History Professor Faces Censorship for Mentioning British Conquest in Lecture

A history professor had to cancel his lecture at the national library of New Zealand because the staff requested him to eliminate a quote due to concerns that it might imply support for Britain’s history of conquest.

Paul Moon, a well-regarded historian, had been scheduled to deliver a lecture at the National Library of New Zealand in February. He recently provided a summary of his speech to the organizers of the event.

The topic was British policy leading up to New Zealand’s Treaty of Waitangi – an area Prof Moon has researched for three decades.

But the library repeatedly asked him to remove parts of his speech.

A staff member got in touch with Prof. Moon on Thursday, informing him that the library’s director wanted him to exclude a quote by historian John Seeley. This quote is famously known for depicting the British Empire as having been “acquired in a fit of absence of mind”.

‘It could be seen as us agreeing with Britain conquering the world,’ the staff member said.

‘These days, everything can be read as political.

‘Personally, I saw nothing wrong with the quote, but I’m passing on the director’s wish to have it taken out. Hopefully, this can be easily done.’

But Prof Moon told Daily Mail Australia the quote was meant to demonstrate the chaotic and haphazard nature of the British colonisation of New Zealand.

Britain’s plans to take sovereignty of New Zealand with the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 were put into effect in a matter of months, he explained. 

‘Seeley encapsulated that in the quote and I thought it was quite useful – it’s been used by many historians,’ Prof Moon said.

‘There was absolutely nothing controversial about what I was going to say. There’s nothing particularly new about it or radical.’

To interpret the quote as being supportive of British colonisation was an ‘extraordinarily ill-informed view’. 

‘But what arguably makes the matter worse are the attempts at controlling what is said or written by someone the library has invited as a speaker.’

The library had earlier taken exception to Prof Moon’s use of the term ‘whakapapa’ – the Maori word for genealogy, in the speech and asked him to remove it, which he reluctantly did.

No reason was given and Prof Moon was surprised, given that incorporating Maori terms was ‘one of the things we’re encouraged to do’.

When the library then asked Prof Moon to remove the Seeley quote, he cancelled his lecture as a matter of principle. 

‘Given these efforts by the library to compel aspects of my speech, I had no option but to cancel my flights and my appearance in Wellington in February. 

‘The easiest thing for me to do would be to say Ok, I’ll bow to your request, and I’ll censor myself and the people won’t get the full story, because it’s what the library wants.

‘They’re obviously extremely sensitive of criticism and this is the irony, is that they’ve now opened themselves up to a lot of criticism.’ 

The historian said he has been giving talks for decades – including at up to 15 marae this year – and he has never before been asked to remove material from his speeches. 

Director of Public Engagement at the National Library, Alison McIntyre, said the library was ‘proud to host a variety of speakers on various topics, through its E oho! Waitangi series and others’.

‘Our correspondence with Mr Moon was discussing how National Library would promote the event on our official channels,’ Ms McIntyre said. 

‘In promotion of events on our official channels, we focus on the event details and topic, rather than specific views.

‘National Library supports all its speakers to promote their talks and works personally, in whichever ways they choose.

‘We are disappointed Mr Moon has cancelled his talk, and would welcome him to present at National Library again in the future if he chooses.’

Prof Moon is a professor of history at Auckland University of Technology.

He is the author of dozens of books, specialising in the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule in New Zealand.