Wild Land

Some Wellingtonians were woken on Armistice Day 2008 by a deep magnitude 4.0 earthquake which struck 30 km east of Seddon at 6:20 a.m. A nearby shallow magnitude 3.1 quake followed eleven minutes later.

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Two volumes of the century-old Cyclopedia of New Zealand have been published on the Internet.

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There is a small but growing group who feel that we should make ANZAC Day our national day, moving the emphasis away from Waitangi Day which has attracted so much protest in recent years.

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The best-known New Zealander of the 20th century, Sir Edmund Hillary, died at the age of 88 this morning, Friday 11th January 2008.

Best known for conquering the planet’s highest mountain Mt. Everest in 1953, Sir Ed, as he was known to New Zealanders, held a special place in the nation’s heart. He was a diplomat, philanthropist, adventurer, innovator, but most importantly one of us.

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The National Library of New Zealand has revamped its online collection of historical newspapers and will offer new features from early September.

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This website usually avoids political issues, there being plenty of other sites devoted to the activities of our politicians both inside and outside the debating chamber.

Nevertheless, the use of the phrase proroguing parliament in a newspaper from 1890 caught my eye recently and led me to discover two issues of the day which have a modern complement.

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“Well, my friend, there’ll be a few windscreen wetters around Auckland today but otherwise some long fine periods for those who want to prune the roses.”

Just two of the “Augie-isms” that added colour to weather talk in New Zealand in recent years, but will no longer be heard following the death of Professor Augie Auer at a family gathering in Melbourne, Australia, last night.

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“It was a busy week in the Waikato, wasn’t it Libby? On Monday there was…”

Like an arm sweeping flotsam and jetsam from a desktop, Henare Te Ua would sweep the formalities of the opening theme for his weekly programme Whenua on National Radio aside and launch into an hour of korero on matters Maori.

The veteran broadcaster, who died yesterday, was best-known for Whenua which ran for 7½ years on National Radio, with co-host Libby Hakaraia and, latterly, Alma Ma Ua.

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The perversity of the weather usually makes an early start to get to a dawn parade on ANZAC Day an uncomfortable one. But this year’s Indian summer has changed that with dry weather in the North Island and the upper two thirds of the South Island encouraging good turnouts for the dawn commemorative services.

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No-one has ever called me Cyclops (at least within my hearing), so I feel confident in saying that Wellington is a cracker place in which to live, knowing how impartial my judgement can be in such matters. Steep house-clad hills snuggled around a stunningly beautiful harbour, a compact city centre, good public transport, a vibrant arts scene, an active social lifestyle of pubs and cafes, a melting pot of people from all over the planet … the list goes on.

We even have nice weather … sometimes.

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Last Monday’s funeral for Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu was one of those moments in time that make some of us focus on the passage of something we should have paid more attention to.

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The town of Tolaga Bay on the North Island’s eastern coast, north of Gisborne, is well-known as the home of a marvel of early 20th century engineering – its lengthy wharf.

Tolaga, as it is known to locals, is also unusual in another respect – its name.

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Many people presume that a company that has its name enter into common usage would think that it had died and gone to heaven.

To a certain extent this is true, as brand recognition is a key component of advertising and promotional campaigns. However, there is a point at which common use of a company’s name can be come a liability.

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The recent public announcement that Mt Taranaki (Egmont) is expected to erupt within the next 50 years marks a sea-change for New Zealand’s geological scientists.

The announcement was made following a symposium at Massey University in Palmerston North where scientists discussed the effects that such an eruption would have on infrastructure and the economy. Mark Bebbington, of the Institute of Information Sciences and Technology at Massey’s Palmerston North campus, was specific in making the projection based on the volcano’s eruptive history.

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Though uncomfortable, it somehow seems fitting that the one day we set aside for remembering the work of our servicemen and women falls during autumn. ANZAC Day is often wet and windy and attendance at the dawn services around the country usually means wrapping up against the weather.

Early reports are that attendances are again up this year, with an estimated 3,000 turning up at the cenotaph in Wanganui.

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