- Kia ora, and welcome to National Treasures. Join us as we glean the story of who we are and how we got there through objects, keepsakes and taonga from the past 100 years. - This is the Bastion Point flag. - Oh, ataahua. - From the priceless to the seemingly ordinary, pieces you've brought to us will be evaluated by our panel of experts here at Auckland Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hira. - PG Snell. - Yeah, do you wanna try it on? - This is the moment of my life! - With our team of some of the country's most knowledgeable experts... - Small, everyday objects often have really important connections to big events in our history, and that's what I'm really excited to talk to people about. - ...and my husband, Scotty Morrison, who's out on the road searching for taonga that couldn't quite make it here today. - This is spectacular. - We're looking for the best items that tell New Zealand's story. - Iconic is a word that is gonna fill this show ` things that go to the very heart of New Zealand identity. - And those items will be displayed at Te Papa ` New Zealand's national museum. Kia putikitiki te taurehere tangata. Kia mau, kia renarena. So join us as we delve into our national treasures. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021. (UPBEAT MUSIC) Ko tai kite ra tuatoru. On our third day. Still got lots of energy? - Ae. - Yeah. - Lots of interest, cos amazing korero coming in, isn't it? OK. He ra no kei te haere. Here we go with another huge day of discovering national treasures. - Let's do it. - Hey! (PENSIVE MUSIC) - There are countless rangatira that have been instrumental in restoring the rights and dignity of our tangata whenua. But in the 1970s, as waves of counterculture spread across the globe, one man and his activist group, Nga Tamatoa, were credited with inspiring a Maori renaissance among youth. I know we're about to speak about Syd Jackson, your late husband's watch. - It's a beautiful watch. - Do you want to share with me the korero related to this watch? - This is Navajo ` this watch, and it was given to him by my auntie who lived in America for 50 years. He never took it off his wrist literally until he died, so everywhere he was in the country, it's the watch that people recognised him for. - Syd Jackson was instrumental in setting up Nga Tamatoa, an urban protest group which, among other things, became an important conduit for ideas around Maori language, land claims and sovereignty. The group were noisy, smart, and despite their unrestrained zeal, were well-grounded. - I guess it was Nga Tamatoa that took Maori politics ` things that we had been saying in the marae ` took it out of the marae, and suddenly, there were young Maori people standing out there on television and saying, 'This is not right. We are not going to accept that you don't honour the Treaty.' - We wanted, um, the Treaty of Waitangi honoured. That was the first thing. We wanted to eliminate racism in this country, and, uh,... that developed very quickly for me into the belief that we really had no option but to take the country back. - Syd was a young, fiery, and articulate leader. He criticised Government's repeated failure to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. He fought not just for Maori rights, but against any injustice, including for women and the LGBT community. - Unheard of to be talking about homosexual rights, women's rights and Maori rights. - It was decided by Nga Tamatoa that we were going to make a concerted effort throughout the country to push for our language to be taught within the school system. - SYD: We focused on the fact that we didn't have the right to learn our language in our own schools. - MATARIKI: But at the time, wider New Zealand perceived this as radical. - SYD: If running a petition to have Maori language taught in schools is found violent, then we're guilty of violence. If making submissions to the Statutes Revision Committee on the Race Relations Act is violence, then we're guilty of violence. If providing legal rights for Maori children in courts is violence, then we're guilty of it. But at no time have we taken part in any action which could be construed as violent. - DEIRDRE: You know, despite what the media portrayed, Syd was actually a very humble man, and I don't believe he would think that he was one of the people that gave Maori people their voice. I think he would be more likely to think it was always there. - Mm-hmm. - We found our own voice. - If you're prepared to stand up for your land, your mana is not lost. Well, I think the most important thing was that we did it. I think that people thought we would be a one-day wonder. - There are certain people that are chosen to do important things for our people, and I was really proud to be the person that was the refuge for him to come home to. - Mm. - So this is a taonga that's very special to our family. My children borrow it when they're feeling a little bit down and they need their father. So that's my darling's watch. - MATARIKI: I am so thankful to Deirdre for bringing in Syd Jackson's watch. It's a symbol of time, and much time has passed, but we can now look back at the work and the foundations that Syd Jackson laid and the importance it had on change within Aotearoa society. Tama