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

A love of sport often starts young in New Zealand (click for image credit)

Do you read the back page of the paper before the front page? Do you take out a Sky TV subscription purely to watch the netball or the footie? Do you spend your weekends ferrying kids from one suburban playing field to another? Do you walk light-headed when the Black Caps actually win; and do you cross your fingers when the Silver Ferns are one goal in front of the Aussies?

If the answer to any of these questions is ‘yes’, then I am happy to say you are an unreconstructed sports fan. Welcome to the club. The entries we’ve published today, on Sport and society and Sports reporting and commentating, may help you to understand your obsession.  And if you are not a fan – even if you think of sport as war by another name – then hopefully these entries will allow you to find out where the disease that infects others, perhaps the men in your household, comes from.

Greg Ryan’s story on Sport and society focuses on participation in sport and explores the question of who played games at different times and why. He shows that factors such as ethnicity, gender, location in city or country, and economics are central to the story of sport. To take one example, many colonial sports were played for small amounts of prize money, and some of our earliest heroes such as Joe Scott, long-distance walker of the 1880s, were thoroughly professional (i.e. paid). Then the games ethic of the English public school arrived to elevate the amateur sportsperson. Working people could no longer earn a living from sport. Those who tried, such as the All Blacks who switched to league, were widely condemned. But in the world of the late 20th century, as television brought in huge revenues, the amateur ideal became increasingly anachronistic. Professional sport and new stadiums with corporate boxes arrived. Sport became big business, and people could make a fortune as sporting stars. Young working New Zealanders, especially Polynesian people, saw a future on the sports field.

Keith Quinn’s story on Sports reporting and commentating focuses more on the world inhabited by fans. The changing media – from newspapers, to telegraph, to radio, to television, to the internet – helped build up support for games. The media created heroes and villains, and turned sporting contests into high dramas. Arguably the strength of analysis and column inches devoted to sporting journalism in this country has exceeded that given over to politics. So this is a rich and engrossing story which features some fine television and radio clips.

These stories are but two of 49 on New Zealand sports and sporting codes which Te Ara will have published by the end of August. They have been great fun to prepare and the sports journalists and historians who have written them have done us proud. The entries will in effect provide New Zealand’s first sporting encyclopedia. So sports fans, enjoy the coming flood; and for those who consider sports either boring or socially dangerous, be warned!

Mervyn Thompson on the cover of the script of Coaltown blues (click for image credit)

Last week saw the welcome return to Wellington of Mervyn Thompson’s play Coaltown blues. The play, a one-person musical, was brilliantly performed by Chris Green, under the direction of Lindsey Rusling, with piano accompaniment by Sue Windsor.

Coaltown blues is a semi-autobiographical play following the birth, childhood and youth of a character called Mervyn Thompson in Blacktown, a small West Coast mining town. While the lead character bears the name of the playwright, the town of Blacktown is fictional. It is, however, largely based on the town of Rūnanga, where Thompson spent much of his childhood. Coaltown blues focuses on the economic and physical hardships endured by West Coast mining families, along with their socialist visions of a better world arising from those hardships.

In the play, each stage of the young Thompson’s life is set against wider historical events that make their mark on his family and town. His birth in 1935 is set against the election of the first Labour government, while further life stages are marked by the war in 1942, the end of the war on VJ Day in 1945, the defeat of the Labour government in 1949 and the miners’ strike in sympathy with the 1951 waterfront lockout.

A strong theme running through the play is that of the dangers and hardships of the miners’ lives. One section centres on the mining death of Stu Kennedy, a friend of Thompson’s father. Kennedy’s Roman Catholic funeral highlights the differences between the children of the ‘Mickey Doos’ (aka Mickey Doolans, meaning Catholics) and ‘Proddies’ (Protestants), but also emphasises the solidarity of the local union.

Thompson’s father, a staunch union man, has dreamed of a new utopia under the Labour government, but is instead disillusioned that Labour has led the country into war and has failed to prevent mining accidents. Thompson senior, who admires the Soviet Union’s war effort despite being a pacifist, is further disillusioned when Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser supports compulsory military training in 1949.

Despite his socialist idealism and supposed pacifism, Thompson’s father is dictatorial to his family and occasionally violent to both his wife and son. The struggle of women in mining families to cope with poverty, while bringing up large families and dealing with the everyday sexism of their men, is another theme running through the play. Unequal power struggles are as evident between Thompson’s mother and father as they are between the miners’ union and the state coal management.

