A wide range of material from diverse sources will be made available to rangatahi and communities in four streams: short essays going into a new book, an online platform that schools can use to reach historical texts, new teaching resources, and a series of video interviews including descendants of tupuna who fought in the wars and conflicts.

The online resources will be optimised for use on mobile and tablet devices, with a design that is intuitive, fast, and easy to read.

The 20 short essays commissioned on the theme of wars and conflicts are part of a new publication edited by Atholl Anderson, Judith Binney and Aroha Harris: ‘Tangata Whenua: An illustrated history’.

These essays will capture early accounts of hapū involvement, offering insights on local history to rangatahi and the wider community. They bring to light untold stories of hapū rangatiratanga, whakapapa, and oral history.

This book will be available, alongside other important historical texts, on an online platform adapted to suit rangatahi and school use. More than 500 intermediate and secondary schools will have access to the subscription-based New Zealand History Collection.

The new pathways to this mātauranga will be supported by specially developed teacher resources and guides to connect key books to the secondary school curriculum and provide ideas for exploring the subject matter. The school resources were developed by a history teacher and historian, with input from other teachers including from a kura kaupapa.

The final element of the project is a set of video interviews with prominent New Zealanders, sharing their understanding about the wars and conflicts.