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

Salmon ova – little salmon eggs

An ad from a few years ago, which we’ve just put on Te Ara, shows Aussies taking credit for pavlova and Pharlap. The narrator notes ‘Everyone’s always stealing your stuff, New Zealand.’ However, we’ve taken our share of items from other countries over the years, and some of the people we got them from have started coming to get them back.

Salmon

Members of the indigenous Winnemem Wintu, a Native American tribe from the McCloud River in California, have come to New Zealand on a quest. They’re trying to repatriate some Chinook or quinnat salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) that was originally taken from their river in the early 1900s and imported to New Zealand as ova (fertile eggs). While those salmon have been successful here, following the building of a dam on the McCloud River, they have declined in their natural habitat. The members of the tribe are hoping to repatriate them as ova once the red tape has been sorted.

Possum

The Australian brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) was introduced to New Zealand from 1837 for its fur. Its introduction was poor at first, but after some effort by acclimatisation societies the furry beasts made New Zealand home. Possums have become a significant pest and now cover the entirety of mainland New Zealand with a population of between 50 and 70 million.

Ironically, the possum is a protected species in Australia. Lee Darroch, of the Yorta Yorta people from Victoria, Australia, was one of a group of artists who sought to revitalise the traditional possum skin cloaks since 1999. Because possums are protected in Australia, they imported the possum skins from New Zealand.

Bumblebees

Four species of the bumblebee were introduced to New Zealand from England in 1885 and 1906, particularly to pollinate clover. While they have thrived in New Zealand, they are now extinct in the UK.

Accordingly, the Bumblebee conservation trust in Britain is planning to catch up to 100 short-haired bumblebees (Bombus subterraneus) for a captive breeding programme. The bees will be flown back to England in cool boxes.

Wallabies

In New Zealand wallabies are hunted as game animals, though are considered pests and marked for eradication in certain habitats. The wallabies on Kawau Island are the remnant of a veritable Noah’s ark of animals imported by Governor George Grey around 1870, which included kangaroos, antelopes, zebras, gnu, emu, peafowl and kookaburras. The dama (tammar) wallaby (Macropus eugenii) are descendants of an extinct South Australian population. DOC is working with Australian authorities to provide some of these to help establish a breeding population.

John Plimmer and his dog

There’s a saying that everyone is Irish on St Patrick’s day – every man and his dog, in fact, as illustrated by John Plimmer (and dog) in the picture. Actually, Plimmer (known as the Father of Wellington) was born in England. That doesn’t matter too much; so was St Patrick.

Until this morning, I had always thought that St Patrick’s day was a day for celebrating Irishness. I hadn’t realised that the 17th of March was the date of St Patrick’s death until I read Greg’s blog this morning.

There’s been a long history of celebrating St Patrick’s day in New Zealand. This has been particularly strong since the 1970s.

The times when Irish Catholics and British Protestants clashed in New Zealand have generally been forgotten. There were fights between Irish Catholics and Orangemen (Protestants) in the 1860s and 1870s. Irish Catholic New Zealanders have been charged three times for sedition for expressing Irish Nationalist sympathies and in two cases the defendants spent time in prison.

However, these differences have largely disappeared over the years, and accordingly we can say everyone is Irish on Patrick’s day.

So don’t forget to grab a pint of guinness, grab a shamrock and keep an eye out for leprechauns.

Just recently our blog turned two years old. Happy second birthday Signposts! This event, together with the fast-approaching end of the year, led me to undertake an unashamed hit quest for the top 10 blog posts (hitwise) since Signposts was first erected. To make you read to the bottom I’ll start from the tenth most popular and work my way down.

What are the top posts on Signposts?

10. North Island and South Island

‘What is a in a name?’ wrote Shakespeare, and it’s something the Geographic Board is trying to answer over Māori names for the North and South islands. The recently released decision about how to use Wanganui/Whanganui is another example. Not since the 1890s, when Taranaki politician Edward Metcalf Smith used to introduced himself by saying, ‘Hi Ham He Hem Smith’ (I am E. M. Smith), has there been such uncertainty in New Zealand about whether to use an ‘h’ or not.

9. In plain English

Ross writes how Te Ara won the Writemark New Zealand Plain English Award. Not only is it nice to win awards, it’s nice that blog followers are interested. To paraphrase Sally Field, ‘You like us, you really like us!’

8. City slogans: the bad and the ugly

In this blog, Kerryn highlighted when good slogans go bad. Two examples were, ‘Hamilton, more than you’d expect’ and ‘You matter in Matamata.’ A T-shirt company has it’s own cheeky versions including, ‘Hamiltron, City of the Future‘ and ‘What’s the Matamata with you bro?’.

The phrase associated with Paeroa (and L&P) ‘World famous in New Zealand‘ is part of a trademark application by Coca Cola being fought by a Paeroa man who argues it is part of the kiwi venacular. However, the ‘World famous in …’ phrase dates at least to 1971 when Mordecai Richler wrote, ‘world-famous — in Canada‘ to mock Canadian celebrities.

