Portal:New Zealand

New Zealand
*Aotearoa* (Māori)
New Zealand Aotearoa (Māori)
	Flag Coat of arms
	Location of New Zealand, including outlying islands, its territorial claim in the Antarctic, and Tokelau
ISO 3166 code	NZ

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New Zealand (Māori: Aotearoa [aɔˈtɛaɾɔa]) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu)—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland.

A developed country, it was the first to introduce a minimum wage, and the first to give women the right to vote. It ranks very highly in international measures of quality of life, human rights, and it has one of the lowest levels of perceived corruption in the world. It retains visible levels of inequality, having structural disparities between its Māori and European populations. New Zealand underwent major economic changes during the 1980s, which transformed it from a protectionist to a liberalised free-trade economy. The service sector dominates the national economy, followed by the industrial sector, and agriculture; international tourism is also a significant source of revenue. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, UKUSA, OECD, ASEAN Plus Six, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Community and the Pacific Islands Forum. It enjoys particularly close relations with the United States and is one of its major non-NATO allies; the United Kingdom; Samoa, Fiji, and Tonga; and with Australia, with a shared "Trans-Tasman" identity between the two countries stemming from centuries of British colonisation. (Full article...)

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Linwood House in 2003

Linwood House was built as the homestead for Joseph Brittan, who, as surgeon, newspaper editor and provincial councillor, was one of the dominant figures in early Christchurch, New Zealand. The suburb of Linwood was named after Brittan's farm and homestead. Brittan's daughter Mary married William Rolleston, and they lived at Linwood House following Joseph Brittan's death. During that time, Rolleston was the 4th (and last) Superintendent of the Canterbury Province, and Linwood House served for many important political and public functions.

The property went through many changes in ownership. Land was successively subdivided; at its peak, 110 acres (450,000 m²) of land belonged to Linwood House, of which only 2,013 m² (21,670 sq ft) remain. For some years, Linwood House was used as a private day and boarding school for girls. The house declined during the mid-20th century, was used for flats for several decades, and was in 1985 described by an historian as the "city's worst example of a house which should be preserved being left to decay". The house's fortunes improved when it was purchased in 1988 by people sympathetic to heritage. Gradually being restored, Linwood House suffered significant damage in the 2010 Canterbury earthquake and partially collapsed in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake. Civil Defence ordered the building's demolition, which was carried out in the second half of 2011. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various New Zealand-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1The 1935 Labour Cabinet. Michael Joseph Savage is seated in the front row, centre. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 2European settlers developed an identity that was influenced by their rustic lifestyle. In this scene from 1909, men at their camp site display a catch of rabbits and fish. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 3The Māori are most likely descended from people who emigrated from Taiwan to Melanesia and then travelled east through to the Society Islands. After a pause of 70 to 265 years, a new wave of exploration led to the discovery and settlement of New Zealand.
Image 4A modern wharenui (meeting house of a marae) exhibited at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 5A 1943 poster produced during the war. The poster reads: "When war broke out ... industries were unprepared for munitions production. To-day New Zealand is not only manufacturing many kinds of munitions for her own defence but is making a valuable contribution to the defence of the other areas in the Pacific..." (from History of New Zealand)
Image 6Zealandia rejecting Australian Constitution in 1900 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 7Knox Church, a Presbyterian church, in Dunedin. The city was founded by Scottish Presbyterian settlers. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 8Aoraki / Mount Cook, as seen from Hooker Valley (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 9Art deco in Napier (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 10George V with his prime ministers at the 1926 Imperial Conference. Standing (left to right): Monroe (Newfoundland), Coates (New Zealand), Bruce (Australia),Hertzog (Union of South Africa),Cosgrave (Irish Free State). Seated: Baldwin (UK), King George V, King (Canada). (from History of New Zealand)
Image 11Central Plateau in winter (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 12Percentages of people reporting affiliation with Christianity at the 2001, 2006 and 2013 censuses; there has been a steady decrease over twelve years. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 13Rural landscape close to Mt Ruapehu (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 14Māori whānau (extended family) from Rotorua in the 1880s. Many aspects of Western life and culture, including European clothing and architecture, became incorporated into Māori society during the 19th century. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 15Strong winds in the Cook Strait produce high waves which erode the shore, as shown in this image (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 16New Zealand is antipodal to points of the North Atlantic, the Iberian Peninsula and Morocco.
Image 17Michael Joseph Savage, Labour Prime Minister 1935–1940. This portrait was hung on the walls of many supporters. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 18One of the few extant copies of the Treaty of Waitangi (from History of New Zealand)
Image 19Children's and young adult author Margaret Mahy, July 2011 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 20Scottish Highland family migrating to New Zealand, 1844, by William Allsworth. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 21The scalloped bays indenting Lake Taupō's northern and western coasts are typical of large volcanic caldera margins. The caldera they surround was formed during the huge Oruanui eruption. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 22Roger Douglas, the architect of New Zealand's 1980s neo-liberal reform programme (from History of New Zealand)
Image 23Cook Island dancers at Auckland's Pasifika Festival, 2010 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 24A meeting of European and Māori inhabitants of Hawke's Bay Province. Engraving, 1863.
Image 25The Original All Blacks during the "haka", 1905 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 26Tribute to the Suffragettes memorial in Christchurch adjacent to Our City. The figures shown from left to right are Amey Daldy, Kate Sheppard, Ada Wells and Harriet Morison (from History of New Zealand)
Image 27Richard Seddon, Liberal Prime Minister from 1893 to his death in 1906 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 28Poet Selina Tusitala Marsh, 2019 (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 29An aerial view of the Auckland urban area, showing its location on the Hauraki Gulf / Tīkapa Moana (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 30A beach barbecue – an established part of New Zealand culture (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 31Scorching Bay, Wellington, in summer (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 32The kiwi has become a New Zealand icon. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 33Pavlova, a popular New Zealand dessert, garnished with cream and strawberries. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 34Putting down a hāngī (earth oven) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 35The first Government House in Auckland, as painted by Edward Ashworth in 1842 or 1843. Auckland was the second capital of New Zealand. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 36An annotated relief map (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 37The Mission House at Kerikeri is New Zealand's oldest surviving building, having been completed in 1822 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 38Topography of Zealandia, the submerged continent, and the two tectonic plates (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 39Prime Ministers John Key and Helen Clark (from History of New Zealand)
Image 40Residents of Dunedin celebrate the news of the Armistice of 11 November 1918. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 41Lorde as part of the 2014 Lollapalooza lineup (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 42Kapa haka is performed at a School Strike for Climate in Christchurch 2019. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 43Elizabeth II and Muldoon's Cabinet, taken during the Queen's 1981 visit to New Zealand (from History of New Zealand)
Image 44New Zealand Division in 1916 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 45Fiordland is dominated by steep, glacier-carved valleys. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 46"First Scottish Colony for New Zealand" – 1839 poster advertising emigration from Scotland to New Zealand. Collection of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 47Vigil in Wellington for the victims of the Christchurch mosques attacks (from History of New Zealand)
Image 48HMS North Star destroying Pomare's Pā during the Northern/Flagstaff War, 1845, Painting by John Williams. (from History of New Zealand)
Image 49A Māori ancestor (tekoteko) depicted in a wood carving at the Tamatekapua Meeting House in Ohinemutu (c. 1880) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 50The Forty-Fours viewed from the north; the leftmost islet is the easternmost point of New Zealand. (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 51Men of the Māori Battalion, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, after disembarking at Gourock in Scotland in June 1940 (from History of New Zealand)
Image 52Hinepare of Ngāti Kahungunu, is wearing a traditional korowai cloak adorned with a black fringe border. The two huia feathers in her hair, indicate a chiefly lineage. She also wears a pounamu hei-tiki and earring, as well as a shark tooth (mako) earring. The moko-kauae (chin-tattoo) is often based on one's role in the iwi. (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 53Tekoteko from the gable of a wharenui, Te Arawa (20th century) (from Culture of New Zealand)
Image 54The Waikato River flowing out of Lake Taupō (from Geography of New Zealand)
Image 55Water pollution sign on the Waimakariri River (from Geography of New Zealand)

