author
Thomas Lindsay Buick
1866–1938
A self-taught New Zealand journalist, politician, and historian, he helped shape how generations of readers understood the Treaty of Waitangi and other defining moments in the country’s past. Writing as T. Lindsay Buick, he brought energy and curiosity to local and national history alike.
2 Audiobooks
The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony
by Thomas Lindsay Buick
An Old New Zealander; or, Te Rauparaha, the Napoleon of the South.
by Thomas Lindsay Buick
About the author
Born in Oamaru in 1865, Thomas Lindsay Buick grew up in New Zealand and later moved to Blenheim, where he worked as a carpenter before turning toward public life and journalism. He became active in politics, served as the Liberal member for Wairau from 1890 to 1896, and also built a career as a newspaper editor and writer.
Although largely self-educated, Buick became one of the best-known popular historians of his time. He wrote a series of books on New Zealand history, including works on Te Rauparaha, early conflict in the country, and regional stories, but he is especially remembered for The Treaty of Waitangi, first published in 1914.
His writing helped bring major episodes of New Zealand history to a wide readership in a clear, lively way. For listeners interested in early New Zealand, Buick’s work offers both a strong sense of story and a window into how the nation’s past was being interpreted in the early twentieth century.