THE AUTHOR: Barry Brailsford  

This historian and archaeologist was taken into the realms of the ancient and sacred knowledge.

Barry Brailsford says his love of the land, and the mystery of the past, is his birthright. Born in Mawhera, the ancient anchorage of the great navigator and stone worker Poutini, and nurtured by the wild coastlines and forested mountains of Westland, New Zealand he knew a childhood where the spirit soared.

He graduated MA (Hons) from Canterbury University, was a member of the NZ Archaeology Association Council and a Principal Lecturer at the Christchurch College of Education. In 1990 he was awarded an MBE for his contribution to education and Maori scholarship.

When asked about his ancestry, he smiles and says, 'In the Derbyshire part of the Doomsday book of 1086, in the fortieth entry, you will find 'Elfin of Brailsford'. I am a dancing leprechaun.'