Raupo Whare (c1860) and the Tale of the Missing Dog Box

In A History of New Zealand Architecture, Peter Shaw describes the European settlers of the 1840s encountering an architecturally-impoverished landscape. Skilled carpenters were still an uncommon migrant at that time and while some of the wealthier settlers brought prefabricated houses with them, for many their first accommodation in New Zealand were deserted shoreline whare. Moreover, these newest of New Zealanders were without familiar building materials and, as Shaw writes, they "emulated the style and construction methods of Maori dwellings and adapted them according to European ideas of hygiene and comfort." This explanation is characteristically ethnocentric in its confident view that European society, at that time, was architecturally superior. Sinclair has stated that it was colonial contact (principally commercial trade) which drew Māori from their sanitary patterns found in pā occupation. The grand view here is that the settlers adopted an indigenous typology to suit their own physical needs but that they maintained certain environmental and occupancy standards from "home." That is, the settlers would have preferred to have built in the model of the places they had just left but were forced, by the limits of land and labour, to adopt local materials and knowledge, and particularly those of Māori

Martinborough's Wine Tourists and the Metro-rural Idyll

The key aspects and features of Martinborough, a small boutique wine village approximately one hour's drive from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand are discussed. The entangled fundamentals of the tourists' rural and metro-rural idylls, middle-class distinction and ideal reflexive individuality are highlighthed

Martinborough's Wine Tourists and the Metro-rural Idyll

The key aspects and features of Martinborough, a small boutique wine village approximately one hour's drive from Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand are discussed. The entangled fundamentals of the tourists' rural and metro-rural idylls, middle-class distinction and ideal reflexive individuality are highlighthed

Under Construction: National Identity and the Display of Colonial History at the National Museum of Singapore and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

In New Zealand and Singapore, national identity is inextricably linked to the processes of colonisation, decolonisation and the gaining of political independence. Unlike highlytheorized accounts of national identity, this study provides a deeper understanding of the ways in which it is actually developed, materialised and negotiated in 'real world' examples through history exhibitions at Te Papa and the National Museum of Singapore. The research provides a fresh perspective on recent displays of colonial history and how they shape and are shaped by the concerns of present-day nation-building particularly in former British colonies including Asia. It seeks to move beyond the existing literature which has been concerned with deconstructing national identity as a cultural construct to consider the ongoing process of updating, remaking and maintaining identity through museum display. Using a qualitative approach, this dissertation incorporates archival research, interviews, theoretical and historical literature, and visual analysis of exhibitions to contextualise and analyse the similarities and differences in the history exhibitions mounted at these two recently redeveloped museums. The Day 1 history exhibitions at Te Papa, opened in 1998, form the core of this study, while the chapter on Singapore provides an added layer of comparative depth, helping to broaden the picture of national museums and nationalism more generally. This research explores how national museums negotiate, on the one hand, the material and intellectual legacy of previous inherited definitions of 'the nation', while on the other responding to the contemporary expectations which arise from present-day conceptualizations of nations and national identity. My findings suggest that the construction of national identity is not independent from socio-political contexts, and that the political ideals of multiculturalism and biculturalism helped to foster inclusive and politically harmonious visions of national identity in the National Museum of Singapore and Te Papa. The conclusion argues that national museums' participation in the public articulation and definition of a collective idea of 'the nation' is unstable, contradictory and contested but nonetheless worthy of serious academic research

The Shoreliner : June 1952

https://digitalmaine.com/shoreliner/1023/thumbnail.jp

Reading Maoriland : New Zealand's ethnic ornament

Maoriland forms an integral part of the cultural geography of New Zealand. As a settler narrative, originating largely in the 1890s it has long informed the relationship between New Zealand and Maori culture. Acting as a social imaginary, Maoriland assumed control over Maori and was used by an emergent settler nationalism during the 1890s as an emblematic badge of distinction. Taking this as my starting point, this thesis traces out the ideas and narratives of New Zealand that Maoriland underpins. In doing this I attach Maoriland to a few likely suspects. For example Charles Goldie made a name for himself as a painter of the melancholic Maori, a forlorn, passive ideal that announced the sublimation of Maoriland by New Zealand. Another example is the author Thomas Bracken who created a clear division between the sullied Arcadian world of Maoriland and the advancing prosperity of a progress-driven New Zealand. In doing this, Bracken also underscored one of New Zealand's dominant narratives of proprietorial right. This he openly pushed to ensure the ideal of the settler as a hard working pioneer figure who was both frugally benevolent and humble in the face of their achievements. Other figures lurking throughout what I call the Maoriland archive are the painters and illustrators, Gottfried Lindauer, Louis Steele, Kenneth Watkins, the authors, Arthur Adams, Alfred Grace, Doris Wilcox, the historians, Percy Smith, Canon West Stack; and the patrons, Henry Partridge and Walter Buller

The creative suburb: Building and urban designs for suburban innovators

This project involved development of a series of new building and urban designs available for innovators operating in new suburban greenfield situations in Queensland, Australia. The project drew on significant primary research with suburban home-based creative industries workers, vernacular architecture, and town planning in the Toowoomba region, and comprised construction of a prototype 'homeworkhouse' in Clifton, Queensland. The work also included production of a book featuring building concept plans and urban designs for a creative suburb made up entirely of homeworkhouses especially designed for creative work, as well as a short video explaining the prototype building