News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Pioneer Croatian Settlers in New Zealand

Pioneer Croatian Settlers in New Zealand

Historian and author Kaye Dragicevich has been extensively researching the Far North of New Zealand, the area where a large number of pioneering families came from Croatia in search of a better life over…

Happy Sad Grant Trebilco Opens Up in New Film

Happy Sad Grant Trebilco Opens Up in New Film

New Zealand-born Grant Trebilco, who lives in Bondi, is one of the five subjects of Melbourne director Genevieve Bailey’s feature film Happy Sad Man, which investigates how men, who represent 75 per cent of…

Activist Richard McLachlan Talks Tough on Climate

Activist Richard McLachlan Talks Tough on Climate

Since June, activist New Zealander Richard McLachlan, 68, regularly gives talks on the New York subway, warning riders “we are sleepwalking into a catastrophe”. McLachlan is a member of Extinction Rebellion, an environmental action…

New Zealand the Small Country that Keeps on Top

New Zealand the Small Country that Keeps on Top

For a country with a population under five million, its prowess on the sporting stage has always appeared to be disproportionate, James Master writes for CNN. Olympic champions in rowing, sailing, canoeing, home of…

New Zealander Subject of UK Mental Health Exhibit

New Zealander Subject of UK Mental Health Exhibit

The Museum of Lost and Found Potential launches in London this week, marking World Mental Health Day with an exhibition that hopes to encourage empathy, action and even anger by showing what mental illness…

Chit-Chat Flows Easily in NZ but Does It in Europe?

Chit-Chat Flows Easily in NZ but Does It in Europe?

“In New Zealand, small talk flows so easily, a ceaseless background banter you become inured to and engage in unthinkingly. And it often goes so much deeper than exchanging shallow pleasantries,” Guardian journalist Eleanor…

Anniversary of Cook’s Arrival Marked with Debate

Anniversary of Cook’s Arrival Marked with Debate

The British government have expressed “regret” that explorers killed some of the first Māori they met 250 years ago but stopped short of issuing a full apology. British High Commissioner Laura Clarke met Māori tribal…

Why Ihumātao Truly is a Piece of New Zealand’s Soul

Why Ihumātao Truly is a Piece of New Zealand’s Soul

“In a city that has destroyed or forgotten most of its past, fragments of Auckland’s deep histories still survive at Ihumātao,” history curator at the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira Lucy Mackintosh…

Helen Clark Lays Out Her Reasons for Legalising It

Helen Clark Lays Out Her Reasons for Legalising It

In an opinion piece for the UK’s Guardian newspaper, former prime minister and member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy Helen Clark explains why a ‘yes’ in next year’s referendum is a vote…

Haere Ra Petera. Open Letter to Mr Craig Little, Mayor of Wairoa, and his Hawke’s Bay fellows.

Haere Ra Petera. Open Letter to Mr Craig Little, Mayor of Wairoa, and his Hawke’s Bay fellows.

Dear Matua Craig,   Late last evening I stood at the hospital bedside of my young Hawke’s Bay Black Power brother Petera Smith. He was in a coma and on life support. I whispered my nickname…

Herbs And Freedom Songs For The New Revolution

Herbs And Freedom Songs For The New Revolution

I’ve just returned from a full-on weekend in Auckland. I originally come from Timaru. My father used to say, on learning that I’d been in that city, “Did you call in on your aunt…

England’s Ben Stokes Nominated for NZer of the Year

England’s Ben Stokes Nominated for NZer of the Year

Christchurch-born Ben Stokes, 28, is already receiving award nominations for his match-winning role in England’s Cricket World Cup win – but not from who you would expect, BBC Sport reports. Despite breaking New Zealand’s heart…

New Zealanders Turn over Their Guns

New Zealanders Turn over Their Guns

The first of more than 250 planned gun collections across New Zealand has been held in Christchurch. The buyback scheme was introduced after March mosque attacks in which 51 Muslim worshippers were killed, Deutsche…

New Zealand Ramps up Plans to Purge All Pests

New Zealand Ramps up Plans to Purge All Pests

There are strains on New Zealand’s environment. In this corner of the South Pacific, waterways are increasingly polluted and, from the suburbs to the alpine peaks, an untold army of feral pests is running…

Stephen Hall Celebrates Manglish with New Book

Stephen Hall Celebrates Manglish with New Book

New Zealand-born linguist Dr Stephen Hall and his English language specialist wife Dr Lee Su Kim have teamed up to record a very unique number of colloquialisms in their latest book Manglish: Malaysian English…

Treat Auckland Gun Violence as Contagion, Phil.

