Māhia Golf Club said good riddance to a tough 2023 with a brilliant start to 2024 yesterday. A field of 120 members from various clubs, alongside holidaymakers, competed in Mahia’s Bayleys-sponsored New Year’s tournament. Māhia was named among...
It is a proud day for this newspaper and all associated with it to celebrate 150 years of publishing today. We were not the first newspaper of the district — that was The Poverty Bay Standard, a four-page weekly first printed by Henry Webb on...
Tangaroa-a-mua, Ngātapa, January 5, 1869. KUA KARAPOTIA KOUTOU! (You are surrounded!) HARAMAI KI WAHO ME OU KOUTOU RINGA TU! (Come out with your hands up!) KAATI I TE WHAKATETE! KAATI I TE WHAKATETE! (STOP RESISTING! STOP RESISTING!) BANG! BANG!...
For as long as I can remember it has always been Waikohu Civil Defence and part of the Tairāwhiti Civil Defence network. I tried to find it recently and found that it has changed its name! Since Cyclone Gabrielle it appears that the Waikohu Civil...
The Tauawhi Longboard Classic was a great weather day to profile prevention of domestic violence. Who cares who surfed best to win? The important cause won on the day and many happy faces confirmed that. I note a suggestion in the paper that a Mr...
Residents and holiday-makers at Mahanga have been asked to conserve water, after Wairoa District Council issued a water shortage notice. “We are experiencing water shortage/over-usage at Mahanga,” a council statement said. The statement said...
Firefighters were called to Wharekopae Road on Wednesday evening after power lines began arcing on some overhanging trees, and sparks set fire to vegetation underneath. The call came in at around 6.15pm that night, to a spot about 14 kilometres up...
An online player from Gisborne has started the year on a high after winning the $1 million First Division in yesterday’s Lotto draw. The winning ticket was sold on MyLotto. Powerball was not struck and rolled over to Saturday night, where the...
by Te Rina Kowhai, Whakaata Māori A reel posted on social media showing rubbish left behind after the Rhythm and Vines festival in Gisborne has attracted more than 20,000 views. The Facebook reel showing rubbish believed to have been dumped by...
OBITUARY Roy Skuse Sports champion, businessman and Gisborne city councillor Roy Skuse extolled the attractions of his home town, but loved getting out to see the world. For 28 years until 2019, Roy and his wife Colleen organised and accompanied...
Seismic activity on the East Coast in 2023 was considered normal, says GNS Science. “A total of 1455 earthquakes were recorded in the year to date in the Gisborne/East Coast region,” said GNS Science seismic duty officer Sheng-Lin Lin. “None...
The Waikanae Beach Top 10 Holiday Park have had their biggest days of the season to date this week. Camp staff said there was little space left for campers on Tuesday night, then the “no vacancies” sign went up for the first time this summer on...
The “cruisers” are back today. The boutique cruise ship National Geographic Orion makes her fourth visit this summer and was scheduled to dock at Eastland Port at 6.30am, sailing again at midday for Tauranga with its 54 passengers. The Silver...
The district’s paid surf lifeguards have had their first rescues of the season this week. Two people were saved at Midway and another one at Waikanae. “The beaches have been consistently busy over the past week,” said SLSNZ club development...
Thousands of Haati Naatis showed up in force to represent their marae at the 2024 Ngāti Porou Inter Marae Sports festival, more commonly known as Pā Wars. The event, which is in its 29th year, was organised by Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Porou and saw 22...
In 1874 the township of Gisborne sat on roads of muddy tracks and was home to about 400 European settlers. On January 5 of that year, inhabitants of the primitive colonial outpost could read the inaugural edition of the then-named Poverty Bay...
Patutahi Mike de Luze had a profitable Sunday end to 2023. De Luze won the junior men’s net on Christmas Eve with his low round of the year — 80-16-64 — then achieved the jackpot in the New Year’s Eve club competition. The winners of the New...
2024 has started tragically for Japan, with a series of earthquakes up to a magnitude of 7.6 striking the west coast of its main island on New Year’s Day that left 55 dead, sparked infernos amid destroyed buildings and led to tsunami warnings that...
Bob Hughes Many centuries before the 18th century Industrial Revolution, humans discovered fire and harnessed nature’s natural energy. We relied upon the Sun for warmth and progressed to harnessing wind, water and animal power, along with our puny...
Clive Bibby I have just finished reading the full list of this country’s New Year Honours recipients — you know, the system that was originally introduced to recognise those civilian role models who had, like the “Biblical widow”, given of...
The return of a confidential drug-checking service for Rhythm and Vines festival-goers was successful in keeping them safe, after discovering fake drugs at the event, the New Zealand Drug Foundation says. “We had a very busy and successful few...
In the week from 12.01am on December 27 to midnight on January 2 the Trust Tairāwhiti Eastland Rescue Helicopter flew a dozen completed missions, from a sea search and a car crash to medical, trauma and transfer events. It started early for the...
Gisborne police have confirmed they have a sexual assault investigation going into an alleged incident at the Rhythm and Vines event at the weekend. The allegation from a female festival- goer was received on Saturday. “We have been supporting the...
Police investigating a serious assault in Māhia on New Year’s Day morning have asked for any witnesses to come forward. A 34-year-old man was knocked unconscious, suffering a concussion and facial injuries, after he tried to break up an...
WARNING: This story details the murders of victims in unsolved cases and may be upsetting. Each year in New Zealand about 72 people are murdered. In 2019 that number ballooned to 131 because of the terror attacks in Christchurch where 51 people lost...
by Adam Gifford, Waatea News Norm Dewes, a champion of urban Māori, died on the last day of 2023. The Ngāti Kahungunu rangatira had lived in Ōtautahi Christchurch since 1961, when he moved from Wairoa as a 15-year-old to join a Māori Affairs...
Legal wrangles and the achievements of former residents proved to be the most popular news on the Gisborne Herald website this year. Notably, the Herald’s website was down for several days during Cyclone Gabrielle. The September 7 story about New...
It would take a cyclone at least to send stalwart camper Tony Coutts home from his favourite summertime locale. For the past 50 years — ever since his parents first took him there as a five year-old — Tony has spent every summer holiday freedom...
Gisborne’s surf lifesaving clubs, particularly Waikanae, High School Old Boys rugby and the business fraternity have been shocked at the sudden death of Alistair Thorpe. He died on Sunday, December 31, at the age of 69. Mr Thorpe was managing...
A Gisborne taxi company has confirmed out-of-town operators were caught price gouging at the Rhythm and Vines festival and is urging people to “keep it local”. Gisborne Taxis general manager Tikei Bell said people were “rolling the dice” if...
Stuart Brenchley has seen some gruesome injuries that required the response of a rescue helicopter and, as a result, has spent decades fundraising for services around the country. But until this summer, he had never been on board himself. “I’ve...
Georgia Ria had the home birth she had always wanted on Wednesday when baby Gideon Ria entered the world at 10.26pm — the first baby to be born in Gisborne in 2024. “I had always wanted a home birth but was always nervous that something could go...
Boaties say former mayor Meng Foon’s illegal seawall at Tatapouri is to blame for an unusual pile-up of sand that’s marooning their vessels and vehicles at the end of the slipway. Local boatie and former captain of the Gisborne Tatapouri Sports...
Multimedia artist Michelle Hinekura Kerr is a kairaranga, who descends from a whānau of weavers. Her art practice embraces the intergenerational continuity of traditional mātauranga (knowledge). Drawing on the learnings of her ancestry (Te Aitang...