News Blog @ Wellington City Libraries

It seemed appropriate this month to dedicate our picks of the photography books to those the library holds on legendary photographer Eve Arnold – who died on the 5th of January this year. Eve Arnold’s People, the most recent book on the subject of her amazingly diverse and long career was published in 2009.

Born in Philadelphia in 1912, Arnold left medicine for a photographic career after receiving a Rolleicord as a present in 1946. These were the heydays of documentary photography and Arnold dived into it wholeheartedly with only 8 weeks of training. Her career really began in 1951 after the British Picture Post published a story she had shot in Harlem which no American magazine wanted to take on. In 1957 she joined the acclaimed Magnum photo agency, becoming their first female photographer. She moved to London in 1951 and used the city as her base for the rest of her life, while travelling extensively on her many assignments for publications such as Life, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar, Geo, Epoca, Paris-Match and the Sunday Times.

A self-confessed workaholic, her work encompassed such diverse subjects as Hollywood stars (she will be most remembered for her intimate portraits of Marilyn Monroe, with whom she had a very long and productive professional relationship), but also (and as powerfully) underprivileged members of society – and even great heads of states. She travelled to China during a time when Westerners were only allowed in under strict supervision. She didn’t want to work under such conditions and relentlessly applied for a visa that would give her free rein. 10 years on, she was granted permission and in 1979 finally succeeded in making “a book about the lives of people, a book that would go beyond the ubiquitous blue suits and bicycles we had been seeing pictures of so many years”. She ”wanted to penetrate their humanity, to get a sense of the sustaining character beneath the surface”. She travelled thousands of miles in the most remote parts of the country and documented “the tripod on which China had built her revolution – the peasant, the worker and the soldier”.

Compassionate, understanding, generous, courteous and soft-spoken were adjectives often used to describe this gentle woman. She took her work to heart and her work reflects it.

A new retrospective book on her whole career titled All about Eve, is about to be published by teNeues. Watch this space. It will be hot property! In the meantime – check out her most memorable shots in the Guardian and watch a slide show and interview produced by Magnum in Motion, or delve into our comprehensive collection of books dedicated to this inspiring photographer. Here are a few of the titles we hold:

Hollywood Portraits
After having admired Eve Arnold’s stunning portraits of Marilyn Monroe, Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich, and Clark Gable among many others, this book is the perfect transition from looking at a great photographer’s portraits to making portraits of your own, in the classic Hollywood style. It provides useful insight on how to set up, light and shoot, based on specific examples described with diagrams and step-by-step instructions.

Robert Rauschenberg Photographs 1949 – 1962
“Painter, sculptor, printmaker and photographer Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) provided a crucial bridge between Abstract Expressionism and Pop art. His exposure to photography while at Black Mountain College in North Carolina was so great that for a time he was unsure whether to pursue painting or photography as a career. Instead, he chose both, and found ways to fold photography into his Combines, maintained a practice of photographing friends and family, documented the evolution of artworks and occasionally dramatized them by inserting himself into the picture frame. This volume gathers and surveys for the first time Rauschenberg’s numerous uses of photography. It includes portraits of friends such as Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns, Merce Cunningham and John Cage, studio shots, photographs used in the Combines and Silkscreen paintings, photographs of lost artworks and works in process. This allows us to re-imagine almost the entirety of the artist’s output in light of his always inventive uses of photography, while also supplying previously unseen glimpses into his social milieu of the 1950s and early 60s. Considered one of the most innovative artists of his era, he died in 2008.” (Adapted from amazon.com)

What is a seedbomb? … Can you have a garden in your apartment? … What are the best ways to run a run a school garden? .. and what is all the excitement about the trend of vertical gardening?            Hippie bombs: the Rules

• Don’t throw seedbombs at people or windows.
• Ensure that nothing or nobody will be damaged or harmed by your flying seedbombs.
• Don’t throw them on land with inadequate growing conditions.
• Don’t use seedbombs as a form or aggression or vandalism.
• Is the site protected as a conservation area?
• Is the area privately owned? Make sure the land isn’t used for agricultural puposes; you don’t want to interfere with food crops.
• Is the site abandoned and will it benefit from being beautified?
• Do foster orphaned land and fill urban voids with flowers.
• Do attract wildlife.

Seedbombs : going wild with flowers / Josie Jeffery.

