Lifetime of History
Dunedin historian Hew Mcleod, world-renowned for his work researching Sikh history, has died aged 77. McLeod first travelled to Punjab in 1958 as a Christian missionary. Soon after settling down in Batala, 40km from…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Best in show
Rural New Zealand is explored by Canadian freelance journalist Judy Schultz who stumbles upon a Pukekohe A&P show, explores the historic community of Waiuku and samples local wares at Awhitu Country Market in Matakawau….
Roberts Honoured
nzedge.com co-founder and Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Worldwide, Kevin Roberts, received an honorary degree of Doctorate of Laws at a colorful ceremony at Lancaster University on 16 July. The honorary degree was awarded for “contributions…
Charismatic Leader
Chief executive of New Zealand’s national museum, Te Papa, Dr Seddon Bennington, 61, died on July 15 tramping in the Tararua Ranges, a sight Dr Bennington admired from his office window, “frequently think of…
This is really a dog
Gisborne dog owner Cheryl McKnight believes her 6-month-old Maltese puppy Scooter, which stands at just 8cm tall, is a Guinness World Record potential for the smallest dog by height. McKnight says he hasn’t grown…
Cheap but cheerful
New Zealand tourists are among the most fiscally tight travelers in the world according to a survey by online travel company Expedia, who asked more than 4,500 hoteliers around the globe their opinions on…
Leading from the Front
Lieutenant Colonel Jeremy Ramsden, has become the first New Zealander to be awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal at a special ceremony recently in Brussels, Belgium. The award was presented NATO Secretary-General His Excellency…
Bet on the Baa Blacks
The town of Methven (population 1200) recently hosted a sheep-race, which saw two teams of eight “professionally trained” sheep speed round the local pub and over barrels at speeds of over 40kmp/h. Organiser and…
Bedroom Dealings
Westport couple Wayne Saggers and Kathy Wahrlich sold their bed and threw in six-bedroom historic Stone House in an online auction on TradeMe for $302,600 to an Aucklander named, Mike. The package, which had…
Online generation bridge
Auckland City Libraries and the New Zealand Chinese Association Auckland Inc. have joined forces to develop the first New Zealand Chinese digital communities website, which will be launched at the Rising Dragons, Soaring Bananas…
True Colours
The oldest moa feathers yet discovered and their DNA are providing New Zealand and Australian scientists with clues to the plumage of the giant bird – perhaps not unlike a giant chicken and speckled…
By Hook or by Hudson
Christchurch car enthusiasts Tony and Lynnette Mallard are touring the United States in a 1934 Hudson making their way toward the Detroit suburb of Pontiac and the 100th anniversary celebration of the Hudson Motor…
Moral repatriation
More than a dozen mummified Maori heads could be returned to New Zealand once a French bill is approved by the Senate in Paris. “The Maori heads that are still dispersed in European and…
Antipodeans reminisce
New Zealanders flocked to London’s Clapham Common to celebrate all things pineapple lump and barbeque over music and sauvignon at the three-day Toast festival. The welcome ceremony was hosted by former All Black Zinzan…
Lover of Words Passes
Respected literary scholar and Professor Terry Sturm, who played a leading role in placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum and was awarded a CBE in recognition of his services…
Being a Sport
When interacting with New Zealanders “bone up” on the intricacies of how rugby and cricket are played, expect the dialogue to be frank yet friendly, and don’t broach topics like religion, the nuclear arms…
Arrivals Soar
New Zealand saw the number of Australian tourists exceed the one million mark for the first time and the total annual immigration increase to a two year high, Statistics New Zealand has reported. The…
With Gratitude
Thanks be to New Zealand for giving the UK butter and for the might of Sir Keith Park writes The Financial Times’ Miss Moneypenny. “New Zealand’s dairy farmers deserve support for coming to the…
Taking the mickey
The Age finds literal mirth in New Zealand’s “quirky” place names travelling from the North Island town of Waipu, through several of the “whaka-” and on to Shag River, Pigroot and Cape Foulwind. “Also…
Goodbye on the Ganga
Auckland yoga instructor Karla Brodie bid farewell to her husband Mitchell Samuels on the Ganga River, Varanasi in what The Times of India described as a “poignant meeting of the East and…
Cheerful Change
New Zealand is home to some very happy British expatriates according to a NatWest International survey of 2,000 Britons living abroad. And though a long way to go to start a new life, workers…
Pests Busted
Orchard worker Don Sullivan and a team of 30 trappers have been awarded the Forest & Bird annual Pestbuster prize for their work in nabbing 530 pests over the last year in four forested…
Small But Mighty
The New Zealand Defence Force is reviewed by military publication Jane’s which describes the Force as “always attempting to perform on the world stage at a level that belies the size of its defence…
Investing in Breath
Roger Dickie New Zealand Ltd is offering investors shares in Onslow Carbon Forest, an established Douglas-fir forest east of the township of Roxburgh for $25,000 allowing investors the potential to earn carbon credits, and…
It’s All Turned Sour
Federated Farmers President Don Nicolson has lashed out against President Barack Obama and US milk subsidies in an opinion piece for the latest issue of The Wall Street Journal. Nicolson vented his frustrations in…
Historic battle concludes
David Bain, 37, now a free man “who served almost 13 years in prison for murdering his family, has been cleared after a retrial that was only secured by an appeal to the Privy…
Sheep jokes abate
Trans-Tasman relationships have warmed in recent times with Australia becoming “far more inclusive” of New Zealand, “no longer pretending we’re not really here” according to the head of the New Zealand Australia Research Centre…
Spreading the word
New Zealand is the most peaceful country in the world and Americans might want to consider moving here suggests The Washington Post. According to the 2009 Global Peace Index released by an Australian-based research…
Madcap genius
What were the 1949 “leading thinkers at the London School of Economics” to make of New Zealand inventor Bill Phillips’ hydraulic water system used to predict the economy, wonders New York Times’ columnist Steven…
On Women in Yemen
Former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley has been in Yemen lecturing in a workshop promoting local women’s political participation with a special emphasis on New Zealand women and their role in decision making and development…
Goats the New Carrot
Peter Wilkins of Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand launched an advertising ploy to increase sales of the Mitsubishi Triton with the promise of a goat. Buy a Triton — win a goat! Goats improved farm…
Identity Theft
A Fiordland kea made off with a Scottish tourist’s passport when the man’s tour bus driver opened the luggage compartment of the vehicle. The passport has not been recovered and, given the 4,600 square…
With breath for peace
Richard Nunns, an authority on Maori traditional instruments or taonga puoro, performed the Gillian Whitehead composed “Hineputehue” at Luther College, Minnesota with the New Zealand String Quartet last month. Dunedin based Whitehead wrote “Hineputehue”…
Pip’s Poster Power
Royal New Zealand Navy Lieutenant Commander Pip Gibbons was one of four UN peacekeepers featured on a poster to promote the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers on May 29. Lt Cdr Gibbons recently…
Mailbox Manoeuvres
Palmerston North City Council has removed the number 13 from its street addresses, jumping from 11 to 15 so triskaidekaphobics, or those who fear the number 13, will still buy homes at that number….
