Peter Adds was born in Lower Hutt and educated at Westlake Boys’ High School, Auckland and New Plymouth Boys High School. He attended the University of Auckland and graduated with a B.A. in Anthropology in 1981 and M.A. (Hons) in Anthropology in 1984. In 1984 he was appointed Lecturer in the Department of Māori Studies at Victoria University of Wellington and in 1984, 1986 and 1988 was coordinator, lecturer and fieldwork leader of Continuing Education courses ‘Practical Archaeology’ and ‘The Development of Māoritanga’ (1986). Adds has chaired the Archaeology Section of the Wellington Branch of the Royal Society and has been the Archaeology Section representative on the Council of the Wellington Branch of the Society in In 1988 he was elected to the Council of the New Zealand Archaeological Association and in 1989 was appointed Chair of the Department of Māori Studies at Victoria. In 1992 he became a committee member of Te Pouhere Kōrero - Māori History Association of Aotearoa, and in 1993 he was appointed Senior Lecturer in the Māori Studies Department and later became Tumuaki/Head of School of the Māori Studies Department of Victoria University. He is currently an Associate Professor for Te Kawa a Māui - School of Māori Studies. He was a Ministerial appointee to the Māori Heritage Council of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust in 1994, and was appointed as indigenous representative to the Executive Committee and Council of the World Archaeology Congress. He is the negotiator for Te Ati Awa ki Taranaki in their Treaty claim. He has memberships in the New Zealand Archaeological Association, New Zealand Historic Places Trust, Polynesian Society and Wellington Branch of the Royal Society. He has been awarded Taranaki Māori Trust Board grants between 1979-1983, Māori Education Foundation grants from 1980-1983, and the Skinner Fund Research grant in 1982.
Biographical sources
- Correspondence with Peter Adds, 2 Nov 1995.
- “Taranaki Tribes Plan to Improve Position.” The Press 20 June 1996. 7.
- https://people.wgtn.ac.nz/peter.adds/about Nov. 25, 2020.
June 1996: 7.
Non-fiction
- Motunui Monitoring Programme 1982. In conjunction with K. Day. Under contract to the NZ Historic Places Trust, 1982.
- Archaeological Investigations at Mangere, Site N42/779. Excavation report in conjunction with R. Brassey. Under contract to the NZ Historic Places Trust, 1983.
- Te Māori: te hokinga mai/the return home: Resource Kit, 1986/87. Text and translations University of Victoria, Wellington Department of Māori Studies. Photography Brian Brake and Athol McCredie. Audio programme produced by Piripi Walker, narrated by Kinio Winiata. [Auckland, N.Z.]: Auckland, N.Z. City Art Gallery on behalf of the Te Māori Management Committee and the Department of Education, Wellington, N.Z., 1986.
- A resource kit produced to accompany the Te Māori
exhibitions in the four main centres during 1986-1987, which includes a set of
postcards, audio tape prepared by Piripi Walker of Radio New Zealand and copied by EMI, and
bi-lingual notes prepared by the Department of Māori Studies, Victoria University. Adds was
co-author and editor of English text which deals with aspects of traditional Māori life such
as marae tikanga, food and food gathering, personal adornment, myths, raw materials, taonga,
Māori religion, warfare, and tools and implements. The kit also includes teaching activities
for school children and a resource list.
- Te Tumu Herenga Waka. Co-author and editor. 1986.
- A booklet produced for the opening of Te Tumu Herenga Waka at Victoria
University of Wellington, N.Z., 6 December 1986.
- “Tapu.” In ‘Teacher’s Handbook.’ Reaching Back—Discovering and Caring for our Past/Whatorotia Kimihia Manākitia Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho. Co- author. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Department of Internal Affairs, Department of Education, 1987. 51-52.
- A description of tapu in traditional and contemporary Māori society.
- “Te Toki - The Adze.” Reaching Back—Discovering and Caring for our Past/Whatorotia Kimihia Manākitia Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho. Co- author. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Department of Internal Affairs, Department of Education, 1987. 52-54.
- A description of the stone adze produced in pre-European Māori society with
notes on its manufacture and development, and on the extensive research conducted by Roger
Duff.
- “Te Matau - the Fish-hook.” Reaching Back—Discovering and Caring for our Past/Whatorotia Kimihia Manākitia Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho. Co- author. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Department of Internal Affairs, Department of Education, 1987. 55-57.
