Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

We'd like to hear your stories.

We want you to help build Te Ara. On the homepage and on every story page on the site you will see this little icon inviting you to submit a story. The hope is that when you get to a page of the site which triggers an interesting memory, you will sit down and write to us about it – with a photo if possible.

As I noted in a really interesting debate on Paul Reynolds’ blog, Te Ara is not a wiki. We celebrate the fact that some of the great writers, scientists and historians of the country have lent their lifetimes of knowledge to ensure that Te Ara gets it right. We will not compromise this. It’s great to have George Gibbs, recent Montana book-award winner for his Ghosts of Gondwana, write about insects; or Ranginui Walker, the hugely knowledgeable Māori scholar, write about his iwi, Te Whakatōhea.

But we have always wanted to encourage all New Zealanders who are interested to join the Te Ara team.

Homeless

From the beginning we asked people to send in stories on particular subjects. We called for stories about people’s voyages to New Zealand, and to our astonishment received over 250 tales. There are some great ones in the Voyage out entry. We asked for stories about disasters. There is a terrifying one by John Laker, who told us how the Wahine storm destroyed his home. There is amusing story from Lionel Hussey about how the 1960 tsunami drained Auckland Harbour of water – the poor gannets kept diving, only to get stuck in the mud with their long beaks!

So get writing – make it short (no more than 500 words), snappy and interesting. If you’ve already got one in mind, submit your story.

Christmas is a loaded word but what does it mean in an increasingly secular time? The first thing I do with a question nowadays is plug some keywords into a search box. So I typed ‘Christmas’ into the Te Ara search box and trawled through what it spat out.

For some it is about religion. Christianity came to the Bay of Islands on Christmas Day in 1814 with the arrival of Anglican missionary Samuel Marsden. As a 10-year old immigrant on her way to New Zealand Dorothy Fenton remembered calling in at Pitcairn Island on Christmas Day 1920. She remembered islanders rowing out but refusing money for their goods as it was the Sabbath (the Pitcairn Islanders weren’t so righteous a few generations later).

Drinking with mates, 1976

For others the Kiwi Christmas is about food and drink. When Adeline Vera Taylor arrived in Lyttleton as a child on Christmas Eve 1906, the lady at their boarding house gave her a piece of Christmas pudding. During the Second World War parcels from home containing dried seafood were sent to men of the Māori Battalion stationed in Italy. The Christmas picnic morphed from the genteel in 1915 to the blokefest of 1976. The work Christmas party is still pretty much about booze as these 1970s workers illustrate. Yet Christmas has also changed as many work through the holiday period saving such waste as these dumped snapper which could not be processed as the factory was closed. For trampers the break means the opportunity for a long tramp often dubbed the Christmas trip.

Kowhai Christmas card

And what of symbols? New Zealand’s Christmas tree is the pōhutukawa yet northern hemisphere holly and even kowhai (though it is a spring flower) appear on old Christmas cards. Even the bombing of Crete has a yuletide flavour. A world war earlier, in 1917 German prisoner of war count Felix von Luckner a.k.a. ‘the Sea Devil’ escaped from Motuihe, offshore from Auckland using the ruse of a Christmas play. And in 1995 Enty Masun played the part of Jesus in a nativity play. Not a Māori Jesus as James K. Baxter envisioned, but a Samoan one.

It’s a random approach as any plugging a term into a search box but it seems fitting in our digital age. What’s Christmas all about then – well I guess in the end it’s a good time not to be a turkey.

Helen Clark – another Auckland PM

Is Auckland becoming the inevitable the seat of power in New Zealand? At the launch of our Auckland entry the Prime Minister Helen Clark, who hails from Auckland, noted that since 1975, more than two-thirds of prime ministers have been Aucklanders.

This does not appear likely to change in 2008, as both John Key and Helen Clark live north of the Bombay Hills.

Even before 1975, two of the most significant 20th century figures, Bill Massey and Mickey Savage, came from Auckland. Savage still lords it over Auckland Harbour from his mausoleum at Bastion Point; while Massey has to be content with a colder, windier location on Wellington Harbour.

