Into the Land of the Long White Cloud with Lindsey Maymon October 14 7pm EST
Description
Tuesday October 14, 2025 7pm EST
Growing up in the United States, one hears a lot about the colonial era and the American War for Independence. But not much is taught or discussed about other experiences of colonisation under the British Empire. Beginning in earnest in the late 1830s and due in large part to the effects of the Great Famine, the Industrial Revolution, and religious evangelism, waves of pioneering people traveled to the global south to make their futures. We hear about immigrant hopes and settler arrivals, but not much is discussed about the journey itself. Fortunately, the general increase in literacy in the mid 19th century means that a lot of documentation survives that begins to colour in this era.
Join Lindsey Maymon as we follow a few migrant stories on board ship and arrival in the Land of the Long White Cloud, Aotearoa New Zealand. Read the letters sent from Mary Taylor to her lifelong friend, Charlotte Bronte, as Mary seeks adventure and attempts to convince her friend to join her. Listen to harrowing stories of daily life on board ship as storms tear sails, or doldrums still the seas. Hear from Māori about their experience with these Pākehā (white New Zealander) arrivers. Many men sought their fortunes in this new world. Some women arrivers were wives or daughters of missionaries, though many single women left familiarity behind for opportunities in Aotearoa. What motivated them? What was their journey like? What was their experience in these earliest days with Māori? And how did they seek to make a home in a place so far away from what they had known?
Image citation Smetham, James, 1821-1889, The New Zealand chiefs in Wesley’s House (1863). Hocken Digital Collections, accessed 16/04/2025, https://hocken.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/56771