And to Finn-ish With
“The most prolific writer of quality songs around at the moment” says Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien. How about Finn as New Zealand’s Paul McCartney? Or Eddie Vedder singing backing at “a small club…
Tag Archives: Sydney Morning Herald (The)
Never a Softie
Colin Meads played 55 games for New Zealand, with “not a soft match in his entire 14 years at the pit face. No wonder the legend lives on”.
Knox them out
The Vintner’s Luck takes the Tasmanian Pacific Region Prize, Australasia’s richest literary prize. “There’s all this stuff in Vintner about anxiety and authenticity that’s very New Zealand,” says author Elizabeth Knox, noting that, like…
Angst in Oz
Australian business needs a hurry-up: “…even the New Zealanders are giving us a spanking in certain areas. Even the New Zealanders! Well I never…”
Jumping Jackie Flash
Australia’s Sports Minister and Howard political protégé, New Zealand-born Jackie Kelly ducks the limelight after “a huge year”.
Bye-bye Brierley
New Zealand business legend Sir Ron Brierley steps down as director of the eponymous Brierley Investments.
…you take Finn with you
One Nil is the result of a musician “looking for collaborative work, where someone else is bringing something to the table”, but it’s still vintage Finn: still “rooted in the form and structure of…
Sexy Collette
Wellington-trained Aus-based designer Collette Dinnigan’s international reputation makes her Australasia’s most prolific fashion designer, conjuring for all shapes and sizes “unashamedly feminine, decorative and sexy creations that hug your body and delight your spirit”…
Properly Done
New Zealand designers Ashley and Wende Fogel know how to get it right for this season’s “lean and proper” look.
Awesome Dame
New Zealand thoroughbred superpower Sunline receives “spine-tingling” farewell from Sydney. “She is the best horse I will ever train,” states trainer Trevor McKee.
Cyberreads
Denis Dutton’s “admirable venture,” Cybereditions, allows publications to be constantly updated, exploiting the interactivity and flexibility of the net to deliver superior content.
Judgement in Paradise
Retired New Zealand Appeal Court judges Sir Maurice Casey and Sir Ian Barker lead the judicial charge for democracy in Fiji.
Kiwis in Oz
Taking the edge to the world, Russell Crowe and former Australian Channel 9 boss, now Telstra board member Sam Chisholm are examples of Kiwi excellence that “will always float to the top”.
Great Spinner
New Zealand-born Clarrie Grimmet’s 216 wickets from 37 tests earned him a place in Australia’s pantheon, despite a rift with the big man of Australian cricket.
Intimacy and success
New Zealander Kerry Fox wins Silver Bear (best actress) at the Berlin Film Festival for her “searing and explicit” performance in Intimacy, winner of the Golden Bear for best film. Fox was unable to…
Sydders Running
The Sydney Half-Marathon turns ten. Back in 1996, New Zealand woman Nyla Carroll won the women’s section so fast the official nearly missed her dash over the finish line.
Foot Gloves
More than 50% of mass-market shoes just aren’t made to go on feet, but a small New Zealand company is an oasis of comfort among the pinching, making shoes that “fit like a glove”.
Dread Drought
New Zealand artist Horace Moore-Jones painted “one of the few pictorial responses to Australia’s Long Drought” (1895 and 1903), a series which included “Dead Drought as ‘a ghastly emaciated figure of doubtful sex, wearing…
World Without Oz
If Australia didn’t exist, “Kiri Te Kanawa would be known as La Stupenda,” “New Zealanders would outnumber sheep” and “the pavlova would be indisputably a New Zealand Creation.”
Top Two
Two New Zealanders – Fred Hollows and Whakatane-born Lindy Chamberlain – make it into the list of top 100 influential Australians.
Prehistoric background
New Zealand provided the background – and the KY jelly – for the phenomenly successful Walking with Dinosuars, soon to be followed by The Ballad of Big Al.
Country & Urban
New Zealand-born country singer/ songwriter Keith Urban’s “Rollercoaster” gets a Grammy nom, while Keith himself fronts Music Row mag and toasts his top-ten success.
Frucor on the Up
“One of last year’s hot floats” in Australia, Frucor, makers of headline energy drink V, have increased turnover by 55%.
Old play, new tricks
1975 New Zealand play Mothers and Fathers gets a convincing makeover for Sydney’s Fringe – “even though it’s slightly archaic to think that $50,000 could buy you a dream home in this town”.
First Baggins off the rack
“The most ambitious undertaking in the film world recently has been Peter Jackson’s filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand. If the results are as epic as the production, the first…
Anzacs?
New Zealand voice in Sydney Bernard Lagan dissects the question of Federation with Australia: “It is unlikely that what modern New Zealanders most define themselves as – a nation of Pacific peoples – could have come…
Asparagus are from Mars, Potatoes are from Venus
Lincoln University researchers have successfully grown potatoes and asparagus in soil collected from Mars. “Space-based soils could potentially support future human expansion in the solar system,” according to Professor Michael Mautner. “I wouldn’t say very soon, but…
Gender Tee-off
Michael Campbell is one of four top male golfing stars to meet women’s #1 Karrie Webb in a million dollar “Battle of the Sexes” series later this year.
