More of this needs to be in our history lessons, as you say.

...and our comics – Joe Wylie has already mentioned this (way back in November last year) – Jared Lane has his ongoing Kaiapoi Kid in his Progress Comics
Tim Bollinger rates him in a recent Werewolf Cartoons…

Oh, there is a great Gilbert Mair book out for those interested, entitled "Gilbert Mair, Te Kooti's nemesis" by Ron Crosby.

And i really must finish Judith Binney's "Redemption Song, A life of Te Kooti", but it's quite heavy going. That seems to be the way with history book occasionally.

…

I believe it was a Kiwi who introduced Cain Toads to the Sugar Plantations of Queensland.

So if Queensland is the Promised Land
would that make us Canaan enablers?

And i really must finish Judith Binney's "Redemption Song, A life of Te Kooti"

Maurice Shadbolt's Season of the Jew was a worthwhile read on this, IMhO, albeit fictional. Have also found Judith Binney's Mihaia fascinating on Rua Kenena as an eerily pertinent backdrop to more modern happenings between 'The…

If people also…

Hilary, rest assured I won't get you to stand up and make yourself known in the show, and issue a retrospective apology on behalf of your ancestors.

Thanks because I am very shy. Besides there are thousands of descendants so there is collective responsibility.

But are you still collecting examples?…

You may well be interested in this, out today [Craig Ranapia advisory: link to Penguin Books...].

And i really must finish Judith Binney's "Redemption Song, A life of Te Kooti", but it's quite heavy going. That seems to be the way with history book occasionally.…

Thanks Russell, good choice, and I nominated Sam F for his knowledge of the Semple Tank as the Auckland recipient.

Hilary, rest assured I won't get you to stand up and make yourself known in the show, and issue a retrospective apology on behalf of your ancestors.

There…

the Boxthorn problem in Taranaki, which resulted in a great win for kiwi DIY

Ae, those "trimmers" sure are awesome beasts

the missionaries persuaded the locals to physically punish their children

probably had the largest bad impact, one we're still paying for

Catastrophic failure: Flying Pig. (Although it was probably just as well for my own finances that they went under...)

Absolute character: Bruce Simpson (he of home-made cruise missile fame).

Book: "Ghost Towns of New Zealand" (David McGill). There's…

For purposes of clarity, I should pick a winner today — and that's Hilary. Having the man who introduced gorse to New Zealand as an ancestor is pretty hard to beat.

Richly deserved, and beats being tarred & feathered. I'm sure I read somewhere about someone being awarded a prize by…

For purposes of clarity, I should pick a winner today — and that's Hilary. Having the man who introduced gorse to New Zealand as an ancestor is pretty hard to beat.

I'll put Radar in touch and she can claim tickets for the forthcoming Wellington shows.

You don't know how many times in the course of my work I get told by ignorant monocultural English speakers that Italian shouldn't need all those accents.

Some people need to stop marrying their siblings and cousins if they're getting worked up over a few pen strokes.

macrons are political correctness gone mad

too funny!

It's probably because macrons don't yet have the same street cred as röck döts

For the most madcap council offering this week try this:

macrons are political correctness gone mad

Cue PASers seething at their computer screens: "it's called 'correct spelling' you nitwits!"

Happy also here to see if anyone else has any other NZ history books they can recommend to people? There are plenty out there, and it's easy for some of the lesser known but good ones to slip past people.

I love this one and its ilk. My interest in…

My ancestor, Richard Davis, a missionary farmer in the Bay of Islands, brought gorse to NZ in the 1820s.

There's no doubt the antics of the Acclimatisation Societies and enthusiastic amateurs certainly created a wealth of problems. I'm looking a little at the Boxthorn problem in Taranaki, which resulted in…

As have rabbits , another enormously successful failure

Which was pretty much the brief.

My ancestor, Richard Davis, a missionary farmer in the Bay of Islands, brought gorse to NZ in the 1820s. .... I'm sorry, but that doesn't belong in this thread, afterall it's been enormously successful.

As have rabbits , another enormously successful failure

My ancestor, Richard Davis, a missionary farmer in the Bay of Islands, brought gorse to NZ in the 1820s.

I'm sorry, but that doesn't belong in this thread, afterall it's been enormously successful.
:(

Too early to nominate Niki Caro's The Vintner's Luck?

Probably. But River Queen?

But what actually happened to that giant SGI video server?

It'll probably turn up one year in the inorganic refuse collection. Along with copies of Bird on A Wire.

This made available a huge digital TV server (Silicon Graphics, if I recall correctly) — which was snapped up at a knockdown price by the Wood brothers at Ihug.…

...and on a musical note everything from 'true bliss' and 'NZ idol' to 'music month' and NZ on Air's Brendan Smyth supporting shitty wannabe popsters for the last 10 yrs.

AAPT

Go Large

"Too smart to do anything dumb"

XT

My parents had one for a while. What a total piece of shit. But it was ours.

Temporary insanity on Queen's Wharf. This has been well covered here, but it seems appropriate.

Glorious New Zealand Failure

RWC '91, '95, '99, '03, '07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZhn28_Z9wc

“ ‘experts’ blew up a 35 tonne whale stranded on a beach near…

Ah yes Sam, the Semple tank is actually in the show. I had to track down some images for it off a Russian website. In many ways it is a great example of the nature of these unsung stories.

I remember a model of it at Auckland Museum as well,…

Gallipoli ?

Silicon…

My favourite Glorious New Zealand Failure? The Semple Tank.

An ingenious Kiwi war machine, to be sure, but a war machine with some issues. Such as, well, being based on a Caterpillar bulldozer, not the most blitzkrieg-friendly of vehicle platforms – even before they added in several tons…

I'm generally not a fan of the first in first served type giveway system as they always seem to be posted in those few minutes when we are all off doing something non computer related, so i thought here's a good way to flick someone some tickets…