tu, tama ora. Tama noho, tama mate. - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) I had to come and have a moment with you. (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) And I see this and I think with the passing of time of the huge legacy that Syd has, I see myself as a recipient of his legacy as well, because we can now speak our reo, we can learn our reo. - You know, when you're powering ahead and you want to achieve something, there's always the dream. You don't always know that the dream is going to happen. And for every young person that I see that's fluent in Maori, you made our dreams come true. Thank you. Because that's what it was all about ` was to see our young people growing up proud and strong as Maori, fluent in Te Reo Maori, confident in themselves. - I see the thread as Mana Motuhake. (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) - Kia ora. - Look at that beautiful watch. - Yeah, look at that. - This is the first programme that really created this idea of Auckland just being the sort of champagne lifestyle. - For a show that only had three seasons, it seems to have a real indelible effect on the industry. - He came up with the idea of a lightweight small bike. There was lots of good reaction, and that was the problem because he couldn't keep up with the demand. I was` ...taking it` ...slow. Stealth as. Pretty chill. Hung a right. Left. Boom. (SIREN WHOOPS) (BRAKES WHINE SOFTLY) SOFTLY: Oh no, no, no, no, no. (BREATHALYSER BEEPS) OK. That is a fail. (SIGHS SOFTLY) (EXHALES SHARPLY) (INDISTINCT RADIO TRANSMISSION) (SCOFFS SOFTLY) RT: We're just gonna go 4Q. (SIGHS SOFTLY) TJ: Have I done enough to wear the jersey? Gotta sweat out that fear because this is bigger than me. I do it for my fans and my family. ION4 hydration. Sweat it out witih Powerade. * - Could you please tell me what colour panties you wear? - (SNICKERS) Basic black, of course. What else? (PHONE RINGS) - Gloss Magazine. No, I'm sorry. Mrs Redfern isn't taking any calls just now. OK. - Kia ora, Liz. Thank you so much for coming in. I would love to know a little bit more about these lovely ladies that you've brought with you. - Well, these are beautiful pieces from the Gloss wardrobe. 1987 is when we were doing Gloss. So, they're actually 33 years old, which is amazing that they're still in such fantastic condition. - How's that feature on eligible bachelors coming along? - Just about there. - Gloss was the first television drama of its kind to be filmed in New Zealand following highly successful soaps in the US. It portrayed an atmosphere of glamour and excess among the wealthier elite. - Oh! You've got that dinky little wedding dress. - Very funny (!) - Miranda Harcourt, who played the part of Gemma ` these are pieces from her wardrobe. We've got the 1980s power shoulders, the draped tuxedo trouser suit. And this is from Jasmine. So, she was part of the Gloss office. - Everyone by the time I've finished with them. - We had an amazing time as a costume department. This is the first programme that really created this idea of Auckland just being the sort of champagne lifestyle and that sort of, like, late-'80s excess. As a young designer at that time, it was just an amazing opportunity, and that was the beginnings of Liz Mitchell as a fashion brand. You close a door and a new door opens. But I keep on connecting back into that world, which still has a relevancy today. - Oh, my God. - What is it? - I'm being sued. I'm being taken to the cleaners for everything I've got. - For a show that only had three seasons, it seems to have a real indelible effect on people's memories and on the industry. - Yeah. I think it was the only one like it. - Yeah, yeah. Thank you so much for sharing them. - Thank you. (DESOLATE GUITAR MUSIC) - Kei te rohe o Taranaki ahau i tera nei. I'm in the beautiful Taranaki region today, and I'm about to go and take a look at a taonga that's a classic example of Kiwi ingenuity. Now, we've always been innovative and resourceful, especially out here on the farm, and that's what this taonga ` this item I'm about to see ` is all about. Kia ora, Laurie! - Hey, Scotty. - Good to see you, mate. - Good to see you too. - Thank you very much for inviting me out here today. - Oh, you're welcome. - Awesome. - This is the bike. - This is the bike. Tell us about this little beauty. What do we have here? - Well, this is a Mountain Goat. Like, back in the '60s, my father had a motorbike shop in New Plymouth, and he was continually being asked by the farmers to modify their road bikes to be on the farm, and he would put a knobbly tyre on, lower the gear ratio. But what he was finding was that the bikes were too heavy. They get stuck in the mud or whatever. So he came up with the idea of a lightweight, small bike that could be lifted out of the mud if it got problems, or even put over a fence if it had to be, and there was a lot of interest with the farmers. Federated Farmers were on board. There was lots of good reaction, and that was the problem because he couldn't keep up with the demand. He even had orders from overseas. I had people ringing me up from Australia and all around the place and saying, hey, they've got a Mountain Goat. They want some information. So they were ending up going all over the