Tuesday 5 July 2011

The First Scandinavians in New Zealand

The first Scandinavians to set eyes on New Zealand sailed with the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman in 1642. The crew list of one of his two ships has survived and there are Scandinavian names among the sailors.

They reached the west coast of the South Island, couldn’t find a safe place to go ashore and continued northwards until eventually anchoring in Golden Bay at the top end of the island. Unfortunately, the local Maori sent out a war canoe, evidently mistaking a bugle call for a challenge and four of Tasman’s men were killed in rowing from one of his vessels to the other. As a result, he sailed away without landing.

One hundred and twenty-seven years later when, as far as we know, the next Europeans reached New Zealand, there were again Scandinavians on board, this time with Captain Cook, though they were not ordinary members of his crew. Daniel Solander was a distinguished Swedish botanist who had been working at the British Museum when recruited by Joseph Banks, a wealthy young natural scientist, to join the expedition. Banks had his own little team with him, to discover, collect and depict species of plants hitherto unknown in Europe. Also there was Herman Spöring, son of a mathematics professor in Turku, Finland, which was still part of Sweden (until 1809, when it became a Grand Duchy in the Tsarist Empire).

They spent six months in New Zealand waters, first going ashore on the east coast of the North Island, where Gisborne stands today – Cook, Banks and Solander plus a party of marines. Solander, known as the father of New Zealand botany, has a street named after him in the town as well as some uninhabited islands to the south-west of the South Island. And there is a Solander trail in the Botanical Gardens in Wellington.

In 1772 Anders Sparrman, like Solander a former student of Sweden’s most renowned botanist, Linneaus, the man behind the binomial system of classification, was persuaded to join Cook’s second expedition, which included further exploration of New Zealand. Sparrman was then at the Cape, employed as a tutor to the children of a Dutch official.

After the first penal colony had been set up in New South Wales in 1788, ships began calling in to the Bay of Islands in the north of the North Island, to replenish supplies, replace masts and so on. They included sealers, then whalers, traders and adventurers, among them several Scandinavians. In the Bay, Kororareko (whose name was changed to Russell by the British) soon developed a reputation for lawlessness, becoming known as ‘the Hell-Hole of the Pacific’. It was here that the first Christian sermon was preached, on Christmas Day 1814.

The preacher was the Rev. Samuel Marsden, chief chaplain at the penal colony and well known as the flogging parson. The Church of England vessel that brought him to the Bay of Islands was captained by an old Danish sea dog, Tomas Hansen. On board were three lay missionaries who were to be left behind. One of them was married to Hansen’s daughter, who was seven months pregnant at the time. So the first European child born in New Zealand was of at least part Scandinavian descent. Unfortunately, he was also the first to die, in infancy, but Hansen’s daughter went on to have ten more children, while her brother, who was also with them, was sent back to NSW to find a wife, returned, and was the father of twelve offspring.

Monday 14 March 2011

Honour thy neighbours

Honour thy neighbours that thy days upon the earth may be long. Get to know them. Not just for social reasons – it can safe your life.

Research has shown that ninety per cent of those pulled from the rubble after an earthquake or other major disaster are saved by neighbours in the first hour. Search and rescue teams in all praiseworthy honour, they are not on the spot when the ground shudders and shakes and jolts and jars, buildings crumble or are swept away, household objects become potentially lethal missiles, sparks are ignited. But the people next door, a few doors away, those across the road or on the floor above are right there.

www.binnyandbelloe.weebly.com

Friday 4 March 2011

Christchurch

Eleven days after much of the Christchurch city centre and many people’s lives there and in neighbouring areas were shattered by an underground upheaval in this earthquake-prone country, the New Zealand media remain saturated with news of the disaster and its consequences. The rising death toll but diminishing number of missing persons; collapsed, precarious or demolished buildings; countless tales of tragedy, bravery, heroism, miraculous escapes; liquefaction and the huge amounts of toxic silt that spread far and wide; solidarity, people coming together, disaster funds, fund-raising events and collections, and so on have filled newsprint columns, radio and television programmes seemingly without end. Not everyone admires it all.

