James Cowan

James Cowan (14 April 1870 – 6 September 1943) was a New Zealand non-fiction author, noted for his books on colonial history and Māori ethnography. A fluent Māori speaker, he interviewed many veterans of the New Zealand Wars. His book The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Māori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period (1922–23) is his best known work.

Early life James Cowan, the son of William Andrew Cowan, an Irish soldier who had served in the Waikato during the New Zealand Wars, and Elizabeth Jane Qualtrough, was born at East Tāmaki on 14 April 1870. William Cowan acquired land for a farm in Kihikihi, on the border of the King Country, and this was where James grew up. There was a strong military presence in the area; the family farm included a portion of the battlefield of Orakau and was near a fortification of the Armed Constabulary. There was also a considerable Māori community in the area. Cowan grew up speaking both English and Māori and developed a keen interest in Māori culture as well as the military and colonial history of New Zealand.

In 1886 Cowan sat for a civil service examination and his marks saw him offered a cadetship with the Native Department. However, due to the influence of his mother, he declined to take it up. Instead, he aspired to become a journalist.

Author Cowan's first two books were published in 1901; one was a travel guide to Taupō and the other a listing of the painter Gottfried Lindauer's works of Māori subjects. In 1903 he began work for the Department of Tourist and Health Resorts in Wellington, writing magazine articles to promote tourism. He also wrote further books, on tourist attractions. Among these was the title New Zealand, or, Ao-teä-roa (the long bright world): its wealth and resources, scenery, travel routes, spas, and sport, which was intended as a handbook for tourists to the country. This work required him to travel extensively around the country.

Other books on colonial topics included The old frontier: Te Awamutu, the story of the Waipa Valley (1922), Tales of the Maori coast (1930), Tales of the Maori bush (1934), and Hero stories of New Zealand (1935). Cowan also wrote on Māori ethnography for the Journal of the Polynesian Society, wrote The Maori yesterday and to-day, and co-wrote Legends of the Maori with Maui Pomare.

The First Labour Government granted James Cowan a pension in 1935, one of the first two New Zealand writers to receive state support. The deputation asking for this pension said of Cowan that he 'had never made any money out of his historical books but had done very good work for the country'.