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

Hedgehog day, when New Zealand hedgehogs wake up (courtesy of Bob Brockie)

Great news that Bob Brockie was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the recent Queen’s Birthday honours. Bob’s award is richly deserved for his eclectic achievements in science and cartooning. We celebrate especially because Bob is a long-term friend of Te Ara, writing three major biological entries in The Bush theme – Native plants and animals, Introduced animal pests and Weeds of the bush – as well as allowing us to use his cartoons to illustrate a variety of entries.

Bob is possibly unique in being a Te Ara contributor whose scientific work was quoted in Te Ara’s predecessor, the 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand. His PhD research on hedgehogs was then the definitive work on the subject and, almost 50 years later, he is still the acknowledged expert.

By training Bob is an ecologist, and he has mainly worked on the impact of introduced animals. In this video clip he illustrates the impact that possums have had on our native forests. As well as being an expert on possums and hedgehogs, he has an amazingly broad biological knowledge and has published scientific papers on topics as diverse as sparrows, magpies, starlings, mange mites and flax flowering patterns.

One of Bob’s most fascinating projects has been a study of road kill (animals hit by cars) throughout the North Island. Repeated surveys in 1984, 1999 and 2005 have shown dramatic changes – rabbit numbers rose, hedgehogs fell dramatically, and possum numbers rose and then declined. These results were analysed and written up in a scientific paper, but it is typical of Bob’s approach that he has repackaged the information in a number of articles so that the research results are available to a wide range of non-specialist readers.

Bob is probably best known to the general public for his regular weekly science columns in the Dominion Post, covering a wide range of topics, both local and international – the first page I look for in the paper every Monday morning. A selection of his articles were reprinted in The prehistoric boy-racer gene and other tales from modern science (Random House, 2003). One of the distinctive features of his columns is that he has forthright opinions and does not shy away from confronting non-scientific beliefs and practices that rarely get challenged in the media. Topics such as homeopathy, post-modern philosophy, iridology, organic ideology, Rudolf Steiner beliefs, alternative medicine, anti-fluoridation campaigns and the safety of genetically engineered products have come under his gaze, ensuring that readers get a critical evaluation of some of the unscientific ideas that float around.

Among his many other talents, Bob is an accomplished cartoonist, with enough self-confidence not to worry about milking sacred cows. He started providing cartoons for the Victoria University magazine Salient in 1953, and has been contributing a weekly cartoon to the National Business Review since 1975. While not a magazine I normally read, it was always a regular stop at the supermarket news stand to look up the latest Brockie cartoon. Sadly, the proprietors of the NBR seem to have got wind of this and have recently started wrapping their magazine in plastic.

Bob suggests what's going through the minds of All Blacks when the national anthem is sung (click for image credit)

Bob has been most generous in allowing Te Ara to use many of his cartoon as illustrations – and here is a selection of my favourites:

• buck-passing about leaky buildings
• pay equity
• All Blacks and the national anthem
• comparing qualifications.

Bob, we salute you as a scientist and social commentator, and look forward to more of your articles and cartoons.

Les Wright explaining some of the mining relics uncovered from excavations around the opencast mine near Reefton

It was a terrible shock to hear of the recent death of Les Wright in Pureora Forest. Les was an adopted West Coaster, and since his arrival there in 1973 he made an enormous contribution to heritage conservation through his broadcasting, writing and dedicated work behind the scenes.

When I was asked to write the regional entry on the West Coast for Te Ara about five years ago, a visit to Les was high on my priority list. I have happy memories of an afternoon spent in his home near Punakaiki as Les generously shared his experiences and answered questions while I scribbled notes.

