The Voyagers

The Voyagers

31/01/2014 0 By Gayle Dickson

The Voyagers –  by Professor Paul Moo

RRP-  $40

A perceptive and absorbing account of the early European explorers of New Zealand.

Caught in the crossfire of inter-tribal wars, witnesses to cannibalism and to scenes of both ethereal beauty and chilling terror – the early European explorers of New Zealand were a diverse group of individuals who undertook voyages of sometimes epic proportions through the country.

In The Voyagers, Paul Moon tells dramatic stories of Europeans discovering and exploring New Zealand during the first half of the 1800s – ocean adventures, cross-country trekking, imperial and spiritual conquests, first contacts with Maori, artists seeking the ‘sublime’, scientific discovery and commercial pursuits all intertwine to form a fascinating portrait of a land undergoing immense change. Soldiers and sailors, travellers and settlers, missionaries, artists and officials – all of whom ventured from their homelands in search of new horizons. As well as those who undertook seafaring voyages of discovery, the book also features those who trekked across the country on more specific expeditions.

The Voyagers is a gripping account of nineteenth-century exploration, and of the very human characters who helped put New Zealand on the map.

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