- Adds writes of the adaptations and developments made to East Polynesian fish
hooks when the early Polynesian settlers came to Aotearoa which included incorporating local
materials, changes in the design of the hooks to suit local conditions, transition from the
one-piece to the two-piece composite fish hook and variations in the form of the barb. Adds
provides a brief bibliography for teachers on the subjects of adzes, fish hooks and
tapu.
- Reaching Back—Discovering and Caring for our Past/Whatorotia Kimihia Manākitia Ngā Taonga Tuku Iho. Co-author. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Department of Internal Affairs, Department of Education, 1987.
- A teaching resource kit for primary school teachers designed to ‘assist teachers
in planning learning activities which will help children to understand and respond to the
material evidence of their past’ and to increase awareness of the 1975 Antiquities Act. The
kit includes Three stories based on real life by Yvonne du Fresne,
pamphlets entitled Piecing Together New Zealand’s Past, Protect our past
for the future, and a Planning Guide. Also enclosed with the
kit is a Teacher’s Handbook, Whangaparaoa School, Cape Runaway, by
Gary Climo, a Heritage and the Curriculum sheet, and a Studying, Grouping and Labelling Objects sheet. Yvonne du Fresne and
Peter Adds were the writers of this resource kit.
- “Viewpoint.” The Landscape: Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Autumn/Winter (1988): 2.
- Adds addresses landscape architects about Māori views and management of the land
and gives suggestions on how the landscape architecture profession can embrace partnership
with the Māori.
- “He Taonga Tuku Iho. (A Treasure Handed Down by the Ancestors)” The Landscape: Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects Autumn/Winter (1988): 31-32.
- A discourse on the various approaches to wāhi tapu/archaeological sites in New
Zealand by Māori and archaeologists. Noting the incompatibilities of some of these
approaches, Adds states that ‘[s]ome middle ground which shares the archaeological resource
management power base between Pakeha and Māori is urgently required’, and, as more Māori are
trained in archaeological resource and land management, anticipates the development of a
culturally appropriate form of Māori archaeological research which could greatly assist in
the further research of Māori history and tribal lands.
- Fighting Bay - Oteranga Bay Cable Termination, Cultural Values. Report to Electricorp as part of a larger environmental impact report. Under contract to Electricorp, 1988.
- Wellington Harbour Maritime Planning Authority Historical and Cultural Resources Study. Report to Boffa Miskell Partners Ltd, as part of a Wellington Harbour management study commissioned by the Wellington Harbour Board. Published by the Wellington Harbour Maritime Planning Authority, 1988.
- “Booklet Production.” Te Paanui A Wikitoria. Edition 5. A short history, and description of the opening of Te Herenga Waka Marae/He Kōrero whakarāpopoto mo te whakatū wheratanga o Te Tumu Herenga Waka, whare whakairo i te whare Wānanga o Wikitōria. [Wellington, N.Z.]: Te Tari Māori o te Whare Wānanga o Wikitōria i te Whanganui a Tara, January 1989. 22-23.
- Adds writes of the book production of Te Whakatuwheratanga o
Te Tumu Herenga Waka, which was written by staff and students of the Department of
Māori Studies to commemorate the opening of Te Tumu Herenga Waka at Victoria University.
- No details.
- “Art and Organised Labour in Māori Society.” Art and Organised Labour. Eds. Gregory Burke and Ann Calhoun. Wellington, N.Z.: Wellington City Art Gallery, 1990. 55-59.
- Adds discusses mana, hierarchy and the division of labour based on gender in
Māori society, and provides a brief account of Māori art and its adaptations to the influx
of European influences. This essay was part of a publication which accompanied the
exhibition Art and Organised Labour which was organised by the Wellington City Art Gallery
in 1990 and which toured nationally from 1991-1992.
- Hutt River Flood Control Scheme Review. Tira Whakaemi Kōrero (Māori Studies Department Research Unit, Victoria University of Wellington, N.Z.) under contract to Boffa Miskell Partners, 1990.
- Māori Historical Information base for the Wellington City Council Area. A report for the Wellington City Council, July 1990.
- “Getting a Fair Hearing.” Terra Nova 14 (1992): 36-40.
- Adds provides a history of events in Taranaki leading up to the 1863 New Zealand
Settlements Act and describes the enormous long-term effects of raupatu, land confiscations,
on the Taranaki iwi. Adds discusses the Waitangi Tribunal investigations into the
confiscations of Taranaki land.
