OUR FIRST FOREIGN WAR: The Impact of the South African War 1899-1902 on New Zealand.

• Author: Crawford, John

OUR FIRST FOREIGN WAR: The Impact of the South African War 1899-1902 on New Zealand

Author: Nigel Robson

Published by: Massey University Press, Auckland, 2021, 416pp, $55.

This significant book is the first work to look in detail at the effects in New Zealand of the colony's participation in the South African War. The author, Nigel Robson (a senior historian at the Office of Maori Crown Relations--Te Arawhiti), is to be congratulated on his careful research, which has unearthed a great range of new information and insights.

The book is divided into seven chapters that deal with: patriotism and the war; domestic reaction to the conflict; the performance of New Zealand troops in South Africa; Maori responses to the war; the conduct of New Zealand soldiers; the human cost of the war; and the war's economic impact. The book assumes at least a basic knowledge of the nature and extent of New Zealand's role in the conflict. There is a risk, therefore, that those coming to the book without such background knowledge will not get as much out of Our First Foreign War as they otherwise would.

The author makes a very good use of newspaper and other sources to develop a comprehensive picture of the impact of the war on New Zealand. For example, he includes many references from the magazines produced by New Zealand high schools, which are an under-utilised resource for historians. There are, however, a number of significant published and unpublished New Zealand sources on the war that are not cited in Our First Foreign War.

The book addresses some aspects of New Zealand's involvement in the war, such as the significant number of New Zealanders who fought with units raised in South Africa, that have not previously received the attention they deserve. Robson also provides the most detailed account yet available of the part played by women in the colony's response to the war. Throughout the book, Robson demonstrates a good eye for evocative or amusing incidents. One such episode was a lecture on explosives at the Wellington Opera House in support of the More Men Fund that somewhat alarmingly featured the detonation of small quantities of three different explosives.

The extent of community mobilisation in support of the war and, in particular, the role of individuals and non-government organisations in raising units for service in South Africa is one of the most interesting aspects of New Zealand's participation. Robson's book contains a great deal of new...