Safe Haven for Seals
Kaikoura is the first place in New Zealand, and the second in the world, to be Green Globe benchmarked, an international benchmarking and certification program developed for the travel industry in 1992. Kaikoura was…
Tot Takes a Punt
Stanmore Bay three-year-old Pipi Quinlan purchased a full-size excavating digger on auction site TradeMe for $20,000 while the rest of his family slept. “The first I knew of it was when I came down…
Not Much on Television
Birth rates in New Zealand are the highest since 1991 with the average number per woman at 2.2 births. In the 12 months to March 31 this year, 64,160 babies were born Statistics New…
Adieu to a Comedienne
Opera singer Heather Begg, a mezzo-soprano who last month was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, has died in New South Wales, aged 76. Begg was the first person…
Great Balls of Fire
The traditional Maori performance art of poi, now popular with flame on beaches and at festivals throughout the world, is taking off as a form of exercise in Hollywood with classes available at two…
Rotten Rants on Butter
Former Sex Pistol John Lydon is reminding British dairy consumers that “Anchor’s From New Zealand!” preferring UK-produced Country Life butter. Lydon is stirring up trouble with his straplines in an advertisement that attacks the…
For a Worthy Cause
New Zealand-born actress, director and producer Anna Wilding has launched a new charity that aims to fill an overlooked gap in the charity and not-for-profit marketplace. The Wilding Foundation awards scholarships to those…
Park’s Plinth Secured
Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Park will grace the fourth plinth for six months in London’s Trafalgar Square, after the Westminster City Council agreed to erecting a statue of the Battle of Britain commander….
Fatter But Happier
New Zealand men are a little shorter than the Organisation for Economic Co-operation Development average and New Zealand women are quite a bit shorter according to the latest report from the Organization, a report…
Surprising Fruit
A feijoa shaped like New Zealand’s national bird, the kiwi has been bought by a Christchurch businessman for $1000 who says he will preserve the quirky fruit. Auckland woman Shavon Green found the freak-of-nature…
Icy Developments
Victoria University glaciologist Dr Andrew Mackintosh has released findings of a study which shows that southern hemisphere glaciers evolve quite differently to those in the north. “Don’t assume that warming will be uniform over…
Together for more
Unite is New Zealand’s newest union representing young service sector employees in the fast-food industry, call centres, hotels and the postal service. The Unite union’s barnstorming approach has organised thousands of them, led strikes…
Tree Gods Unite
A ceremony to form a “sister-tree relationship” between Waipoua Forest’s Tane Mahuta and an ancient Japanese cedar tree located on Yakushima Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, was held this month at the base…
Leading negotiant
New Zealand’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dr David Walker has been appointed as the new Chair of the WTO Doha Round Agriculture Negotiations. Walker replaces fellow New Zealander Crawford Falconer, who…
Eskimo furore
The humble Eskimo lolly will remain on New Zealand shelves though lambasted by a Canadian visitor who claimed the confectionary’s shape and name was a racist slur against the Inuit. Seeka Lee Veevee…
Alternate landscapes
From next year, the North and South Islands could be renamed in Maori. A discovery by officials that the existing names had never been adopted in law has increased pressure from Maori nationalists for…
Symphony ire
New Zealand anti-apartheid activist John Minto recently flew to Capetown to lend his support to 127 families who for the past 14 months have lived in makeshift homes on Symphony Way pavement in the…
All Fenced in and Loving It
The South Island Tieke is making a protected return home after a 100-year hiatus, as the newest resident of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. Forty tiekes, also known as saddlebacks, were released into the predator free…
Critical Condition
Three birds have joined ranks of the critically endangered, after an assessment by a panel of experts analysing data on 428 native birds. The grey duck, the eastern rock hopper penguin, and the grey-headed…
Ratting Out the Weasels
Stoats, which were first introduced to New Zealand in the 19th century to combat the spread of the rabbit, have decimated the kiwi population reducing little spotted kiwi and Rowi or Okarito brown kiwi…
Moa Meals Uncovered
University of Otago postgraduate Jamie Wood collects moa dung, or coprolites, which he finds on tip-offs from hunters who report findings of moa bones. Alan Cooper of the University of Adelaide, who specialises in…