On guerrilla gardening : a handbook for gardening without boundaries / by Richard Reynolds ; guerillagardening.org.
“Calling up images of Mao Tse-tung and Che Guevara, Reynolds advocates for the guerrilla gardening movement with a handbook exhibiting an inquisitive nature, social concern, and an international perspective.  He sets the tone with examples of his own efforts in London, and similar endeavors reaching from Milan to Chicago to Singapore, where individuals are inspired to enhance their communities by reclaiming garbage-strewn vacant lots, empty flower boxes, and neglected street-side strips of dirt. In tracing the history of the guerrilla gardening movement, be it for beautification or to grow food, Reynolds’ voice is ardent as he writes about Johnny Appleseed and the Digger colonies that provided sustenance in seventeenth-century England.–Joyce, Alice Copyright 2008 BooklistFrom Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.” (Booklist)
Garden up! : smart vertical gardening for small and large spaces / Susan Morrison & Rebecca Sweet.
“Vertical gardening is the latest, most talked about trend in gardening. Outdoor living walls planted with anything from succulents to vegetables, are springing up in urban and suburban areas and even commercial spaces. Small space gardeners in need of specific solutions and edible gardeners interested in creative ways to mix edibles with ornamentals will find the help they need. “Garden Up!” offers inspiration and how-to information for enhancing any outdoor space.” (Syndetics summary)
How to grow a school garden : a complete guide for parents and teachers / Arden Bucklin-Sporer and Rachel Kathleen Pringle.
“Based on the authors’ years of experience organizing and coordinating the school gardens of the San Francisco Unified School District, this terrific guide is filled with detailed, practical guidelines for organizing and running a school garden. Creating a plan, raising money, building the garden, connecting the garden to curriculum, and how to prepare the soil, plant, and harvest are among the topics.  Annotation ©2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)” (Syndetics summary)
Apartment gardening : plants, projects, and recipes for growing food in your urban home / Amy Penni   “Apartment Gardening details how to start a garden in the heart of the city. From building a window box to planting seeds in jars on the counter, every space is plantable, and this book reveals that the DIY future is now by providing hands-on, accessible advice. Save money by planting the same things available at the grocery store, and create an eccentric garden right in the heart of any living space.” (Amazon.com)

Editor’s note:

Librarian and artist Alistair Fraser had his final two week stay at Mason Bay, Rakiura/Stewart Island on a DOC/CNZ Wild Creations Artist Residency in December. You can read his previous posts about his stay on this blog, or visit his Taonga Puoro blog where he’s been documenting the instruments he’s created as part of this residency.

Alistair says:

tumutumu kōiwi upokohue

The tumutumu is a percussion instrument that has kōrero linking it to the southern parts of New Zealand. It is typically a found instrument.

This tumutumu kōiwi upokohue is a pilot whale’s lower jaw bone with a rata striker that was also found on the beach at Mason Bay. It has a variety of voices and tones depending on what part of the instrument is played. The density striker material also influences the tone.

Thanks to Kaitiaki Roopu o Murihiku for kindly giving me the permission to hold this taoka.

More of the instruments I have made on my DOC/CNZ Wild Creations residency can be viewed here: http://taongapuoro.blogspot.com/

New Zealanders are the first in the world to mark this day with a service at Makara cemetery followed by a function at Parliament. Six million Jews perished amongst them many children. Never forget.

It is a day I  remember observing in my native country the Netherlands. At the start of WWII 144000 Jews lived in the Netherlands and only 32.000 survived.  My mother was only a child during the war years but she often spoke about the horrors of seeing neighbours being deported or wondering what happened to some of her school friends.

If you have not visited the Wellington Holocaust Education & Research Centre, I encourage you to do so. For more information, visit the Holocaust Education & Research Centre’s website.

Some books which may be of interest:

Terezín : voices from the Holocaust / Ruth Thomson.
“Through inmates’ own voices–from secret diary entries and artwork to excerpts from memoirs and recordings narrated after the war–”Terezin” explores the lives of Jewish people in one of the most infamous of the Nazi transit camps.” (Syndetics)

The diary of a young girl / Anne Frank ; edited by Otto H. Frank and Mirjam Pressler ; translated by Susan Massotty.
“Anne Frank was 13 years old when she and her family went into hiding in a secret room in Amsterdam in order to escape the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. For two years they hid and Anne wrote her diary, providing us with a moving account of a Jewish life in hiding.” (Library Catalogue)

