A full-time historian based in sunny Papamoa, I have a special interest in researching, writing and teaching about the interaction of Māori and Pākehā in pre-Treaty New Zealand. My primary focus is the Māori and Pākehā men and women who voluntarily and involuntarily crossed cultures, particularly those in referred to in the 19th-century literature as Pākehā-Māori.

A regular contributor to NZ history journals and online blogs, the eleven books I have written to date are: Pākehā Māori (1999), Captured by Māori (2024), Cannibal Jack (2008), Tribal Guns and Tribal Gunners (2014) Pākehā Slaves, Māori Masters (2019), Transgressing Tikanga (2021), Pākehā Ta Moko (2022), Pākehā-Māori Narratives (2023), Early Maritime Tauranga Vol. 1. (2024). Te Kaewa, The Wanderers (2025), and Early Maritime Tauranga Vol, II. (2026).

My current research and writing project is ‘Ngā Heramana Wāhine: Maori Women Seafarers on Euro-American Ships, 1820s-1890s.’
Research and Literary awards include a Winston Churchill Fellowship, two Creative New Zealand research grants, a New Zealand History Trust Fund research award, a Michael King Writer’s Fellowship and a Copyright Licencing New Zealand research award.