Michael Kelly

Qualifications

BA Hons, Victoria University of Wellington
Diploma of Journalism, Wellington Polytechnic

Career Summary

Michael graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 1983 and began work at the New Zealand Historic Places Trust, now Heritage New Zealand. He had two stints there, separated by a three year period overseas. He trained as a journalist and then worked for the Department of Conservation. He has been a full-time self-employed historian and heritage consultant since 1997, working in a wide variety of heritage. He has written conservation plans, policy documents, heritage trails, heritage inventories, histories, heritage assessments and a wide variety of interpretation. He has had a long association with the Professional Historians' Association of New Zealand / Aotearoa and is currently president. He began teaching heritage conservation for the University's Architecture School at under-graduate level in 1999. He has been teaching the bi-annual heritage conservation course for Museum and Heritage Studies since 2007.

Selected publications

The New Zealand Government Buildings: Past and Present, Department of Conservation, 1996

'The History of Old Coach Road” in Onslow Historian, Vol. 27, No.2, 1999

'Building a Case: Assessing Significance' in Trapeznick, Alex ed., Common Ground: Heritage and Public Places in New Zealand, Otago University Press, 2000

‘The Lung of the Capital: The Basin Reserve’, in Gentry, Kynan and Gavin McLean 2006, Heartlands: New Zealand historians write about where history happened, Penguin Books, Auckland

Royal Wellington Golf Club: A continuing history, 1995-2009, Royal Wellington Golf Club, 2009

Biodiversity Huts, Fiordland – Historic Heritage Assessment, Department of Conservation, Southland, 2010

Carry On: A Biography of John Wilson, Wilson Family, Wellington 2012