Pacific Perspective - Introduction

In my apology post on the New Zealand Belshaws I mentioned that was going to re-run that story broken into several parts to make it easier to read.

The story was written in part to put Australia and New Zealand in a Pacific context. Since then, I have done some historical digging trying to understand patterns. I must say that it's a fascinating story. Sex, high adventure, gun running, intrigue, gun boat diplomacy, war, empire building. Painters and pirates, adventurers and administrators, writers and wrong-uns, lovers and luggers.

Painting this vast canvas in a few short posts is quite beyond me. So I will try to limit myself to setting the scene, using the story of my own family to help explain why the Pacific has been important to us, why we should not forget. Yes, there have been all the evils of colonialism, of greed, but there has also been romance and excitement. I think that we will all be the poorer if we forget this part of our past.

In writing, one real problem has been my inability to load any of the visual material. Blogger playing up yet again. I cannot afford more time, so will run with what I have, using photos, flags etc later.

Posts in the Pacific Perspective Series

3 December 2006, Pacific Perspective - Introduction
3 December 2006, Pacific Perspective - Setting the Scene
4 December 2006, Pacific Perspective - Australia in the Pacific
7 December 2006, The New Zealand Belshaws - a dispersed Pacific Family
7 August 2007, Pacific Perspective - Pasifika and New Zealand's Future