Treat Auckland Gun Violence as Contagion, Phil.

Mayor Phil Goff is correct that the dislocation of expelled, Australian-raised, criminally minded, New Zealanders, back to Aotearoa has acted as a violent force majeure on already marginalized communities of the poor, particularly in…

Fighting the Darkest Corners of the Web

Fighting the Darkest Corners of the Web

New Zealand has worked hard to keep the name of the man charged with killing 51 Muslims in Christchurch, out of the news, and to restrict the spread online of the hateful ideology he…

Emma Rigby First New Zealander to Win UK Award

Emma Rigby First New Zealander to Win UK Award

Rotorua woman Emma Rigby, 41, has become the first ever New Zealander to receive the British Citizens Award, which she was presented with at the Palace of Westminster in London last week, Stuff reports. The award…

New Zealand Gave a Home and Hope to Abbas Nazari

New Zealand Gave a Home and Hope to Abbas Nazari

Abbas Nazari was stranded on a ship in the Indian Ocean when he first heard the words “New Zealand”, Dunedin-based journalist Eleanor Ainge Roy writes for UK newspaper, The Guardian. Then aged seven, Nazari’s mother,…

Alan Wendt on Job as PM’s Sign Language Interpreter

Alan Wendt on Job as PM’s Sign Language Interpreter

Alan Wendt is the first interpreter to be regularly employed by a New Zealand prime minister – and he has had a busy year, according to Dunedin-based journalist Eleanor Ainge Roy, who interviews Wendt…

Coffin Clubs Take Sting out of Death

Coffin Clubs Take Sting out of Death

Across New Zealand, a country of almost 5 million, five major groups like the one Judith Aitken joined in Hastings have sprung up in recent years for people wanting to build and customise their…

World’s First Māori Woman Bishop Elected

World’s First Māori Woman Bishop Elected

The Archbishops of the Anglican Church in New Zealand have elected the world’s first Māori woman Bishop, Radio New Zealand reports. Archdeacon Waitohiariki Quayle has been appointed Bishop of Te Ūpoko o Te Ika. She…

New Zealand Has World’s Sexiest Accent

New Zealand Has World’s Sexiest Accent

Big 7, a travel website aimed at millennials, conducted a survey among their readers and ranked 50 accents from around the world depending on how sexy they are perceived to be. The New Zealand…

Campaigners Demand Justice for Blair Peach

Campaigners Demand Justice for Blair Peach

Campaigners are demanding a fresh inquiry into the death of New Zealand-born protester Blair Peach during a demonstration held to prevent the National Front (NF) holding a meeting in Southall, west London, 40 years…

National Geographic Features the Whanganui River

National Geographic Features the Whanganui River

Swelled by myriad tributaries, the Whanganui River twists like an eel through mountainous country – part of it a national park – on its 289-km journey to the sea, reports Kennedy Warne, New…

Prince William Embodies Diana During Emotional Visit to NZ

Prince William Embodies Diana During Emotional Visit to NZ

The Duke of Cambridge was in New Zealand for a two-day tour to meet survivors of the Christchurch terrorist attacks that killed 50 people last month, and travelled to Auckland for ANZAC Day commemorations. “The…

New Zealanders Flock to Live in the Regions

New Zealanders Flock to Live in the Regions

Auckland is the seventh most expensive city in the world to buy a home, and all three of New Zealand’s major cities are considered “severely unaffordable” by the latest Demographia international housing affordability survey….

