So, I've finally got round to updating my blog to take in my final week in New Zealand, including the radio conference at the Auckland University of Technology (AUT).
If you read my last post you will realise that I arrived back in the city on a 'high'. Although I am very sorry to leave my friends, old new and renewed, further south. Although I might have appeared to be in a highly emotional state, curiously in fact I am both excited about my experiences and have great anticipation of the coming week, but am also very calm. A good feeling.
It is also quite nice, I must admit, after a hugely enjoyable and stimulating time but with a large group of people – larger than I'm used to on holiday – to be in a room on my own. Although I love my mates and enjoyed meeting the wider family and talking to them, I'm also quite happy with my own company, at least for short periods, especially when I'm in a new place. I like to get out and explore new places on my own. Also, my brain needs time to 'process' these new experiences and all the people I've talked to and the conversations. Bursts of high stimulation and new experiences need to be followed in my case by periods of quiet reflection or I quite literally become physically disorientated. I find I am like this by the end of the conference week in Las Vegas. Vegas is of course a highly over-stimulating environment, and so full of glare, noise and activity that I can become quite exhausted and even confused by the end of it.
My accommodation is in an apartment hotel, very central to the city - in fact virtually opposite the town hall. I am, indeed, living within the sound of its bells, but fortunately, as I discovered, the hourly chimes cease overnight and don't resume until seven on weekday mornings and eight weekends! My room does overlook a side-street which contains several of the coolest and most popular bars and clubs, so around 2-3 a.m. it tended to get a bit lively out there. However, it is the height of summer, school's out and young people must have their fun and I'm such a good mood and feeling indulgent, so I don't even resent the shouting, screeching, cursing and, erm, banging. It seems to cease as quickly as it begins. I've always though an apartment hotel has the best of all worlds. There is a microwave and a toaster, so after a quick trip out to the local Chinese supermarket (this isn't being racist, this is how it is described to me at the hotel desk!) I'm equipped to provide myself with a quick snack whenever I want one, although I do use room service for breakfasts on 'conference days'. I should also point out that no public funds were spent in this trip – as will be gathered from the press, universities don't have any money at the moment and so I'm funding myself This also gives me a feeling of freedom: because I'm paying for it myself I don't feel obliged to attend the whole conference if I don't want to. But if I do want to, I am there for all the right reasons and I don't even have, as I when I go to to Las Vegas, any obligations or official function.
As it happens, the conference papers and delegates are so great that I'm there for practically every session – indeed, my only regret is that some of the sessions run concurrently, so inevitably I miss some of the presentations.
The conference kicks off just after nine o'clock the following morning and is confined to a couple of seminar rooms on one floor of one of several buildings belonging to the University. From the word 'go' it is just great. It is I think the smallest of these international conferences, with around 60 attendees and from a good range of countries, although naturally dominated by those from Australasia. The largest UK delegation is from Birmingham City University and considering I have just spent the last week or so with my mates from school-days from that area, it does seem like a small world. But then, as I mentioned in my last blog, New Zealand is like that: so far away and in many ways so different but in other ways similar.
I like the people very much. They have, as the saying goes, 'something about them'; good-humoured, quite tough and yet without the abrasiveness or chippiness that perhaps is unfairly attributed to Australians. But even one of the delegates from Australia who has and English father and Australian mother says he did get some 'Pommie bashing' in Oz. I certainly didn't encounter this in New Zealand. They have a sort of quiet dignity which I think we used to have in Britain but has largely disappeared. I like the young people a lot. I like the way they relate to each other they don't have that horrible arrogant attitude of entitlement that many young Brits do, especially the females. But otherwise they have a British sensibility. This is not surprising, as the stat's show that some 90% of the population are of British or Irish descent and it seems nearly every young Kiwi goes on a European trip and often frequent UK throughout their lives. So when meeting them in shops, restaurants, etc., it is common for people to say: "oh yes, Liverpool/Manchester - I was there just a year or two ago!" The sports' news on the radio nearly always incorporates some items of UK sport, especially football, and they don't precede it by saying: "and in the UK, Blackburn Rovers…" Or whatever. They just assume that you know that Blackburn Rovers are in the UK, in what they call the EPL – English Premier League.
