Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori

A change of heart and mind is sweeping Aotearoa…       Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori language week), usually the time for a few token efforts by Pakeha journalists and newsreaders, has become a nation-wide celebration. In Wellington, Auckland, Manukau, Rotorua and Gisborne,  parades of thousands took to the streets.  We joined  ‘Hikoia […]

Founding Day at AGGS

  On Friday 7 September Charmaine was acknowledged at the annual Founding Day ceremony at Auckland Girls’ Grammar School.   She has gifted  her two medals (for the  Suffrage Centennial commemoration in 1993, and for the CNZM awarded in 2002) to the school because, as she told the assembled gathering, it was working with staff and […]

Going West…

  Going West: a Festival of people and language, held annually in Titirangi in West Auckland, this year featured many women and acknowledged te reo Maori  throughout the programme.  We loved the Friday night  opening session with Serie Barford’s poems, Paula Morris’s oratory,  and one of our favourite singers,  Moana Maniapoto.  Some highlights…. The Saturday […]

Whakaalofa lahi atu…on The Rock…

Niue is a tiny emerald island set in the deep blue and grey of the vast Pacific Ocean. “The Rock”, as it’s called by Niueans in Aotearoa, is a coral atoll twice raised by underwater volcanic action, and now encircled by a 64km coastal road. The coast is indented with coves and chasms, and just […]

STOP PRESS!!

If you have a chance, do go and see the play Burn Her! by Sam Brooks. This is political drama at its best-  surprising, thought-provoking, humorous and tragic all in one,  posing really hard questions about the behaviour  of the press, of PR people and of politicians.  And it could happen here….perhaps it already has? […]

A local journey..

  For Tanya’s birthday on 16 August, we went on a voyage of discovery to Onekiritea/Hobsonville . We caught an early morning Richmond Road bus to the city,   walked  to Pier 4 near the downtown Ferry Buildings and  caught the 9.00am commuter launch on its return to Hobsonville  in the upper Waitemata Harbour (plenty of […]

See No Evil…

This collective of Maori and Pacific women, Oceania Interrupted, is demonstrating solidarity with the people of West Papua…  How much do we know about the actions of our governments in the Pacific over the last 60 years? Most of us, very little, especially about those things which should concern us deeply. Take the story of […]

Women’s Suffrage Celebrations

Are We There Yet?        Many events  are planned to celebrate the 125th year since women were granted voting rights in New Zealand         On 19 September 1893 the governor, Lord Glasgow, signed a new Electoral Act into law. As a result of this landmark legislation, New Zealand became the […]