When I asked him about distinctive West Coast artists he mentioned a number of contemporary names, then added that he had always had a soft spot for an almost unknown Czech photographer called Joseph Divis, who recorded life in mining towns in the early 20th century. I was enthralled by the images he showed me, and this was the start of a temporary obsession that was to dominate my life for about 18 months. I chased up Divis images and archives from Dunedin to Waihi. Throughout this period Les was constantly supportive through regular emails and long phone calls. When a book was eventually ready for publication Les declined to be included as a co-author, saying that he hadn’t written the text – but he had certainly provided much of the inspiration and background. We reached a compromise, with his name on the title page.

Les always had an interest in people and communities, especially mining towns. He was an excellent listener and oral historian, gathering memories from older residents who were overlooked by others. His books include accounts of the Rewanui settlement, the Powells of Charleston, the Big River quartz mine and most recently the short-lived mining settlement of Brighton. He also co-authored a history of cave exploration in New Zealand, which was an important resource for the Te Ara story on Caving.

Although Les had wide interests, the abandoned gold-mining town of Waiuta was particularly close to his heart, and he worked on different aspects of its history and conservation for over 30 years. He was a long-term supporter of the Friends of Waiuta, and had edited their newsletter since it started in 1985.

One of his recently published books, Our own fun: childhood memories of Waiuta is a delightful gem, and I know that it was a source of great satisfaction to him. It collects together memories of people who grew up in Waiuta and presents a composite view of childhood in an isolated mining town. Many of the contributors have now died, and their memories would have disappeared if Les had not painstakingly recorded their oral histories.

Les played an important role in the preservation of the West Coast’s mining heritage, but much of his work was behind the scenes. Among other things, he was a long-standing member of the West Coast Conservation Board and local file-keeper for site records for the Archaeological Association. For several years he produced West of the Alps, a local monthly tourist newspaper. In recent months he had been working on a mining heritage trail in the Nine Mile area north of Greymouth. His name was on many heritage or conservation plans for sites all over the West Coast as author, contributor or reviewer.

Les was often consulted about mining relicts uncovered during excavation of an opencast mine near Reefton. The mining company established a central site where relicts were deposited – nicknamed ‘Les’ Ironmongery’ – and he delighted in identifying and cataloguing pieces of rusty machinery. The photograph at the top of this post was taken while Les was showing a group some of the relicts that fascinated him.

Les Wright is mourned by his family and a wide circle of friends and colleagues. We remember someone with a passion for conservation and history who did so much to preserve and document the mining heritage of the West Coast.

This month the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is performing Orpheus in Rarohenga, a stunning modern choral work by local composer John Psathas, both in Wellington (Friday 10 May) and Auckland (Saturday 25 May).

Based on an epic poem by Robert Sullivan, combining European and Polynesian mythology, the work covers James Cook’s exploration of the Pacific, his death in Hawaii and his journey into Rarohenga, the underworld. Originally commissioned in 2002 for the 50th anniversary of the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, the work has previously had only a single performance.

John Psathas was little known a decade ago, but subsequently composed the music for the opening ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and is now recognised as a leading 21st-century composer on the international stage. The work is typical of Psathas, with a large percussion section, jazzy rhythms and a battery of drums depicting armed conflict. The Orpheus Choir is singing in both performances.

A billboard celebrating John Psathas, composer and Wellingtonian

When originally performed there were mutterings about the unflattering image of James Cook presented in Sullivan’s libretto. I am from a generation that was taught to believe in Cook’s virtues – that he was an exceptional navigator, treated his crew fairly and was responsible for the elimination of scurvy. Certainly Cook was regarded as humane in European eyes, but this was not the experience of native peoples as he travelled around the Pacific. While he preferred to negotiate for water and supplies rather than use force, his ships always carried a troop of marines armed with muskets, and Cook didn’t hesitate to use them if talking didn’t work, or if the ship or the crew were threatened.

Recent books such as Anne Salmond’s The trial of the cannibal dog and Joan Druett’s Tupaia paint a more realistic view of Cook’s impact on the communities he visited, both in terms of violence and the spread of disease. In 2013 Sullivan’s libretto is much more acceptable than it was a decade ago.

