Tag Archives: Chatham Islands

Descendants of Moriori Call for More Recognition

Descendants of Moriori Call for More Recognition

“Of all the peoples in the world who suffered during the course of the spread of English across the globe over the last 400 years, one of the groups that suffered the most were…

Natural History Museum Returns Moriori Remains

Natural History Museum Returns Moriori Remains

London’s Natural History Museum has returned 111 Kōimi T’chakat Moriori (Moriori skeletal remains) to New Zealand, as part of the largest single repatriation of such remains to date. The remains of the indigenous people of…

Revival for Moriori Pushed Close to Cultural Death

Revival for Moriori Pushed Close to Cultural Death

On the windswept coast of Chatham Island stands a statue of a thick-jowled, cheerful man, his gaze fixed on the endless sea stretched before him, Pete McKenzie writes for The New York Times. The memorial…

Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home

Trapped in Museums for Centuries, Maori Ancestors Are Coming Home

Writing for Atlas Obscura, Ye Charlotte Ming has taken an in-depth look at the ongoing process of repatriation of Maori remains from international museums, quoting poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, researcher Amber Aranui and…

Chatham Islands Hot Ticket for Travel-Starved

Chatham Islands Hot Ticket for Travel-Starved

“The coronavirus pandemic has decimated the travel industry,” Lilit Marcus writes for CNN, “But there’s one place on the planet where there are too many tourists right now: the Chatham Islands.” “As New Zealand’s borders…

Southern Surprises

Southern Surprises

Southern surprises “The Chatham Islands off the coast of New Zealand offer a unique ecology rich with opportunities to discover plants and birds that live nowhere else,” American horticulturist Daniel Hinkley writes for the Seattle…

Switched Off for Change

Switched Off for Change

New Zealand was one of the first countries to switch of its power for this year’s Earth Hour event aimed at highlighting environmental problems caused by excessive use of energy. Forty-four New Zealand cities,…

Bridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap

On New Zealand’s Chatham Islands researchers have discovered the country’s oldest known bird fossils. The find  represents four new seabirds dating back some 65 million years when New Zealand separated from supercontinent, Gondwana. Excavation…

Dinosaurs of the South Pacific

Dinosaurs of the South Pacific

The first proof that dinosaurs lived on remote South Pacific Islands has been revealed by Dr Jeffrey Stilwell of Monash University, Melbourne. Stilwell, who trained at Otago University under NZ’s leading palaeontologist Ewan Fordyce, has discovered a…

The Big Break-up

The Big Break-up

“Somewhere east of New Zealand, where Gondwana’s break-up may have started some 130 million years ago, with New Zealand splitting from Australia, ‘the last resources of mankind’ could be awaiting discovery. So say a crew of German…

Deep Sea Wonder

Deep Sea Wonder

NZ scientists catch the biggest octopus ever found, a four-meter 75 kg giant hauled from 3,000 feet deep waters near the Chatham Islands. “It’s extremely deep, it’s extremely large, it’s the first recorded in the South Pacific,…

Royal Bird

Royal Bird

“No one who has seen an albatross on the wing is ever likely to forget the experience,” says Prince Charles. New Zealand’s Chatham Island albatross is down to 4000 pairs.

Chathams Hungover

Chathams Hungover

“We blew our budget last year and walked away with a huge headache, but we had a lot of fun,” says Chathams man Robin Preece, predicting a quiet New Year for the first place to see…

Godless Digest

Godless Digest

“The Digest, however, has been less than honest. In a December 1999 story by Raffaele about the Chatham Islands in New Zealand, a fisherman picked up a lobster trap and exclaimed, “Gifts from Maru…