Author(s): John Logan Campbell; Russell Stone

NZ History

Imagine you are 23 years old, newly arrived in a country on the other side of the world where there are only a handful of other white men to keep you company. Imagine that you are fearless, bursting with energy and entrepreneurial resolve. Imagine that you are also well educated, a shrewd observer and a gifted writer. Four decades on you are one of the colony's wealthiest and best known citizens and politicians and you sit down to remember those amazing years in the 1840s when the world was your oyster. This is the achievement of Sir John Logan Campbells' fascinating memoir/travelogue Poenamo, which continues to be a unique insight into early New Zealand. Republished as a complete fascimile if the 1880 volume, Poenamo Revisited not only brings this extraordinary, vivid, timeless and entertaining book back into circulation but also offers a compelling insight into Campbell the man and the author, and the colonial society he helped build and in which he came to hold such sway. Handsomely produced and published in the 100th year since Campbell's death, this book is a taonga for all Aucklanders, in particular, to treasure.