Coaltown blues is not all grim social realism. Some aspects of Thompson’s childhood are presented as great fun, such as the VJ Day parade. There are also obvious times of family affection and closeness, but the abiding theme is the degrading nature of poverty, despite constant hard work. The vision of the past presented in Coaltown blues has no aspect of romance or nostalgia for the ‘good old days’. Small-town life is shown in its narrowness, with the school bullies persecuting anyone who shows signs of difference or weakness.

The fact that Blacktown is in some ways an atypical New Zealand town is only revealed to Thompson when he goes to work in Christchurch during the 1951 dispute. He is surprised to learn that, unlike Blacktown where people solidly support the unions, most Christchurch people appear to see the ‘strikers’ as Communist stirrers who should be crushed.

Thompson is portrayed as the sensitive youth who wants to escape from the confines of Blacktown and a future of life down the pit. He nevertheless gives in to his father’s insistence and becomes a miner. The irony is that Thompson finds he enjoys the miner’s life and the camaraderie he finds in the mines. The joys and struggles of the miner’s work, the strength of the union and the Blacktown way of life are all brought to an end, however, with the closing of the mine.

Coaltown blues was first performed in 1984 by the playwright himself, but the play soon became overshadowed by a controversy that arose around Thompson. The playwright was subjected to a vigilante attack after allegations of sexual assault were made against him. No legal case over the allegations was ever brought against Thompson, but performances of his plays, including Coaltown blues, became the subject of protest and bitter debate.

In a modern performance of Coaltown blues the play can be seen on its own merits, rather than as a framework to discuss the playwright’s personal behaviour. As Chris Green points out in the play’s programme, recent events such as the Pike River disaster have shown that the issues that Coaltown blues deals with continue to have strong relevance in the modern world.

Samoa

Afio mai, talofa lava. O le gagana e tasi e le lava.
Welcome. One language is never enough.

It is my personal shame that although I once spent a month walking round Upolo and Savai’i looking at Samoa’s wonderful churches, I have almost no knowledge of the Samoan language. This is despite the fact that it is the third most common language in New Zealand, after English and Māori. But this is Samoan language week, so I thought we should recognise the importance of Samoan culture to New Zealand and its place in Te Ara.

Te Ara has a major entry on Samoans, and has substantial coverage of Samoan history and experience in other stories such as the Pacific Islands and New Zealand, Pacific churches in New Zealand, Pacific Island health and South Pacific economic relations. There will also be extensive coverage in our forthcoming sections on sport and the creative arts.

Let’s focus on the entry on Samoans in New Zealand, which was the sixth most popular story in Te Ara last year (after History of immigration, Māori, Matariki, History and Gold and goldmining). It attracted about 40,000 visitors just to the text pages alone, not counting the accompanying images and media.

The story in those pages, written by Melani Anae, is not all comfortable reading for palagi New Zealanders. In the early years of New Zealand’s administration of Samoa there were a series of unfortunate and insensitive mistakes:

• The Talune, carrying people with influenza, was allowed to dock in Apia in 1918. The result was the deaths of one in five Samoans.
• On 28 December 1929 at least nine Samoans were shot dead by military police during a demonstration by the independence movement, the Mau.
• Samoan leaders were stripped of their titles.

Then, after Samoans had been attracted to New Zealand in the 1950s and 1960s to help provide labour for the growing industries of Auckland and Wellington, regulations on immigration visas began to be enforced as the economy soured, and in 1974 came the infamous dawn raids against overstayers. Our entry includes an image of the Reverend Mua Strickson-Pua who was forced to creep through the back streets of Auckland for fear of being seen by police or taunted by bystanders. A 1982 law that restricted New Zealand citizenship to those resident in New Zealand at that time is also a cause for continuing resentment and attracted 90,000 signatures calling for its repeal in 2003. Samoans in New Zealand continue to have comparatively higher levels of unemployment and lower incomes than other New Zealanders.

Yet there are also very positive stories about the Samoan people and New Zealand. It is a credit to this country that in 2002 the Prime Minister Helen Clark apologised formally for the early events. And the experience of Samoans in settling here is a fascinating example of a people who have been able to retain their own cultural traditions, especially their Christian faith and their commitment to the aiga (family), while entering proudly into New Zealand life.

Discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina – one of the many Samoans who have greatly enriched New Zealand's cultural and sporting life (click for image credit)

The last section of our entry on the Samoan contribution to New Zealand is a hugely impressive testament to the Samoan impact on our creative arts – literature, drama, comedy, dance, painting, sculpture – and their remarkable success in major New Zealand sports. The All Blacks, Silver Ferns and New Zealand’s Olympic Games teams would be very much poorer without the enormous contribution of the Samoan community.  Just think of some names of Samoans who have greatly enriched New Zealand’s cultural and sporting life - Michael Jones, Albert Wendt, Michel Tuffery, Oscar Kightley, Bernice Mene and Beatrice Faumuina.

