death_date birth_place nationality birth_date article_title name occupation
20 june 1993 auckland , new zealand new zealand 5 december 1922 keith sinclair
 sir keith sinclair historian , poet
keith sinclair

sir keith sinclair , cbe -lrb- 5 december 1922 -- 20 june 1993 -rrb- was a poet and noted historian of new zealand .
born and raised in auckland , sinclair was a student at auckland university college , which was then part of the university of new zealand .
he was awarded a ph.d. at the college and was made a professor of history at the university of auckland in 1963 .
in 1966 , sinclair and fellow lecturer bob chapman established the university of auckland art collection , beginning with the purchase of several paintings and drawings by colin mccahon .
the collection is now managed by the centre for art research , based at the gus fisher gallery .
in the 1969 general election he was the labour party candidate for eden .
he won the electorate on the night , but was defeated 3 weeks later on the final count -lrb- including special votes -rrb- by only 67 votes .
sinclair won widespread acclaim for his first book of history , `` the origins of the maori wars '' -lrb- 1957 -rrb- .
his next book , `` a history of new zealand '' -lrb- 1959 -rrb- , is often regarded as a classic in new zealand history .
the book remains in print , being revised several times , the last , with additions by fellow academic raewyn dalziel , in 2000 .
in 1967 he founded the `` new zealand journal of history '' .
in both his poetry and his work as a historian , sinclair was a nationalist , in the sense that he was concerned with forging a national identity for new zealand that was independent of its colonial origins .
he taught history at the university of auckland until his retirement in 1987 .
`` halfway round the harbour '' , an autobiography , was published posthumously in 1993 .
in 2003 , the university of auckland established the keith sinclair chair in history in his honour .
he was awarded a cbe in 1983 and knighted for services to history in 1985 .
in 2005 , he was named one of new zealand 's top 100 history makers .
one of his sons is the actor harry sinclair ; another , stephen , is a new zealand playwright and poet .
