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In winter of 1864 the three masted clipper ship the ‘Ganges’ set sail from Cobh, Ireland for a 12,000 mile journey to Auckland. Amongst almost five hundred passengers and crew onboard the 192 foot (59m) ship were newly married couple, John and Sarah Fausett from Fermanagh County. Over the next three months they would brave the perils of putrid food, overcrowded and poorly…

James Sydney Heard was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Royal New Zealand Artillery (RNZA) when he first served with 161 Battery in Vietnam. During a second Tour of Duty, he served with the 1st New Zealand Army Training Team Vietnam (1-NZATTV). He retired from the NZ Army with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. Jim Heard died in December 2019. His surviving family recently discovered the…

The Covid19 pandemic was something I thought I would never see in my lifetime and I bet many people can say the same thing. When the country went into Level 4 lockdown it was only businesses of essential services which could keep pressing on. New Zealanders had to adapt to a whole new type of normal with new terminology where days were measured by case numbers and isolation and…

While we have been in lockdown to fight the spread of Covid-19, I have been amazed by people’s ingenuity to make this a positive experience. So many organisations and individuals in Papakura and all over Counties Manukau have grouped together to help others in the community. I want to acknowledge them. And also I congratulate all the families who have looked after each other…

For interested homeowners now represents a good time to explore your options around selling. The lockdown period has forced people to examine their current living arrangements and given people time to reflect. Buyer activity has been forceful, and I don’t feel we will experience a true winter market this year round if anything a delayed one. Since level 2 buyers have come out in…

For the first time this century, the numbers of people living in absolute poverty are rising. The World Food Programme estimates that another 130 million people could be brought to the brink of starvation, leading to a new combined total of 265 million people in that dire predicament. Rates of childhood vaccination and prenatal care are precipitously declining in a number of…

The Rotary Club of Pukekohe Inc. was established in August 1945 and marks its 75th birthday on 22 August this year. The club today bears little resemblance to the one chartered the year World War 2 ended. In those days Rotary was a male-only affair with very strict rules which required members to attend pretty much every meeting, or do a “make-up” at another club. Formal dress…

He was an American writer, journalist and novelist known for his sparse and uncomplicated writing style that was also economical and understated. He led an adventurous life ending in tragic circumstances and continues to have a strong influence on 20th century fiction. Ernest Miler Hemingway was born 21 July 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, Chicago to Clarence Edmonds Hemingway, a…

BUY VOUCHERS TO SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESSES IN PAPAKURA Now we have a fabulous offer for you all! How about buying a $20.00 or more voucher from a local business in Papakura and we will give you an extra $5.00 voucher to spend. Now that’s a good deal for sure. Head to www.livepapakura.co.nz to see which stores are accepting these vouchers and support and love local businesses…

Many years ago, more than I care to admit, I managed to convince my seniors in the military to allow me to do a non-trade relevant course, as a Unit Physical Training Instructor. I think in hindsight it was probably not that hard a “sell”, after all it was likely to result in me being way too tired and beaten down to be of any bother to them for the duration. One of the first…

The impact of COVID-19 on our economy is yet to be seen in its entirety and may not be for some time. Fortunately for Franklin and Papakura areas, the sense of community is strong, and I believe it won’t be long before many businesses are back in full swing and it is up to all of us in the community to support them. The expected move to Level 2, hopefully mid-May will see…

Immensely talented local portrait artist Logan Moffat is undaunted by the postponement of his exhibition ‘The Mind is the Portrait’ due to the COVID-19 outbreak. He sees it merely as a reason to continue working on his portraits and to evolve what he knows as consciousness painting. A former student at ACG Strathallan, a graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts, with a BFA Honours, …

For a few weeks prior to our country’s General Election we, the public, have the usual experience of over-zealous candidates seeking our attention and support. This year the election is scheduled for mid-September. Watch the political class falling over each other promising you the earth and attempting to lure your vote. However, on the day after the election, and safely back in…

In the middle of May, the Government announced its Budget for the next financial year. New Zealand has never seen anything remotely like it. It made clear the Government’s intention to spend vast sums of money in an attempt to protect New Zealanders from the economic shock caused by the coronavirus and the Government’s draconian measures to deal with it. Last month, I suggested…

No one can say with confidence what our COVID-9 world is going to look like over the next 12 to 24 months. The rules and models of the old world no longer hold. It is this uncertainty itself that adds great stress, overlaying the fear of specific scenarios. Times like these can bring out true leaders but also false prophets. Trying to distinguish between them is much easier in…

In the traditions of Ngāti Tūwharetoa of Taupō, Ngāti Hotu were an aboriginal people living in that area at a time when the people of Tūwharetoa i te Aupōuri came to live in the lands claimed by their ancestor Tia. It was thought the original people took the name Ngāti Hotu to be spared from being destroyed by the Tainui and Te Arawa peoples. One story among the Tainui people…

Sixty years later, an underwater research group has discovered U-196 partially submerged, stern down, in the sand and apparently not fully flooded in 15 meters of water. It is surmised that U-196 refuelled from the German convoy raider ‘Orion’, somewhere near Palau, before the German surrender brought inevitable internment, then headed south as the Japanese navy was preparing for…

This year, between October and December, a replica of the Endeavour will sail around New Zealand to commemorate a significant event in Aotearoa New Zealand’s history: Captain James Cook’s first visit to New Zealand. While not the first European to visit New Zealand shores, Cook was the first to explore and chart both north and south islands, compiling ‘the first cartographic map’…

For the residents of Acacia Cove, lockdown hasn’t been that tiresome after all, despite all planned activities being cancelled. They have been kept busy with a whole new way of utilising the many facilities that life at Acaica brings and along the way many have made new friends. The low density design of the village even allowed one industrious resident to engage in bucket golf! …

Perhaps it is dangerous to write about such a fast-moving situation as the Covid-19 pandemic when what I write may not be published for 10 days or more, but at time of writing my strong impression is that the public believe that the Government has done a remarkably good job of suppressing, perhaps even eliminating, the spread of Covid-19 in New Zealand, and that they deserve warm…