place. - Laurie's dad, Jonny Callender, had always loved anything with a motor. Tell us a little bit about your dad. Obviously, he was really entrepreneurial, because, I mean, look at this. This is brilliant. - Yeah, it was something that he obviously had a passion for. As a kid, I can remember coming down from school after school and going into the little factory that he had and folding the seats on and helping in that regard, so it was pretty cool at that time to do that. - It looks to me like this is a normal motorbike setup, but is there any unique parts to it that are different than a normal motorbike? - I suppose the first part is the fibreglass fuel tank. Dad used to make these at home. The front suspension is a rubber bush suspension, so it's not a hydraulic. There's no springs in there. And it has completely no suspension in the back, but being so light and small, it didn't really bounce you around too much. - Yep. - Initially called the Mini Bike. - The Mini Bike? - Yep. - And now it's called a Mountain Goat. - Yeah, there's a whole story with that, because in 1964, he offered this to Sir Edmund Hillary and Peter Mulgrew to take to Kathmandu for their schoolhouse expedition in 1964, and they decided that it would be quite good because Peter Mulgrew at the time, he'd lost his feet through frostbite from an earlier expedition, and it was Peter Mulgrew that coined the phrase Mountain Goat. He thought it was such a cool thing that he called it the Mountain Goat, and that's how the name came. - That's awesome. - The interesting thing was that in 1965, Dad sent the photos of Sir Edmund Hillary and Peter Mulgrew over to Suzuki in Japan, and in the 1965 Tokyo Motor Show, they sent Dad the photos of their display ` the Suzuki stand. They blew up the photo of Sir Peter and Ed Hillary, and they built a Mountain Goat from that photo and had it on display. - So, in terms of our history here, how symbolic is this taonga to Aotearoa? - Oh, I think it's very symbolic. It's, um... It was one of the first, um,... purpose-built farm bikes probably in the world, and certainly something that's unique to New Zealand. A lot of people say, 'Hey, I learnt to ride on a Mountain Goat.' I was the same. - Yeah. - And my kids were the same. They learnt to ride on a Mountain Goat as well. So a lot of people have been involved with them over the years. - So, you might not say it, but can I say it? Your dad invented farm bikes. - Ah... Well, yes. That's probably a good way of putting it, Scotty. - (LAUGHS) - I agree with you, mate. Yeah. - Cool. Ka pai. See, I can say it, cos a lot of people are so humble that they don't want to say something like that, but... so I say it on their behalf. - Thank you. - Which is fabulous. Well, this is another classic example of Kiwi ingenuity. Absolutely brilliant. Well done, Laurie. - Thank you. - This is another taonga ` tino taonga no Aotearoa. (GROUP SING WAIATA) - Tena korua. Nau mai, haere mai. Welcome and thank you so much for coming. Now, Krissie, apart from bringing your lovely mum, what else have you brought today? - I've bought some taniko weaving that my grandmother did in the 1940s ` a partially completed piece there, and in here, we've got a beautiful belt that... Oh, that's Grandma. (LAUGHS) - Kei tei ora tonu, yeah? And she's still alive, isn't she? - She is. - Yes, she is. - Heather is now how old? - 94. And I never knew anything about this weaving ` that she never shared it with us. - So, taniko is a art of weaving. We see it right across from clothing through to meeting houses, and they tell a story in the patterns and it's very intricate. It's very time-consuming. And it's interesting to me in this particular story that Heather learnt taniko as a young woman, but she actively didn't pass it on to her own children. - I was actually at Teacher's College, and part of our Maori classes there ` you know, we sort of had to talk about if we had any heritage, and I happened to mention my grandmother, and coincidentally, the lecturer knew of her and he said, 'Oh, she did all the weaving.' So, of course, yeah, I approached Grandma and I said, 'I heard you did a lot of weaving,' and then she dug out a bag that had been put away for years and years and discovered all this taniko. - So, if she taught you knitting and sewing, why didn't she teach you taniko? - (EXHALES SHARPLY) It was very difficult to talk to Mum about her Maori heritage. It was a place she didn't want to go, shall we say. - What do you think's impacted that? - There was a lot of undercurrents going on in her life. - How do you feel about what she was carrying and how it impacted what she chose to teach or not teach her children? - I think it was sad. (CHUCKLES) Yeah. - It's interesting ` these stories of Maori who are disconnected from our culture, and then the yearning that we have to come back to it, to see the generational difference of how a 94-year-old Maori woman perceived herself. The experiences that she has wrapped up, literally, in taniko aren't easy for her to express. How did she react when you asked her about her taniko and all her mahi? - I think she was ready to talk about it then, because she was quite delighted to share the stories and how, you know, she was part of the Maori arts and crafts movement. - Titiro ki te ahua