At the launch we noted that these Auckland prime ministers have pioneered use of the new media. Savage used the radio, although when you hear his victory speech you might wonder just why he was regarded as the charismatic figure of his age. Rob Muldoon was the absolute master of the television interview – for a great example see his interview with Simon Walker. David Lange too could hold a television audience.

So we are left with a question. Is the explanation for this Auckland near-monopoly of power because, as our entry says, over one third of New Zealanders live in the region; or is it because its chaotic local government is good training for the rough-and-tumble of national politics; or because chief executives of almost every economic activity in the country are now found there? Auckland has become, in the jargon, a ‘primate city’. Rather, is it because Auckland is the centre of our media – television, books, the internet? So its politicians learn to adjust faster to new ways of talking to the country than us hayseeds further south.

Motukorea, Auckland’s most intact volcano

Our new entry on the Auckland region is now on Te Ara – a big welcome to the City of Volcanoes. To a scientist, Auckland is an exciting place, with cones and lake-filled craters dominating the landscape. There are about 50 vents within 20 kilometres of the city. On average there has been an eruption every 2,500 years for the last 50,000 years.

Rangitoto, in the centre of Auckland Harbour, erupted about 1400 AD. We don’t know how long the eruption lasted – perhaps it was weeks or months. It must have been a spectacular fireworks display, visible all around the Auckland region. There was probably a pall of ash over much of the area now occupied by the city, and an acrid, sulfurous smell. The first Polynesian settlers had only arrived about 100 years earlier. We do know that people saw the eruption because their footprints are preserved in ash on nearby Motutapu Island. Isn’t it incredible that one day we may be able to test these for DNA, and perhaps identify their descendants!

While the chance of an eruption in a human lifetime is quite low, the impact on New Zealand’s largest city would be enormous. Auckland has a contingency plan, and local scientists and planners have formed the ‘It’s our Volcano’ group to consider the likely warning signals and effects of an eruption..

But there is a positive side. Past eruptions are responsible for the fertile soils of South Auckland – one of the best market gardening areas in New Zealand.

Charles Hazlitt Upham

The theft of war medals from the Waiōuru Army Museum has been described by Chief of Army Major General Lou Gardiner as a theft from the nation.

Most media coverage of the stolen medals has naturally enough focused on the loss of Charles Upham’s VC and Bar, as he is the only man to win the award in combat twice in its 151-year history. Lord Michael Ashcroft, who has the largest collection of Victoria Crosses in the world, has described the Upham VC and Bar as the ‘Holy Grail’ of VCs. However, a glance at biographies on the DNZB of other soldiers whose medals were stolen shows they were all extraordinary kiwi soldiers.

Alfred Clive Hulme, 1911–1982, VC, WWII
He was renowned for stalking snipers, a task for which he volunteered. Hulme’s unit came under heavy fire during the final withdrawal from Stylos, Crete. Hulme infiltrated enemy lines, stalking and shooting their snipers from the rear. He killed 33 snipers before being seriously wounded.

David Russell, 1911–1945, George Cross, WWII
He was taken prisoner of war in Italy. He was beaten and threatened with death during interrogation, but refused to yield. When it was suggested that he could save his life by informing on others he said, ‘Let them shoot me’. Just before his execution by firing squad he requested a last cigarette. When asked if he had any final words, he shook his head, threw away the cigarette and stood to attention.

Reginald Stanley Judson, 1881-1972, VC, WWI
Judson was involved in numerous acts of bravery during World War I. During one of the actions which led to his VC, ‘he mounted a parapet and ordered an enemy machine-gun crew of about 12 men to surrender. When they fired on him he threw a hand grenade in their midst, then single-handedly killed two and put the others to flight, thereby capturing two machine-guns.’ He was also awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal.

Keith Elliott, 1916–1989, VC, WWII
‘Under heavy fire, he … led seven men in a bayonet charge across open ground, seizing four machine-gun posts and an anti-tank gun. Coming under fire from another gun post, he charged and captured it on his own. Although badly wounded, he led his men to friendly lines and handed over 130 prisoners.”