A rich and complex story shaped by land and sea

The many bays, coves and steeply rising hills of the Marlborough Sounds create some of New Zealand’s most glorious, but challenging, environments.

Māori carved out a living there over hundreds of years, but as Pākehā settlers farmed, milled, mined, fished and chased the tourist dollar they transformed the Sounds. Māori lost their land, language and way of life. Both groups had to overcome obstacles that ranged from the merely difficult to the nearly impossible, but Māori faced additional systemic legal and economic barriers.

History continues to play out here in complex ways — Māori and Pākehā, land and sea, boom and bust, locals and tourists. These multiple strands are brought together for the first time in a wide-ranging, engrossing and richly illustrated account of the Sounds and its resourceful and resilient peoples.

To look inside, click here. 

‘Beaglehole excels at making history accessible.’ — Anne Kerslake Hendricks, NZ Booklovers