Ngāi Tahu : a migration history : the Carrington text / edited by Te Maire Tau and Atholl Anderson.

The body of the book is the unpublished history of Ngāi Tahu written by Hugh Carrington in the 1930s.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 253-257) and indexes.

Foreword / Tipene O'Regan -- Preface / Te Maire Tau -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction 1 : the Carrington text and Ngāi Tahu history / Te Maire Tau. Editorial note -- Introduction 2 : a migration history / Atholl Anderson -- The Carrington text / Hugh Carrington. Introductions / Atholl Anderson. Commentaries / Te Maire Tau -- Ch. 1. The beginning. 1.1. The Waitaha people / Herewini Ira. 1.2. Whakapapa of Rākaihautū -- Ch. 2. Tūāhuriri. 2.1. The lineage of Tūāhuriri -- Ch. 3. Intermarriage and battle. 3.1. The questioning of Te Huataki ; 3.2. Pū-harakeke-tapu / Tāpiha Te Wanikau -- Ch. 4. Ngāi Tahu in Tory Channel -- Ch. 5. Hinerongo's romance. 5.1. Te Rakitauneke -- Ch. 6. The fall of Waipapa -- Ch. 7. On to Kaikōura. 7.1. The battle of Tetewhai : the Carrington-Stack debate. 7.2. The handing of the Pōha / Tipene O'Regan -- Ch. 8. Peketā and Ōpōkihi. 8.1. Bulrushes in the morning wind -- Ch. 9. Ngāi Tahu reinforcements -- Ch. 10. Tukiauau's revenge. 10.1. Maru's advice to Tukiauau -- Ch. 11. Exit Tukiauau -- Ch. 12. Fresh fields to conquer. 12.1. The ritual reporting of devastation / Hoani Kāhu. 12.2. Take-taunaha (naming and claiming the land). 12.3. 'You may eat the head of your lady paramount' -- Ch. 13. Occupation of Canterbury. 13.1. The settlement of Canterbury / Hoani Kāhu and Nātanahira Waruwarutū. 13.2. A drowning on the West Caost / Teone Māmaru. 13.3. The settlement of Banks Peninsula : the Carrington-Green debate -- Ch. 14. Reverse for Ngāi Tahu. 14.1. Death of Kaweriri / Hoani Kāhu -- Ch. 15. Turbulent chiefs. 15.1. Invocation to the mother -- Ch. 16. Internecine strife. 16.1. Te Wera's revenge / Nātanahira Waruwarutū. 16.2. The identity of Te Wera -- Ch. 17. Attacks on Ōmohi -- Ch. 18. The last battles. 18.1. The battle of capture of Tarewai / Nātanahira Waruwarutū -- Ch. 19. The Kaihuānga ('eat relation') feud. 19.1. The Kaihuānga feud. 19.2. The attack on Taumutu / Hākopa Te Ataotū. 19.3. The arrival of guns -- Ch. 20. The Rauparaha at Kaiapoi. 20.1. Defeat at Kaiapoi / Pāora Taki. 20.2. Defeat at Kaiapoi / Hēnare Mahuika and Īhāia Tainui -- Ch. 21. Te Rauparaha's revenge. 21.1. Divining the fate of Kaiapoi / Nātanahira Waruwarutū. 21.2. The departure of Taiaroa / Pāora Taki. 21.3. The death of Tāwaka and Tūhawaiki-a-weka / Hēnare Mahuika and Īhāia Tainui -- Ch. 22. Ngāi Tahu strike back. 22.1. The last campaign / Nātanahira Waruwarutū. 22.2. A threatened attack / Wiremu Te Uki -- Epilogue / Te Maire Tau.

"Te Maire Tau writes: 'I first came across the Carrington typescript in 1987 when, as an under-graduate, I was researching our tribe's history in the Alexander Turnbull Library. Reading the text, I was captured for the rest of the day. Besides the exhilaration that historians always feel on coming across an old and little known manuscript, the story that Carrington told read differently from the standard histories of Ngai Tahu written by nineteenth-century scholars ... ' Journalist Hugh Carrington wrote a history of Ngai Tahu in the 1930s, drawing on the knowledge of Oaro elder Hariata Beaton-Morel and earlier scholars. This text has been framed and edited by Te Maire Tau and Atholl Anderson, creating a history of Ngai Tahu's migration from the Wellington region through to Rakiura. Complementary traditions, in particular those recorded by Thomas Green, are also included. This remarkable account presents oral tradition alongside archaeological evidence and narrative history. The editors both have extensive experience in researching the past of southern New Zealand, particularly Ngai Tahu."--Publisher's description.

Chiefly in English, with some quotations in Māori.