Oprah Hails Jacinda Ardern’s Response to Tragedy

Oprah Hails Jacinda Ardern’s Response to Tragedy

Many have praised New Zealand’s prime minister’s compassionate leadership following a terror attack that killed at least 50 worshippers at a mosque in Christchurch in March. Among those who lauded Jacinda Ardern’s response to…

Rugby Australia’s Raelene Castle on Equality

Rugby Australia’s Raelene Castle on Equality

In a perfect world there would be no need for this conversation and the role women play in sport would not be addressed as a separate issue, “but we’re still about 10 years away…

Jacinda Ardern One of World’s Greatest Leaders

Jacinda Ardern One of World’s Greatest Leaders

The Fortune magazine’s sixth annual leaders list “is the home of the brave”. “These thinkers, speakers, and doers make bold choices and take big risks – and…

Egg Shortage as Farmers Scramble to Go Free-Range

Egg Shortage as Farmers Scramble to Go Free-Range

New Zealand is in the grip of an egg shortage as the industry undergoes a massive period of disruption while it transitions to free-range farming. The Guardian reports. The shortage has also been caused by…

Becoming Colleen Young Transcends Gender

Becoming Colleen Young Transcends Gender

Hastings-born Colleen Young lived a clandestine life for 82 years, constantly fearful that what she called her “problem” would be exposed. Shoes were her “safe place” and where she could be herself, even as…

Six Kiwis Make Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2019

Six Kiwis Make Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2019

“For the fourth year in a row, our team at Forbes Asia has been scouting the Asia-Pacific region in search for 300 outstanding individuals to highlight in the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia…

Auckland Gets More People on Its Buses

Auckland Gets More People on Its Buses

“Cities across the world are struggling to tempt people out of their cars and onto transit, but Auckland has reversed the trend by creating a really, really good bus network for very little money.” Fast…

New Zealand’s Engaged Diaspora an Asset

New Zealand’s Engaged Diaspora an Asset

The number of New Zealanders scattered around the globe is massive. Back in 1999 Brian Sweeney, founder of nzedge.com which originated the idea of a Kiwi Diaspora, put the number at one million of…

Salam Alaikum. Patience Required

Salam Alaikum. Patience Required

Salaam Alaikum. Peace be upon us all. Aotearoa is experiencing an extended tangi. Like any such event emotions ebb and flow, sneak up on you, get you when you are not looking. A frightening…

New Zealand Mourns

New Zealand Mourns

“We’re a long way from anyplace, and that’s the point of New Zealand: We like it like that. We’re lucky here. We’re out of the picture. We’re too distant and obscure for terror cells…

Sale of Portable Cabins Booms in NZ Amid Housing Crisis

Sale of Portable Cabins Booms in NZ Amid Housing Crisis

“The sale of portable cabins is booming in New Zealand, where a housing crisis means hundreds of thousands of Kiwis can no longer afford a home or even a rental.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports…

Level Playing Field is a Myth Says Academic

Level Playing Field is a Myth Says Academic

“Those who argue that women with differences of sexual development and transgender should not be allowed to compete in women’s sports usually claim that their testosterone levels and different muscle-to-fat ratios give them an…

NZ Marks Eighth Anniversary of Christchurch Quake

NZ Marks Eighth Anniversary of Christchurch Quake

The city of Christchurch has marked the eighth anniversary of an earthquake that killed 185 people and caused extensive damage from which the city is still recovering. Of the victims, 115 people were killed when…

New Zealand’s Sacred Mermaid Pools Closed Indefinitely

New Zealand’s Sacred Mermaid Pools Closed Indefinitely

“Picturesque Mermaid Pools in Matapouri in New Zealand have been closed indefinitely after human waste and litter were repeatedly found at the sacred Māori site, Joanna Whitehead reports for The Independent. “The failure to…

Mike King Named 2019 New Zealander of the Year

Mike King Named 2019 New Zealander of the Year

“Mental health advocate Mike King has been named Kiwibank 2019 New Zealander of the Year.” Charlotte Carter reports for Stuff.co.nz. “His determination to shine a light on the effects and impacts of mental…

