KIWI TIME: AN OVERVIEW OF LIFE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD
Features covering everything from saving flightless birds to celebrating our first female pop icon - read and enjoy!
Being back “home” I thought I’d share a selection of fine local journalism that will provide all kinds of overviews - efforts underway to save indigenous birdlife, music that’s taken shape here, how the counterculture opened up creativity for hippies (if proving challenging for their children), the debilitating crystal meth plague that fuels gangs/crime/addiction crisis, loony libertarians in government, Bob Marley’s 1979 Auckland performance being a transformative event, our finest 60s pop icon, a maverick photographer… plenty of food for thought. And there’s some exceptional writing on offer. Enjoy these stories from the South seas.
SAVING NATIVE BIRDS FROM EXTINCTION
The kiwi, a flightless bird with poor sight who lays only one egg at a time, has long been NZ’s national emblem – and for even longer been threatened with extinction due to predators (cats, dogs, ferrets, stoats, rats etc) that were all brought here by humans: these islands were mammal free when the Maori first landed (they had dogs and rats with them), the lack of predators had led to a remarkable variety of bird life not needing to fly. Thus the moa – the largest bird ever recorded on earth – was flightless and became extinct due to overhunting by Maori. Other flightless birds that proved easy prey to Maori and their animals (especially rats, that feasted on eggs) also quickly became extinct. The arrival of Europeans, with many more predatory animals – cats-ferrets-stoats are all serial killers of birds – decimated the bird life, both flightless and those whose wings worked, leading to the extinction of indigenous ducks, pigeons, rails, bats, penguins, shags, bitterns, wrens, parakeets, owls and more, a holocaust of bird species.
Over recent decades there’s finally been proactive efforts by government and conservation organisations to protect and prioritise the surviving bird species. This fine feature details the predator eradication currently underway, one opposed by both cat lovers and those who believe all animals should be treated as household pets, no matter how feral.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/new-zealand-birds-invasive-predator-eradication
THE POLISH CHILDREN WHO ARRIVED DURING WW2
Aotearoa is a nation shaped by immigration: even the Polynesian people we know as Maori have likely lived here for no more than 700 years. Since Europeans started settling here at the dawn of the 19th Century, NZ has developed into a multicultural society with people from all corners of the world (although Stiff Records supremo Dave Robinson’s suggestion, when visiting with one of his artists in 1979, that NZ needed a 100,000 West Indian migrants to liven it up hasn’t yet been implemented). Anyway, at the schools I attended there were kids from all kinds of backgrounds – Yugoslavs, Polynesian, Irish, British, Maori, Dutch – and kids with Polish surnames. I never gave any thought to when their parents or grandparents might have arrived here.
Until, that is, I read this fascinating feature: during WW2, large numbers of unaccompanied Polish refugee children arrived in Aotearoa. I was aware of this only due to my cousin having married a man whose mother was one of these children. At a Xmas dinner I once found myself sat next to her, so asked if she had, like the Yugoslavs, come here in the 1950/60s. Instead, I learnt of an epic refugee journey largely involving Polish children during the height of WW2 – fleeing Poland due to the Nazi invasion, travelling through the Soviet Union into Siberia, then – once the Nazis and Soviets were now at war (as opposed to partners in partitioning Poland) - on to Persia (then a British colony). There they boarded ships all the way to the bottom of the world. These refugee children were settled in Pahiatua, a small town outside Wellington. She still spoke in a strong Polish accent and the experience had obviously been traumatic – so much so she became something of a nightmare mother-in-law to my cousin. Anyway, here’s the story of the ordeal she and other children (and some adults) fleeing the Nazi death machine endured. That these refugees then encountered some Kiwi xenophobes is depressing, if predictable.
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/homecoming/?t=51554_53813c06f41495caa04863ab28cd99bd&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nzgeo.com%2Fstories%2Fhomecoming%2F%3Ft%3D51554_53813c06f41495caa04863ab28cd99bd&utm_content&utm_campaign=The%20Weekender%20January%2020%202025
ANNE SALMOND ON WHEN LIBERTARIANS GAIN POWER
I’m guessing that many readers who don’t live in NZ will recall the nation having a much garlanded Prime Minster across the Covid pandemic named Jacinda Ardern. Jacinda – as she was often referred to – became an international sensation for her charm and compassion in the era of Trump1/Johnson. Unfortunately, her attention was often focused on photo-ops and soundbites, as opposed to dealing with a housing crisis and rising income inequality.