Plus, the background of those who came to New Zealand was as free people, often as whole families. Many, indeed most, were certainly seeking a better life but, unlike Australia, they were not compelled to go there. There has to be a big difference in the kind of folk memory and in attitudes between those who emigrate because they want to, rather than because they need to, let alone because they had to - arriving in chains and having their liberty taken from them. This is not to denigrate Australians - that really would be adding insult to injury – as of course many were deported following very minor offences, sometimes trumped up because they'd upset a member of the establishment, or because they tried to start trade unions, or in desperation stole some food to feed their family. Nevertheless, it is good that in New Zealand people's backgrounds are similar and I think this makes them a much more relaxed society than, for example in the US, with a section of the population with an understandable and abiding sense of injustice and grievance. Another important factor, and also unlike the USA and Australia, is that there are no indigenous people. Even the Maoris have been there only 1000 or so years and again they are people who voluntarily, seeked out new and fertile land. Auckland has the largest Polynesian population in the world. Okay, I guess we are all immigrants to a greater or lesser extent, barring those first homo sapiens in Kenya but I think, say, that if your ethnic group has been there for some 10,000 years you have a right to call yourself native or 'first peoples' in that country.
So what were the highlights of the conference? It is very difficult and invidious of course to pick out certain individuals or sessions and I hope I won't cause offence by omission. I certainly especially enjoyed the history sessions and found out a lot about New Zealand radio. I really enjoyed one that dealt with the way radio personalities engage with audiences and another on an extraordinary visit to New Zealand by David Bowie during his 'Serious Moonlight' tour in 1983 (which, as it happens, I saw in Berlin), in which he returned the 'compliment' of the Maoris in their welcoming song. This incident was turned into not one but two documentaries by Sam Coley of Birmingham City University. But I suppose the one that makes the most lasting impression was by Siobhan McHugh of the University of Wollongong. This presentation was all about the power of oral history, and radio telling the stories of 'ordinary people'. This presentation stopped in their tracks and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Siobhan kindly copied her audio to my memory stick and I've included this in an interview with her on a podcast. She is passionate and fiery. I like feisty, independent women. Some though – no doubt often for good reasons – seem to dislike and resent men, but Siobhan is just the right side of being a ball-breaker!
One of the keynote speakers was Tony Stoller, former Chief Executive of the Radio Authority (pictured left with me and fellow panellist Matthew Linfoot of the University of Westminster, UK) and a leading light in many other commercial, financial and philanthropic organisations. Despite my relaxed approach to this conference I was in fact quite nervous about being on the same panel as him for one session and the fact that, in another paper, I would be covering the same ground as he had in his excellent talk. However, he was most generous in his comments as were other people. Of course, people are polite on the whole but this conference was more than usually supportive and friendly. It's a great feeling when people are so clearly really interested in what you are saying and appreciative of your research. I also, for the first time, got applause during one of my papers, after I read out a particularly pompous passage from a newspaper editorial back in the '50s in my best plummy upper-middle-class voice. That speech and drama training I did in my childhood/youth pays off again! But, genuinely, I was touched, indeed a bit overwhelmed by the response to both presentations (one of which as it happened was the last of the whole conference) and it really means an awful lot for someone who still feels they are a relative 'newbie' to the life of an international scholar!
On the social side, highlights included a trip to a comedy club – the idea one of my UK colleagues – just over the road from the hotel. It featured nine new acts and one pro' as the finale. The warm-up/compere guy was very good and he established where the audience members were from, and of course these included quite a few from the UK, including several 'Scousers'! There were several gags at the expense of the English, including ones on our violent inner cities, with one comedian amazed that the server at a pie shop in Leeds had to be behind a security grill! However, just to show their familiarity with Britain isn't always as it might be, one of the acts did a routine about the people in different parts of the country and seemed to think that Yorkshire and Somerset were not only geographically adjacent but had the same accent. The age range of the acts and the subject matter for their material varied quite a lot. The youngest was the guy who said he'd arrived in the country from England about for five years before but was still only 18. He gained the sympathy of the audience – especially the males, I think – when he described how desperate he was to lose his virginity. The oldest act came towards the end and again the audience sympathised with him when he forgot the words of the song intended as his pièce de résistance. The funniest and filthiest though was from a guy who did a great mime in a routine about that the old 'cunard-llngus', but I guess you had to be there to appreciate that!
