I have often heard the region of Taranaki referred to as the “Kingdom of Taranaki”, owing to the fierce independence displayed by its long-time residents – particularly farmers, and particularly in relation to property rights. While the epithet is used facetiously, it is often underpinned by a sense of admiration for this feisty independence. But is there a reality to this perceived feistiness, and if so, is there some historical reason for it? (more…)
August 28, 2011
The “Kingdom of Taranaki” – is there truth behind the epithet?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: England, farmers, game laws, Hawkes Bay, Ireland, Irish Potato Famine, land tenure, Making our Place, Midhirst, New Zealand, property rights, Scotland, Scottish Highland clearances, settlers, Taranaki, Tom Brooking |[2] Comments
June 11, 2011
Black gold – early oil exploration in Taranaki
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: atua, black gold, Canada, Edward M. Smith, Environmental History, first oil in New Zealand, first oil well, Is oil made from dinosaurs?, Maori explanation of oil, New Plymouth, Ngamotu Beach, oil, oil derrick, oil rig, Peak Petrol, petroleum, Sugar Loaf Islands, Taranaki, Taranaki oil fields |Leave a Comment
Oil exploration in Taranaki has been in the news lately, with Greymouth Petroleum and international companies expressing strong interest in the oil reserves under Taranaki soils and sea-bed. Until recently I had assumed that oil exploration was a phenomenon of the 20th century – until a Taranaki resident informed me that it was being extracted around New Plymouth as early as the 1800s. (more…)
April 23, 2011
Dividing the landscape: production vs scenery
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: attitudes towards the environment, dairy farming, dualism in the landscape, Egmont National Park, landscapes, Mount Egmont, Mount Fuji, Mount Taranaki, National Park, perceptions of the environment, production/scenic dichotomy, productive landscapes, scenic landscapes, Taranaki, The Last Samurai, Toko |Leave a Comment
Nowhere tells more starkly of the duality in our relationship towards the natural environment than Taranaki: the dichotomy of the “productive” and “scenic” landscape.
Taranaki is known throughout the world for the almost perfectly conical mountain which rises up through what are otherwise the flattest of plains. This mountain and the region was made famous by its being used as the backdrop for the film, “The Last Samurai”. Indeed, New Zealand was chosen to shoot the movie due to the mountain’s remarkable resemblance to Japan’s Mount Fuji – also a perfectly conical mountain that stands alone on the plains of central Japan. (more…)
January 16, 2011
Saving our last riverine forest – the era of scenery preservation
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: 1903, burial grounds, burial kahikatea, coastal forests, coastal plains, Cort Schnackenberg, Environmental History, Geoff Park, Harry Ell, kahikatea, Maori Land, missionary, Mokau River, Native Land Court, New Zealand, Nga Uruora, Ngati Maniapoto, Percy Smith, river flats, riverine forests, scenic reserves, soldier settlers, tapu, Taranaki, Tauwhare, The Scenery Preservation Act, the Scenery Preservation Commission, tree burials, wahi tapu, Waikato, World War One |1 Comment
In Nga Uruora – Ecology and History in a New Zealand Landscape (Chapter 3 – “The Riverbend”), Geoff Park tells the history of the riverine forests of Mokau, a river which flows from its source in the forest on the slopes of the Rangitoto Ranges, out to sea at the Taranaki Bight, just north of the boundary between Taranaki and Waikato [click here to view map]. Here is one of the very few places left in the North Island where coastal forest remains intact down to the sea. (more…)
December 13, 2009
The ultimate paradox?
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: 1900, arbor day, children and nature, David Young, deforestation, Environmental History, environmental paradox, New Zealand, Our Islands, Our Selves, Taranaki, Toko Primary School |1 Comment
Children at Toko Primary School, Taranaki, planting trees on Arbor Day 1900. In the fields around them, the devastating effects of the milling and burning of forest that was occurring throughout the country can clearly be seen. [Photo not to be reproduced without the permission of Alexander Turnbull Library, ref 1/2-003378-F. Acknowledgments to David Young for sharing this poignant photo in Our Islands Our Selves.]
July 29, 2012
The fungus, the Chinese trader, and how they helped the Taranaki dairy industry
Posted by envirohistorynz under commentary | Tags: Chew Chong, dairy farming, Environmental History, Jew's ear fungus, New Zealand, Taranaki |[2] Comments
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