tenei tatua. Look how much work! Who actually wore this belt? - Well, she was telling me that she made quite a few of the bands, and then, um, a man in Ruatoria would put them on to the leather, and it would go out to the sheep shearers, the cowboys as well. And when the returned servicemen came back from the war, they got the belts too in Ruatoria, and coincidentally, Mum's father was one of the recipients of this belt. - Oh! - (LAUGHS) - So when they decided that they quite liked each other, this was a good exchange. - Well, it's` Mm. (ALL LAUGH) - Is it a love story all written in a taniko belt? - I don't know. I don't know. - (SPEAKS IN TE REO MAORI) They didn't tell you about this? - No. She hid it for her whole generation ` from her children. - When I got these framed, she teared up. - Aw. As I say, it's a story that a lot of us can relate to, so tena korua. Thank you so much for coming and giving all your aroha ` the aroha that's in here, the story of this beautiful woman and what she made and who she made. No reira tuku na aku mihi ki to kuia. I really hope that you give our mihi and aroha to Heather as well. She sounds amazing. - Oh, thank you. - Thank you. - And that's what this show is about ` recovering histories that may have been forgotten. - There we are ` Black Magic, NZL-32. - The America's Cup is now New Zealand's cup! - It was a local New Zealander who became the first to achieve this incredible goal after all the attempts that had gone into it. (COMPUTER BLIPS) (PHONE RINGS) (PHONE CONTINUES RINGING) (LID POPS) (QUIRKY PIANO MUSIC) (BICYCLE BELL RINGS) (ALLURING PIANO MUSIC) (BIRDS CHIRP) VOICEOVER: How far will you go to make a little me-time? * (GENTLE POP MUSIC) - Kia ora, Jan. What have you got for us today? - I was lucky enough to win a Black Magic jacket. It's made out of the spinnaker of the winning America's Cup from NZL-32. - COMMENTATOR: Black Magic is about to sail to an unprecedented 5-0 win and convincing victory. The America's Cup is now New Zealand's cup! - There we are ` Black Magic NZL-32. - I won the jacket through a radio station in Nelson. It's one of 300, and I have never seen another one. - This is the spinnaker from Black Magic. - It is. - And so, you've always got this thing that's connecting you to that event. It's really lovely. So, the heritage that we have as a sailing nation, I think, has fuelled the passion of some of our top sailors, and a lot of these people ` they've always been on the water, they grew up on the water. - You know, the America's Cup is about designing a fast boat, it's about technology. You know, for a country like New Zealand, that's, uh,... it's been fantastic. - Also won a trip up to Auckland to go and see the very first race of the America's Cup in 2000. - JANE: Auckland's Viaduct Basin became America's Cup central, where Team New Zealand defended their reigning championship. They took on Luna Rossa, who emerged from the Louis Vuitton series to challenge New Zealand, and once again, Team New Zealand made Aotearoa proud. - COMMENTATOR: As Team New Zealand retains the heavyweight crown of world sailing. For the first time in 149 years of competition for yachting's holy grail, Team New Zealand complete the first successful defence of the America's Cup outside America. The America's Cup is still New Zealand's cup! - What was the energy like at the Viaduct on race day? - It was amazing, because in 1995, if you remember, Sir Peter Blake, and that was the red socks campaign. So, there was still the residue of that red socks campaign, and everyone was really hyped. It was amazing to see. - Yeah. - So many people out on the harbour and, um, the energy was just electric. - So, this jacket is actually connected to another iconic textile from the Team New Zealand history, which is the lucky red socks campaign that a lot of people will be familiar with. This all came about in 1995 when Sir Peter Blake wore lucky red socks and they won every race, and it became a bit of a sort of talisman that the people of New Zealand really latched on to. People across New Zealand could buy these lucky red socks and be a part of it. So, what makes this object a national treasure? - I think because the boats ` we've bought into it as part of our experience. We are not only contenders. We're defenders. We want to win the cup again and again and again, and I think all of New Zealand is behind the America's Cup. It's little New Zealand, I suppose, against the big boys, and that's what we're famous for. We just love doing that. - So, Jan, thank you for bringing this very unique, quirky, but, as you say, historically significant object to us ` like, a piece of an event that so many people remember and remember fondly, linked to a great New Zealander. So thank you so much. - Thank you. I've thoroughly enjoyed having it, and I haven't really realised the significance of it, but as the years have gone by, it's become so much more important to treasure. - It was actually really wonderful to see a piece of the object itself ` so the boat itself ` and it just shows the power that objects can have when you can touch something that is a part of history. - SIMON DALLOW: As heroic events go, this is a defining moment of the 20th century. - NEWSREADER: This is the BBC Home Service. Here is the