- First Footprints: People, Land and Resources in Aotearoa. Auckland, N.Z: Pearsons, 2006.
- Inview : works from the VUW art collection. Ed. Ashley Remer [et al.]. Wellington, N.Z.: Adam Art Gallery. 2006.
- Portrayal of Māori and Te Ao Māori in Broadcasting: The Foreshore and Seabed Issue. Wellington, N.Z.: Broadcasting Standards Authority, 2007.
- A Brilliant Civilisation in In The transit of Venus: how a rare astronomical alignment changed the world. Wellington, N.Z.: Awa Press, 2007.
- The transit of Venus : how a rare astronomical alignment changed the world. Wellington, N.Z.: Awa Press, 2007.
- Ancestral Landscapes of Taranaki in Taranaki Whenua: Life Blood Legacy. New Plymouth, N.Z.: Pukeariki Museum, 2008.
- First footprints : people, land and resources in Aotearoa. Auckland, N.Z.: Pearson, 2010
- Co-author Bronwyn Wood.
Papers/Presentations
- “Archaeology in claims to the Waitangi Tribunal.” Archaeology Section of the WBRSNZ.
- “Taranaki Land Claim Update.”
- A presentation to the Ngai Te Rangi Raupatu research team at the Tauranga Moana
Trust Board offices about the status of the Taranaki claim.
- “Stone Rows are a Growing Problem.” Co-authored by Adds. NZAA conference, Tauranga, 1985.
- “The Origins and Development of Māori Art.”
- One of the Te Māori public lectures presented at the
National Museum, 1986.
- “Māori Attitudes to Archaeology.”
- Lecture for the Wellington, N.Z. Archaeology Society, 1987.
- “Wellington Harbour Maritime Planning Authority Historical and Cultural Resources Study.”
- This paper was presented at the Wellington Harbour Natural Resources Study
Workshop in 1988.
- “Partnership Prospects in New Zealand Archaeology.” In the ‘Origins of the New Zealanders’ seminar. NZAA conference, Auckland, N.Z., 1988.
- [Prehistory of the Wellington area] Wellington Conference, University of Victoria, Wellington, N.Z., 1990.
- “Māori Landscape Archaeology in Taranaki.” Pacific Science Congress, Honolulu, Hawaii, 1991.
- “Waahi Tapu - a Pakeha Problem.” Taonga Māori Conference, National Museum, Wellington, N.Z., 1991.
- “Waitangi Tribunal.” Co-presenter of Law Week seminar, 1992.
- “The Science of the Māori.”
- Adds presented a talk with Dr Gary Burns and Wiremu Kaa at the WBRSNZ about MAOR
124 The Science of the Māori, 1992.
- “Māori Land Claims.” Co-presented with Malama Meleisea and Phyllis Herda.
- Public lecture at National Library, Wellington, N.Z., 1993, also presented at BP
House as part of Internal Affairs lecture series, Year of Indigenous
Peoples, 10 June 1993.
- “Taranaki Land Claim.” Co-presented with Morris Love and Carrie Wainwright.
- Paper presented at Wellington Public Library as part of a series of public
talks, 16 June 1993.
- “Developments with the NZ Historic Places Trust Māori Heritage Council and Heritage Management in New Zealand.”
- A paper presented at the “Heritage, Education and Archaeology” seminar at
Southampton, England, 1994.
- “Māori Perceptions Of The Archaeological Landscape.”
- Paper presented at the World Archaeology Congress in New Delhi, India, 1994.
- “Reclaiming Heritage: Towards An Indigenous Model Of Māori History.”
- Adds presented this paper at the Museum of Sydney SITES conference, 7 April
1995. Adds repeated this paper for a Victoria University Māori Studies seminar on 26 May
1995.
Reviews
- Rev. of The Prehistory of New Zealand, by J.M. Davidson. New Zealand Listener 30 Mar. 1985.
- Rev. of Whakairo, by D.R. Simmons. Radio New Zealand, 25 Sept. 1985.
- Rev. of Being Pakeha, by Michael King. Radio New Zealand, 12 May 1986.
- Rev. of Gottfried Lindauer: His Life and Māori Art, by B. Gordon and H. Stupples. Radio New Zealand, June 1986.
- Rev. of Shadows on the Land, by Gordon Ell. New Zealand Listener Sept. 1986. No further details.
Theses
- “Archaeological Resource Management in North Taranaki.” M. A. Thesis, U of
Auckland, 1984.