Third Edition

The third edition of Nation Dates: Events that have shaped the nation of New Zealand was published in October 2017. Nation Dates (3rd ed.) was authored by Wendy McGuinness and edited by Alexandra Hollis and Ella Reilly.

About this cover design
The cover for this edition was designed by Institute’s in-house designer Ashley Brown. The illustration was inspired by the Māori Poutama pattern, which is often featured on the woven panels of meeting houses. The Poutama, a series of steps leading upwards to the sky, can be seen as representing levels of learning and personal development, the metaphorical climb towards greater understanding that we undertake every day. For some iwi, the Poutama also symbolises the journey Tāne undertook when he climbed through the twelve realms to obtain ngā kete o te wānanga (the baskets of knowledge) for human kind.

Different iwi have varying interpretations of ngā kete. Kete aronui can generally be understood as the basket of love, peace, and arts and crafts, and is sometimes also known as the basket of the humanities — ritual, literature and philosophy. Kete tuatea can be known as the basket of the unknown, dark arts, evil and war, as well as agriculture, wood work, stone work and earth works. Kete tuauri can be seen as the basket of sacred knowledge of the ancestors relating to the creation of the world. It holds the knowledge of ritual, memory and karakia and is generally known as the basket of light. (Adapted from Tangaere, 1997, with input from Anna-Marei Kurei).