The Aotearoa History Show

Season 2 Ep 12: Women's Suffrage

December 06, 2023 23:13 - 32 minutes - 60 MB

NOTE: This episode has been reuploaded to correct some inaccuracies in the original version. We all know New Zealand was the first country in the world where women could vote. But do you know how we got there? The path to suffrage is littered with alcohol, hidden heroes & dirty tricks.

Season 2 Ep 14: New Zealand's Pacific Empire

November 02, 2022 16:00 - 34 minutes - 63 MB

New Zealand has had some big ambitions in the Pacific and mixed relations with our neighbours.

Season 2 Ep 13: Why isn't New Zealand part of Australia?

November 01, 2022 20:17 - 30 minutes - 55.7 MB

Why isn’t New Zealand part of Australia? | The Aotearoa History Show | RNZ

Season 2 Ep 11: Number 8 Wire

October 30, 2022 16:00 - 31 minutes - 58.4 MB

New Zealanders like to think we have a “Number 8 Wire Mentality” - a rough and ready enthusiasm for fixing and building stuff with limited resources.

Season 2 Ep 10: NZ Railways

October 27, 2022 16:00 - 25 minutes - 46.5 MB

From a standing start of little tank engines chugging along wooden rails, New Zealand built a vast rail network, made up of enough steel rail to wrap halfway around the moon.

Trailer: The Aotearoa History Show Season Two (Podcast Version)

October 26, 2022 22:52 - 1 minute - 2.75 MB

The audio only podcast version of The Aotearoa History Show is releasing soon! Our first episode will go live on 7 November 2022.

Season 2 Ep 9: Whaling & Sealing

October 26, 2022 16:00 - 30 minutes - 55.7 MB

Marine mammals were a source of food and clothing for Māori and Moriori, and valuable oil for Europeans. Hunting them brought cultures together, made fortunes and cost lives but today it's saving them that unites people.

Season 2 Ep 8: The Musket Wars

October 25, 2022 16:00 - 32 minutes - 59.5 MB

These are the wars that cost more lives than any other in our history. Stretched over more than a decade & the entire country, these conflicts changed Māori warfare & much of what came next.

Season 2 Ep 7: Moriori

October 24, 2022 22:44 - 32 minutes - 59 MB

Moriori are the original people of Rēkohu (aka Chatham Island or Wharekauri) & they have a tragic and inspiring story. Unfortunately, that story's often been twisted into, well, utter rubbish.

Season 2 Ep 6: Native Land Court

October 23, 2022 16:00 - 33 minutes - 62.2 MB

In 1841 a few tiny islands of Pākehā settlement existed in an ocean of Māori land. Today, that picture has reversed & Māori own a fraction of Aotearoa. A big part of the reason? The Native Land Court.

Season 2 Ep 5: The Gold Rushes

October 20, 2022 16:00 - 30 minutes - 56.7 MB

The discovery of gold drew tens of thousands to New Zealand in search of fortune. It was a hard life, but diggers brought mateship, fashion & egalitarian ideas that changed the country forever.

Season 2 Ep 4: Epidemics

October 19, 2022 16:00 - 30 minutes - 56.6 MB

New Zealanders have battled Covid-19 for more than two years, but if you think it's the first time disease has knocked us around, well, this one's for you. Epidemics have long been part of our story.

Season 2 Ep 3: Teenagers

October 18, 2022 16:00 - 29 minutes - 53.1 MB

The 1950s saw an explosion of youth culture. “Bodgies and widgies' ' tearing round on motorbikes & hanging out in milk bars scandalised many Kiwi adults. Was “the teenager” invented in the 1950s? And what is a “milk bar” anyway?

Season 2 Ep 2: Māori: The First 500 Years

October 17, 2022 16:00 - 32 minutes - 59.6 MB

The first 500 years of Māori settlement in Aotearoa saw significant, dynamic changes to how people lived; changes that challenge the idea of Māori culture as something carved in stone.

