title: The Thames miners’ union

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: More of a friendly society than a class conscious workers’ movement, the Thames Miners’ Union was formed in 1890 as a branch of the Amalgamated Miners’ Association of Australasia. The state of mining at this time in Australia and New Zealand discouraged militancy, and although the inaugural meeting agreed that miners must stand together to protect their rights, it was hoped to avoid strike action. Because of its focus on ‘practical sympathy’, meaning providing financial assistance to members in need, the new union had wide public support, as illustrated by non-miners joining as honorary members.
From the start, the union wished to assist its members by regulating hours and wages, and was willing to look beyond its confines to assist other unions’ struggles. Accepting that capitalists were needed if mining was to develop, it would in time seek legislation to benefit the industry. Mini-biographies of the leading members of the new union and of some of its branches in outlying mining districts (including at Te Aroha) illustrate the moderate nature of these men. Some were mine managers, most were active within the wider community, and all were thoroughly respectable. Examples are included of harmonious relationships between miners and their managers.
Accident and health benefit payments were devised, and public concerts were held for the union’s ‘benevolvent fund’. Miners’ Union Demonstrations, held annually to mark the union’s founding, included parades and sports meetings involving members’ families. Miners’ halls became the social centres of mining communities. Involvement in national politics commenced when a labour candidate, a clergyman, stood for the Thames electorate.
In the Te Aroha district, the first association was an accident relief fund, which involved non-miners. A branch of the union had only a brief life because of the rapid decline of mining there.
By the twentieth century there were demands for more militancy, especially at Waihi, where the policies of the Waihi Company provoked resistance amongst the workers. By then Hauraki miners were experiencing increased unemployment, with companies under-manning or not working some of their ground, all causes for complaint. In 1903 the Waihi branch would break away from the parent union, which steadily declined as mining declined. The Thames Miners’ Union, which exalted the ‘dignity of honest labour’, gently faded away without ever calling a strike.

text: The Thames miners’ union More of a friendly society than a class conscious workers’ movement, the Thames Miners’ Union was formed in 1890 as a branch of the Amalgamated Miners’ Association of Australasia. The state of mining at this time in Australia and New Zealand discouraged militancy, and although the inaugural meeting agreed that miners must stand together to protect their rights, it was hoped to avoid strike action. Because of its focus on ‘practical sympathy’, meaning providing financial assistance to members in need, the new union had wide public support, as illustrated by non-miners joining as honorary members.
From the start, the union wished to assist its members by regulating hours and wages, and was willing to look beyond its confines to assist other unions’ struggles. Accepting that capitalists were needed if mining was to develop, it would in time seek legislation to benefit the industry. Mini-biographies of the leading members of the new union and of some of its branches in outlying mining districts (including at Te Aroha) illustrate the moderate nature of these men. Some were mine managers, most were active within the wider community, and all were thoroughly respectable. Examples are included of harmonious relationships between miners and their managers.
Accident and health benefit payments were devised, and public concerts were held for the union’s ‘benevolvent fund’. Miners’ Union Demonstrations, held annually to mark the union’s founding, included parades and sports meetings involving members’ families. Miners’ halls became the social centres of mining communities. Involvement in national politics commenced when a labour candidate, a clergyman, stood for the Thames electorate.
In the Te Aroha district, the first association was an accident relief fund, which involved non-miners. A branch of the union had only a brief life because of the rapid decline of mining there.
By the twentieth century there were demands for more militancy, especially at Waihi, where the policies of the Waihi Company provoked resistance amongst the workers. By then Hauraki miners were experiencing increased unemployment, with companies under-manning or not working some of their ground, all causes for complaint. In 1903 the Waihi branch would break away from the parent union, which steadily declined as mining declined. The Thames Miners’ Union, which exalted the ‘dignity of honest labour’, gently faded away without ever calling a strike.

year: 2016

title: The Gap: women’s and men’s perspectives on parenting in the context of domestic violence

authors: Troon, Claire Lauren

subjects: domestic violence

abstract: Domestic violence is a significant issue within New Zealand society. The purpose of this research was to explore parenting within the context of domestic violence, through men’s perspectives, as perpetrators of domestic violence, and women’s perspectives, as victims of domestic violence. The participants were recruited through their association with the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project (HAIP), a coordinated community response to violence. The study aimed to gain understanding of the impact of violence on children, women, mothering and the batterer as parent; provide reflection on the men’s stopping violence programme at HAIP in relation to abusive men’s parenting; and examine the role of children in abusive men’s motivation to change. Nine semi-structured interviews with men attending HAIP’s stopping violence programmes were conducted, and two focus groups were held with ten women associated with HAIP. The key findings suggest that domestic violence has significant detrimental outcomes for children and women and significantly constrains women’s ability to be an effective mother. The men were found to use negative parenting practices but to have limited understanding of the impact of their behaviour on either mother or child.  The women reported various ways in which they were able to work around the abuser to protect their children and to be effective as a mother, at least some of the time. Although women generally supported the continuing involvement of the fathers in the lives of their children, such involvement often served to disrupt the process of healing from the violence for both children and women. This study provides recommendations for policy and practice with regard to fathering interventions for abusive men.

