Production
It is 2.27pm and Stephen and I have just returned from an unexpectedly enjoyable morning. The reason, Willow’s annual school production followed by a delicious lunch at Genevieve’s house.
Stephen and I were offered VIP tickets to this performance, one specifically put on for the grandparents of the pupils. The children will remain at school and put on a second show for their parents at 5.30pm tonight. I felt very privileged to be at this event with the unexpected bonus of really enjoying it. The production told the story of a young Maori boy returning home from Australia, having spent his life over there. He is introduced to his whanau and classic New Zealand icons, all of which are unfamiliar to him. We had dance and music from the buzzy bees, the gum boots, the whale spotters and an appearance from Fred Dagg and Murray Ball’s Wal and Dog. There was the evening news from Judy Bailey and Richard Long, a reference to the land marches in 1974 with Dame Whina Cooper and a group of Kiwi Tryathalon children performing their swimming strokes – all very familiar and definitely depicting iconic New Zealand. I thought afterwards as we finished our lunch at Genevieve’s, with cake and icecream, that the Hokey Pokey wouldn’t have gone amiss amongst our New Zealand favourites.
The children all performed superbly, especially the lead actor, a child who one could easily imagine on the bigger stage in the future.
I was living in Mitimiti when Dame Whina Cooper died. She was buried at Panguru, a short distance away, and I, along with hundreds of others, attended her funeral.
But what really hit home for me was my own two grandchildren living in Australia. One was born there while the other moved when she was 12-months-old. These two children are now 10 and 12 years old and both are half Maori. This production could have been written for them. They have had no marae living, growing up and know very little of their culture, both the European and Maori side. They really are little Australians. Visits are yearly if lucky and they generally stay little more than a few days with loved ones, before moving on to the next relation. To be fair, many of these children performing today wouldn’t have been born when many of the icons were in their heyday, but still, I don’t think there is a Kiwi child out there who wouldn’t know what each of these icons were.
Whilst Kiwi sayings are familiar to us, perhaps not so much to our Australian brothers and sisters. I read an article a week or two ago about the differences one American found while travelling around New Zealand. The thing that stuck with me the most from this article was this person explaining how it took her ages to realise the question How did you find it? wasn’t referring literally to how she found it but how she liked it. To us that is second nature. I am sure there are many subtle differences between us and the Australians like this example. It saddens me that my two little Australian grandchildren will be like this boy in the production. Not all knowledge is taught, some is just absorbed, from having been at a place or an event. I hope my two grandchildren never feel uneasy or that they don’t belong if ever they decide to return to New Zealand permanently. What makes a place feel like home? Is it the place where our ancestors resided or the place we grew up? I know New Zealand will always be these children’s parents’ home but I am not sure where home will be for these two.
And then there was Willow, happily dancing and singing. She was a gumboot, done up in a black singlet, gumboots and a black hat. She has 50 per cent French heritage, but by her very nature of living here for the last two years, has herself become a little Kiwi kid. I wonder if her French grandparents back home are concerned that she will be missing out on her French culture? But in saying that, she will be back in France next year, so perhaps she will always be half gumboot girl, half European.