news. Mount Everest has been conquered by members of the British expedition. - Well, Peter, it's a very great privilege to have you come in today with this magnificent piece of furniture we've got in front of us. I wonder if you could just explain what we have here. - Well, it's this wonderful chair. It's the Everest chair. And back in 1953, my father, Ed Hillary, had just climbed Mount Everest for the first time with Tenzing Norgay. He'd gone to England, become a knight, and he returned to Auckland, his hometown, and the mayor and councillors of Auckland ` I think it was a bit of a New Zealand joke ` presented him with the Everest chair. So, you've got the summit of Everest here. You've got the west shoulder. You see the shaped ridge there. - Right. - And this is the Nuptse-Lhotse Ridge over there, with this` - Is this the ice floe or something? - This is the western Khumbu icefall down there. - (LAUGHS) - So I think it was a bit of a welcome home joke as well. - Well, it's nice if it was a joke. I mean, you know, there was such a moment of such a thrill in New Zealand at that point in time. - NEWSREADER: Auckland sees the end of an epic journey to and from the top of the world, and a crowd of thousands wait to welcome New Zealand hero. From aboard the flying boat, Sir Edmund Hillary and George Lowe emerged to report all is well to the men and women who in spirit were never far behind them. - You know, Edmund Hillary didn't really expect the kind of public response that he got. I mean, he was a mountaineer, and for him, climbing the tallest peak in the world was a mountaineering challenge, and he knew it would be a big achievement within the mountaineering world. I think he had no expectation the way it would turn him into an international celebrity. Why do you think it evoked such extraordinary response in New Zealand? - Well, I think, you know, for a whole lot of reasons. I think for a start, it was a local New Zealander who became the first to achieve this incredible goal after all the attempts that had gone into it. But I think very quickly ` and I don't even think my father and Tenzing were really aware of this at the time ` it very quickly for people became one of those great frontiers. Like, can humans go to 29,000 feet, 8800m? Can we climb the highest mountain in the world? And the fact is on the 29th of May, 1953, they showed the world, yes, we can. - Well, George, we knocked the bastard off. - And how did your father react when he saw this? - Well, I mean, I guess the press photographer said, 'Ed, you've got to sit in,' and I don't know. He probably sat in it normally, but in the end, they opted for him draped across it, with his legs across one side and his back over this side. So, you know, there's some wonderful shots of that, and actually, more recently, my sons and I dressed up and got in the same position. - (LAUGHS) - So we've got three generations of Hillarys draped across the Everest chair. - It's a very particular Kiwi tribute to a very particular Kiwi man. - It is. - Oh, I think it's a bit of Kiwi kitsch. I think it's great. I think it's a national treasure. - Kia ora, Louisa. Thank you so much for coming in this morning, and for bringing your beautiful taonga with you. So perhaps you can just talk to us a little bit about what it is, what it represents. - Sure. Well, it's called a power jacket. - It's a biker jacket. - It's a biker jacket, and it was created by an artist called Rachel Rowlands, and I purchased it in 2018, and it was part of an exhibition to highlight the 125th anniversary of women's suffrage in New Zealand. Back in the day in the 1890s, one of the most rebellious things we could do as women was to ride bikes. Essentially, it says everything about, um,... being a powerful woman today, which is still about, I guess, challenging convention. - Using fashion to challenge convention and to express identity has been with us in popular form for a really long time and continues as a potent statement of resistance against social norms. (APPLAUSE) - This represents freedom. It represents independence. It represents daring. - So, wearing this in Parliament was really an act of... - Defiance. (LAUGHS) - Defiance and activism. It was wearing your cause on your body. How important is that to you? - Oh, it's really important. Obviously, this is an artistic expression of what women's suffrage means. The ability for me to have worn that during the women's suffrage debate was incredibly significant, and if we turn it round` Can we turn it round? - Yeah, let's turn it round. Because it is two-sided. So that was kind of my back. So, it's got 'dignity' on the back, and then there's words of honour and loyalty, work. I mean, this was homage to, obviously, Kate Sheppard. - There's a whole bunch of $10 bills. - Exactly. - Beautiful. - And I think for me, quite frankly, we're still fighting for pay equity. - Yeah, exactly. This isn't a fight that's over. - That's right. It's historic. It's contemporary. But it means we've still got issues about inequality and the fact that women are still having to fight for redress in lots of areas. Yeah, it's a very special jacket, but also it's a very special time for us to remember those women who fought so hard for men in the House to vote for us to be able to vote, and