Te Papa currently has a large portrait of the Tahitian princess Poedua on display. Nicknamed the ‘Pacific Mona Lisa’, its romantic setting hides a darker side of how Cook ran his expeditions. While anchored off Raiatea two of Cook’s men deserted. He reacted quickly, abducting members of the local chief’s family and holding them hostage until the deserters were returned. Poedua was painted by John Webber while being held captive on board ship.

Near the end of his third voyage, Cook made landfall in Hawaii at Kealakekua Bay. He and his crew outstayed their welcome, and there were quarrels and pilfering by the Hawaiians. After one of the ship’s boats was taken, Cook tried to forcibly abduct a local leader as a hostage for its return. The landing party was overwhelmed, and Cook and four of the marines were killed. The events leading up to Cook’s death form the dramatic climax to Orpheus in Rarohenga.

There has long been debate about the best way to allocate funds for research. How much money should go to prosaic but essential tasks like maintaining the seismograph network compared to investigating new crops or the human impact of disasters? During the era of government reorganisation in the late 1980s it was decided that a simple solution would be to allocate all government funding for research by competitive bidding, undertaken annually. This led to a vast bureaucratic exercise over several months, involving a huge number of people and generating a mountain of paper.

While doing the research for an upcoming Te Ara entry on research organisations, I came across an article in the DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research) staff newsletter for March 1991, which brought back memories of my own experiences of this approach:

The photograph that accompanied the original article

Fighting the paper war

Co-ordinating this year’s Departmental bids to the Foundation was a monumental task in more ways than one. If stacked vertically the 105,000 pages would tower close to eight metres high. While this stack comprised 12 complete sets, the job of assembling the 239 individual programme bids was still a massive one.

Six Headquarters staff worked virtually full-time for three months to ensure the bids were delivered on time. An equivalent of fourteen months full-time work was accumulated by the six between October and February. And this was just the tip of the iceberg. Much of the preliminary work had been devolved to divisions this year. Photocopying costs alone, even at discounted nine cents per page, came close to $10,000.

The process of gathering all the bids began last September. David Johns, one of the co-ordinating team at Headquarters, said they had been trying to get it moving since May. The current 19 outputs had to be translated into 40 outputs for the 1991/92 round.

Assistant Director-General Dick Clarke supervised the process and had the job of reading through the almost 270 draft programme bids over the Christmas period. The revised bids were received by 23 January and delivered to Xerox, who worked flat out for four days to have them ready to meet the 31 January deadline. Results from the bids should be known in June.

The bidding exercise was supposed to demonstrate transparency and fairness in the allocation of government resources. The final result, faxed out as a single page list three months later, did not inspire much faith in the process, especially as behind-the-scenes negotiations over the next few weeks resulted in considerable modification. Twenty years later the funding allocation system is simplified, much of the funding is allocated on a medium to long-term basis, and it certainly generates less paper.

By the time research funding in the university system was reorganised in 2003, competitive bidding was quietly dropped. The Performance Based Research Fund (PBRF) operates on the basis of trying to reward the quality of research – another untested experiment, but one that is less agonising and time-wasting to the participants. It will be very interesting to see the results of the latest PBRF exercise as they are released over the next few weeks.

Kakepu, a volcanic cone in the Waikato valley, with Waipa Mission station to the right. Artist, Augustus Koch

Most historians of art are well aware of the major holdings of 19th-century paintings and photographs of the New Zealand landscape, which are generally well documented. Consequently, it is exciting to be able to publicise a hitherto unknown collection held by the descendants of Ferdinand von Hochstetter in Basel, Switzerland, that contains some works not previously seen by New Zealanders.

Hochstetter was only 29 when he arrived in Auckland in late 1858 as a scientist on the Austrian Novara expedition. He spent eight months in New Zealand, travelling around the Auckland and Nelson provinces with his compatriot Julius Haast, recording and documenting geological features. After his return to Vienna he published books, research papers and maps about New Zealand. Little was known about New Zealand geology before Hochstetter arrived, and he is widely regarded as the father of New Zealand geology.

