REMAPPING TUTIRA - CONTOURS IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF NEW-ZEALAND

Although members of the first generation of professional geographers i n New Zealand identified the ousting of the indigenous plant cover and the partial establishment of an exotic (mainly European) vegetation i n its place as an essential theme in the history of that country, and Alfred Crosby made a brief case study of the islands in his Ecological Imperialism, scale problems have made it difficult to develop a micro geographical perspective on the often intricate and incremental proces ses of environmental transformation. To this end, this paper explores a detailed account of the natural history of a single North Island she ep station written by its owner, W. H. Guthrie Smith, in 1921. By read ing Tutira, an idiosyncratic but fascinating work, with a geographical eye, the local dimensions of the floral and faunal invasion of New Ze aland are revealed. ''A record of minute alterations noted on one patc h of land'' illuminates the biogeographical processes by which New Zea land was transformed and offers insight into an important distinction between 'natural' and 'environmental' history. (C) 1997 Academic Press Limited.