Black Sheep

Can you imagine if 20 per cent of the people you know suddenly died? How would you feel if the people in charge blocked doctors from helping them? For Samoans in 1918 this wasn't a hypothetical question. Imagine if one fifth of all the people you know suddenly died.Let's say you closely know about 200 people. Friends, coworkers, family - maybe a few local shopkeepers. Within a few weeks 40 of them are dead. Imagine how you would feel burying 40 people who were close to you.Now, how would you feel if the people in charge stopped doctors from trying to save your loved ones?For Samoans living in the early 20th century this wasn't a hypothetical question.On 7 November 1918 a ship called the Talune brought a virulent strain influenza to Samoa from New Zealand. Over the next few months at least 8500 people died.In most countries the death toll from that disease, often called Spanish Flu, was around 2-5 percent. In Samoa the death rate was more than 20 percent."We can barely understand what that does to a society", says Damon Salesa, Associate Professor of Pacific Studies at Auckland University. "There are not enough people to bury the dead. There are not enough people to feed and care for the living."The suffering of the Samoans was exacerbated by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Logan, the 51-year-old military administrator who was in charge of Samoa at the time of the outbreak."He seemed completely lost in how to cope with this sort of thing," says Mike Field, author of Black Saturday: NZ's Tragic Blunders in Samoa. "The New Zealand medical officer and his wife tried to set up aid stations and Logan insisted they be closed down."There was no cure for the 1918 influenza so it's debatable if medical help would actually have prevented many deaths, but Damon Salesa says Robert Logan's response to the outbreak still deeply affected Samoans."It would have made an enormous difference to how Samoans saw New Zealanders... what they saw from Logan was simply that he appeared not to care."Logan was even hostile toward Samoans suffering from the disease. He's reported to have said this to a school principal after being asked to deliver food to sick children at the boarding school."Send them food! I would rather see them burning in hell! There is a dead horse at your gate, let them eat that. Great fat, lazy loafing creatures." - Robert LoganMike Field thinks Logan's actions hardened Samoan opposition to New Zealand rule."They petitioned London to say 'these New Zealanders don't seem to know what they're doing'... they asked for direct rule from London," he says…Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In the 1880s Austrian naturalist and ethnographer Andreas Reischek stole four mummified Māori corpses and smuggled them out of the country so they could be displayed at a museum in Vienna. He also shot hundreds of native New Zealand birds to preserve them "for science".In the 1880s Andreas Reischek stole four mummified corpses from an urupa near Kawhia so he could sell them to a museum in his native Austria.The bodies made up just a fraction of a gigantic collection of preserved birds, lizards and Māori artifacts which Andreas collected while travelling around New Zealand.Unsurprisingly the theft of the bodies has seen Reischek branded an arch-villain of history, but researcher and translator Dr Sascha Nolden has uncovered new information about Reischek which, while not excusing his actions, does shed some light on his motivations.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Thomas Russell, a notorious Auckland property speculator, shares his controversial rise in New Zealand's financial history. He recounts how his personal hardships fueled his ambition to establish the Bank of New Zealand. The conversation dives into the dark legacy of land banking and its ties to historical injustices faced by Māori tribes during the Waikato Wars. Russell also discusses the brutal land confiscations that resulted from these conflicts, shedding light on the ongoing struggle for justice faced by the indigenous population.

Did you know that after WWI New Zealand established an official eugenics board? We tend to think of eugenics as being something the Nazis invented but really it was embraced all around the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries. In this episode of Black Sheep historian and disability researcher Hilary Stace traces the history of New Zealand's eugenicists.CORRECTION: The elderly Chinese man murdered by Lionel Terry was named Joe Kum Yung. He was killed in Haining Street, Wellington, on 24 September 1905, not in Auckland in 1907 as stated in this podcast.Did you know that after the First World War New Zealand established an official eugenics board? We tend to think of eugenics as being something the Nazis invented but really it was embraced all around the world in the 19th and early 20th centuries.It was particularly popular among the intellectual classes. Some of our most progressive institutions, the National Council of Women, Federated Farmers and the Plunket Society all either promoted some form of eugenics or had members who did.In this episode of Black Sheep historian and disability researcher Hilary Stace traces the history of New Zealand's eugenicists.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Hongi Hika is a man with a difficult legacy. He's one of the greatest figures in New Zealand history, but he's also often held responsible for starting the Musket Wars. Hongi Hika is a man with a difficult legacy. He's one of the greatest figures in New Zealand history, but he's also often held responsible for starting the Musket Wars - an outpouring of inter-tribal violence which may have claimed the lives of as many as 20,000 Maori.History Professor Paul Moon tells how Hongi's skill as a political, economic and military leader allowed him to accomplish things no other chief ever has.We also get Ngapuhi's perspective on Hongi Hika's legacy from one of his descendants, Haami Piripi.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Arthur Worthington was a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money. With private detectives hot on his tail, he jumped on a ship bound for Christchurch where he set up his own religion and his own church. Arthur Worthington was a con artist who travelled the USA, marrying rich women then abandoning them and stealing all their money.With private detectives hot on his tail in 1890, he jumped on a ship bound for Christchurch where he set up his own religion and his own church, the famous Temple of Truth.But when his history in the United States caught up with him Worthington had to face the music in an angry confrontation.It got so out of hand that for the first time ever time in New Zealand the Riot Act had to be read to disperse the crowds.In a new Black Sheep podcast, William Ray speaks to religious history professor Peter Lineham, who asks why Worthington did it. Was he a common crook? Was he psychopathic? Was he a true believer? "He's taken the Christian beliefs and turned them into abstract principals that are intended to elevate humanity to the point where they don't need traditional and conventional forms of religion" Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

In 1916 John Cullen led a small army of police deep into the forests of Te Urewera to arrest the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana - his crime? Preaching that his followers shouldn't sign up to fight in the First World War. But the raid is a complete disaster. Cullen oversees the shooting of two men in cold blood and the whole case against Rua unravels due to a huge legal blunder. In 1916 John Cullen led a small army of police deep into the misty forests of Te Urewera to arrest the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana - his crime? Preaching that his followers shouldn't sign up to fight in the First World War.But the raid is a complete disaster. Cullen oversees the shooting of two men in cold blood and the whole case against Rua unravels due to a huge legal blunder.Historian Mark Derby explains how the son of an Irish turnip farmer rose to the very top of the New Zealand police - and how he didn't pay too much attention to whose neck he stepped on along the way.Music:Artist: SurvivalSong: Rua KenanaComposer: SurvivalAlbum: Tribal StompLabel: Tangata 790613Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

"Four shots, and then another one" - that's how the story of Alice Parkinson begins as the 25 year old waitress gunned down her fiancé, Bert West, in the middle of a street in Napier. So why did thousands of New Zealanders sign a petition demanding her release?"Four shots, and then another one." That's how the story of Alice Parkinson begins, as the 25 year old waitress guns down her fiancé, Bert West, in the middle of Nelson Street in Napier in 1915.The first four shots hit Bert in the face, head, neck and chest. The final shot is fired point blank into Alice's own temple.She had planned it this way, a murder-suicide to get vengeance on the man who promised to marry her when she got pregnant and then deserted her when that child was stillborn.But Alice doesn't die, and when she's locked in prison for manslaughter, something even stranger happens... Historian Carol Markwell tells the story of Alice Parkinson - the killer who a hundred thousand New Zealanders said should be set free.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details