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

Ripeka Evans and Basil Keane check out the new e-book

This blog post is also available in Māori (Kei roto hoki i te reo Māori te Rātaki nei)

The theme of Māori Language Week this year is ‘Manaakitanga’. At Te Ara we decided that one way we could ‘Manaaki’ others was by making our great Māori language resources from Dictionary of New Zealand Biography (DNZB) available as an e-book, and so we have published all the biographies of renowned Māori in te reo Māori. This new e-book can be downloaded from: http://www.mch.govt.nz/news-events/news/ng%C4%81-t%C4%81ngata-taumata-rau-1869-1960.

The publication, Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1879-1960, comprises close to 500 biographies, all in Māori. For a reader of Māori the content is a joy to read due to the excellence of the translators involved, including Tairongo Amoamo, Te Pōroa Malcolm, Pou Temara, Merimeri Penfold, Wiremu Kaa, and Rangi McGarvey. We have been fortunate at Te Ara to have Rangi McGarvey continue on as a Māori language expert with oversight of our Māori-language content.

As the proverb goes, Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi - With your basket and my basket, the people will prosper. Members of design team, Julia Vodanovich and Heath Sadlier, designed the cover, which evokes the original covers. The most important role was played by our resident tech wizard, David Turton, who was able to download all the files from our database to be transferred to the e-book.

For me this project was a great way to kick off my new position as director, Māori digital projects. I’ve already got Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1769-1960 on my Kindle and plan to read one biography a day until I’ve gone through the lot (which should take about a year and a half).

The other thing worth observing is that this format provides a great opportunity for our rangatahi (youth) to access te reo content. Increasingly the current generation, which has been described as ‘net natives’ due to the fact that they have grown up surrounded by technology, access content through portable devices the majority of which have some form of e-reader. So it’s an ideal platform to look to develop our te reo content on. Hopefully this will be the first of many.

Ripeka Evans, Basil Keane, Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau

Kei roto hoki te reo Pākehā tēnei Rātaki (This blog post is also available in English)

Ko manaakitanga te kaupapa o te Wiki o te Reo Māori i te tau nei. I tipu ake te whakaaro ko te huarahi tika ki te manaaki i te reo ko te whakaputa i tetahi pukapuka hiko; ko Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau te kaupapa. Nā reira, i tāngia e Te Ara, ngā haurongo Māori i roto i te reo Māori: http://www.mch.govt.nz/news-events/news/ng%C4%81-t%C4%81ngata-taumata-rau-1869-1960.

Ko Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1879-1960 te hua i puta mai, ā, kua tata te 500 ngā haurongo kei roto. Ka mutu pea te reo i roto. Ko ētahi o ngā tohunga nā rātou ngā kupu i whakairo ko Tairongo Amoamo rātou ko Te Pōroa Malcolm, ko Pou Temara, ko Merimeri Penfold, ko Wiremu Kaa, ko Rangi McGarvey. Waimarie mātou o Te Ara, ko Rangi McGarvey tō mātou whakaruruhau mō te reo i runga i Te Ara.

E pēnei ana te whakataukī, Nāu te rourou, nāku te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.  Ko Julia Vodanovich rāua ko Heath Sadlier ngā kaihanga whakaahua i whakarite i te uhi o te pukapuka. Nā tō mātou tohunga rorohiko i tuku mai i ngā kupu katoa mō te pukapuka.

Ki a au nei, he kaupapa pai tēnei hei timata i taku tūranga hou, kaiwhakahaere mō ngā kaupapa hiko.  Kei runga Ngā Tāngata Taumata Rau, 1769-1960 i taku Kindle i tēnei wā, ā, hei te mutunga o tērā tau kua pānuitia katoatia te pukapuka e au.  Ka pānuitia e au tētahi haurongo ia rā.

Alan MacDiarmid in the lab

In a recent poll of the individuals most trusted by New Zealanders three scientists came out on top. The most trusted was Sir Ray Avery, scientist, inventor and 2010 New Zealander of the year. The second was the prime minister’s chief science adviser, Peter Gluckman. The third was Sir Paul Callaghan, physicist and this year’s New Zealander of the year. Sir Paul is also the author of the new biography we launch today on one of this country’s greatest scientists: Alan MacDiarmid.

