Join Marie Haley, a seventh generation descendant of the first French settlers to Akaroa. Marie’s family was involved in many key events in the formation of the South Islands and nations history eg the French purchase and first sighting the British flag. Marie is a natural storyteller, historian and ecologist whose decades of study can showcase the big ideas of the Aotearoa NZ History Curriculum. Learn why Akaroa is now considered the South Islands Waitangi, with five important historic sites that tell “a narrative richer than Waitangi” (H. Evison). Join Marie who will cover topics such as Polynesian navigation, musket wars, imperial rivalry, British intervention, Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the land purchases.
