History repeats itself: RNZ's best history coverage of 2023

A big part of understanding the present is understanding the past.

News does not happen in a vacuum - there is context and history, cause and effect.

Here are some of the best stories and interviews RNZ had to offer on historical topics in 2023.

Hangi pits discovery helps playcentre celebrate Māori heritage

An archaeological site was brought to life at the Kaikōura Playcentre, after ancient hangi pits were uncovered during a building demolition five years ago.

The playcentre was already in the process of moving into some old classrooms and decided to incorporate the site's heritage into its landscaping.

Now two whare for tamariki to play in and a firepit are on site, with a mural painted on the wall.

NZ Sporting History: The 1995 RWC Final in South Africa

This year's Rugby World Cup saw a rematch of the classic 1995 final between the All Blacks and South Africa - the first major sporting event in the country since the end of apartheid.

And much like in 2023, things didn't go as planned for the All Blacks.

Rugby legend Laurie Mains, who was coaching that side, spoke to Afternoons' Jesse Mulligan in April.

What lies beneath Dunedin Hospital? Workers are finding out

Work on the new Dunedin Hospital site was underway in May, archaeologists working to preserve any artefacts they found amongst the rubble.

Te Whatu Ora delivery of infrastructure and investment group director Monique Fouwler said a foundry, chocolate factory and sawmills were located on the inpatient building site in the past.

"The outpatient site sits above a section of town that was densely occupied by cottages and residential dwellings, whereas the inpatient building site was used for more industrial purposes."

A report documenting the archaeologists' work and its contribution to the understanding of the history of Aotearoa was to be submitted to Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga.

WWII footage available to the public for the first time

A collection of wartime footage capturing military life in New Zealand during World War II was made available to the public for the first time in June.

It was shot between 1942 and 1943 by Academy Award-winning US Marines cinematographer Norman T Hatch, but much of it had not been seen since.

It was retrieved and archived by Ngā Taonga following a joint effort by filmmaker Steve La Hood and the Kapiti United States Marine Trust.

Richard Benge, chair of the Kapiti US Marine Trust spoke to Afternoons.

Friend of Anne Frank shares her memories

The world knows Anne Frank as a precocious teenager who never gave up hope as she hid from the Nazis during the Holocaust in a secret apartment in Amsterdam.

Hannah Pick-Goslar knew her as the girl next door and co-conspirator in the pranks they pulled on the adults before the war. The two would both end up in the same concentration camp.

Hannah survived, and just before she died, she worked on a book about her time with Anne before the diary with journalist Dina Kraft. Kraft's family survived the war by fleeing to New Zealand.

The book is called My Friend Anne Frank: The Inspiring and Heartbreaking True Story of Best Friends Torn Apart and Reunited Against All Odds.

Appeal for return of Māori Battalion's stolen taonga heard

A precious taonga stolen from a museum dedicated to the memory of the legendary 28th Māori Battalion was recovered in November, just five days after the brazen theft sparked outrage among the soldiers' descendants.

The large piece of polished kauri gum, a symbol of the 'Gum Diggers' of the Battalion's A Company, formed part of a font in Te Rau Aroha at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds.

Te Rau Aroha, or the Museum of the Price of Citizenship, is dedicated to all Māori who fought for New Zealand, but especially members of the 28th Māori Battalion.

'They don't know the history' - NZers know more about foreign wars than our own

One Saturday in October was Te Pūtake o te Riri, the national day of commemoration for the New Zealand Wars.

But experts said the commemorations were at risk of passing by unnoticed outside of Māori circles.

The New Zealand Wars saw nearly three decades of conflict over land and sovereignty from the 1840s, between British forces and some iwi.

Professor of Māori education at Victoria University Joanna Kidman told RNZ there were still a lot of people unsure of what the kaupapa was all about.

Only known customary Māori sail returns to NZ for short time

Te Rā - the only known customary Māori sail in existence - returned to New Zealand for a short time in September.

The piece is usually stored at the British Museum in London, and toured here - first at the Christchurch Art Gallery then at Tāmaki Paenga Hira, the Auckland War Memorial Museum.

It will be returned to the UK in May.

Auckland Museum curator Dr Kahutoi Te Kanawa spoke to Morning Report's Ingrid Hipkiss about its importance.

Ninety years since New Zealand elected its first woman MP

13 September marked a significant milestone in our political history - on this day 90 years ago, our first female MP was elected into Parliament.

Labour's Elizabeth McCombs won a by-election in the seat of Lyttelton after the death of her husband James McCombs, who had held the seat since 1913.

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark spoke to Nights' Mark Leishman about McCombs' legacy and how being a woman in Parliament has changed over the past 90 years.

Hidden WWII history on Waiheke and Whangaparaoa Peninsula

During World War II the New Zealand Government commissioned three top-secret military tunnels to be built - Fort Stony Batter on Waiheke, Whangaparaoa Peninsula and Wrights Hill in Wellington.

Heritage and Archaeological manager Timothy Moon spoke to Afternoons about the tunnels.

Cricket's one test wonder hits 50th anniversary of career

One of New Zealand's most intriguing cricket mysteries is how Rodney Redmond scored a test hundred on debut and never played for his country again.

The now-78-year-old's brief international career finished 50 years ago.

Checkpoint's Jimmy Ellingham had the story.

One family's reckoning with their slaver past

Laura Trevelyan knew she came from a prominent British family with generational wealth going back centuries. But when the BBC newsreader recently discovered her family had owned more than 1000 slaves on a sugar plantation in the Caribbean, she knew there had to be a reckoning.

She apologised to the people of Grenada, organised a fund for reparations and quit her job with the BBC.

She is now the co-founder of a group called Heirs of Slavery and works with other families whose ancestors profited from owning other human beings.

She spoke to Afternoons in May.

Crown Lynn documentary released

Crown Lynn, A Māori Story is a riveting slice of New Zealand history telling the iconic story of Crown Lynn pottery and the generations of Māori families that worked there.

For almost 50 years Crown Lynn was the biggest ceramics factory in the Southern Hemisphere. Situated in West Auckland, it was a melting pot of rich culture in a post war era when hundreds of Māori migrated to the city to find work.

The story has been told in a new documentary. Susan Leonard, producer and director spoke to Afternoons in April.

Crime writer Anne Perry, formerly Juliet Hulme, dies aged 84

Anne Perry, formerly known as Juliet Hulme - who served jail time along with Pauline Parker for the notorious murder of Parker's mother in Christchurch's Port Hills - died in April, aged 84.

Perry was 15 and Parker 16 when they lured Parker's mother to Victoria Park, where they murdered her with a brick to prevent their separation.

Hulme subsequently changed her name to Anne Perry, before moving to the UK where she forged a career as the prolific writer of best-selling crime novels.

New Zealand writer Joanne Drayton wrote a biography on Perry. She spoke to Morning Report's Corin Dann.