
• Australasian Shipping Companies
• Trouble on the Waterfront
• The Newman Line
• Trams and Suburbs
• The Automobile Age
• On the Phone
• Air Travel in the Scenic South
• Air New Zealand's Network

IDENTITY AND CULTURE

The Great War

• The World at War, 1914�1918
• The ANZACs at Gallipoli
• On the Western Front
• Slaughter at Passchendaele
• Nurses at War
• The Home Front
• Maori and the War
• The War Dead
• Patriotism and Memory

The Second World War

• The World at War, 1939�1945
• Battle of the River Plate
• The Battle of Britain
• The Mediterranean Theatre
• A Call to Arms
• The Maori Battalion
• Fortress New Zealand
• Women in Uniform
• The Human Cost

From Colony to Dominion

• Provincial Government
• Colonial Finances, 1875
• Population and Voters
• On the Hustings
• Law and Order, 1872
• The Gold Escort
• Women Win the Vote
• The Demon Drink
• The Liberal Era

On the Soapbox

• Election Night Crowd
• Safety First Politics
• The Rise of Labour
• The Ratana Vote
• Labour's Vote in Auckland, 1949
• National in Power
• Wooing Voters
• The Nelson Railway Protest
• The Springbok Tour

Maori in the 20th Century

• Maori on the March
• Maori Land Schemes, 1938
• The Ratana Movement
• Te Puea and Kingitanga
• Waitangi Day, 1940
• The Growth of the Timber Towns
• No Maoris, No Tour
• The 1975 Land March
• Unemployment, 1986�1991

Sport and Recreation

• Sport in South Dunedin
• On the Turf
• The National Game
• The Summer Game
• Women in Sport
• The Olympic Spirit
• Sailing Away
• Hook, Line and Sinker
• By the Seaside
• Jamboree

Arts and Entertainment

• The Centennial Exhibition
• On the Stage
• A National Orchestra
• A Trip to the Cinema
• 'Good Morning Everybody'
• 'Blue Smoke'
• The Christchurch 'Group'
• A Literary Initiative

Education and Welfare

• Welfare Provision, 1853�1876
• State Education
• New Secondary Schools
• School Milk
• King of Seacliff
• Plunket and Karitane
• Black Death
• Maori Health
• A Secular Society
• Religion by Region

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