Documentary Series | August 2025.

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Stolen Lands returns with the remarkable story of Hector McDonald, a young whaler from Scotland, whose life in Aotearoa becomes a powerful reflection of cultural adaptation, alliance, and loss.

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Far from the storm-lashed Hebrides, Hector enters a land undergoing profound change in the late 1820s. Māori iwi are navigating the chaos of musket warfare and large-scale migrations. Into this volatile place, Hector lands on Kapiti Island and soon finds himself in the orbit of Te Rauparaha, the dominant Ngāti Toa chief. Through a strategic marriage to Te Koopi, a niece of Te Rauparaha. Hector is drawn deep into the Māori world. The union is not only personal—it’s political, sealing alliances and granting Hector access to land, business networks, and cultural belonging.

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This season traces Hector’s transformation from whaler to trader, settler, and family man. His story is one of cultural entanglement, where shared values—whakapapa, trade, community—form the foundation for unlikely partnerships. He learns te reo, raises a son within a Māori whānau, and builds a life that balances his Highland roots with the tikanga of his adopted home. Later, Hector continued this legacy with his second wife, Agnes Carmont. A midwife and healer, Agnes is embraced by  Māori communities she serves, becoming a key figure in the whānau’s bicultural journey.

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However, as Crown forces advanced and colonial policy tightened, the world Hector helped build began to unravel. The signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840 and the rise of the Native Land Court in the 1860s changed everything. Collective land ownership is dismantled. Māori autonomy is challenged by settler law. Once grounded in mutual respect, Hector's leases become legal grey zones. Even his cousin, Donald McLean, emerges as a powerful Crown agent responsible for sweeping land acquisitions across the North Island.

The series explores not just what Hector gained, but what was lost. The death of Te Koopi, the decline of whaling, and the shifting political landscape leave Hector straddling two worlds as they move further apart. Meanwhile, Māori face increasing alienation from their own land and power structures.

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Narrated by descendants, historians, and cultural experts, Stolen Lands: Hector McDonald unpacks the personal and political in equal measure. It reveals how individual lives are caught up in larger forces—colonial ambition, cultural resilience, and the long arc of displacement.