Though large-scale sheep rearing began in the Wairarapa, it was the South Island -- the world's last remaining glassland -- that attracted squatters and sheepmen in the 1850s. Those who got there first established huge leasehold estates. From their high-country mansions they dominated provincial and national politics for half a century.
A ten part documentary series in which Professor Kenneth B. Cumberland gives a personal view of the story of New Zealand.