Waiheke Island: A history

Waiheke Island in the Hauraki Gulf is known by countless New Zealanders as the perfect place for a summer holiday. Yet even to the casual tourist eye, Waiheke's strategic location close to Auckland and its abundant resources suggest an eventful human history. Here, over a period of perhaps 800 years, successive Polynesian/Maori people came and settled. Europeans began arriving about 1800, first as visitors and then as settlers. The impact of this settlement on both the tangata whenua and the natural environment is a window on colonial development in New Zealand. Paul Monin tells a well-researched an engaging story while exploring important issues in the history of Waiheke Island.