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Reviews
Land of Promise: The Diary of William Donahue, Gravesend to Wellington, 1839-40 by Lorraine Orman
kiwikathleen's review
4.0
Six months on board ship to get from Home to New Zealand, and to then find that the promises you were given, about land and a settlement laid out ready, were lies. It's one thing to travel to the other side of the world while knowing you'd be a pioneer, but when you sell up everything on the expectation that you'll be part of a town already surveyed it's a different matter to land where there is mostly swamp and little in the way of organisation.
On top of that, as we all know, the existing residents - the Maori people - had not agreed to sell their land (or in some cases opportunists had taken payment for it without consulting the tribe) and had definitely not had any understanding of the English concept of land ownership.
This book is more about the voyage than about the new life, though it does give a decent amount of life in NZ for the reader to see the family settle into a new home, and to have good indications of the ongoing problems the settlers in NZ are going to face. It also tackles the social divides among the English and the differing attitudes to it.
A very good read, and another in this My NZ Story that should be compulsory reading for our schoolkids.
On top of that, as we all know, the existing residents - the Maori people - had not agreed to sell their land (or in some cases opportunists had taken payment for it without consulting the tribe) and had definitely not had any understanding of the English concept of land ownership.
This book is more about the voyage than about the new life, though it does give a decent amount of life in NZ for the reader to see the family settle into a new home, and to have good indications of the ongoing problems the settlers in NZ are going to face. It also tackles the social divides among the English and the differing attitudes to it.
A very good read, and another in this My NZ Story that should be compulsory reading for our schoolkids.