The violinist : Clare Galambos Winter, Holocaust survivor / Sarah Gaitanos.
“Klara Galambos was a twenty-year-old violin student in Budapest in March 1944. Arrested and thrown into jail in the first days after the German occupation, she later managed to get home to Szombathely, was in the ghetto there and transported with the Jews of Szombathely to Auschwitz Birkenau. After five weeks she and her aunt were among the thousand Hungarian women selected for slave labour at Allendorf. They returned to Hungary after the war, and in 1948 they both left Hungary for New Zealand, where Clare joined the fledgling national orchestra. As a long-serving member of the NZSO, she made a significant contribution to the musical life of this country, and is now retired in Wellington. The Violinist draws on memoir, interviews and historical research to tell a compelling story.” (Global Books)

Night / Elie Wiesel ; translated from the French by Marion Wiesel ; [with a new preface by the author ; foreword by François Mauriac].
“Wiesel’s account of his survival as a teenager in the Nazi death camps, including a new preface is which he reflects on the enduring importance of Night and his lifelong, passionate dedication to ensuring that the world never forgets man’s capacity for inhumanity to man.” (Syndetics summary)

Mages, post-apocalyptia, space slaves, armies of aliens and bows and arrows. Escape into the fantastic with these new additions to our catalogue!

Perfect people / Peter James.
“When a young couple join a fertility programme run by a clinic in America they little suspect that the happy day that follows is the last day of mankind’s evolutionary supremacy. Mankind is facing its greatest challenge: obsolescence.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

Citadel / John Ringo.
“The second novel in the new military science fiction series by a “New York Times”-bestselling author. Once the Earth has been freed, how can the former conquerors be kept from returning to reclaim the planet–or even destroy it?” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The hot gate / John Ringo.
“The fight to free the Earth from alien domination began in “Live Free or Die,” and continued in “Citadel.” Now Tyler Vernon and his troops aboard the gigantic battle station “Troy” face a desperate battle with the forces of galactic tyranny.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The High King of Montival : a novel of the change / S.M. Stirling.
“In this post-apocalyptic series chronicling a modern world without technology, Rudi Mackenzie returns to Montival in the Pacific Northwest, where he will face the legions of the Prophet. To achieve victory, he must assemble a coalition of those who had been his enemies a few months before and forge them into an army that will rescue his homeland.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Legacy of kings / Celia Friedman.
“The young peasant woman Kamala has proven strong and determined enough to claim the most powerful Magister sorcery for herself-but now the Magisters hunt her for killing one of their own. Her only hope of survival lies in the northern Protectorates, where spells are warped by a curse called the Wrath that even the Magisters fear.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

Scholar / L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
“The scholar Quaeryt, friend of young King Bhayar, ruler of Telaryn, accepts a royal mission to journey to the land of Tilbor, conquered by Bhayar’s father ten years earlier, to assess the possibility of reducing the occupation forces. Concealing the fact that he is also an imager, a mage who can create mental images and endow them with material being, Quaeryt weathers pirates and a shipwreck on his journey to Tilbor. Once there, he faces more subtle political dangers as his suspicions grow concerning a conspiracy that could throw Telaryn into chaos. Set in the time before the events of the first book of the “Imager Portfolio” (Imager; Imager’s Challenge; Imager’s Intrigue), Modesitt’s latest addition to his fantasy saga focuses on the complex character of its hero, an unlikely combination of serious scholar and, when need be, ruthless opponent. The author excels in creating worlds that are believable down to the last detail and characters whose vitality expresses itself in actions that have resounding consequences. VERDICT Fans of the author’s “Recluce” novels and the works of Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, and Raymond E. Feist should enjoy the elaborate world-building and believable characterizations.” – (adapted from Library Journal review)

The sacred band / David Anthony Durham.
“In a conclusion to the trilogy that includes The Other Lands, Queen Corinn masters spells found in the ancient Book of Elenet, while her younger brother embarks on a perilous mission to the Other Lands and her sister travels north to confront an invasion by the fearsome Auldek.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

Ashes of a black frost / Chris Evans.
“Musket and cannon, bow and arrow, and magic and diplomacy vie for supremacy once again in this all-new epic adventure from acclaimed author Evans. Packed with wit, high adventure, and political intrigue, “Ashes of a Black Frost” will hook readers on this bold and exciting series.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Vengeance / Ian Irvine.
“In Cython’s underground slave camps, only the timid and obedient survive but Tali is neither of these. In Cython, having magic means the death penalty, and Tali’s gift is swelling out of her control.Though no slave has ever escaped, Tali must, for she has sworn to bring her mother’s killers to justice.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