7. War of the roses

Jock and Maggy had a battle royale over whether roses or flax were better after the Horowhenua District Council decided to remove 300 roses which were costing $400,000 to maintain, and to replant with flax and native grasses. The argument was billed as horticultural imperialism versus horticultural chauvinism. Controversy saw this blog popping up the charts.

6. What’s your favourite New Zealand book?

Helen asked for readers to tell us what their favourite New Zealand book is, and why. I have a couple but my favourite is still Maurice Gee’s The Half-Men of O, which was read to my primary school class by our teacher.

Like city slogans, this is a topic that people are interested in and carry an opinion.

5. Did Neanderthals speak like New Zealanders?

Helen discusses the finding that Neanderthals pronounced vowels all the same, something New Zealanders are often accused of doing . Though a popular post, I’m sure it won’t help Kiwi’s get over their cultural cringe at the Kiwi accent.

4. A beginner’s guide to finding Matariki

The interest in this blog reflects the growing interest in Matariki. This blog gets its most significant traffic each year running from May through to July.

3. Don’t be a turkey

Carl’s Christmas blog was anything but a turkey, and keeps bumping up large over Christmas. This has started to jump up the ladder with Christmas on the way.  (As has Classic Kiwi Christmas carols.)

2. Classic television commercials

Helen sought views on our favourite commercials. A number of our best directors cut their teeth on commercials with the Fair Go Ad Awards formerly being our equivalent of the Golden Globes. Everyone has a favourite ad, mine being the Trumpet togs or undies one.

1. Who wants to be a millionaire, Julia?

Our own resident quizmeister, Julia, had been training for the Who wants to be a millionaire show.

So, with her as contestant, and Heath as a Mike Hoskings stand-in, the questions were played out over the comments section through the course of a day. It was unusual in that the majority of the content was contained in the comments section. It was one of my personal favourites as it played out like a conversation.  So did Julia become a millionaire?  You’ll have to read it to find out.

The Beehive – a sketch by Sir Basil Spence

The Beehive has been labelled ugly. According to a website called virtualtourist.com (which is probably trying to make its name with a headline grabber) the Beehive is the third ugliest building in the world. The less than endearing description of the Beehive from the site is ‘a slide projector that fell on a wedding cake that fell on a waterwheel’.

Beehive, Parliament House and the Parliamentary Library

It’s true that, by itself, the Beehive (the executive wing of parliament) looks odd.

It looks even odder when seen next to the other parliamentary buildings. To its left is the modern, Bowen House. To its right is the early 20th-century Edwardian neo-classical Parliament House (which was never finished to its original plan), and to the right of that, the 1899 Victorian neo-gothic Parliamentary Library. An odder collection of sibling buildings would be hard to find. According to Te Ara’s Government and nation entry, these oddly contrasting buildings are an illustration of the casual, haphazard development of both the parliamentary buildings and New Zealand’s system of government.

But, despite the oddity, is odd the same as ugly?

Sir Basil Spence was a world renowned British architect who designed the Beehive, and supposedly gave it its name based on a box of beehive brand matches given to him. Internally, the Beehive has some beautiful finishing including Tākaka marble and Tawa panelling. Externally, it is a tourist attraction that is absolutely unique. As has been noted about the Beehive and its sibling buildings: ‘people love them or hate them’.

Myself, I love the Beehive. What do you think? Is it ugly or unique?

Great spotted kiwi

The kiwi has been named the Forest & Bird Bird of the Year. This was a great comeback after failing to make the top 10 last year, which I suspect was partly due to cultural cringe. Even this year the kiwi was lampooned as a ‘flightless national bore’ during voting. However, enough New Zealanders showed loyalty to our iconic national symbol to see it fly to the top of the list in 2009.

Though there may be a love-hate relationship with the kiwi it’s an important icon for New Zealanders who have named themselves, their currency, a Melbourne Cup-winning horse, a lottery and national league team after it. Well-known kiwi characters include Goodnight Kiwi, Fighting Kiwi (kiwi with taiaha on flag), Kapai Kiwi and Tahi the one-legged kiwi.

Just recently someone’s managed to find a kiwi in space, though it may be a bit like seeing ET in a nutrigrain – you see what you want to see.

Goodnight Kiwi

Golden Kiwi

Kiwi in space?

The kiwi has at times suffered a bit of an identity crisis. After seeing a kiwi skin in the 1800s a traveller claimed, ‘The emu is found in New Zealand, though we were never fortunate to meet with one.’

Americans (for whom kiwi means kiwifruit) must be confused by New Zealanders claiming to be a ‘fuzzy edible fruit with green meat’. Though not as confused as the child  who not so long ago approached a passerby outside Wellington zoo with a shoebox in tow. The child asked what he should do with the kiwi he had caught in his shoebox. The passerby asked to look at it. The lid was then removed to reveal a not-so-cuddly hedgehog.

Not kiwis

A kiwi?

Not a kiwi