Season 2 Ep 1: Rabbits & other Pests

October 16, 2022 16:00 - 28 minutes - 51.7 MB

No-one knows for sure who first introduced rabbits to New Zealand, because no-one wanted to take the blame for what became one of New Zealand's biggest environmental and economic disasters. We start season two burrowing into the devastating history of rabbits and other pests.

14: Modern New Zealand

November 07, 2019 18:00 - 21 minutes - 39.8 MB

It’s the final episode of the Aotearoa History Show! Rogernomics, Ruthanasia and the referendum on MMP saw the total restructuring of our economy and voting system. Plus a snapshot of the changing demographics of Aotearoa/New Zealand, the growth of dairy and tourism and the challenges still to come.

13: Decades of Change

November 05, 2019 18:00 - 21 minutes - 38.7 MB

The 60s, 70s and 80s were rowdy decades. Kiwis were getting out in the streets and raising their voices about the rights of Māori, women and LGBT people, nuclear energy, the environment. Plus the most controversial sporting event in our history: The 1981 Springbok Tour.

12: Post-War New Zealand

November 03, 2019 18:00 - 22 minutes - 41.8 MB

After the war came a new quest for security and identity. With it came new political debates and alliances. Maori and Pasifika moved to the cities. The way we viewed ourselves as a nation was changing.

11: The Second World War

October 31, 2019 18:00 - 20 minutes - 37 MB

A second world war swept the globe, dragging New Zealand once more onto the battlefield, this time in the Pacific as well as Europe. In the likes of Crete, Greece and North Africa and on Pacific islands Kiwis served and died. At home, women joined those in reserved occupations to support the war effort until finally the Axis powers were defeated.

10: Boom & Bust

October 29, 2019 18:00 - 20 minutes - 37.7 MB

With World War I and the flu epidemic past, the good times rolled through the 1920s. Then came the bust of the Great Depression, prompting widespread poverty - that was worse for some - and the rise of the first Labour government.

9: The First World War

October 24, 2019 18:00 - 23 minutes - 42.4 MB

It’s the war that claimed more New Zealand lives than any other. It’s also the event that’s often claimed as the "foundational moment” where we “became a nation”. But is that really true? In this episode we take a dive into the First World War. Why we fought, what it cost us, and its long-term effects on Kiwi identity.

8: Colonists & Courts

October 22, 2019 18:00 - 23 minutes - 42.6 MB

Through the final quarter of the 19th Century Pakeha settler numbers swelled. The immigrants sought land and started to create a new, distinct culture. But their land gain came at the cost of Maori, as new laws and courts changed ownership patterns. Plus, the story of Parihaka.

7: Votes, Depressions & Refrigerators

October 20, 2019 18:00 - 25 minutes - 46.5 MB

After the wars, politicians had to figure out how to run the new country. Bold choices saw huge spending on infrastructure, the right of women to vote and the start of refrigeration, helping us out of The Long Depression. A new politics arose but old values remained.

6: New Zealand Wars (Part 2)

October 17, 2019 18:00 - 18 minutes - 34.4 MB

As British troops leave, settler militia enter the fray. Some Māori chose to fight alongside the Crown while others join new religious movements, which seem to promise a way out of the conflict.

5: New Zealand Wars (Part 1)

October 15, 2019 03:43 - 22 minutes - 41.6 MB

Hunger for land and the rise of Kingitanga prompted Governor George Grey to invade Waikato in 1863. Fighting spread over years and into the Bay of Plenty, devastating Maori. But it was not as one-sided as the British had expected.

4: Te Tiriti o Waitangi

October 13, 2019 18:00 - 23 minutes - 43 MB

In Europe, factions debated the future of Aotearoa, while Māori had their own ideas how to handle the growing number of Pākehā here. In the end, Te Tiriti o Waitangi was signed, but the early promise leads ultimately to war.

3: Early Encounters

October 10, 2019 18:00 - 19 minutes - 35.2 MB

Abel Tasman and James Cook’s first contacts with Māori were complex and sometimes violent. Europeans brought new technologies, food and ideas, such as muskets, potatoes and Christianity. In some cases this worked out well for Tangata Whenua - but in other cases it was devastating.