TitleThe Land of Tara and they who settled it : the story of the occupation of Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara (the great habour of Tara), or Port Nicholson, by the MaorisAuthor/ContributorElsdon Best (1856 - 1931)PublisherThe Polynesian SocietyDate Published1919Description
The Land of Tara by Elsdon Best was a ground-breaking work when published in 1919. Originally printed in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, this book followed years of research by Best following his appointment as the lead ethnologist at the Dominion Museum (later to become Te Papa). Fluent in te reo Māori, he conducted many interviews with kaumātua from across the region to build up his knowledge of the pre-European history of the Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington area. Forty years later, the ethnographer and archaeologist George Leslie Adkin based some of his own research on Best's work which was subsequently published as The Great Harbour of Tara.
Note that having been written over a century ago, more recent scholarship has challenged some of Best's conclusions and so this work should be read and interpreted in that context.