text: The Gap: women’s and men’s perspectives on parenting in the context of domestic violence Domestic violence is a significant issue within New Zealand society. The purpose of this research was to explore parenting within the context of domestic violence, through men’s perspectives, as perpetrators of domestic violence, and women’s perspectives, as victims of domestic violence. The participants were recruited through their association with the Hamilton Abuse Intervention Project (HAIP), a coordinated community response to violence. The study aimed to gain understanding of the impact of violence on children, women, mothering and the batterer as parent; provide reflection on the men’s stopping violence programme at HAIP in relation to abusive men’s parenting; and examine the role of children in abusive men’s motivation to change. Nine semi-structured interviews with men attending HAIP’s stopping violence programmes were conducted, and two focus groups were held with ten women associated with HAIP. The key findings suggest that domestic violence has significant detrimental outcomes for children and women and significantly constrains women’s ability to be an effective mother. The men were found to use negative parenting practices but to have limited understanding of the impact of their behaviour on either mother or child.  The women reported various ways in which they were able to work around the abuser to protect their children and to be effective as a mother, at least some of the time. Although women generally supported the continuing involvement of the fathers in the lives of their children, such involvement often served to disrupt the process of healing from the violence for both children and women. This study provides recommendations for policy and practice with regard to fathering interventions for abusive men.

year: 2014

title: 'Entitled to a History': The World of Alice Tawhai's Short Stories and the Maori Literary Tradition

authors: Modlik, Kimberley

subjects: Alice Tawhai

abstract: New Zealand short story writer Alice Tawhai is one of the latest additions to the Maori literary tradition. Her three collections of short stories, Festival of Miracles, Luminous and Dark Jelly, deal with issues not entirely unique to New Zealand – from gang life, to domestic violence, to drug and alcohol abuse – and take as their primary subject an alienated, marginalized and disenfranchised underclass. This means she is likely to be read as speaking solely for the Maori experience.  This thesis will revise this misconception, which in effect ghettoizes or marginalizes Tawhai’s work.

Influential women writers of the Maori literary tradition, such as J. C. Sturm, Patricia Grace and Keri Hulme, have taken a particular interest in the long legacy of colonialism in New Zealand, especially of the impact of that legacy on Maori women. This thesis demonstrates that while Tawhai’s work engages with these familiar notions, her gaze is not limited to these issues. This thesis therefore places Tawhai’s work within that tradition and matrilineal genealogy before going on to show how she moves the paradigm beyond the usual grievances of biculturalism and colonialism, orienting her work instead around the increasingly multicultural experience of contemporary life in New Zealand.

The first section of this thesis will establish a platform for reading Tawhai in regards to her literary legacy and in the context of contemporary thinking, drawing on cultural theorist Stuart Hall and his theory on identity formation and identity politics as well as indigenous writings experts Patrick Evans and Chadwick Allen. This thesis will then move into its second section, which is an analysis of some of the overarching themes that can be found in the short stories of Tawhai’s literary foremothers, Sturm, Grace and Hulme. These include, for example, racism and discrimination, loss of ancestral lands, problems to do with urbanization and family violence.

The third and final section of this thesis will then consider Tawhai’s representation of contemporary experience, taking a particular interest in her portrayals of contemporary multicultural ethnic identities as well as the flexible and provisional nature of gendered and sexual identities today. The final subsection will then analyze her representations of the new family and social structures that may have replaced the traditional family model.

Through a close reading of her short stories and an appreciation of the legacy that she bears, this thesis will show how Tawhai’s work is a larger lens of contemporary New Zealand society as well as a significant addition to the Maori literary tradition.

text: 'Entitled to a History': The World of Alice Tawhai's Short Stories and the Maori Literary Tradition New Zealand short story writer Alice Tawhai is one of the latest additions to the Maori literary tradition. Her three collections of short stories, Festival of Miracles, Luminous and Dark Jelly, deal with issues not entirely unique to New Zealand – from gang life, to domestic violence, to drug and alcohol abuse – and take as their primary subject an alienated, marginalized and disenfranchised underclass. This means she is likely to be read as speaking solely for the Maori experience.  This thesis will revise this misconception, which in effect ghettoizes or marginalizes Tawhai’s work.

Influential women writers of the Maori literary tradition, such as J. C. Sturm, Patricia Grace and Keri Hulme, have taken a particular interest in the long legacy of colonialism in New Zealand, especially of the impact of that legacy on Maori women. This thesis demonstrates that while Tawhai’s work engages with these familiar notions, her gaze is not limited to these issues. This thesis therefore places Tawhai’s work within that tradition and matrilineal genealogy before going on to show how she moves the paradigm beyond the usual grievances of biculturalism and colonialism, orienting her work instead around the increasingly multicultural experience of contemporary life in New Zealand.

The first section of this thesis will establish a platform for reading Tawhai in regards to her literary legacy and in the context of contemporary thinking, drawing on cultural theorist Stuart Hall and his theory on identity formation and identity politics as well as indigenous writings experts Patrick Evans and Chadwick Allen. This thesis will then move into its second section, which is an analysis of some of the overarching themes that can be found in the short stories of Tawhai’s literary foremothers, Sturm, Grace and Hulme. These include, for example, racism and discrimination, loss of ancestral lands, problems to do with urbanization and family violence.

The third and final section of this thesis will then consider Tawhai’s representation of contemporary experience, taking a particular interest in her portrayals of contemporary multicultural ethnic identities as well as the flexible and provisional nature of gendered and sexual identities today. The final subsection will then analyze her representations of the new family and social structures that may have replaced the traditional family model.

Through a close reading of her short stories and an appreciation of the legacy that she bears, this thesis will show how Tawhai’s work is a larger lens of contemporary New Zealand society as well as a significant addition to the Maori literary tradition.

year: 2014