The official conference dinner was at the Sky Tower – an approximately 1000 ft high building in the centre of the city. The view from the restaurant, where we had a buffet, was excellent and there was another observation deck, from which many photos were taken! After that, we decided to head for a bar, just as the heavens opened and we got soaked – we ran like hell for the establishment that are local host said would be okay. On such a filthy night it was pretty well otherwise deserted and I had the most revolting beer there which I thought was a bitter but in fact was a sickly-sweet concoction which, I was told later, is usually only ordered by females – a sort of beery alcopop. Yuck! That was the only low point. Other restaurants, bars – especially one whichbecame a kind of post-conference day meeting place
– were excellent..
On the Saturday some of us went to Waiheki Island, the nearest one in the Hauraki Gulf, about a 45 minute ferry ride from Auckland. This was an absolutely gorgeous, wonderful day: just the right temperature. The countryside is lush (some of it is vineyards), the sea warm and it has fabulous, sandy beaches. I started by taking a guided bus tour, which included the guide pointing out some of the fabulous holiday homes of the rich and famous. Bill Clinton had recently been there, as had Bill Gates, for his Microsoft conference. Lenny Henry and Dawn French have a place and spend Christmas there every year - and you can see why. The bus tour ticket then allows you to use any bus to go round and stop off at any point, and then back to the ferry. In the event, some people didn't have a pre-paid tickets for the bus I caught on the way back and although the driver said he shouldn't take them, he good-naturedly relented and everyone piled on. A lovely and highly typical incident in my experiences on this trip.
On the Sunday we went to the big museum centre, which is in beautifully landscaped grounds on a Hill and incorporates three main areas: a floor dealing with the country's history, especially the Maori story and culture; one that dealt with the geology and natural history plays, including a mocked-up house where a TV bulletin is playing, supposedly just before a massive volcanic eruption. Of course, a few minutes later the earthquake strikes and the whole living room shakes violently (rather like the museum in Rotorua, mentioned in my previous Blog), with suitable visual and audio
accompaniment! The presentation ends with the audience being encouraged to make sure they are prepared for what they regard as case of: not if but when 'The Big One' happens, and there are leaflets to pick up on the way out. Oh yes, they take this earthquake/volcano eruption business very seriously.
The top floor hosts the war museum. And this is where you really do get a feeling of the strongest possible links between New Zealand and the UK, because of course they sent their sons to the other side of the world to fight on our side – the second time were purely volunteers – and all the memorabilia, diaries and experiences are just the same as if you had gone into a war museum in Britain. They have a Spitfire there and there is a film show and accounts of the London Blitz. There is even a replica of the London Cenotaph in pride of place outside the museum. (Pictured right in front of the Cenotaph and Museum are Bruce Berryman, of RMIT University, Melbourne Australia – featured in another podcast), Susan Angel of the University of Wollongong, Australia and Siobhan Mullen of Birmingham City University, UK).
Highlights of my final day - thanks to the arrangements of Matt Mollgaard, conference organiser, and other staff at the AUT - were to both Radio New Zealand (RNZ), and The Radio Network: one of the two main commercial radio organisations. This one houses no fewer than eight stations and the newsroom serves 60 across both islands.
It is quite strange that Auckland, which contains approximately a third of the entire country's population, and by far the largest city, should not be the capital (it was for a while in the 19th century) - that being Wellingtonin the south of the North Island. So the main studio output from RNZ is from there, but they do have a fair amount of output, including the summer mid-morning show, which I arrived in time to see the end of from the control-room and have my picture taken there (left)! They, like every service organisation it seems, are under financial pressure and having to make quite a few cutbacks, but they still provide a rare oasis of service broadcasting in what is the world's only completely deregulated radio system. However, I also really enjoyed my time at commercial radio centre, sitting
in for an hour or so in the studio of the morning show, hosted by Kerre Woodham on the Newstalk ZB station (right). New Zealand also had a pirate radio history in the 1960s with Radio Hauraki, but, having a less repressive political culture and government than the UK, instead of the law effectively banning them from the airwaves, the government gave them a licence to broadcast on land. This was not before quite a struggle though and the sort of protests and demonstrations we had in the UK and other parts of Europe. They are very aware of, and pay tribute to, the history and heritage of the station. I love the fact the main studio and the workspace outside had pictures and blown up reproductions of newspaper articles from this period. Pictured left is Hauraki DJ Nik Brown. I really like this guy – he reminded me a lot of my radio friends in the UK. He took time out from the studio to chat – he is very well informed about radio in UK as well (I think his family emigrated to the UK when he was 10). We could have talked all day!
