During Nine to Noon from 16th April (2nd week of school holidays) [2007] we'll feature selected readings from the School Journal in a series called 'A Nest of Singing Birds' beginning with the very first poem in May 1907, The Wasp and the Bee, as well as one of the first stories 'The Lighthouse'. It'll play for two weeks, including a special ANZAC day programme at 10.45am on 25th April.
The series concentrates mainly on the early years when the journal in many ways resembled a traditional English reader with instructions in civilised living and an enforcer of colonial values and includes pieces concerning both World wars. It also let's us hear the beginnings of our own New Zealand voice in the journal, and will include a controversial story by Brian Sutton Smith - 'Our Street', as well as poems and articles by other local writers.
(‘A nest of singing birds,’ is how the School Journal office was once described to poet and Journal editor Alistair Campbell.)
Monday 16 April 2007
1907-1908
14’03”
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The Wasp and the Bee, poem [read by Prue Langbein]
The Making of NZ, poem [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Maori Canoe, article [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Toothbrush Speaks, poem [read by Peter Vere Jones]
A Good Joke [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Why Cats wash after Eating, poem [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Dog and the Pukeko, fable [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Woman in the Moon, Maori legend & poem [read by Prue Langbein]
A Gentleman, poem [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Tuesday 17 April 2007
1907-1915
14’13”
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The Lighthouse, story [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Passing of the Bush, poem [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Seed poem [read by Lucy Orbell]
War – Oct 1914 [read by Peter Vere Jones]
What is my Name – May 1915 –long riddle [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Oct 1914 – Colonizing policy [read by Peter Vere Jones]
A Little Heroine of the Trenches – 1915 [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Wednesday 18 April 2007
1917-1919
14’43”
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Success – May 1917 [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Fairies, poem [read by various women]
Sunshine, poem [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Fresh Air, article [read by Lucy Orbell]
School in Other Lands – Russia [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Thursday 19 April 2007
1917-
14’50”
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The first Snowfall, poem - May 1917 [read by Peter Vere Jones]
An Empire Day Message [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Who am I – sermonette [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Dog in Peace and Wartime [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Friday 20 April 2007
1930
15’00”
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Children of Empire [read by Duncan Smith]
A Cricket match in Samoa [read by Duncan Smith]
The Bewitched Belfry, story [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
A Song of Sandhills, poem [read by Maureen Garing]
Message from DG on Napier Earthquake [read by Duncan Smith]
Monday 23 April 2007
1930-1940s
14’42”
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Susan Wonders, poem [read by Angela Green]
The Party Frock, story [read by Angela Green]
Discord and Harmony, poem [read by Prue Langbein]
Pause, poem by Mary Ursula Bethell [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
Sparrows against a Hawk, article [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
A Maori Lullaby by Eileen Duggan [read by Miriama McDowell]
Millions are Hungry [read by Prue Langbein]
What you can do for China [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
Tuesday 24 April 2007
1940s
14’48”
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If, child poem [read by Nepia]
A Rubber Plantation in Malaysia, article [read by Angela Green]
A Tractor, article 1947 [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
The Cave [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Safety Rules, article and poem [read by Duncan Smith]
Life in the Pa, The Planting [read by Eru Rerekura]
My Soccer Boots, child poem [read by Nepia]
Wednesday 25 April 2007
ANZAC day material
14’25”
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A Boy’s Resolve, poem June 1925 [read by Justin Gregory]
The Man with the Donkey [read by Justin Gregory]
Words of Wisdom, April 1925 [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
Life at Anzac, article [read by Justin Gregory]
Scorched Earth, poem [read by Prue Langbein]
Farewell to Anzac, poem [read by Justin Gregory]
Boy Scouts [read by Duncan Smith]
Thursday 26 April 2007
1940s-1950s
14’48”
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The Shaky Island, story by Ruth Park [read by Jason Te Kare]
The Kingfisher, poem by Eileen Duggan [read by Prue Langbein]
Five on the stage by Alona Priestley [read by Alison Lloyd Davies]
Our Street, story by Brian Sutton Smith [read by Peter Vere Jones]
Friday 27 April 2007
1950s
14’51”
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Away with Feet, story, Roy Cowan [read by Peter Vere Jones]
The Prospector, poem [read by James K Baxter]
Games, article, Sargeson 1953 [read by Elric Hooper]
Fifty Years Ago, article, by John Pascoe [read by Peter Fry]