then obviously, 40 years later, to be able to actually occupy a seat in Parliament. - Yeah, wonderful. It's been so lovely talking to you, and I just want to thank you for bringing it in and for having this wonderful korero. - Kia ora. - Kia ora. - You get a match and you ignite it. This has set fire to one of my sofas. - Because you went to four Winter Olympics, and at your very first one ` was in Sarajevo? You were 17. - What brought you into this culture? - It was an international movement. - First time I've ever heard Jacinda Ardern thought of as a hippie, I have to say. (LAUGHS) * (PENSIVE ELECTRONIC MUSIC) - Well, Dave. Welcome along to National Treasures. Thank you so much for coming in today. Tell us about what we've got in front of us here. - Right. We have a little green train. It's about the same age as me. It was made in about 1950. It was made by a man called Donald Cranko, so we have CMR ` Cranko Model Railways. - Right. - And his company was called Movie Models. - Right. - Of course, movies were a big thing, and he just used the name as a sort of promotion. - So they weren't models. They were toys? - They were toys. Yes. And he had a little factory at the back of his house, I think, in Havelock North, and he made these toys. Now, why this was happening is what makes it so important. In 1939, when the war started, the New Zealand government banned the import of all toys because they were seen as a non-essential item. So, suddenly, there were no toys in New Zealand for sale. So what happened was that the mums and dads and aunties and uncles started to make toys, some started little businesses, and this is one of them. Now, what's interesting is that normally the toys that New Zealand was importing were either clockwork trains or electric trains. Now, making an electric motor or a clockwork motor was beyond anyone in New Zealand. Making little steam engines ` there's a little steam engine that lurks in here. What you do is that we unscrew that ` da, da, da, da ` and you fill the boiler up with water till it falls out there. This has been heated up to red hot and has set fire to one of my sofas, so... - (LAUGHS) - It's fairly robust. - And you did this in your living room? - Yes, that was the` Yeah, I've done it twice, actually, cos I'm a slow learner. - (LAUGHS) And then in the back here, there's a little fuel tank. You pop that and you fill it up with methylated spirits. There's a little burner here. You pop it back in. And... you get a match and you ignite it. There are overseas versions of this, which are quite neat and tidy. Now, Mr Cranko was a bit more robust, and New Zealand children must have been a little bit robust, because when you ignite this, you end up with flames like this all over the place, and the little steam engine ` the water boils. The little steam engine starts to rotate, and the train whizzes down the track. - What is it that you love about toys and about objects more generally? Why do you think they're such an important way of telling history? - What you're doing is that you're telling a story of people's lives from the things they leave behind. - Mm-hmm. - The toys do exactly the same thing. Objects tell stories, and what I've tried to do with the little train is to extract the stories out of that particular object. I've always found that a hell of a lot much more fun than reading about it all the time. - Thank you so, so much for bringing in these wonderful toys. - Been a pleasure. - Thank you. - Well, Bill, it's absolutely wonderful to have you here, and particularly with these treasures. They bring back so many memories. So, just tell us what we've got here. - So, it's the New Zealand Whole Earth catalogue. - I always thought of it as a sort of hippy's Bible, basically. - Yeah, it was. - It was right into how to survive in the wilderness, really, wasn't it? The Whole Earth Catalogue provided practical advice such as how to build a house or how to grow vegetables. But it also had a lot of creative and political ideas ` you know, trying to stimulate people to think afresh about the world around them. What brought you into this culture? - It was an international movement. The word would be 'zeitgeist,' I suppose. It was a spirit of the times. We were hippies. We were prototype hippies. - What do you mean when you use the word 'hippy?' - I suppose we were inherently lazy and ungrateful for what our parents had done for us, but we're also reacting against some of the things that were being done in our name. Vietnam. We had our own stuff going on with the Springbok tour. - Well, I have to admit I was a bit of a weekend hippy myself, and the Whole Earth Catalogue is a great reminder of that period. What it encapsulates is a kind of dream that was quite strong and quite powerful for a large number of New Zealanders in the early 1970s. - Yeah. - So I'm very, very grateful that you've brought that along, and have you got a good voice from the 1970s, from the Whole Earth Catalogue, that you'd like to communicate to us? - Yeah, well, 'be kind' is fairly obvious. We're getting that from a very high level now ` thank God. 