Police form a line in front of protesters. Springbok tour September 9, 1981. Photo / APN
When I was studying history at the University of Auckland, New Zealand history was the poor relation to European history.
More students opted to study the Tudors and Stuarts at college than they did our own local stories and although Dr James Belich did his bit with his book and
television series on the New Zealand Wars, it was still an uphill struggle.
Sunday Theatre on TV One for the next few weeks should change that - or at least debunk the myth that our stories aren't worth telling.
Opening with the poignant and dramatic story of Bob Blair, the New Zealand cricketer who was touring South Africa when his fiancee died in the Tangiwai disaster, through to the anti-apartheid protests against the Springbok tour that helped bring down a racist regime, New Zealand's history is rich and powerful and it comes to life beautifully in this series of stand-alone docudramas.
