The blog of New Zealand’s Audiovisual Archive
Ngā Taonga recently completed an exciting film preservation project, at the request of Tauranga City Libraries, to digitally preserve 18 charming short films by Tauranga filmmaker Norman Blackie (1899-1993).
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14 December 2022 marks 100 years since the crew of the HMS Chatham presented the Chatham Cup to the New Zealand Football Association. It all came about from the kindness that New Zealanders showed to the crew members during their time completing a tour of duty of the country over a three-year period from 1921 through to 1924. The crew had keen footballers on board who enjoyed fixtures against opposition at ports as the ship toured the country.
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In February 2021, I was taken on as an intern at Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision due to my established working relationship with Dame Gaylene Preston. I had been her personal assistant over the past five months, my work often veering into archival territory. By familiarising myself with the intricacies of her career and organising some of her personal digital archives, I had naturally gained a lot of relevant content knowledge.
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By sound history researcher Sarah Johnston In both World Wars of the twentieth century, New Zealand forces found themselves fighting
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Occurring over multiple decades of the 19th Century, the New Zealand Wars played an integral role in shaping post-colonial New Zealand. Given their historical significance and enduring impact, some argue that the wars haven’t received their due attention since. With this in mind, it feels worthwhile to examine some of the portrayals of the wars that do exist in the cultural limelight – and consider how these might play a role in shaping our understanding of this period in New Zealand history.
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Heritage organisations like galleries, libraries, archives and museums (sometimes abbreviated to the GLAM sector) hold enormous amounts of mātauranga Māori
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Cartoons and animation have an important place in New Zealand’s on-screen history. Reflecting this, Ngā Taonga holds a large collection
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In 1909, Mr. W. Franklyn Barrett of the renowned French film-making firm Pathé Frères was entrusted to travel through New Zealand and capture scenic sights that the world would otherwise not know existed. Barrett did exactly that, and the fruits of his labour were later featured in two short films from Pathé Frères – Across the Mountain Passes of New Zealand, and Coasts of New Zealand.
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Some of the first recordings sent back to New Zealand for radio broadcasts in late 1940 give some insight into life on board the troop ship on which the Broadcasting Unit was travelling, as part of the Third Echelon of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force.
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This year Ngā Taonga has prepared another video in celebration of the first Matariki Holiday on 24 June 2022, Matariki Hunga Nui – Matariki of Many People. This is a 15-minute audio-visual programme focusing on the star of the Matariki cluster; Pōhutukawa.There are also two versions of this programme, both in te reo Māori and English, to facilitate the two audiences (reo speaking and non-reo speaking).
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