In this charming book bestselling author Christopher Winn turns his attention to the Irish people, taking us on a enthralling journey around their homeland, discovering en route the intriguing and surprising ways the places and their history contribute to the Irish character. As he travels across the Emerald Isle, he unearths the traditions, triumphs and disasters, foibles, quirks and customs that come together to make up the Irish people. From County Leitrim, the most sparsely populated county in the Republic of Ireland to County Louth, Ireland's smallest county, discover the site of the first play performed in the Irish language, sail the longest navigable inland waterway in Europe and watch the horse racing at Ireland's first all-weather racecourse. Illustrated throughout with enchanting pen and ink drawings and packed with interesting facts and entertaining stories, myths and legends, I Never Knew That About the Irish will entertain the whole family for hours on end.

New Zealand’s first Anglican bishop, George Selwyn, was a towering figure in the young colony. Denounced as a ‘turbulent priest’ for speaking out against Crown practices that dispossessed Māori, he brought a vigorous approach to Episcopal leadership. His wife Sarah Selwyn supported all her husband’s activities, in a life characterised as one of ‘hardship and anxiety’. She expressed independently her sense of outrage over the Waitara dispute. Selwyn promoted participatory church government, founded the innovative Melanesian Mission, and developed a distinctive style of colonial church architecture. More controversially, he battled with the Church Missionary Society, and was caught up in the bitter maelstrom of settler and Māori politics. His personal links with colonial and ecclesiastical networks gave him access to the heart of empire. These essays offer new insights into Selwyn’s role in developing pan-Anglicanism, strengthening links between the Church of England and the Episcopal and Anglican Churches in North America, and his time as Bishop of Lichfield (1868–78). His place in Treaty history, as a political commentator and a valuable source of historical information, is recognised. George Selwyn left a large imprint on New Zealand church and society. This collection both honours and critiques a controversial bishop. Contributors include Ken Booth, Judith Bright, Terry M. Brown, Janet E. Crawford, Bruce Kaye, Warren E. Limbrick, Jonathan Mane-Wheoki, Grant Phillipson, John Stenhouse and Rowan Strong.

The situation of Norfolk Island, as a territory of the Commonwealth of Australia, is one of the historical anomalies in governance, which has persisted since 1914. It reflects the direct historical linkages between the British Crown and those Norfolk Islanders who were descendants of Pitcairn Islanders of Mutiny on the Bounty fame. Yet, once Federation was in the wind, the British Government, against the expressed wishes of the Norfolk Island community, sought to divest itself of all responsibility for Norfolk Island. There is a curiously ‘Yes Minister’ quality about the negotiations which lead to the final take-over by Australia, and the appointment of the first Commonwealth Administrator of Norfolk Island. The direct involvement of Atlee Hunt, then Secretary of the Department of External Affairs, eventually ensured the appointment of Michael Vincent Murphy. In order to achieve this end, Hunt had to fend off other applicants who were busy ingratiating themselves with the Minister for External Affairs Patrick McMahon Glynn and the then Prime Minister Joseph Cook. This is essentially a study of the relationships between governors, politicians, public servants and community leaders during the years which followed the take-over of Norfolk Island, and of the struggle of one Norfolk Islander, Charles Chase Ray Nobbs, against Australian administrative authority.

A study of one imposter and his influential vision for British control over the nineteenth-century Pacific Ocean.

"This book tells the story of the language of the Bounty mutineers and their Polynesian consorts that developed on remote Pitcairn Island in the late 18th century. Most of their descendants subsequently relocated to Norfolk Island. It is an in-depth study of the complex linguistic, ecological and sociohistorical forces that have been involved in the formation and subsequent development of this unique endangered language on both islands."--Publisher's description