The acceptance of scientists as the most trustworthy profession of all is an interesting development. In the 1960s and 1970s – when people lived under the fear of nuclear annihilation, planes were dropping napalm on the people of Indochina and there was growing awareness of the environmental costs of industrial development – scientists came in for considerable criticism. They were seen as amoral allies of the military–industrial complex, who took no responsibility for the dangerous inventions which they devised.

All this has changed. Many scientists have been at the forefront of raising consciousness about the dangers of developments such as global warming, and they have thrown their energies into finding smart scientific solutions for the problems which economic growth has caused.

Scientists have also come out of the laboratory, divested themselves of their white coats and begun communicating much more widely to the community. There has been no better example of this than the effective way geologists and geophysicists have explained to New Zealanders, and the people of Canterbury in particular, what has been happening to the rocks beneath their feet. People have also come to appreciate that the scientists’ professional commitment to tell the unvarnished truth is a refreshing quality in a world of spin and public relations.

Both Alan MacDiarmid and Sir Paul Callaghan were, and in Sir Paul’s case still are, outstanding scientific researchers in their fields. Alan MacDiarmid gained his Nobel Prize for his central role in the development of conducting plastics. His work helped bring about flat-screen televisions, solar cells and the flexible electronic circuitry now used in countless devices.

Paul Callaghan’s work examines how molecules move about in complex fluids. His group uses nuclear magnetic resonance to explore these issues; and out of his work has come an institute at Victoria University of Wellington for the study of advanced materials and nanotechnology, which is aptly named the MacDiarmid Institute. The university has also just erected a new science building, the Alan MacDiarmid Building, which proudly displays the Nobel Prize.

As well as being outstanding scientists, both were/are excellent communicators. As Sir Paul writes in the biography, when Alan MacDiarmid came to New Zealand in 2001 his story-telling abilities drew huge audiences to his lectures. ‘More than any scientist since Ernest Rutherford, MacDiarmid raised the profile of science in his home country, showing New Zealand scientists the importance of communicating to society at large.’ Similarly, Sir Paul’s conversations with Kim Hill on Radio New Zealand about science have become legendary, and his book Wool to Weta: transforming New Zealand’s culture and economy is an inspiring vision of an economic future which draws on scientific innovation.

Sir Paul has done an excellent job with his biography of his mentor MacDiarmid. He tells a really interesting story of a man who grew up in the depression of the 1930s, made his own way through delivering milk and newspapers on his bike, and taught himself chemistry by working through The boy chemist – a book he had found in the Lower Hutt library. A Fulbright scholarship took MacDiarmid to the United States, where his huge intellectual ability was able to flower – and the rest is history.

So take a look at Alan MacDiarmid’s biography. You’ll enjoy the story; and of course you will be able to trust it!

Marlborough's vineyards are highlighted in this New Zealand Post stamp

Last night Blenheim rang to laughter and applause as more than 100 people enjoyed the launch by Colin King, MP for Kaikōura, of Te Ara’s coverage of Marlborough. This is the last of our Places regions for the South Island, and the fourth written by Te Ara’s Places editor, Malcolm McKinnon.

Not surprisingly, the occasion was made more enjoyable by the fine local seafood and wine offered to the guests. There is no doubt that of all New Zealand regions Marlborough offers more than any other to the gourmet. Just whet your imagination on green-lipped mussels from the Sounds, crayfish from the Kaikōura coast, or a glass of sauvignon blanc or riesling from the Wairau and Awatere valleys. As this nice diagram shows, well over half the country’s vineyards are to be found there.

Of course every region we launch has its own distinctiveness; and indeed that is one of the joys of the physical and cultural variety of this small but hugely diverse country. In Marlborough’s case the entries show that its distinctiveness consists of more than food and wine. There are three other interesting claims.

