Region: Wellington

About Me:

I have been a member of PHANZA's executive committee since 2003 and was President from December 2007 to December 2008. I studied history at the University of Auckland, graduating with an MA (Hons) in 1990. I now live in Wellington, where I have been working as a senior historian at the History Group of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, with a particular responsibility for the NZHistory.net.nz website. Since September 2008 I have been Acting Chief Historian at MCH.

I previously worked as a researcher and editor for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography and as a contract historian. My main areas of interest are the social history of transport (especially railways and seafaring), politics and labour history.

Books:

• Trainland: How Railways Made New Zealand (Random House, 2007)
• Miramar Rangers - 100 Years (with Tod Purser, MRAFC, 2007)
• Hell or High Water: New Zealand Merchant Seafarers Remember the War (HarperCollins, 2005)
• Adventures in Democracy: A History of the Vote in New Zealand (Otago University Press, 2003)
• Rewarding Service: A History of the Government Superannuation Fund (Otago University Press, 2002)
• Crew Culture: New Zealand Seafarers under Sail and Steam (Te Papa Press, 2001)

Other publications include:

• Chapter in Frontier of Dreams: The Story of New Zealand, ed. Bronwyn Dalley and Gavin McLean (Hodder Moa, 2005)
• Article in New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law, Vol. 3, No. 1 (June 2005)
• Chapter in Trade Unions, Work and Society, ed. Pat Walsh (Dunmore, 1994)
• Web features on NZHistory.net.nz and TeAra.govt.nz