Ariana Tikao (Ngāi Tahu) is the curator of an exhibition at the Turnbull Library in Wellington called Borderland: The World of James Cowan. The exhibition explores the life, work and legacy of the writer James Cowan (1870–1943).

Cowan grew up on a Waikato farm, on land confiscated from Māori, who had fought against the Crown in the wars of the 1860s. The farm included part of the battlefield of Ōrākau, just north of the King Country – a region that remained in Māori control after the war. This environment gave rise to Cowan’s lifelong interest in Māori and colonial history, and to his fluency in te reo Māori. [Read more…]