Advanced Review Histories of climate, science, and colonization in Australia and New Zealand, 1800–1945 Emily O’Gorman, 1 * James Beattie 2 and Matthew Henry 3 Edited by Matthias Heymann, Domain Editor, and Mike Hulme, Editor-in-Chief This review article focuses on scholarship that lies at the intersection of histories of climate and British settler colonization in Australia and New Zealand. It first discusses the role of climate in their colonial histories and then developments in the field of climate history, examining similarities and differences within and between Australia and New Zealand. Next, it outlines two significant recent themes in climate history in both places: contested climate debates and percep- tions, and social impacts and responses to climate. The article finishes by recom- mending future areas for research. Throughout, we stress the importance of local-level approaches to climate as a means of understanding past and present, popular and scientific, interpretations of climate. We also emphasize the role that imperatives of colonization have played in shaping particular kinds of climate knowledge, including in overwriting nonelite views of climate. © 2016 Wiley Periodi- cals, Inc. How to cite this article: WIREs Clim Change 2016, 7:893–909. doi: 10.1002/wcc.426 INTRODUCTION F ocusing on the historical period from 1800 to 1945, this review article critically examines writ- ing on climate and colonization in Australia and New Zealand. Their colonization was contemporary and had many characteristics in common. Both received migrants from many of the same areas, who, seeking to introduce similar agricultural schemes, shared like attitudes toward climate. Settlers also exchanged climate knowledge within and between these countries, formally and informally, through press articles, official connections, and scientific pub- lications. These shared cultural, social, agricultural, political, and economic characteristics make Australia and New Zealand useful countries in which to investigate the importance of locality in shaping climate history. While today’s understandings of climate and weather are increasingly globally connected, this arti- cle argues that they are ultimately shaped by demands and values that are resolutely local, whether physical, political, historical, social, or economic. As the authors’ edited volume, Climate, Science, and Coloni- zation: Histories from Australia and New Zealand (2014) demonstrates, global networks and concerns have animated the region’s local climates and histories in particular ways, with sometimes distinct regional differences that buck global trends. 1 Importantly, settler colonialism continues to shape the nature and use of climate knowledge in both Australia and New Zealand, notably in the use of colonial-era data *Correspondence to: emily.ogorman@mq.edu.au 1 Department of Geography and Planning, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Australia 2 History Programme, University of Waikato, Waikato, New Zealand 3 School of People, Environment and Planning, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of inter- est for this article. Volume 7, November/December 2016 © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 893