Ardern was hugely popular at home – for a time – but she overplayed lockdowns (regularly locking down Auckland, a city of 2 million that sprawls across a terrain equivalent to Greater London, whenever a teenager tested positive) so fired up a vocal minority of anti-vaxers and conspiracy idiots, while the general populace’s affection quickly curdled into resentment: Ardern went from our most popular PM to the one who attracted the greatest level of hatred/threats. She resigned in early 2023 and Labour lost the election that followed later that year. NZ’s MMP proportional representation system saw a coalition government take power based around the National Party (Kiwi Tories), NZ First (a protest party led by charismatic Maori MP Winston Peters – essentially, they’re against the modern world, especially immigrants), and ACT (a libertarian party founded by ex-Labour Party members in the 90s – weirdly, when David Lange was PM, he being the last internationally heralded Kiwi PM before Jacinda, he led a Labour Party who embraced extreme free market policies. When Lange finally woke up and smelt the coffee so put the brake on privatising everything, the neo-lib’ fanatics formed ACT… yes, we’re a nation of often over-enthusiasms for odd obsessions. I mean, Kiwis’ take the America’s Cup expensive yacht debacle as a serious national sporting endeavour...
Anyway, ACT are finally power sharing and their leader David Seymour is running rings around National’s head buffoon, talking of “equality” while poisoning the body politic. Here Anne Salmond – one of Aotearoa’s leading thinkers/academics - looks at the effect libertarians can have when given political power (in the US the tech bros led by Musk are less libertarian, more straight up fascists).
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/01/04/anne-salmond-hunger-games-in-the-beehive/
A CELEBRATION OF OTARA
The Polynesian suburb in south Auckland is loathed/feared by some but loved by others. Its where OMC – the Polynesian pop outfit that broke big worldwide in 96 with How Bizarre – hailed from (thus “Otara Millionaires Club” – wishful thinking at the time) and boxer David Tua (who rose to No 2 heavyweight in the 90s and knocked out many of his opponents). Its not on the NZ tourist map and many Kiwis would actively avoid Otara, but its a fascinating example of urban migrant cultural ferment.
https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2018/09/southside-rising/
JARED SAVAGE ON THE BIKER GANGS (& THEIR COHORTS) WHO DEAL IN METH+DEATH
Jared Savage specialises in writing on local crime, especially that committed by the 501s – the number given to criminals deported from Australia to NZ (similar to US deportations of Latin Americans, no matter how long they have lived in the US, for any crime). This started after I left NZ and has had a huge impact with Oz motorbike gangs setting up branches across NZ and dealing in crystal meth. An epidemic of addiction followed and, as Savage details, the dealers often acted as if living in a gangsta rap video: spending big on flash cars, bikes, boats, designer gear…). Here’s an interview with Savage as he discusses the phenomenon of Kiwi gangs and the meth trade.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/14-11-2023/i-dont-write-these-stories-to-scare-people-jared-savage-on-gangsters-paradise
& if you want to read an in-depth feature on how meth – referred to as “P” here (short for “pure” – never has there been a greater oxymoron in Kiwi speak) - took hold and has wreaked havoc here like no drug (or even alcohol and, yep, we have a booze problem) before then here’s an excellent piece from NZ Geographic (a world class publication):
https://www.nzgeo.com/stories/our-problem-with-p/
STEVE BRAUNIAS – OUR FINEST STYLIST ON KIWI LIT’ (& ACT...)
Steve Braunias is the drollest Kiwi writer going and one of the finest stylists in the English language today, his dry wit, great turn of phrase and sense of fun mean its always a pleasure to read him – he has written plenty of nonfiction books (my favourite is Civilisation: Twenty Places On The Edge Of The World), his affection for ordinary, everyday NZ making for very engaging profiles of those normally ignored. And he’s helluva funny: he once wrote a book chronicling how he ate at every fast food joint (taking reviewer notes as he did) on one particularly brutal stretch of West Auckland motorway. Here he’s a little more aggrieved: he interviewed the ACT MP who is the party’s arts spokesman: talk about treating creatives with scorn...
