The author of a new book says New Zealanders don’t realise how much colonial infrastructure – including tracks, roads, ports, buildings and even Crown forests – was created using forced prison labour.
Archivist Jared Davidson’s book Blood & Dirt explores the history of forced prison-labour – including using Maori political prisoners.
Davidson says conditions were awful, and deaths were common – and the practice has never been acknowledged by subsequent governments.
“If this book can contribute to that conversation – and people can start to look at the lands differently, and have some of those conversations, and honour some of those people, then that would be a good start,” Davidson says.
