The Bulletin: Can Shane Jones reclaim Northland and save his party?

Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Shane Jones confirms run in the crucial seat of Northland, Kiwifruit sales soar amid global pandemic, and questions on colonial monuments erupt around the world. The course of politics over the last five years was arguably set during the tumultuous Northland by-election of 2015. After the … Read more

Introducing Mrs Cook: in search of history’s ‘other half’

Tuia 250 commemorations have pressed the mute button on sexual intimacy as part of the colonial encounter. The focus is on first encounters of a public and asexual kind, writes Katie Pickles. Who knew Captain Cook had a wife? The tales told agree that after a brief intense and romantic courtship twenty-one year old Elizabeth … Read more

Making sense of Tuia 250 through Barry Barclay’s prescient work

The great filmmaker Barry Barclay (Ngati, The Kaipara Affair) also wrote books on Māori screen arts and philosophy. Miriama Aoake delved back into Mana Tūturu: Māori Treasures and Intellectual Property Rights, in which he reimagines Captain Cook’s landing in Aotearoa if cameras were present.  Two hundred and fifty years ago, a white man from England … Read more

Move over, James Cook: Māori and Pacific voices on Tuia 250

The first encounter between Māori and Captain Cook and his crew ended in the murder and brutalising of nine Tūranaga-nui-a-kiwa ancestors. The Ministry of Culture and Heritage’s intention to include Māori history and voyaging traditions in the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of that tragedy has prompted a mixed reception. This feature is made possible … Read more

The right to conquer and claim: Captain Cook and the Doctrine Of Discovery

On the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook arriving in Aotearoa, Tina Ngata looks at the whakapapa of colonisation in Aotearoa – the 15th and 16th century laws issued by the Catholic church that gave British and European monarchies permission to oppress and enslave indigenous people. This year’s TUIA250 Cook commemorations are New Zealand’s response … Read more

Ian Taylor is using tech to tell the true story of Aotearoa’s discovery

Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Ian Taylor, founder of of Animation Research Ltd. This week on Business is Boring we have Ian Taylor, … Read more

Calling out Cook: Porirua’s Pātaka gallery confronts the complexities of Tuia250

Here: Kupe to Cook is an exhibition that challenges the discovery narrative that’s the cornerstone of Pākehā national history. Reuben Friend, director of Pātaka Art+Museum in Porirua, discusses the ethical framework for a show that serves up the skeletons in our collective closet. I had reservations about using Greg Semu’s photograph The Arrival as the … Read more

Te Rā the sail, last of its kind

A team of University of Otago researchers and weavers will unlock the secrets of one of te ao Māori’s most precious taonga for the first time in more than 200 years. The late Hec Busby was in his 50s when the Hawai’ian ocean voyaging waka Hokule’a landed at Waitangi in 1985. By that point, most … Read more

The Bulletin: Vandalised Captain Cook statue shows depth of wounds

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Deep wounds shown by Captain Cook vandalism, expert fact checks claims around electric cars, and police deployed to fight non-existent crime wave. A Gisborne Captain Cook statue has been vandalised, and the message painted on it shows the depth of tensions that will surround the 250th … Read more

The Bulletin: Changes coming for dairy industry

Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Recommended changes to dairy industry finally announced, signs of life in teacher negotiations, and flu vaccines are running short.  Yesterday was a mixed day for Fonterra, with the government announcing significant changes to dairy regulation will be introduced. Farmers Weekly reports the dairy cooperative, which takes about 80% … Read more

Critics say the $20 million Cook landing commemorations ignore Māori pain

A movement to boycott this year’s Tuia – Encounters 250 commemorations of the 250th anniversary of Captain James Cook’s landing at Tūranganui-a-Kiwa is gaining strength, writes RNZ’s Leigh-Marama McLachlan. More than $20 million is being spent on events and resources to mark the anniversary of Cook’s landing in Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, later named Gisborne, in 1769. Indigenous … Read more

The Monday Excerpt: Tupaia, Banks, and an unnamed Māori trading a crayfish in 1769

The story of the illustration of an unnamed Māori trading a crayfish with Joseph Banks, drawn by the Endeavour‘s onboard navigator Tupaia, is told in a beautifully produced book on Cook’s three voyages to New Zealand. Tupaia’s only known drawing of New Zealand may have been made during or soon after the visit to Tolaga Bay. … Read more

Kaupapa on the Couch: Get on the waka! (WATCH)

How the Hec Busby did we get here? Leonie Hayden looks at ocean voyaging and the badass ancestors that brought us across Moana-nui-a-Kiwa to Aotearoa. What do we mean when we give our pepha and talk about “our” waka? I’ve seen a waka, you can’t sail overseas in that! Check out the awesome Waka Odyssey, … Read more