https://newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/29/acts-arts-spokesman-once-watched-a-musical/
On a different tip: here Braunias praises Miro Bilbrough’s memoir In The Time Of The Manaroans, on growing up on a hippie commune in the rural South Island. I read Manaroans and was enchanted, such an engaging, sometimes disturbing, tale of being a child amongst childish adults in a time when “dropping out” was still a possibility.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2020/09/16/book-of-the-week-once-were-hippies/
NICK BOLLINGER ON HOW THE COUNTERCULTURE SHOOK UP & OPENED UP NZ
Speaking of the Kiwi hippie counterculture, Nick Bollinger – a noted broadcaster and writer and authority on the music of these isles – has written a fascinating book, Jumping Sundays: The Rise and Fall of the Counterculture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Here he looks at how, from a very conservative society, new ways of thinking, living, making music and filmbecame possible. I interviewed Nick for The Guardian when Jumping Sundays was published and highly recommend this tome on how a social revolution (albeit a very flawed one) helped wake Aotearoa from its colonial slumber.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/24/those-stoner-days-were-hugely-liberating-kiwi-musicians-reflect-on-a-counterculture-like-no-other
MURRAY CAMMICK: PHOTOGRAPHER
Murray Cammick, whose best known here for founding/editing Rip It Up, the foremost Kiwi monthly music magazine in the 70/80s, is also a noted authority/DJ on soul/funk/disco (he used to be a part-time art teacher at my high school and I remember him telling us punk brats that, while Devo were “interesting”, it was Donna Summer who was really making “groundbreaking records”. Quite blew my tiny mind!)
These days Cammick is most celebrated as a photographer – I believe he took b&w photos both out of necessity (he couldn’t afford to hire snappers for RIU) and due to his own interest in portraiture (of musicians) and street photography: Kiwi guys with big cars being one of his specialties + the tribal rites of youths on Queen Street – Auckland’s downtown hub – on Friday nights in the 70s.
https://art-newzealand.com/153-cammick/
Being in Wellington as I write this, I found Murray has a photo exhibition called Gender ‘70s on at Photospace Gallery – it focuses on his photos of Maori/Polynesian trans youths who, back then when homosexuality was still illegal in NZ (repealed in 1986 – we were a provincial, conservative backwater…), found gathering on Queen Street a safe space. If you are reading this in and are in oe visiting the Wellington region then head along to Gender ‘70 – free entry, hanging until March 1st. Here’s a profile of Cammick’s photography by Chris Bourke from Art New Zealand, the nation’s long running and foremost visual arts magazine.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/nat-music/audio/2018690775/how-bob-marley-s-1979-western-springs-concert-changed-nz-music
BOB MARLEY’S 1979 WESTERN SPRINGS CONCERT
Reggae is, in many ways, the ruling sound in Kiwi popular music: Fat Freddy’s Drop have led the way in establishing a laidback, pop-soul influenced reggae groove internationally. This largely stems from Bob Marley’s one 1979 concert here. I was 15 at the time and crazy about punk and certain metal bands (AC/DC, Motorhead) so didn’t go along (to my eternal regret). Marley’s impact here was immediate – not long after the concert many of the Maori and Polynesian kids at my school, having been disco fans, started declaring themselves “Rastas”, with some even wearing tams (or “tea cosies” as we called them) to cover their afros (none grew dreads at the time).
Marley’s message of overcoming oppressors connected powerfully with the Maori community – he was given a pōwhiri,an official Maori welcome – alongside being interviewed for TV by leading local journalist Dylan Tate (an interview that’s often appeared in docs on Bob due to Tate asking intelligent questions and letting Marley speak his mind). Also: Murray Cammick shot fine photos of Bob in colonial Babylon.
Anyway, this fine piece – text and audio – covers the concert and his enduring influence. Trevor Reekie, who is the audio side of this feature, helms a superb RNZ show called Worlds Of Music, an excellent weekly gathering of different non-mainstream musicians from across the globe.
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AUDIO CULTURE: THE NOISY LIBRARY OF NEW ZEALAND MUSIC
Audio Culture is a government funded website that is designed to chronicle Kiwi music in all its myriad forms, from the earliest efforts to today’s rising talents. Its a remarkable online encyclopaedia – the Kiwi music Wikipedia – and edited by Chris Bourke, whose pedigree includes Blue Smoke, a huge (and beautiful) book on pre-rock/pop Kiwi music.
