Presenter—Kathryn Patterson

An often overlooked group of migrants are the soldiers who took their discharge from the Imperial Army to settle in New Zealand between 1840 and 1870.

To create a manageable sample for examination of how well these men settled into their new country, Irish-born soldiers from the 18th, 58th, 65th, and 68th regiments, who had fought in the New Zealand wars, were selected for close assessment. While all aspects of their lives are being studied, a common measure of colonial settler success is the extent of individual land acquisition. In line with the theme of this seminar series, this presentation will look at the ease or otherwise of tracking this group's acquisition of land. This exercise will also examine the general difficulties in uncovering information on these settlers.

Kathryn Patterson is an independent researcher and writer. She is an Adjunct Research Associate at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies. She is currently working on a study of Irish soldiers discharged in New Zealand from the Imperial regiments before 1870. She has had a long career in the New Zealand public service, principally in information management, including positions as Deputy Parliamentary Librarian, Director of Information Management at The Treasury, and Director and Chief Archivist of Archives New Zealand.