Until recently most biographical information on Hochstetter has been from sources written in English, overlooking much historical data as Hochstetter and his colleagues, including Haast, generally corresponded in German. Recent research by Sascha Nolden, who has transcribed and translated letters and documents written in German, greatly extends our knowledge of Hochstetter’s work and influence. One of Nolden’s most exciting discoveries has been a large collection of paintings, photographs and maps held in Basel by Hochstetter’s descendants.

Hochstetter collected many images while he was in New Zealand in 1858–59, but he also corresponded regularly with Haast for the next 25 years, and encouraged Haast to send him photographs.

The discovery of the Hochstetter collection at Basel has led to the compilation of an illustrated catalogue by Sascha Nolden and his brother Sandy Nolden. So far two volumes have been published, the first covering paintings and sketches and the second photographs. An additional volume is planned, covering documents and maps. The catalogues include information about every image and biographical details about each artist and photographer.

A few of the paintings and sketches in volume 1 have already appeared in Travels of Hochstetter and Haast in New Zealand 1858–1860 by Mike Johnston and Sascha Nolden (Nikau Press 2011), which also includes some other new images unearthed by Nolden. But most of the 44 images are previously unseen by New Zealand eyes, and include paintings and sketches by H. M. L. Atcherley, C. F. Fischer, Julius von Haast, Charles Heaphy, John Kinder, Augustus Koch, Robert von Lendenfield and T. W. Triphook. Probably of most interest are 20 watercolours and pencil sketches by New Zealand explorer-artist Charles Heaphy, including views around Auckland, Coromandel, White Island, the Pink and White Terraces – and even one of Tara Makau village near Hokitika that Heaphy apparently presented to Hochstetter. One of my favourites in his group shows the detail on a large waka – labelled ‘Kriegscanoe (Vordertheil) in Taupo am Waitemata, Juni 1859′.

Prow of large decorated waka. Artist, Charles Heaphy

Other delights are 11 watercolours by Henry Atcherley of views ranging through New Zealand from Auckland to Dunedin. Dated 1885, they were apparently purchased as a gift when Haast and his wife visited Hochstetter’s widow in Vienna in 1886.

View of Shag Rock at Sumner, near Christchurch.'Artist, Henry Atcherley

The second volume, covering photographs, is double the size of volume 1, and includes photographs from all over New Zealand taken by 18 photographers as well as two groups that cannot be attributed.

Panoramic view of central Auckland in 1861. Photographer, J. N. Crombie

Landscape photography was in its developmental stage when Hochstetter visited New Zealand, and he was one of the first to engage a professional photographer (Bruno Hamel) to document his travels in the central North Island. Hamel’s photographs provide a unique record of Hochstetter’s travels, ranging from the mission stations he visited to the steaming cliffs around Lake Rotomahana and the Pink and White Terraces. Haast was keen to show Hochstetter new displays at the Canterbury Museum, and the collection includes images of reconstructed moas and mounted animals.

Display of mounted animals at Canterbury Museum, 1877. Photographer unknown

These two volumes make a major contribution to the knowledge of 19th-century landscapes, and the authors are to be congratulated on their thorough and dedicated work based on considerable scholarly research that underpins their work. Details of the books are given below:

Sascha Nolden and Sandy B Nolden. Hochstetter Collection Basel. Part 1 – New Zealand paintings and drawings. Auckland: Mente Corde Manu Press, 2011, 69 pages.

Sascha Nolden and Sandy B Nolden. Hochstetter Collection Basel. Part 2 – New Zealand photographs and prints. Auckland: Mente Corde Manu Press, 2012, 211 pages.

The publisher can be contacted at: mente.corde.manu@gmail.com.