'Question everything.' - First time I've ever heard Jacinda Ardern thought of as a hippy, I have to say. (LAUGHS) - She'd like that. - Kia ora, Mere. - Kia ora, Oscar. - And this is Simon? - Yes, it is. - Oscar. - What's this living taonga that you've brought for us to talk about today? - So, I've brought my father along, um, (LAUGHS),... - (LAUGHS) who was the first Maori Olympic skier. - Simon Wi Rutene. - Simon Wi Rutene. Yes. I thought I could do his hat, do his jacket, but because he's my dad, I was like, 'Maybe could be wise to just bring him on,' you know? - Yeah. Yeah. Because you went to four Winter Olympics, and at your very first one ` was it Sarajevo? You were 17. - ANNOUNCER: Racer, ready. 10 seconds. - OSCAR: In the 1980s, out of nowhere, Simon Wi Rutene became a household name. A young Maori from Rotorua who had been chosen to represent New Zealand in the Winter Olympics. What is this? - So, this was a hat from the opening ceremony that my grandmother actually designed and made it ` the whole thing. - Because she's a noted fur designer. - Yes, she is. - She made the uniforms. - Yep. - And what was it like for you to wear this, knowing that your mum made it and made everyone else's as well? - I thought it was lucky. It was like my lucky hat, you know? It was looking after me. So it was imbued with that kaitiakitanga. It looked after my wairua. So I felt really safe, and I was so proud of it. - Can we talk about this item? - I wore that as the flag bearer. - Wow. - In the opening ceremony. - Oh, yeah. - I've always wondered what the experience is like being a flag bearer at an Olympic opening ceremony. - It's a great privilege. I was voted by my peers and other athletes at this time. So I stepped up and I did it, and it was a wonderful occasion. - And Mere, why are you so proud of Simon that you wanted to bring him in? - It's my dad, so I'm just very` Like, very, very proud. A lot to live up to, to be honest. - Yeah. - I just think that for him to be as incredible as he was and successful as he was and just pioneering, like, bringing in, like, te ao Maori into a place that was really white, middle-class like sport. He would paint on ta mako when he would race, wear, like a taniko headband, and that took the whole, like, media representation thing ` the negatively-skewed being Maori, and was like, 'Actually, nah. Like, this is who I am. I'm proud of it.' - Yeah. It was a strength. - Yeah, and introduced it into places around the world that never would have seen anything from te ao Maori. - Because he's a hero to me too. - Oh! - I'm a big sports nut. I'm a real fan, and I... look up to anyone that represented New Zealand on the international stage. And the thing with Simon is he was brown, particularly in a sport that was not one traditionally that we go for. I'm curious how you feel hearing your daughter speak about you like this. - Oh, I haven't heard that before. Yeah, it feels crushingly nice. Yeah. Thank you. - Oi, don't` Aw. I don't` Yeah, I am proud of you. I just don't tell you because you` it's` you know... - Because he's your dad? - Well, yeah, and, I mean, it is kind of embarrassing sometimes, you know, going out and then being like` You know, people see the last name Wi Rutene and they're just like, 'Oh, I had a crush on your dad when I was younger,' and I was like, 'Didn't need to know that!' - Oh, that would be a problem. - (LAUGHS) - Yeah! Problem for me. - Amazing talking to you both, and I wish we could put you in Te Papa as a living national treasure, but pretty cool to have these, and look at this stylie jacket. This is like the one Tom Cruise wore in Top Gun. - (LAUGHS) - Yeah. - It still holds today. - It is. It's cool. - In planning for the escape, they realised that, you know, so many men would be left behind with no knowledge of their fate, and they wrote letters, and so it became my father's responsibility to take care of these important items. - The song Andy has that line, 'I don't know why I'm telling all this to you on Takapuna Beach.' (LAUGHS) - That made me want to go to Takapuna Beach. - Same! (BOTH LAUGH) * - The fall of Singapore in 1942 was referred to by Winston Churchill as the worst disaster in British military history. Kia ora, David. - Kia ora, Nina. - Thanks so much for coming in. - Thank you for inviting me. - It's a pleasure to meet you, and yeah, I wonder if you could tell us a little bit about what we're looking at in front of us and a little bit about the context. - Sure. The suitcase attaches to my father, who was in the navy in World War II and served in Singapore. The case travelled with him and his comrades as they attempted to escape. - What David is referring to here is the Japanese invasion of Singapore on the 13th of February, 1942, that forced the allied troops to evacuate the island, including David's father. Unfortunately, the ship he was on ran aground on some small islands near Sumatra. Their only hope of escape was a fishing boat far too small to accommodate them all. This case belonged to one of the crew. - This is Johncock's attache case, if you like. - And we can actually see his name emblazoned as well. - It is. Motor mechanic Petty Officer Johncock. Planning for the escape, they realised that, you know, so many men would be left behind with no knowledge of their fate, and they wrote letters to their loved ones, which were... uh, put in the suitcase, wrapped in oilskin, if you like, and every attempt was made