New Zealand’s economy was built on ‘the back of a sheep’, but in recent decades, the fortunes of wool have been largely eclipsed by the dairy industry. The twin strands of the fine- and coarse-wool industries have taken diverging paths, focusing on the economic challenge of adding value in New Zealand, rather than exporting the raw material. Will wool rebound?
Every year pilgrims flock to a small settlement just outside Whanganui. They gather to celebrate the birthday of Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana, the founder of a movement that changed the religious and political landscape of New Zealand.
Both Darren Hughes and Nathan Guy were destined for a political career from a young age, one by family tradition, one by precocious ambition. They go head to head for a second time in Otaki, the closest-fought electorate in the last election and a revealing snapshot of the national outcome.
Poukai, a calendar of itinerant gatherings throughout the country where food and fellowship is shared, is the travelling court of the Maori King Tuheitia. A legacy of warfare and welfare, the first poukai was held as solace for Waikato Maori during a period of land confiscations. Now, as Tainui celebrate 150 years of the Kingitanga movement, the poukai tradition unites Maori again: to feast together, grieve together, disseminate news and bring people’s concerns to the attention of the King. And nowhere does this have more significance than in the King Country where it all began.
One corner of the town of Feilding is a vast expanse of sheep and cattle yards that fills up with livestock twice a week. And the locals wouldn’t have it any other way. The saleyards, which are among the largest in the Southern hemisphere and handle close to a million sheep and 100,000 cattle annually, have been central to the town’s existence and livestock farming in the lower North Island for well over a century.
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