The Matariki Exhibition at South Sea Art Gallery last year. This year the exhibition is at Haratu Marae in Russell.
New musical set to perform next year
A musical which will debut in Kerikeri next year was the only successful application from Northland for a Creative Impact Grant in the latest funding round from Creative New Zealand. The musical is called Flock! It has been written and developed over the past four years by Kerikeri local Maura Bailie-Bellew. It’s based on her experience growing up and living in rural Northland.
She doesn’t resile from recalling the finer details of what makes a farm tick, saying she thinks there is an opportunity to develop something special that highlights under-represented rural New Zealand communities.
Flock! is all about life on a farm – from the sheep’s perspective – and with everything that happens on that patch. Add some conniving aliens, hippy goats and genetically modified unique sheep hybrids and you have an all-singing, all-dancing, frolicking show. When seen from the perspective of the animals involved, it takes on a new viewpoint.
Local creatives have helped to bring the script to the stage. Janna Sigley is director. She is known for directing a wide variety of Kerikeri Theatre Company productions including Peter Pan, Ladies Night and Romeo and Juliet. Kylie Penn from The Magic Playhouse is co-producer and production designer, and the original music has been composed by musical director Suzie Hurd.
“There is a wealth of experience and talent in Northland and this grant money will fund skilled local artists to realise a vision and tell the stories,” says Bailie-Bellew. It is hoped this original rural-themed musical will be made available for theatre companies throughout New Zealand and internationally once it has debuted in Kerikeri. It is booked at the Turner Centre in June 2025.
Historic Kerikeri document discovered
A visionary document which is 50 years old this month has been found among items in the collection storage facility based in the Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Northland office.
It’s a far-sighted document outlining an innovative concept for the township. It is signed “A Kerikeri resident” and dated July 1974. It details “Kerikeri Town and the Future” and bemoans the impact of the motor car on the “relaxed and pleasant” atmosphere of Kerikeri.
“The perfectly typed four-page document was found in the Kemp House collection, though very little else is known about it,” says Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s collections adviser Belinda Maingay.
It comes up with some intriguing ideas on how to adapt the town for the future. The car was grudgingly acknowledged in the document as the chief culprit in robbing Kerikeri of its peace and tranquillity.
“Already the main street of Kerikeri is crowded with cars. This street, straight and carrying through traffic, can be difficult and even dangerous to cross especially for children and the elderly,” it stated.
“The atmosphere of the town is less relaxed. Instead, it is increasingly polluted with noise, fumes and dust.”
The writer also warned against the evils of “ribbon development” or increased commercial and housing activity hanging off a single main arterial road. It suggests that if the people of Kerikeri did not change their ways, a grim future awaited: “The town will thus be just another long, dull, string of shops, banks, etc; characterless, uninteresting like myriads of others [...] a place where agreeable social contact after completing business is virtually impossible because it has to compete with the noise and perils of endless herds of motor vehicles.”
The solution, according to the writer, was simple - “exclude the motor car from these parts of the city where people would like to do their shopping, carry out their business, meet, chat with friends and bring their children in reasonable peace and safety, especially in beautiful and restful surroundings”.
Tenth anniversary celebration for Project Island Song
Project Island Song, a pest-free wildlife sanctuary in the eastern Bay of Islands (Ipipiri), last month celebrated a significant milestone. It marked 10 years since the first “wild to wild” translocation of the toutouwai, also known as the North Island robin, which was caught in the Pureroa Forest and transported and released on to Moturua Island.
In total 83 toutouwai were released on to the island in two translocations. One kicked things off in June 2014 and more were reintroduced to Urupukapuka in 2016. Around 40 volunteers of Project Island Song were involved on the day of the release in 2014.
The male toutouwai in particular is renowned for singing loudly in the early morning, particularly from August to December, from high perches in the canopy. They are known as friendly birds that will often come close to people and the ground, making it vulnerable to pests and predators.
After their translocation however, they are thriving in the pest-free environment of the islands of Ipipiri. Besides the toutouwai, other translocations of other birds and insects have occurred over the past 10 or so years. Pāteke in 2012, tieke in 2015, pōpokotea in 2015 and 2016, Duvacel’s gecko in 2018 and wetāpunga (the giant weta) in 2020, 2021 and 2023.
Laura Rumsey, engagement manager for Project Island Song, says there hasn’t been any specific toutouwai monitoring carried out in the last few years but from what they can tell the population density is meeting long-term sustainability levels.
“We’re hearing and seeing them all across the islands,” she said.
Project Island Song is a unique partnership between the Guardians of the Bay of Islands, Te Rawhiti hapū (Ngati Kuta and Patukeha), and the Department of Conservation. http://www.projectislandsong.co.nz/http://www.projectislandsong.co.nz/
A local Matariki exhibition
Last year for Matariki, South Sea Art Gallery in Russell had 11 artists exhibiting in the gallery. This year they wanted to do the same thing but because so many artists were participating, it was logistically difficult to accommodate them all.
The curators approached Deb Rawiri from the Russell-Kororāreka Marae who was more than happy to offer the available space.
“It’s not just a very appropriate space for this exhibition, it also gives us the opportunity to open it up to more artists,” said Cornelia Schmidt-Bundfuss, one of the curators and one of the artists exhibiting along with Catrina Sutter.
All of the 20 artists exhibiting are from Russell and from different walks of life and with varying artistic backgrounds. Some are experienced professional artists, some have not exhibited before and there is a range of media being exhibited from paintings to textiles, wood carvings and mixed media.
The theme for this year’s exhibition is “rākau”. Some of the most common meanings of the word are tree stick, timber, wood spar, mast and plant.
Cornelia Schmidt Bundfuss says that “rākau” is in the spirit of Matariki which signals a time of remembrance, reflection and renewal. The exhibition will also feature artworks by Russell School students who have created pieces under the theme of “rākau” with the help of one of the teachers, Linda Worthington. The exhibition opened at the Haratu Marae, Russell, on Saturday, July 6 and remains open until July 21.
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