Audette Exel’s Adara Group Celebrates a Milestone

Audette Exel’s Adara Group Celebrates a Milestone

Established in Bermuda in 1998, The Adara Group is the brainchild of former Bermuda Commercial Bank managing director, New Zealander Audette Exel, whose business acumen and passion for social justice has raised millions of…

Harness Power of Pessimism says André Spicer

Harness Power of Pessimism says André Spicer

“Early on New Year’s Day, I began scrolling through the messages people had left on social media,” New Zealand author and educator André Spicer writes in an opinion piece for the Guardian. “Usually you…

NZ Brings First Fake Mānuka Honey Prosecution

NZ Brings First Fake Mānuka Honey Prosecution

In the first case of its kind, a mānuka honey company is being prosecuted by New Zealand’s food safety agency over claims it added artificial chemicals to its product, including one commonly used in…

Hot Air from Australia Causes NZ Heatwave

Hot Air from Australia Causes NZ Heatwave

“Hot air from Australia has helped to produce scorching temperatures for many parts of New Zealand this week” with parts of Hawke’s Bay and Richmond in the Nelson area topping “the scale at 35…

From Practising Law in Dublin to Yoga in Auckland

From Practising Law in Dublin to Yoga in Auckland

Each week, Irish Times Abroad meets an Irish person working in an interesting job overseas. Lawyer and yoga teacher Paul Gillick shares his experience of moving to Auckland with his New Zealand-born wife where…

No Worries for Swiss Family in New Zealand

No Worries for Swiss Family in New Zealand

Even though she’d never been here before, Eva Hefti took the chance and moved with her family to New Zealand. Her husband had found a job in Northland which, due to the shorter working…

Father and Doctor Matt Widdowson on Parenting

Father and Doctor Matt Widdowson on Parenting

The overwhelming concern of most new parents after they get home from the maternity hospital is will they be able to keep their tiny infant alive, The Irish Times reports. It’s no wonder that…

NZ Winemaker Begins Solo Atlantic Crossing

NZ Winemaker Begins Solo Atlantic Crossing

26-year-old New Zealand winemaker Isaac Giesen, has just embarked on a roughly 3,000-mile journey, from the Canary Islands to Antigua. The “solo crossing is a feat accomplished by fewer people than have climbed Mount…

New Research Explores How Olympic Games Have Shaped NZ Identity

New Research Explores How Olympic Games Have Shaped NZ Identity

As part of his doctoral thesis, Victoria University of Wellington graduate Micheal Warren explored “the contribution New Zealand’s participation in the Olympic Games has made to national identity.” Phys.org reports. “Micheal…

NZ Study Confirms Environmental Benefits of Building Cycleways

NZ Study Confirms Environmental Benefits of Building Cycleways

“A new study by researchers from the University of Otago, Wellington and Victoria University has confirmed that building cycleways benefits the planet because swapping four wheels for two leads to a reduction in carbon…

NZ Researchers Argue James Bond Has Drinking Problem

NZ Researchers Argue James Bond Has Drinking Problem

Researchers from New Zealand’s University of Otago and the UK’s University of Oxford “have published a study in the Medical Journal of Australia’s Christmas issue which they say proves that Ian Fleming’s fictional character…

NZ Leader Grieves For Murdered Tourist

NZ Leader Grieves For Murdered Tourist

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has offered apologies to the family of 22-year-old Grace Millane, after “the young woman’s sudden disappearance morphed into a murder investigation that has gripped this island nation of…

Spanish Culture Permeates Our Own

Spanish Culture Permeates Our Own

The presence of a three month-long film festival prompts the question: Are there tangible traces of Spanish culture in New Zealand? The 17th annual Latin American and Spain Film Festival is touring New Zealand, and…

Kelvin Davis on Mission to Keep Māori Out of Prison

Kelvin Davis on Mission to Keep Māori Out of Prison

Kelvin Davis describes himself as a member of “the most incarcerated tribe in the world”. The former teacher grew up in New Zealand’s deprived Northland region and has seen childhood friends, schoolmates and relatives…