First, it is a region with numerous unique natural flora and fauna. The Marlborough Sounds are the only location for the king shag, the Maud Island frog and the Marlborough green gecko, and on Stephens Island they host by far the largest surviving population of tuatara.  There is even a unique breed of goats on Arapawa Island. In summer the eastern ranges display the glorious Marlborough rock daisy in brilliant yellow flower. The Kaikōura coast is remarkable for the deep canyon which flows off-shore and attracts those famous displays from the cetaceans – breaching sperm whales and leaping dolphins.

Second, Marlborough has a fascinating history of early human settlement.  The area is rich in place names that recall the early explorations of Kupe, and the Wairau Bar is the site of one of the earliest archaeological sites in the country with artefacts dating from the 13th century – the very time when Polynesians first arrived here. Slightly further north, in Queen Charlotte Sound a large concrete monument marks Ship Cove, where Captain Cook spent some 100 days, by far the longest period in any one place, on his three voyages to New Zealand. A half century later the first on-shore whalers, mostly ex-convicts from across the ditch, began to settle near Tory Channel.

Finally, Marlborough tells a fascinating story of the boundary between land and sea. The Wairau Bar is one such place; Lake Grassmere where the nation’s salt is recovered from the sea is another; Ōhau Point on the Kaikōura coast, where young seal pups leave the beach and follow a river upstream to play beneath a waterfall, is another. It was hardly surprising that the recent national debate about the foreshore and seabed was kicked off by claims from Marlborough. And, as this film from 1962 records, Picton is where State Highway 1 leaves the land and crosses the sea on the roll-on, roll-off ferries across the strait.

So Marlborough is full of interesting stories, and Malcom McKinnon’s entries on the region and the particular places have done them full justice.  Enjoy them as much as did our Blenheim guests last night.

Wouldn't you rather be here?

Those of us who labour behind the scenes at Te Ara would like to wish our readers in New Zealand and other parts of the world a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year. And we have a Christmas gift for you – the 18th of our Places entries: Hauraki–Coromandel, a very special region covering the Hauraki Plains and the Coromandel Peninsula. Written by distinguished historian Paul Monin, the entry explains the many attractions of Hauraki–Coromandel through the centuries – first for Māori people of different tribes, and later for Pākehā seeking kauri timber and gum, gold, or hoping to establish farms.

Nowadays, this beautiful area is attractive to another group of people – holidaymakers – and looking at some of the fabulous images, such as the photo of snorkelers in sparking turquoise water at Cathedral Cove, it is easy to see why. When Christmas holidays roll around, thousands of people from Auckland, Waikato, and further afield converge on the region: this interactive map shows how the populations of various beach resorts boom over summer.

For motorists coming from Auckland, the excitement begins to mount as they queue at the famous one-way Kōpū bridge. If heading up the western side of the peninsula, they will be greeted by the sight of massed pōhutukawa (the New Zealand Christmas tree) in spectacular bloom. Some may be lucky enough to enjoy the retro delights of a real kiwi bach, such as these ones made of old Auckland trams.

Rocket into Christmas!

Visitors from Waikato heading for the eastern side of the peninsula will probably pass through Paeroa, with its well-known Lemon and Paeroa bottle statue. This icon had its origins in a 1967 promotion by the local businessmen’s association. Inspired by the moon landings that year, the association built a 7-metre-tall rocket and coined the slogan ‘Paeroa rockets into Christmas’. In 1968 the L&P bottle replaced the rocket.

Once through the rugged Karangahake Gorge, it will be onwards to Waihī and then beaches at coastal towns such as Whangamatā, Tairua, Pāuanui and Whitianga. Whether heading east or west, there’s lots to see and do on the way – for instance you can stretch your legs on the Karangahake Historic Walkway, take a ride on the Driving Creek railway or call in at The Waterworks.

Don’t you wish you were there? Perhaps you will be – in which case, have fun and take care. Remember to swim between the flags, so you don’t create headaches for volunteer surf lifesavers. And never drink and drive, as some did during the prohibition years of 1909–1926 – this type of risk-taking should definitely be consigned to history.