The kingdom of gods / N.K. Jemisin.
“Finally freed from their enslavement by the ruling Arameri, the gods and godlings of the world still find themselves influenced by the shifting loyalties, loves, and hates of mortals. When Sieh, the god of childhood, gives his friendship to two Arameri children, Shahar and her brother Dekarta, his godhood slips from him and changes the course of the world forever. Jemisin’s brilliant conclusion to her award-winning trilogy (after The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms; The Broken Kingdom) explores the human desire for the divine as well as the gods’ need for the mortals who worship them. VERDICT Masterly storytelling and compelling characters make this a standout selection for fantasy lovers.” – (adapted from Library Journal review)

Colourful and entertaining new picture books with some really great stories which will have your kids laughing.

 Poo bum / Stephanie Blake ; [translated by Linda Burgess].
“Once there was a rabbit who could only answer “poo bum” whenever he was spoken to. One day the rabbit meets a hungry wolf. Will the little rabbit be his usual rude self, or will he learn his lesson once and for all? This is a hilarious new picture book by Gecko Press, sure to have your little ones giggling.” - (Staff member)

Otto the book bear / Katie Cleminson.
“Have you ever met a Book Bear, a bear who lives in a book? Prepare to fall in love with Otto, the Book Bear who needs to find a new home. Otto is a Book Bear and nothing makes him happier than when people read his book. But he also has a very special secret – when no one is looking he can come to life and explore the house. But one day something terrible happens: Otto’s book is left behind when the family moves away, and now there is no one to read Otto! Otto must set off on his biggest adventure yet – to find a new home. But where is the best place for a Book Bear to live?” – (adapted from Global Books summary)

Picasso’s trousers / Nicholas Allan.
“Whenever Picasso does something different, people say, “No! No! No! Picasso!” But Picasso doesn’t listen. Instead, he says . . . “Yes!”. He paints all-blue pictures, all-pink pictures, plus pictures from the front and side all at the same time! He makes art out of bike bits and he can draw pictures in less than 60 seconds! Soon he becomes the greatest painter in the world. But he still wants to be different…” – (adapted from Amazon.com description)

Mind your gramma 
An amusing take on grammar which I thought could be fun for a junior class visit.
“A child wonders at the odd things her grandmother says … Gramma asks me about my day, and I say, “Me and my friend played soccer.” She says, “My friend and I played soccer.” I say, “At your age?” Kids and adults alike will laugh aloud at this series of hilarious mis-construal’s between a child and her grandmother as Gramma corrects the child’s grammar.” – (adapted from Global Books summary)

Max’s castle / Kate Banks ; pictures by Boris Kulikov.
“When Max finds a pile of forgotten toys under the bed, his brothers Benjamin and Karl wonder what’s so special about some old blocks. So Max shows them. With some clever twists of both blocks and imagination, he constructs not only a castle but an entire adventure, complete with pirates and knights, a dark dungeon and a dragon…” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The game of finger worms / Hervé Tullet.
“Draw two eyes and a mouth on your finger and put your finger in the book’s hole to see all of the places the finger worm goes. A curiously fun interactive board book.” – (Staff member)

People / Blexbolex ; [translated by Claudia Bedrick].
“As with its predecessor, the book’s brilliance lies in the intriguing ways in which the images mimic, challenge, and inform one another. For example, a “homeless person” sleeping in a box appears opposite a “camper”; a “contortionist” and a “plumber” exert themselves equally; and a pink “nudist” is paired with an “invisible man” in a business suit. Readers will form new associations and make new discoveries upon each revisiting.” – (adapted from Publishers Weekly description)

This week’s choices are both due in early 2012 (February and March respectively) and are written by young, female American writers.  Snow Child is the debut novel of Alaskan Eowyn Ivey whilst Arcadia is Lauren Groff’s third publication – we have her other books here and here.  Both these books have been well received and glowingly reviewed!

