Roger Childs: The passing of leading historian Bruce Moon

Of all the fake history with which New Zealand is swamped today, nothing is more blatant than the claim that “Aotearoa” is, or was, the Maori name for our country. –Bruce Moon

Sadly I never met Bruce Moon face to face, but we did exchange scores of e-mails. Like Waikanae’s John Robinson, Bruce was a Mathematician and Scientist who came to History later in life. Like many of us, he couldn’t believe how many so called “respected historians”, like Anne Salmond, Jock Phillips and Vincent O’Malley twisted elements of our country’s story, notably the history of Maori – Settler/Colonist relations and Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Bruce was a stickler for evidence-based history and taking notice of what people who witnessed the actual events had to say. (In his writing he was meticulous in citing his sources.) He rejected “presentism” and the dishonesty of many Maori activists and their fellow-travelers in looking back at events from a one-sided point of view, often without quoting references.

He was also dismayed at the obsession of the Mainstream Media in promoting the view that Natives/New Zealanders (only called “Maori” from the 1840s), had been given a hard time by the Settler Governments, when in fact in the Treaty of Waitangi and in subsequent legislation like the establishment of four special seats in parliament and votes for women, they had been treated humanely.

No Maori land was “stolen”, and confiscations only occurred when fore-warned tribes rebelled against the government. Compare the Maori’s experience of colonization with the Aborigines in Australia, the Black tribes of South Africa and the Indians/Native Americans of the United States.

A distinguished career

Bruce Moon was born in Christchurch in 1930 and after attending Southland Boys High School he took his degree at Otago University majoring in Mathematics. He pursued a career in computer science and worked in this field in England, Australia and New Zealand. In 1981 he became General Manger of Business Computers Limited. He was a Past President of the NZ Computer Society.

Later he lectured in Mathematics at Canterbury University and rose to become an Associate Professor. After retiring he taught mathematics and science in a mission school in Vanuatu; was a volunteer in an Indian village for disabled people and taught English and physics to Tibetan refugees.

When he started looking closely at New Zealand History late in life he was amazed at how some historians twisted the truth and often based their conclusions on unreliable oral history.

Bruce was also appalled at Maori academics who made connections between modern day events and the treatment of Maori in the past. Associate Professors Waikato University’s Leonie Pihama and Tom Roa commenting on the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attacks claimed that Maori had been victims to acts of terrorism in Aotearoa in the past. Bruce took them to task in a long open letter which ended: I accuse you of using the tragic events in Christchurch for an inexcusable attempt to advance a racist political agenda and in contempt of the fine principles of scholarship which a university should stand by.

Speaking the truth to all

For some people, Bruce Moon was a man to fear! Some years ago he was scheduled to speak on Twisting the Treaty and other Fake History in Nelson, but the Council was worried there would be trouble, so would not allow one of their venues to be used. The talk now called A Jaundiced View of the Treaty was held later and there were no problems. Not surprisingly the House Full sign went up.

A few years back Stuff made the ludicrous decision to apologize to Maori for nasty things Stuffer-owned papers had said about them in the past. These articles claiming to be the truth used people like woke historian Vincent O’Malley and tribal leaders as their sources. One article repeated the lies about a “massacre” at Rangiaowhia in 1864. Quite independently, Bruce and I protested in letters to the paper. Unsurprisingly neither was published.

 

He also wrote to the Catholic bishops of New Zealand when Hamilton’s Bishop Stephen Lowe preached a sermon in 2021 about the “massacre”. In the letter he explained the truth about General Cameron’s largely peaceful occupation of the town and dispelled the myths about a “massacre”. None of the bishops in Bruce’s words had neither the courtesy nor the courage to reply.

Bruce will be greatly missed

 


It is wonderful that Bruce lasted into his mid-90s and to the end was a staunch advocate for getting our history right and ensuring that our children are taught the truth.

He was a contributor to the excellent Tross publication One Treaty, One Nation with articles on There is only one Treaty and A Very Greedy Tribe – Ngai Tahu. He also assembled the best of his writings and letters in New Zealand The Fair Colony.

Bruce will long be remembered as one of New Zealand’s greatest historians who had courage and integrity, and was stickler for the truth, evidence, honesty and fairness. He was truly a gentleman and a scholar.

Roger Childs is a writer and freelance journalist. He is a former history and geography teacher, who wrote or co-authored 10 school textbooks. Thi s article was sourced HERE