Audio Culture is free to access, so if you really want to deep dive into Flying Nun Records’ heyday or learn about Human Instinct and its hotshot guitarist Billy TK (“the Maori Hendrix”), or the violence that was enacted upon-and-by local punks, or why OMC were never heard of again after How Bizarre was an international hit, or the Otara rap scene that briefly blew up on Dawn Raid Entertainment at the start of this century, or Polynesian music making in Aotearoa over the 60/70s (when it was often considered local ‘exotica’), or learn about Trevor Reekie’s Pagan Records label etc, well, its all there for you. I’ve included a couple of tasters.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/herbs-whats-be-happen
HERBS: REGGAE PIONEERS
Herbs were the first Kiwi reggae band, formed in Auckland in 1979, inspired both by Bob Marley’s visit (which stands alongside The Beatles as the most influential international performance to take place on these shores) and the struggle for Maori land to be returned to the tangata whenua (“people of the land”) that sparked into major protests in the 1970s. Unlike many beat bands, who slavishly copied British Invasion bands, Herbs comprised mature musicians who came from a variety of backgrounds and ethnicities (Maori, Samoan, Tongan, Rarotongan, Pakeha) and, in Tony Fonoti, had a gifted, literate songwriter. Reggae was one of many influences and their debut album What’s Be Happen remains my favourite Kiwi LP. The songs are so distinctive, so well thought out, both meditative and angry, very reflective of being brown in Auckland in the ‘70s. Opening tune Azania (Soon Come) is a powerful anti-apartheid song, one predating The Specials and the rash of Mandela songs in the 80s.
Adam Gifford’s fine feature here is on the fledgling Herbs who made What’s Be Happen – the band lost Fonoti not long after this album, carrying on to considerable success, but never sounded so fresh or focused again. It gives an overview of a band who, through anger and sheer determination, made what was surely the first genuinely political Kiwi album.
- https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/riot-going-on
THERE’S A RIOT GOING ON!
One Friday afternoon in December 1984 I attended a free concert celebrating the start of the summer holidays in Aotea Square, downtown Auckland’s central gathering point. Amongst the popular local bands playing were Herbs – by now, with Fonoti gone, their more militant songs had been dropped – and The Mockers, a pop-rock outfit who had a large teenage following (and whose bassist, Geoff Hayden, remains a friend to this day). The headliners were DD Smash, a brash rock band whose boisterous sound had been shaped by playing in unruly Kiwi pubs.
The square was jammed with people on a humid, sticky day and I noticed things were beginning to get rough when, cutting out of Aotea Square to have a beer in a local pub, I saw a group of bogans (young men who liked to drink/drive V-8 cars/fight) were throwing cans and shit at cops. I thought they would be shut down quickly. Instead, with a power failure silencing the music, unrest spread and the concert was cancelled by order of the police. So began one of the biggest riots in Kiwi history. I – and the other concert goers – were soon being charged by baton-waving police.
Considering how NZ is sometimes viewed by outsiders as a peaceful paradise, I’ll note that Aotearoa has long had a history of everyday violence - both in pubs and on the streets and at home: the film Once Were Warriors captured the shocking domestic violence that tore one Maori family apart. This feature gives an idea of how easily Kiwi males can turn from having a good time to wanting to smash things (and people) up. Here Russell Brown looks at the most destructive/ controversial outing in Kiwi music history.
https://www.audioculture.co.nz/articles/dinah-lee-brings-the-bluebeat-home
KIWI POP QUEEN DINAH LEE
OK, here’s one of mine – the great Dinah Lee, the foremost Australasian female pop singer of the 1960s, lit up her era with her mod look and big voice. Her run of hits remain unmatched and 1964’s Do The Blue Beat is the first time Kiwis’ would attempt a Jamaican influenced music style - I wonder if the young Bob Marley would have approved?
Anyway, Dinah has lived a remarkable life and made hugely enjoyable music. Many recognised her talent back then - she was twice invited to appear on groundbreaking US TV music show Shindig, while Chris Blackwell signed her to Island Records in 1966, brought her to London and released a handful of now very collectable 45s – when they failed to break through she returned to Oz where she was (and is) extremely popular. Dinah’s still singing today and hers is an extraordinary story.
I hope something here proved interesting/entertaining/enlightening as reading material. Aotearoa has only 5 million people and is largely overlooked internationally – hobbits, Sauvignon Blanc and rugby being the few things we produce that are regularly noted by the wider world – but I’ve long believed that this beautiful, creative, frustrating land produces much of interest that deserves wider attention.
Dinah & I wish all Yak readers a big Blue Beat day.