The Centennial History of Barnego Flat Part Two

The Centennial History of Barnego Flat Part Two

The progressive piecemeal printing of the centennial history of Barnego Flat, Part two, containing Chapter 1: The moahunter period of Maori culture on Barnego Flat.

Nag's Head Press, 1966 Limited edition of 100 numbered copies.

The stated editor E. Dadds is of course part of the joke. The real author was Bob Gormack, who was also the printer. See also an article on Gormack: "The Byron of Burnside".

The whole series of 10 Barnego books was in part a satire of local histories, but was also a hand press publishing entertainment for Gormack and the enthusiastic collectors of such material - see NZ private printing.The lovely traditional title page of Part One is indicative of Gormack's love of printing.

The title page of Part One.

Part two has more than a few digs at Roger Duff and earlier scholars who wrote about moa.

The highlight is the "Dadds adze" illustration.

A precursor to the series was "Bookie" (Nags Head Press 1948) which introduced many of the characters to appear in the Barnego Flat series. Several issues appeared, some introducing the history of the Entwhistle family. It appears this eventually spawned Barnego Flat Part 1. "Bookie" is a sly reference to the Caxton Press house magazine "Book" which was appearing at the time.

References