Snow child : a novel.
“Here’s a modern retelling of the Russian fairy tale about a girl, made from snow by a childless couple, who comes to life. Or perhaps not modern-the setting is 1920s Alaska-but that only proves the timelessness of the tale and of this lovely book. Unable to start a family, middle-aged Jack and Mabel have come to the wilderness to start over, leaving behind an easier life back east. Anxious that they won’t outlast one wretched winter, they distract themselves by building a snow girl and wrap her in a scarf. The snow girl and the scarf are gone the next morning, but Jack spies a real child in the woods. Soon Jack and Mabel have developed a tentative relationship with the free-spirited Faina, as she finally admits to being called. Is she indeed a “snow fairy,” a “wilderness pixie” magicked out of the cold? Or a wild child who knows better than anyone how to survive in the rugged north? Even as Faina embodies a natural order that cannot be tamed, the neighborly George and Esther show Jack and Mabel (and the rest of us) how important community is for survival. VERDICT A fluid, absorbing, beautifully executed debut novel; highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 9/21/11.]-Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.” (Library Journal)

Arcadia.
“Groff’s dark, lyrical examination of life on a commune follows Bit, aka Little Bit, aka Ridley Sorrel Stone, born in the late ’60s in a spot that will become Arcadia, a utopian community his parents help to form. Despite their idealistic goals, the family’s attempts at sustainability bring hunger, cold, illness, and injury. Bit’s vibrant mother retreats into herself each winter; caring for the community literally breaks his father’s back. The small, sensitive child whose purposeful lack of speech is sometimes mistaken for slowness finds comfort in Grimms’ fairy tales and is lost in the outside world once Arcadia’s increasingly entitled spiritual leader falls from grace and the community crumbles. Split between utopia and its aftermath, the book’s second half tracks the ways in which Bit, now an adult (he’s 50 when this all ends, in 2018), has been shaped by Arcadia; a career in photography was the perfect choice for a man who “watches life from a good distance.” Bit’s painful experiences as a husband, father, and son grow more harrowing as humanity becomes increasingly imperiled. The effective juxtaposition of past and future and Groff’s (Delicate Edible Birds) beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read. Agent: William Morris Endeavor. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved” (Publisher Weekly)

We’ve decided to start an occasional series of topical posts highlighting resources about current events – let us know what you think!

We hope to link to useful resources from around the Web, as well as highlighting information from our premium databases (authoritative resources on many many topics that we have subscribed to so that you can access with your library card details).

For our first of these topics, we’ve chosen the grounding (and eventual sinking) of the MV Rena in Tauranga.

What happened?

At 2.20am on Wednesday, 5 October 2011, the MV Rena ran aground on the Astrolabe reef. She was sailing from Napier to Tauranga in clear weather. At the time of grounding she was carrying 1,368 containers, as well as approximately 1700 Tonnes of heavy fuel oil. By 9th October a 5km oil slick was clearly visible, endangering local wildlife and rich fishing grounds. By the morning of 12 October 2011, the ship was listing 30° to starboard, had lost 30 – 70 containers, had leaked about 350 tonnes of oil, and also had large cracks developing in the Hull.

For a timeline of how the clean-up and salvage operation has proceeded, visit Maritime New Zealand’s Rena Timeline page. (The Rena broke into two pieces following a storm on January 9th, and the following day the Stern section sank.)

Useful websites for up-to-date information:

• Maritime New Zealand: Tauranga Incident
  This page is updated daily by Maritime NZ with new developments. It also has a really good ‘Rena by numbers’ section.
• Bay of Plenty Regional Council
  You can also find (almost) daily updates, as well as photos on the Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s website
• Rena Oil Spill on Wikipedia
  This page is more about the Oil spill than the grounding itself, but still interesting. See also Wikipedia’s page on the MV Rena.

From our databases:

(To access these links, you’ll need to log in with your library card details – there’s some great stuff here though!)

• Search on ProQuest ANZ Newsstand for articles on the Rena Oil Spill (valid for 3 months from date of search)
  Media coverage of the disaster from New Zealand and Australian newspapers.
• MacKenzie, Dana. 2011. “Operation clean-up.” New Scientist 212, no. 2836: 46.
  This article from New Scientist talks about the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and mentions the grounding of the Rena and subsequent oil spill as well. It looks at current and possible future methods of clean-up.
• Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill (2010, in the Gulf of Mexico) on Gale Student Resources in Context
  Overviews, newspaper and magazine articles, images, video, audio and more
• Exxon Valdez oil spill (1989, in Alaska) on Gale Student Resources in Context
  Overviews, newspaper and magazine articles, images, video, audio and more
• A general search for ‘oil spills‘ on Gale Student Resources in Context
  Produces encyclopaedia overviews,  newspaper and magazine articles, audio, photos and video on the topic of oil spills.

