Exploring Wellington’s history

By Frank Neill

Historian and author John Martin will be the speaker at the Onslow Historical Society’s next evening meeting on 29 March.

The meeting will begin at 7:30pm at KATE, 86 Khandallah Road.

John published his new book “Empire City: Wellington becomes the capital of New Zealand” on 10 November last year.

In just a few months the book had become a best seller on the Wellington scene.

It has also been long listed for a 2023 Ockham Book Award for non-fiction.

The book, published by Te Herenga Waka University Press, details the story of Wellington from the late 1830s to the 1870s.

For the first time the growth of the population, the evolution, and influencing factors and circumstances in the city during those critical years, before the establishment of New Zealand’s base for government, are explored and retold in a history of its own.

“This is a diverse, rich and turbulent story,” the Onslow Historical Society says. Supper will be served at the evening on 29 March and copies of “Empire City” will be available to buy at $70 each.

Mr Luxon also said that National would also create a new criminal category for those aged 10 to 17 who committed serious crimes like ram-raids and armed burglary more than once.

These people would face sentences including electronic monitoring like ankle bracelets and community service, or, for those aged 15-17, being sent to new military academies.

“As a society, we need upstream interventions to address the causes of crime, rather than downstream interventions which may fail to address the underlying issues,” Ms Woods says.

“We need to see policies that get to the heart of the issues behind harmful behaviour with an evidence-based, holistic approach.

“Every approach to reduce offending must be grounded in international human rights standards.”