The Good Citizen

Description

The Good Citizen tells the story of Tom Ryan.

Tom Ryan, the illegitimate baby of an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, and his family were banished from Ireland to the far ends of the earth: New Zealand. He went on to score the first points for the first All Blacks rugby team and have a huge influence on the development of tourism services in Taupō.  Tom Ryan became a distinguished artist. he created rare sketches of the controversial Māori warrior Te Kooti, and went on to marry the daughter of a Māori chief. He won one of the first inter-colonial yachting contests and became director of a mining company.

From the author of New Zealand By Foot and New Zealand Adventures By Rail, this is the remarkable story of Tom ‘Darby’ Ryan. Including photographs and Ryan’s own artworks, The Good Citizen paints a vivid and intimate portrait of early colonial New Zealand and the people who made up its society.