Books about New Zealand Shipwrecks:

New Zealand shipwrecks : over 200 years of disasters at sea / originally compiled by Charles William Ingram & Percy Owen Wheatley.
“Since the publication of the first edition in 1936, New Zealand Shipwrecks has been the authority on maritime disasters in our waters. This hugely readable reference records the details of more than 2200 shipwrecks and highlights those of special significance and drama, telling exciting tales of daring, bravery or treasure never found. An indispensable record of a fascinating aspect of New Zealand’s maritime history. This 8th edition includes 245 new entries as well as updated information on many wrecks.” (Syndetics)

Full astern! : an illustrated history of New Zealand shipwrecks / Gavin McLean ; [edited by Lorraine Olphert].
“The sea may be our highway, but it can charge appallingly high tolls. Our ancestors rightly feared death and destruction at sea. In the last 200 years over 2000 ships have been fatally wrecked on New Zealand shores, sometimes with horrific loss of life. Many more have been salvaged only after epic struggle. In this lively book, leading historian Gavin McLean examines some of New Zealand’s most interesting wrecks. In Full Astern he explores some of the iconic wrecks that wrote themselves into New Zealand history: the Orpheus, General Grant, Tararua, Wairarapa, Penguin, Wahine and Mikhail Lermontov. But others will be new to readers, the ordinary, everyday vessels on which New Zealanders depended. Full Astern is a story of terrifying storms, of inhospitable coastlines, of human error, of the malicious hand of fate, and of courtroom dramas as stunned communities picked through the evidence of disaster.” (Mighty Ape)

Or, try this catalogue quicksearch for more items about New Zealand shipwrecks.

Monday 23rd January is Wellington Anniversary Day, and there is more to it than  just a day off for us Wellingtonians!

If you’re interested in reading or seeing more, come check out our Early Wellington display of books and images on the 2nd floor of the Central Library.

So, what is Wellington Anniversary Day?

• An anniversary day commemorates the founding of a province or an early settlement event.
• The first New Zealand Company immigrant ship, the Aurora, arrived 22nd January 1840.
• The first settlement celebration was held on 22nd January 1841.
• Wellington Anniversary Day is the Monday that falls closest to the 22nd of January.

Read about the very first Wellington Anniversary celebrations:

• Article from the New Zealand Gazette and Wellington Spectator, 30 January 1841: Celebration of the Arrival of the First Settlers (Papers Past)
• Early colonial society through a prism: reflections on Wellington’s first anniversary day by B. R. Patterson, published by Wellington Historical and Early Settlers’ Association (NZ).

Names for Wellington:

• Te Upoko o te Ika a Māui – The head of Māui’s fish.
• Te Whanganui a Tara – The great harbour of Tara.
• The first European settlement, Britannia, was where Petone is now situated.
• Popular choice for a new name was Durham. In England, Durham’s name comes from the Old English “dun”=hill and the Old Norse “holme”=island.
• Finally in 1840 the name Wellington was chosen to honour the Duke of Wellington, who was a strong supporter of the New Zealand Company.

Wellington Heritage Trails:

(PDFs of some of these are available on the Wellington City Council website)

• Heritage trail: Te ara o nga tupuna = The path of our ancestors
• Heritage trail: Petone, Hutt City
• Heritage trail: old shoreline, Wellington City
• Heritage trail: maritime Wellington City
• Heritage trail: Thorndon: power, passion, prose & piety.
• Heritage trail: Aro Valley: cottages, crannies & curiosities.
• Heritage trail: northern suburbs, Wellington City
• Heritage trail: Karori, Wellington City

Books of interest:

• A guide to Wellington’s Maori history: nga korero mua o te upoko o te ika
• Te Whanganui-a-Tara: the story of Wellington Harbour
• Wellington Harbour; a heritage of Tara
• Britannia by the river
• Early Wellington
• Wellington: history, heritage & culture
• Old Wellington in colour: from hundred-year-old picture postcards
• Wellington: biography of a city
• Colonial capital: Wellington, 1865-1910
• Wellington at work in the 1890s
• Heritagelink: the official magazine of the Wellington Historical & Early Settlers Assn.

Whew! we have FINALLY finished processing the more than 100 zines we bought this year at the Wellington Zinefest. They are mainly titles from local zine authors/artists - and as usual, cover all subjects imaginable!  (Do-it-yourself, arts, political ones, funny ones, comics etc…)

They make for great summer reading, so please come into the Central Library and check them out!