to keep them waterproof, and this was in Johncock's care, but in the selection process, they drew straws amongst the ratings and Johncock lost. And so he stood down and handed the case to my father, and so it became my father's responsibility to take care of these important items. - No one could have known just how important the contents of this case were. Of the 45 men stranded on the island, only three would escape, including David's father. The rest either died on the island trying to escape or ended up as prisoners of war. - For seven days and nights, they rode across the Java Sea, attempting to escape from detection. The Japanese flew overhead in the aircraft routinely. They would put on little Chinese hats, dangle a string over the side of the boat and wave at the aircraft` - To look like fishermen? - ...to hopefully look like all the fishermen on the sea. That's right. They weathered all sorts of terrible storms before being swept across the Sunda Straits and they enter the Port of Merak. The 27th of February ` that's just two weeks after leaving Singapore ` my father presented the case and they opened it up. They found that water had penetrated the case and the oilskins and that, sadly, all the mail was destroyed. I can't imagine what my father felt at that time, but he kept the case and carried it with him for the rest of his journey. By any standard, the experience was remarkable, and, you know, the little case of the kind of silent witness. - Absolutely. And I wonder, did your father talk much about these experiences? - Hardly at all. Hardly at all. Probably a desire to forget. - Mm. - I say that knowing that he never really did forget. - Of course. - You know, I was aware that he carried a burden with him. The flip side is that I admired them hugely for their service... and their sacrifice. - Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Tama tu, tama ora. BOTH: Oh! How ya doin'? (BOTH GRUNT) I haven't seen you for` Oh! How ya doin'? (BOTH GRUNT) I haven't seen you for` Oh! How ya doin'? - Gemma, tell me about this object. - Oscar, this is the first piece of merch I ever owned. It is The Front Lawn's lawn man pin. The Front Lawn, who were an avant-garde theatre, musical, filmmaking duo. - Yep. The Front Lawn was formed by Don McGlashan and Harry Sinclair in 1985. - # Baaaaa. Ba, baaaa. - # It's no big deal. Our breakfast has started. # In the house next door,... - # Ba, ba, da, baaaaa. # They do it like this... # - They were pivotal in the evolution of New Zealand's live art scene in the 1980s. - So, the first time I saw The Front Lawn, I was about 13, and afterwards, I said to Mum, 'I'm going to buy something from the merch table.' We didn't call it merch then. I don't know what we called it. 'I'm going to get a souvenir of The Front Lawn.' I went out, and I'd seen it before the show. All I wanted was the pin. Walked up to the table. There's still T-shirts, there's still albums, there's no pins. - Yeah. - And I just kind of turned to Mum. My face must have been so sad. And then Don McGlashan walked up and he goes, 'Oh, you look a bit upset. How can I help?' And I went, 'I just really, really wanted one of your pins,' and he went, 'Here. Have mine.' - No. He's such a lovely man. - Then they put out an album. - 'Songs From The Front Lawn.' - Yep, which was a big thing in my family. - And what was the beautiful thing about the music? - It was so very New Zealand ` the accents, the vernacular. The song Andy has that line, 'I don't know why I'm telling all this to you... - # Don't know why I'm telling all this to you... # - '...on Takapuna Beach.' (LAUGHS) - That made me want to go to Takapuna Beach. - Same! (BOTH LAUGH) - # Takapuna Beach. I can still see you. # # It started on Queen Street. # - It Started on Queen Street is another one of their songs, and you go, '(GASPS) They're singing about us!' - Yeah. - They're singing about Auckland. - These guys ` they were so uniquely Kiwi and unashamed about it that they were a hit. - # You come back home # and you find me waiting there. # - And they inspired countless performers who came after. - Enough people in those audiences were influenced by what Harry and Don were doing on stage that they've gone off to make interesting art of their own. Like, Naked Samoans Talk About Their Knives. You know, it's` - Even Flight of the Conchords. - Even` Well, Flight of the Conchords ` so, Bret and Age were in Wellington ushering at their shows and seeing what they did and going, 'Oh, there's another way to make music.' - There's this whole genre, eh? - Yeah. - Of New Zealand artists like the Conchords, and Front Lawn were an integral part of that. - Yeah. - I'm really glad you brought this pin in because it gives us an excuse to talk about The Front Lawn and how their legacy continues on. Thank you, Gemma. - Thanks, Oscar. - This is Horse's gravestone. - From the actual cat from Footrot Flats, of course. - That's correct. - It's Jacinda and Ashley. It was this weird, surreal world, and you're suddenly locked in your house, and they just became this point of normality. - I started flying in 1952. It was a different lifestyle, and one that I loved every minute of. - I went to Salvation Army in Henderson, opened up the rack and I thought, 'That looks like the real thing,'