May 28, 2003
Lazy photo blog
I should really be working on some paintings. I should really be writing my verse narrative. I should really be getting ready for work… I really shouldn’t be blogging at all. So I’m going to be lazy and post some photos.
Somehow I managed to use up most of a film down in Dunedin, even though I spent most of the week indoors studying or at the festival. No, I didn’t take any photos with Sean Tan or Paula Boock, because that seemed too lame. Oh shush, there’s photos on the net if you really want to see how spunky they both are (very). And anyway, I was drunk on the fact that Kate kept introducing me as “a talented writer” and so I hoped they might see me as an equal, rather than an adoring fan.
Of course, it might have spoiled the effect somewhat when I begged for their autographs.
Moon setting over Frances Hodgkins House. Frances was an abstract painter, for those of you who haven’t done NZ art history… do your own google search, I can’t be bothered :)
“Rongo” stone memorial to the prisoners who were brought to Dunedin from Parihaka. The prisoners had been practising passive resistance to the confiscation of their lands. Under the guidance of the leaders Te Whiti and Tohu, they ploughed up the lands, pulled out surveyors pegs, and built fences. Hundreds of the ploughmen and fencers were arrested and held without trial. In fact, my great great great grandfather was one of the government officials who arrested them and then changed the law so they didn’t have to be tried. He knew very well that no court could sentence them for trespassing on their own lands. The gaols in Taranaki soon filled up, so the prisoners were sent to Wellington, Christchurch, Hokitika and Dunedin.
View from inside a nearby cave. There’s some debate as to whether the prisoners were actually held in these caves – there’s not enough evidence to prove or disprove the claim. But there is evidence that an unusually large percentage of the prisoners died while they were in Dunedin.
Entrance to another cave.
Posted by Fionnaigh at May 28, 2003 10:03 AM