For 200 years the Hauraki Plains and Firth of Thames have been bent to the commercial interests of man. We have extracted timber, gold, peat, fish and shellfish, then tipped in millions of tonnes of sediment as our thanks. We have drained the marsh and farmed it, then intensively farmed it, returning the run-off of agriculture. Today, the region is a case study for the carrying capacity of land and sea. How resilient are our natural systems, and how much development is too much?
Regarded as one of New Zealand's preeminent social documentary photographers, Peter James Quinn has regularly contributed both his photographs and words to New Zealand Geographic since his first assignment for the magazine in 1992.
150 years ago, they came seeking gold and found a fresh start in an uncompromising land. For many of the West Coast’s pioneers it was a regrettably short stay, while others would endure for generations
A kilometre of seal that’s been an ancient Maori path and redoubt, a promenade for housewives to ritzy stores, then a motorway-scarred red-light party zone… and now maybe something else again.
Romanticised one moment, betrayed the next, the Tūhoe tribe of Te Urewera have been an enigma to outsiders for 150 years. Now, with settlement of its Treaty of Waitangi claims in sight, the iwi reasserts its right to determine its own destiny.
As the second New Zealand Company settlement, there were high hopes for Nelson. But like its quayside coal-fired power generation scheme, that became a fish processing factory, then a seafood research facility, the city had a way of defying its founders to offer something completely unique.
The scattering of holdings in the Marlborough Sounds support a community connected and defined by the sea. Matt Philp follows the salt water roads.
A gannet arrives at its colony on Cape Kidnappers, a stub of land which marks the southern end of Hawke Bay. Gannets thrive here, but for the cape’s farmers and landowners, winning a living from this land has been a 150-year struggle.
For nearly two centuries, the origins of a Spanish whaler and trader who founded a dynasty on the east coast were a mystery. Manuel Jose’s descendants are New Zealand’s largest family, and have recently reunited with their Spanish relatives. This summer, the Spaniards journeyed to the east coast for the first time to connect with their Maori cousins, and with the culture that embraced their forebear.
One of New Zealand’s preeminent social documentary photographers, Quinn’s moving visual studies shot over 20 years have provided a view of New Zealand in cross-section, offering insights into the nature of our familiar yet diverse and multi-layered society. His new book, published by New Zealand Geographic, is a selection of the best.
As State Highway 1 passes through the heart of Auckland, traffic banks up and clogs the nation’s busiest arterial. A ring route which will circumvent the CBD and link all four cities of the isthmus is being constructed as a heart bypass, but can the patient be saved?
Long regarded as a haven for alternative lifestylers, artists and hermits, Waiheke Island has gained in popularity as Auckland’s playground. But even with a change to the residential demographic, traditional values and offbeat rhythms remain its hallmark.
Flashes of dazzling colour and swishing grass skirts are the postcard portrait of an exotic South Seas paradise. But behind this romantic image lie traditions pre-dating the earliest European contact, and a calendar of festivals connecting Cook Islanders to their culture.
Each summer, tens of thousands of holidaymakers flock to the ocean beaches and saltwater estuaries of Whangamata to enjoy this popular aquatic playground. All the while, tensions, acrimony and debate over the use of those attractions bubble just under the surface.
Legacy of the Thames goldfield.
Every year, on a marae in Northland, a group of college students from Auckland step into Maori shoes. In this year’s party was Jodine Gribble, here making the acquaintance of course leader Howard Reti. ANKE RICHTER, recently arrived from Germany, watched this cultural encounter.
Twenty-six years old this year, the QEII Trust has helped nearly 1700 landowners establish convenants, all of which seek to preserve the natural environment for future generations.
In the hills behind East Cape the forests are falling. Radiata pine planted 25 years ago is ready for harvest, and logging gangs are hard at work. Punishing labour, extreme weather and days way from home and family are the lot of the men on these remote blocks, but it's a way of life they wouldn't trade.
Politicians enjoy the limelight of public attention for a season or two and are then forgotten—apart from a few, such as premier John Ballance, immortalised in stone outside the Parliamentary Library. But Parliament, the theatre in which they strut, endures. Imposing, sometimes grand, it is more than just these buildings in downtown Wellington. It is an institution governed by rules and traditions rooted in 17th-century England and populated by an army of civil servants who facilitate the business of governing a nation.
Milk has long been a favourite with Kiwi kids and their parents. But it represents more than just good health and strong bones. The dairy industry in the country's largest, accounting for 20 per cent of export income, and New Zealand dairy products make up almost a third of the global dairy trade. Whereas butterfat was once the most valuable component of milk with the skim milk going to the pigs, now the emphasis is on milk proteins. Using ever more sophisticated methods, dairy processors seek to extract every last drop of value from the nation's cows.
Once the main route south from Auckland, the Great South Road took war to the Waikato and opened up the city’s fertile hinterland for pioneer farmers. Eventually supplanted as a transport route by the motorway that grew vinelike about it, the old trunk road now connects a series of diverse communities which reflect the waves of migration that have changed the ethnic face of New Zealand’s largest city.
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