New Zealand Birth Certificates

50 of New Zealand’s Founding Documents

Paul Moon

A nation is founded and develops just as people are born and grow. New Zealand has since the Treaty of Waitangi marked its development with its own kind of birth certificates — documents, treaties, pou whenua, maps, declarations of war and national anthems.

New Zealand Birth Certificates plants 50 of the most prominent signposts to New Zealand history in a coherent, stimulating sequence. Each has a one-page summary, mirrored in quality reproductions of the actual documents, plus related paintings and photographs.

Helping define who we are, telling the story of our nation in a vivid and memorable way, New Zealand Birth Certificates is a book to browse, study, consult and enjoy.

About the author

Dr Paul Moon is Professor of History at Te Ara Poutama, the Faculty of Maori Development at Auckland University of Technology, where he has taught since 1993. A recognised expert in the fields of the Treaty of Waitangi and New Zealand colonial history, he is also well known for his media commentary on historical and Maori issues.

A prolific writer, Paul Moon has established a strong publishing record with 16 books relating to New Zealand history, from Hobson: Governor of New Zealand 1840–1842 (1998) through to The Edges of Empires: New Zealand in the Middle of the Nineteenth Century (2009). His study of Maori cannibalism, This Horrid Practice (2008), stimulated considerable public debate.