One columnist has written about ‘disaster porn’ that the media have been wallowing in. There have been objections to some of the more meaningless questions that have been asked. Have there been invasions of privacy? Intrusion into other people’s grief? On the other hand, many of those affected have clearly felt a need to speak out, to express emotion, to make their feelings known. Relief aid was not equally distributed. People in the eastern suburbs were aggrieved. Districts that had suffered less had received more. One street had but a single portable toilet for all its residents, though more were reportedly on their way. Water and power supplies have been getting back to near normal, but not sewage.

For me, the most incongruous feature of reporting from the stricken city has been the sight of on-the-spot television anchormen dressed in dark suits, spotless white shirts and neatly knotted ties, while behind them is a scene of utter devastation. And this in a country that has always had a reputation for being laid back and informal.

Now that the search and rescue operation has given way to ‘recovery’, with no survivors found since the day after the earthquake struck, other questions are being asked. How is it that quite modern buildings were unable to withstand a 6.3 earthquake (although the Richter Scale doesn't tell you how deep it was and this one was shallow, and close). Were the relevant standards adhered to? It has been stated many times that the fault lines in the area were not known until the earlier quake last September, which caused much damage, though not on the present scale, but no loss of life. This too has been queried. Were buildings adequately reinforced after September? How come that a building given a clean bill of health then, collapsed now?

If there was no known danger, the regulations wouldn’t have been as strict as in known danger zones - like the one I’m in right now, Wellington (we’ve had two sizeable quakes this week, 4.5 and 4.7 on the Richter scale, and smaller ones very often). But the building standards were revised in the 1970s. Old buildings would not have been covered, but as a letter-writer in Wellington’s morning newspaper The Dominion Post points out, most of the deaths were caused by the collapse of two of the more modern buildings. There are now realistic fears that all the city’s old and historic buildings will be pulled down and that it will lose its soul. There is also consternation that the Government intends taking advantage of the situation to push through unpopular measures, which include cutting welfare benefits and the partial sale of state assets on the pretext of having to raise money to cover the disaster costs, running into billions of anybody's money.

However, there is a General Election coming up in November, which puts the Opposition in a quandary. The nation must pull together at this time of emergency, so criticism of the National Party-led Government under former currency trader John Key, which cynics might say with some justification, is getting a lot of mileage out of the situation, is very muted. Labour leader Phil Goff barely gets a mention these days. So what is he to do?

Saturday 29 January 2011

Binny and Belloe

Intended for both children and adults, Binny and Belloe is basically about racial prejudice. It is perhaps the Animal Farm of our times.

Here is an excerpt:

‘You going along to this meeting?’ Nippy asked Gruffy.
Gruffy turned to look at Len.
‘May as well find out what all the fuss is about,’ Len said with a shrug. ‘You never know what might be budding with those fools. If you ask me, someone’s been up to something.’
Several of the younger squirrels were waiting at the meeting place long before Oggy was expected. Others gradually turned up in twos and threes, chattering busily among themselves. Many were afraid, especially those who had not been to the far edge of the woods. A few, like Bushie, remained obstinately doubtful. Most were excited and all were very curious.
‘Just think! You’ll be telling the youngsters about this in times to come,’ more than one squirrel told another.
‘After what I’ve seen today, I don’t think they’ll believe me,’ came one reply.
‘And who could blame them?’ added someone else.
More and more squirrels crowded into the clearing where the speech was to be made. There was much jostling for position and the surrounding trees swarmed with furry creatures.
At last, Oggy appeared, moving slowly. A path was made for him up to a large oak that stood alone in the middle of the clearing. Slowly, he climbed up to and along a low bough, tearing away some of the leaves so that he was in full view. Conversations broke off as one nudged another and nodded towards the branch where the elderly animal sat.
Oggy waited until it was perfectly quiet. ‘My friends ... ’ he began. ‘My dear friends ... ’ His voice had become weak with the years and those farthest away had to strain hard to hear. ‘Today is a day that will be remembered and spoken of long after I, and you, and your children ... have vanished from these woods ... and passed on to the Great Everlasting Forest ... that happy and plentiful home of all who have gone before us ... of our dear departed friends and relations.’
‘Doesn’t half like to blab, doesn’t he?’ Len murmured to Gruffy, who grinned back at him.
‘Shhh!’ said someone just behind them.
Oggy spoke very slowly, with many pauses between his words. ‘We, my friends ... who are here today ... must count ourselves very fortunate ... for we are the ones who were present when a discovery was made that none of us has ever dreamt of before ... and that some of us may still have difficulty in believing ... even those who have seen for themselves.’
‘When’s he going to get to the point?’ Len muttered.
‘But it is true,’ Oggy went on. ‘My friends ... in this great and wonderful world in which we are so fortunate to live ... there are squirrels with very little colour in their coats ... and who therefore appear strange to our eyes.’
Animals around Bushie turned towards her with ‘I-told-you-so’ looks on their faces. She stared ahead, pretending not to notice.
‘Like many of you ... I have seen these animals. But I have also had talks with some of the leaders of the fairly small group that arrived in these woods early today.’ He took a much longer pause for breath. ‘There is one thing I want to assure you my dear friends, and that is this – these creatures are neither gods nor ghosts ... but squirrels like you and me.’ A murmur went round the clearing and it was some time before Oggy said any more.
‘Yes, my friends ... these are nothing other than ordinary, mortal squirrels.’
‘What’s all the fuss about then?’ mumbled Len.
‘But as such, let us welcome them ... for they are our brothers and sisters.’
‘Are they going to stay?’ someone called out. And everyone waited expectantly for the answer.
‘Oh I do hope they’re going to stay, at least for a little while,’ Stocky whispered to Skippy.
Oggy cleared his throat, showing his old, worn front teeth. The speech was putting a great strain on his voice. ‘Our brothers and sisters who arrived here today ... are indeed looking for somewhere to live. My friends ... they have travelled far and would like at least to rest. But the woods in which we have the greatest good fortune to dwell ... are large and plentiful enough ... to support a much greater squirrel population than they do at present ... Thus there is no reason ... as I see it ... why our new-found relations should continue on their way. I, my friends, have already told their leaders of my view ... But before going any further ... I should like to know whether you agree ... I think we should ask them to stay here and live among us.’
‘Hooray!’ shouted one of the younger squirrels, and there was an immediate chorus of cheers and shouts of excitement. Binny leapt into the air with joy and Stocky and Skippy danced round delightedly. Everyone was jabbering or calling out at once and much time went by before Oggy, who sat quietly smiling from his branch, tried to say any more. At last, he raised a paw.
‘Shhh,’ said one squirrel after another. ‘Shhh! Be quiet there!’
‘I am overjoyed,’ Oggy said, ‘to find you so keen. But perhaps, nevertheless ... there are those who have doubts or objections ... If so ... now is the time to speak.’
The rustling of the leaves suddenly seemed to grow loud. Squirrels stared from one to another. Len looked down, his lips pressed tightly together.
Oggy waited. And waited. Finally he said, ‘My friends ... my very dear friends ... we have reason to celebrate. Let there be feasting in the woods ... feasting such as we have never known before.’
And with that he began to climb down amid calls from above, below and all around.
‘Three cheers for Oggy,’ a voice shouted from a high perch in one of the trees. ‘Hip hip ... ’
‘HOORAY!’
‘Hip hip ... ’
‘HOORAY!’
‘Hip hip hip ... ’
‘HOORAY!’
-------------------
But how will relations between the two groups develop?