Hunt, Graeme

IN BRIEF

Graeme Hunt is a historian, journalist, and commentator. He has written a number of books about New Zealand business, and political and organisational history. His books include, The Rich List: Wealth and Enterprise in New Zealand 1820–2000 (2000), a 180-year history of New Zealand’s wealthiest entrepreneurs and business people, and Black Prince (2004), a biography of controversial trade unionist Fintan Patrick Walsh. Hunt is also a regular radio commentator and newspaper columnist, and a former editor for the National Business Review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hunt, Graeme (1952 – ) is a historian and journalist. He was born in Auckland and educated at the University of Auckland and Massey University. Originally working as an accountant, he has worked as a journalist since 1974 and is a former editor-at-large for the National Business Review.

Hunt has written a number of books about New Zealand business, political and organisational history. These include The Rich List: Wealth and Enterprise in New Zealand 1820–2000 (2000); Hustlers, Rogues & Bubble Boys: White-Collar Mischief in New Zealand (2001), and, with Hugh Stringleman, Rural Challenge: A History of Wrightson Ltd (2006).

The Rich List follows a 180-year history of New Zealand’s wealthiest entrepreneurs and business people, from pioneers to personalities involved in the 1987 sharemarket crash. Gillian Vine writing in The Star (December 2000), comments that ‘The Rich List is a masterly account of our richest people, going back to the days when Johnny Jones built a whaling station at Preservation Inlet … Hunt has done a magnificent job, in researching his subject and then writing about it in a way that is at time as absorbing as a novel.’

Hunt’s first biography, Black Prince (2004), is an account of the life of controversial mid-20th century trade unionist Fintan Patrick Walsh. Reviewing Black Prince in New Zealand Books (March 2005), Don Aimer comments that ‘Black Prince is useful and valuable in rescuing [Walsh] from obscurity, and sustains the conclusion that Walsh “deserves a place in the panoply of outstanding New Zealanders”. This book will be appreciated by those in the field of industrial relations.’

Rural Challenge, covers the 144-year history of Wrightson and is a comprehensive history of New Zealand’s largest agricultural trader.

Hunt edited a history on Selwyn College in 2006. He is also editor of Wealthmakers: A History of the Northern Employers’ and Manufacturers’ Associations (2005), and Auckland’s Voice of Business: A History of the Auckland Chamber of Commerce 1856–2006 (2006).

Graeme Hunt lives in Auckland.

Spies and Revolutionaires: A History of New Zealand Subversion (2007) was published by Reed Publications.

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