Historian 'helped New Zealanders understand ourselves'

1.00pm

Prime Minister Helen Clark today described the deaths of Dr Michael King and his wife Maria Jungowska as a "tremendous loss".

"He was a hugely respected figure not only among historians and the writing community but among a wide spectrum of New Zealanders who found his work informative and accessible."

Dr King and Ms Jungowska were killed when their left the road and crashed into a tree near Maramarua, south of Auckland.

"Michael was well respected in Maoridom for becoming the first professional historian in this country to immerse himself in Maori history, and for his biographies of Te Puea Herangi and Whina Cooper, among other works," the Prime Minister said.

"But his major contribution was to help all New Zealanders better understand ourselves.

"My thoughts are with his family and close friends at this sad time," Helen Clark said.

Historian Michael Bassett said that for a relatively young man, Dr King had achieved an excellent output with about 30 books.

Among them were a number of substantial works, particularly the biography of Te Puea Herangi, which, Dr Bassett said, was one of the finest works on 20th century Maori

"His Penguin History of New Zealand was a beautifully written and crafted work," Dr Bassett said.

Dr King and Dr Bassett jointly produced Tomorrow Comes The Song, A Life of Peter Fraser (New Zealand's wartime Labour prime minister), with Dr Bassett doing the writing and Dr King having done much of the research.

"It was a very pleasurable working relationship," Dr Bassett said.

Longtime friend Dr Jock Phillips said Dr King had succeeded in transforming the culture of New Zealand by elevating literary heroes over rugby heroes.

"He had a great passion for the intellectual life of New Zealand. He was determined this would be a society in which heroes weren't just rugby players, they could also be writers," he told NZPA.

"He was determined to elevate (writers Frank Sargeson and Janet Frame) as major figures in this culture."

Dr Phillips was a student with Dr King at Victoria University in the mid 1960s, describing him as "warm and generous".

But beyond that, Dr King had given New Zealand a sense of its own history.

Since they were students, there had been an "absolute revolution" in people's sense of history in New Zealand.

"I mean, 40 years ago people assumed that history was something that happened overseas, it didn't happen here -- and he's largely, at least one of those people, who's really responsible for making history meaningful for New Zealanders."

His real love was Maori history, which he brought alive despite opposition from some Maori unhappy with their history being documented by a Pakeha.

"(He captured) a great sense of the tribal variety and the cultural richness of Maori society and determined to make that accessible and available to New Zealanders."

But he also wrote about New Zealanders at war and the Rainbow Warrior.

News of his death was "terrible", especially as he was thought to be recovering from cancer.

"I guess the consolation is he did live to finish his general history, which is going to be a long-term legacy," Dr Phillips said.

Warwick Roger, founder of Metro Magazine and an old friend of Dr King, said he was devastated to hear of the death of the "best kind of New Zealander".

Dr King began his journalistic career at the Waikato Times in 1968 with Roger.

"He's an old friend. I am very shocked," Roger said.

Dr King had been getting treatment for throat cancer but was quite optimistic about his future.

"Apparently the treatment had worked and he was very optimistic.

"He was the best kind of New Zealander. He was born here. He travelled overseas but he didn't flee the country to do his work overseas. He stayed in New Zealand and explained New Zealand to New Zealanders," Roger said.

He said the enormous popularity of Dr King's recent book, The Penguin History of New Zealand, published last October, was a fitting memorial.

He said during his time on the Waikato Times, Dr King would disappear in the afternoon and come back with a story about a Maori woman and a moko.

"That was how he got interested in the first book he did -- the moko book. (Moko: Maori Tattooing in the 20th Century, published in 1972).

"He created the Maori (reporting) round."

A former head of Otago University's history department, Professor Emeritus Erik Olssen, said Dr King, a former colleague, had recognised the role of Maori history in New Zealand long before other historians.

He was only 32 when his first book was published.

"His first book, Te Puea, was enormously significant, I suspect amongst Maori... but certainly enormously important for Pakeha, in bringing to attention the richness and wealth of 20th century Maori history."

Dr King had learned Maori -- "pretty unusual then" -- although it had since got a bit "rusty".

"He was setting out to prove that you could actually survive in this country by writing history books. And he did," Prof Olssen told NZPA.

"I think often it was a struggle. He didn't become a wealthy man doing that... but he did prove you could do that."

Dr King was also a very sociable person with an extraordinary range of friends.

His writing skills were "outstanding", and his history books dominated New Zealand's caucus.

Prof Olssen said he had been waiting to read Dr King's latest book, the bestselling History of New Zealand.

"I'm now deeply disappointed to realise I can't ever talk about it with him."

- NZPA