The 1st of June (tomorrow) is Samoan Independence Day and our entry includes an image of the day being commemorated in Porirua in 1990. Below this image you’ll find eight enthusiastic comments from Samoan people. We hope that this year the day will be celebrated not merely in memory of independence 51 years ago, but also in recognition of the talent and richness the Samoan people have brought to this country. And for my part, I hope that Te Ara’s words about Samoan culture will continue to bring knowledge and pride to the Samoan community. We recall the Samoan proverb:

‘O fānau a manu e fafaga i fugālā’au, ‘ae ‘o fānau a tagata e fafaga i ‘upu,’ which means in English: ‘The offspring of birds are fed with flower nectar, but the children of men are nurtured with words.’

Peter Conway of the CTU speaks at Workers' Memorial Day

On Sunday 28 April I attended a ceremony at KiwiRail’s Lower Hutt railway workshops in Moera to mark Workers’ Memorial Day. The day is an international event to commemorate workers killed and injured on the job. While New Zealanders are reminded on Anzac Day of the heavy price our people have paid in war, many are unaware of the casualties resulting from simply earning a living. The release of the Report of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety on Tuesday 30 April has brought the issue of workplace safety sharply into focus.

According to the report, ‘there were on average 102 fatal work-related deaths [each year] between 2008 and 2010′. Each year around one in 10 New Zealand workers are harmed through an accident or work related activity. Between 500 to 800 people die prematurely each year through illnesses directly related to the workplace. These rates are high in comparison to those in many other OECD countries. (The report also acknowledges there are some problems with the reliability of data for workplace injuries in New Zealand.)

Five high-risk industries account for over half of workplace injuries and occupational illnesses: manufacturing, construction, agriculture, forestry and fisheries. These high-risk industries are notable for having high proportions of Māori and Pacific workers, and for often having higher numbers of males in their workforces.

New Zealand has a sombre history of industrial accidents. The most recent large-scale event was the Pike River disaster, with 29 workers dying in the mine explosion of 19 November 2010. Other major disasters have included:

• The Brunner mine disaster, 26 March 1896, with 65 deaths from gas following an explosion.
• Ralph’s mine explosion at Huntly, 12 September 1914, where 43 miners were killed.
• The Strongman mine disaster, 19 January 1967, with the deaths of 19 miners.
• The Christchurch Ballantyne’s fire, 18 November 1947. Forty-one dressmakers, milliners and clerical staff died, partly a result of inadequate fire-safety provisions.
• The many ship wrecks where crew have died on the job. These include the sinking of HMS Orpheus at the Manukau bar, Auckland, on 7 February 1863, with 189 naval personnel drowning.

The majority of New Zealand’s industrial deaths and injuries have been less dramatic, though equally tragic, involving individual workers going about their tasks. Workers in jobs such as demolition and sawmill work have developed illnesses from hazardous substances, including asbestos and dioxins. Historically, jobs such as labouring, factory and cleaning work have involved injuries from occupational over-use syndrome (OOS). In recent times the increase in keyboard-based computer work has brought further risks from OOS.

Workers’ Memorial Day is an international event held annually to remember the people behind the statistics. It commemorates those killed and injured at work, along with the families who must deal with the after effects. Memorial Day also draws attention to ongoing health and safety issues. The day was first held in Canada in 1984 and has since spread to many other countries. The date of 28 April was chosen as on that day in 1914 Ontario became the first province in Canada to introduce a workers’ compensation law.

In New Zealand Workers’ Memorial Day events are generally organised by unions, in particular the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU). This year memorial services were held at Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga/Mt Maunganui, Napier, Lower Hutt, Christchurch and Dunedin. The service in Auckland, organised by the CTU, focused on the 28 forestry workers who have been killed at work in the years since 2008.

A memorial to Jack Neha, a railway worker who was killed on the job in 1995

The ceremony at the Lower Hutt railway workshops included prayers, a moment of silence, and wreath-laying. There were addresses by speakers from the CTU and RMTU, a KiwiRail representative and by the local MP Chris Hipkins. Hazel Armstrong, a lawyer who has been involved for many years in workplace safety issues, spoke and launched her new book Your life for the job: New Zealand rail safety 1974–2000. Armstrong’s book looks closely at the period from 1995 to 2000, the years when 11 railway workers were killed. Armstrong argues that these casualties resulted from the extreme deregulation of the railways. It was appropriate that a highlight of the ceremony was the unveiling of a memorial to Jack Neha, a worker killed at the Gracefield shunting yards in 1995.

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.