Here are some of the late-19th century Māori residents of Karaka Bay, in one of several similar photographs by Henry Wright (1844–1932). The Pākehā woman is probably Wright’s daughter, while the man at the back is William Shilling, the Wellington pilot based at nearby Worser Bay. The names of the other subjects of the photograph, […]
Adrienne Truscott (2013 Edinburgh Fringe Panel prizewinner) “I would’ve said [Tony] Abbott, because his tone-deafness makes it so easy, and after the George Bush years an American could basically recycle the same jokes with a quick name change! But that’s too lazy, and for my purposes Bill Cosby’s hubris is a pretty rich source for […]
This year, the Oxford Junior Dictionary, aimed at seven-year-olds, decided to ditch some words. They had too many pages apparently, so they got chopping; chestnuts, magpies, leopards and larks are out. Blogging, chat rooms and cut-and-paste are in. Net over nature, Outlook over the outdoors. A move to modernise, they said, a profoundly sad move […]
A friend of ours came over a year or so ago and, without being asked, decided to go through our pantry and circle the Evil Ingredients in any canned or packaged products. There are several things that can make an ingredient evil, chief among those being its unnaturalness. The greatest of all Evil Ingredients, she […]
Therese Featherston’s science journey started when she took on a project at the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute as part of her IB (International Baccalaureate) Diploma while studying at Thorndon’s Queen Margaret College. The project led to her entering a science fair, which took Therese somewhere she had never expected: Realise the Dream (the National School […]
Here is early Wellington on a good day, looking north down Lambton Quay. On the left, with the veranda, is Barrett’s Hotel, the social hub for many. On the right is John Plimmer’s warehouse, known as ‘Plimmer’s Ark’, built on top of an old hulk. You can still see the remains of it underneath the […]
Originally hailing from Perth, Ben and his wife Helen made the move to Wellington in January last year. He instantly fell for the city and started @WhyWellington on Twitter and Instagram as a way of showcasing what makes Wellington unique and special, encouraging Wellingtonians to use the #WhyWellington hashtag to share what we love about […]
Here is William Barnard Rhodes (1807–78), the richest man in early Wellington, photographed in 1858 with his first wife Sarah, and Maryann, his Māori daughter from an earlier relationship. It is also one of Wellington’s earliest photographic portraits — a hand-tinted ambrotype, an early form of photography popular in the 1850s. The sitting was probably […]
Bill English Despite politics closely resembling an episode of The Walking Dead, watching Bill English unleash his anti-charisma on New Zealand is still compulsive viewing for his statistics, policies and, of course, jokes going down like lead balloons. Will his set-list be predictable, or are there surprises in store? If there are broken promises, his […]
Rivalries, on the whole, are a bit of fun. Sibling rivalries, trans-Tasman rivalries, gleefully venomous but probably made-up rivalries on reality shows. It’s all just a harmless, somewhat passive-aggressive gag. However, there’s one rivalry in particular that really riles me, and that’s the rivalry — or pretend rivalry — between Wellington and Auckland. I lived in Auckland […]
