Boundaries and Belonging: Personal Interest In Irish Immigrants
I have a personal interest in Irish Catholic migration, and settlement in the King Country between, 1883-1914. My great grandparents were such settlers who broke in a bush farm at Mairoa near Te Kuiti. An unpublished family memoir paints a part picture of the life and times of those settlers but leaves many questions unanswered. This project will investigate settlers’ interaction with the Kīngitanga and kūpapa Māori. It will explore any evidence of Irish Catholic sympathies for the Waikato tribes that were subject to invasion by British troops and land confiscation. I want to know: Did the Christian philosophy of the Kīngitanga have a bearing on the manaakitanga that settlers received? How was the settlement of the King Country marketed to migrants and did the reality meet the expectations? Were there any organised attempts at reconciliation between the races from the state, the church, Māori hapū or other players? I believe evidence may be gleaned from church records, sport...