Awards of Merit
Controversial clergyman and academic Lloyd Geering carried off the highest honour in the New Years’ list, Principal Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Colin “Pinetree” Meads, All Black 1957-71 and all-time greatest AB, is one…
Federate or Die?
“It is likely that the New Zealand situation will become so critical in the early years of this century that support for political union will rise rapidly.”
Vertical #2
“Vertical Limit has its flaws – but they’re not enough to dim rousing, old-fashioned escapism which uses modern techno-skills to really put you in the picture and on the mountain peak.”
Brain Gain
“We’ve made the decision to go home, and I urge other New Zealanders to do the same. Let’s stop helping the economy of a country where we’re not welcome,” says Phillipa Hawkes, packing to come home following…
Sunshine for Sunline
It’s official – Sunline is the Russell Crowe of the racing world. The New Zealand and Australian horse of the year, Kiwi Sunline is also Australasia’s biggest money winner. After her December 17 Hong Kong mile…
It’s Shirley, Isn’t It?
The Shirley Convention 2001 is expecting “500 Shirleys from across Australia and New Zealand”.
Benefits Suspended
New Zealanders, the group with the highest rate of employment in Australia, will lose the right to benefits under new immigration restrictions.
Skin Tight
Based on iconic Dennis Glover poem ‘The Magpies’, Gary Henderson’s Skin Tight is a play with “spare beauty and competitive power”.
Walk Over
Kiwi apprentice jockey Michael Walker: one season; a record-breaking 131 wins; “probably the greatest thing to happen to racing for a long time”.
15% Pure
All ingredients in New Zealand and Australian food are to be labelled by percentage. “Meat” pie anyone?
Power Dressing
The Powerhouse Museum’s Fashion of 2000 features New Zealand designer Karen Walker’s “it” broken pearl dress, alongside work by Stella McCartney, Galliano and Versace.
Godzone/Godawful?
Australian-based Kiwi Bernard Lagan trashes New Zealand’s health, wealth and spirit. Helen Clark exercises the right of reply.
Burmese Campaign
From New Zealand to Burma, and then into prison for playing pro-democracy songs. Londoner James Mawdsley used his OE to fight SLORC.
Home Brew
New Zealand horse takes out the Melbourne Cup. “Brilliantly ridden by 20-year-old South Australian jockey Kerrin McEvoy, the regally bred Brew made light of 49kg when scoring a two-length victory after starting from the outside barrier.”
Brickwork Brierley
“It was a scene from yesteryear. Sir Ron Brierley, armour dusted off and polished and gauntlet raised, charged into the battle …”
Towel Rage
Staff at the Rotorua Polynesian Spa were menaced by a naked customer, furious that he hadn’t been provided with a towel. The customer walked naked into the foyer, pushing a computer off the front desk to…
Rugger Scrum
Recent south-north tests have created a scrum among sport journalist, players and coaches over playing style and rule reform SMH likes the running game, French coach describes losses as “no-brainers“, Welsh coach Kiwi Graham Henry has…
Naked Success
Toa Fraser’s first play, Bare, hits Sydney with “a saltiness that is unmistakably NZ”. Fraser is compared to Raymond Carver and Tom Wolfe, masters of edge and bite.
Top Class
Chopper, New Zealand-born director Andrew Dominik’s acclaimed bio-pic of the maniacal murderer, has received Australian Film Institute noms for Best Film and Best Direction, plus eight other nominations including Best Screenplay (penned by Dominik).
MurderBall
Wheelchair rugby, “Murderball” as it’s known by the players, is the only full contact wheelchair sport at the Paralympics. New Zealand is ranked second, behind the USA.
V Good
New Zealand company Frucor, dominant in the NZ and Australian energy drinks market, feels V ready to compete with international behemoth Coca-Cola. “We believe we can grow the market fivefold in Australia,” says CEO Mark Cowsill.
That’s Not a Camera Flash
PM Clark ventured on a guided tour of the Sydney Harbour Bridge super-structure. Was that an admirer taking a picture? Was it an apparition of Roger Kerr? No, the sudden illumination was lightening striking the bridge, narrowly…
Golden Moment
Edge machine Rob Waddell takes the Olympic gold in rowing’s glamour event, the men’s single sculls.
Rena Owen on jury at Montreal Film Festival
Feisty Kiwi actress Rena Owen (Once Were Warriors, What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted), sat on the jury of the of the Montreal Film Festival. The jury awarded the festival’s major award, the…
Who is that famous writer living next door?
Michael King spoke about his authorised and hugely successful biography of Janet Frame at the Melbourne Writers’ Festival. Frame a recluse: she writes under her own name, but lives under a pseudonym. Other Kiwi…
Kiwi to Protect London Children
Moira Rayner has been appointed Director of the newly formed Office of Children’s Right’s Commissioner for London. She is a New Zealand lawyer with international experience in the field of children’s right’s.
Art and text:
In an ANZAC (Australia and New Zealand Artist Corp) collaboration Kiwi writer Damien Wilkins offers a “rather beautiful piece of writing” to accompany an exhibition of paintings by ascendent Aussie painter Noel McKenna (the…