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...that Willie Apiata of the Special Air Service of New Zealand was the first ever recipient of the Victoria Cross for New Zealand?

...that Seacliff Lunatic Asylum (pictured) was plagued by landslips, a fatal fire in a locked psychiatric ward and allegations of abuse before reverting to a forest reserve?

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Aoraki/Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand, and 37th most prominent peak in the world, reaching a height of 3,754 metres (12,316 ft). It lies in the Southern Alps, the mountain range which runs the length of the South Island. A popular tourist destination, it is also a favourite challenge for mountain climbers. Aoraki/Mount Cook consists of three summits lying slightly south and east of the main divide, the Low Peak, Middle Peak and High Peak, with the Tasman Glacier to the east and the Hooker Glacier to the west.

Aoraki means "Cloud Piercer" in the Ngāi Tahu dialect of the Māori language. Historically, the Māori name has been spelt Aorangi in the "canonical" Māori form. While the mountain was known to Māori centuries before, the first European known to see Aoraki/Mount Cook was Abel Tasman, on December 13, 1642 during his first Pacific voyage. The English name of Mount Cook was given to the mountain in 1851 by Captain John Lort Stokes to honour Captain James Cook who first surveyed and circumnavigated the islands of New Zealand in 1770. Captain Cook did not sight the mountain during his exploration. Following the settlement between Ngāi Tahu and the Crown in 1998, the name of the mountain was officially changed from Mount Cook to Aoraki/Mount Cook to incorporate its historic Māori name, Aoraki. Under the settlement the Crown agreed to return title to Aoraki/Mount Cook to Ngāi Tahu, who then formally gifted it back to the nation.

The first ascent was on 25 December 1894, when New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, James (Jack) Clarke and George Graham successfully reached the summit via the Hooker Valley and the north ridge. Ed Hillary made his first ascent in January 1947. In February 1948 with Ruth Adams, Harry Ayres and Mick Sullivan, Hillary made the first ascent of the South Ridge to the Low Peak. (Full article...)

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Mt. Sugarloaf by Lake Heron, South Island, New Zealand

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... that Phomen Singh, an early Indian migrant to New Zealand, sold sweets and chutneys out of a suitcase?
... that Miriam Soljak, after fighting to recover her New Zealand nationality for nearly three decades, was told that the government considered she had never lost it?
... that to promote The Simpsons Movie in 2007, 20th Century Fox gifted a sculpture of a doughnut to the town of Springfield, New Zealand?
... that a Māori military settlement at Māngere Bridge, New Zealand, was established in the 1840s to protect Auckland?
... that Mary Earle was born near Ben Nevis, and although she became a professor of food technology in New Zealand, she never forgot her Scottish roots?
... that one threatened species of plant endemic to the North Island of New Zealand is colloquially known as a forget-me-not?
... that when he was in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, future politician Tim Costley starred in a YouTube video that joked about having sex with sheep?
... that the support of conservationist Kae Miller for people recovering from mental illnesses resulted in the establishment of Te Rae Kaihau Park in Wellington, New Zealand?

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