All too soon it was time to pack up, check out and head for the airport. I was still in such a relaxed mood that, unusually for me, I arrived only just over an hour before the last check-in time! For the return flight I had a premium economy seat which was wonderful and you get to have the business class food standard of service of Air New Zealand. Thoroughly recommended! This time I was going the other way round the globe, with stopover, refuelling etc., in Los Angeles. Unlike in Hong Kong, we were held there at a very small departure gate. Given that total flight is about 24 hours I did start to feel a bit like a caged animal by the end of it. I had two good travelling companions; the one for the leg to Los Angeles was a Kiwi who was studying for a Ph.D. in Edinburgh. Very polite and personable; in fact he was so polite I thought he must be an American because he said "excuse me, sir", and I've only ever had that kind of polite formality in non-service environment in the US. From LA my companion was a British woman who has a son in New Zealand. She visits three times a year, saving up her holiday entitlement by working extraordinary hours as a manager of an intensive care unit at a London hospital. She has another son in the services and had some interesting info' about the conditions in, and supplies to, our troops in Afghanistan.
Well, everything about this trip just went about perfectly, including the final, return leg from London Heathrow to the north-west of England. Of course, I missed the family but I have to say it was all hugely enjoyable and I arrived home still buzzing with it all - but also, as I say, curiously relaxed. New Zealand had certainly captivated me; the whole and varied experiences, including swimming in two seas and the continent's largest lake, the wonderful company at all stages and such a stimulating conference. Truly unforgettable. My deepest and sincere thanks to all those who encouraged me to go, who enjoyed it and planned it, and experienced it, with me.
Richard, lovely to hear your take on NZ and I too was greatly impressed by the place and the people. Have to disagree with your comment about there being 'no indigenous people' there. You say ' Even the Maoris have been there only 1000 or so years and again they are people who voluntarily, seeked out new and fertile land.'
It felt pretty clear to me, travelling round NZ for two weeks after the conference, that the Maori ARE absolutely the indigenous people of NZ. After all, if there was no-one there before them, why wouldn't they be? Later comers are the interlopers. But more importantly, it's clear that the Maori are deeply and intrinsically linked to the landscape and have their own very definitive culture, established well ahead of British colonialism - hence the pragmatic negotiations around the Waitangi Treaty, which, however flawed, is a lot more than the Australian Aborigines have.
I realise there are huge issues ahead for the Maori, but it was great to see what a prominent role they occupy in NZ as cultural custodians -just things like a carved Maori stone at the entrance to a bush walk, telling you you were entering Maori land.
Go New Zealand - you punch way above your weight!
Posted by: Siobhan McHugh | February 14, 2011 at 10:29 AM
Hi Siobhan. You're absolutely right about the way that NZ both recognises and respects - and indeed celebrates - the Maori culture. Perhaps no more so than in Rotorua where I spent the first few days of my trip and even where I went to the 'the batch' on the Bay of Plenty there was a Moari shrine, with a notice asking people not to disturb it. It may be fanciful but I definitely felt more 'centred' and in tune with the natural world. This is partly because of the much smaller population compared with the UK and therefore much more unspoilt country but I am sure the Maori presence has a lot to do with it.
In conversations and in listening to Radio New Zealand (as I was last night) and other radio stations it is clear there ARE tensions between the white European far more recent settlers and the Polynesians, and the Maori political rep's are very unhappy with the latest 'treaty' but there seems much less tension/animosity than - to take the obvious comparison - with the Aborigines in Austria and the First Nation/native Americans in both the US and Canada - where (as I realise you are more than aware!),the older settlers/indigenous peoples suffered genocide and were for many decades wiped out of the countries' histories and cultures.
In NZ the tribal warfare BETWEEN Maoris was certainly bloody and prolongued and I liked the way the AuCkland museum did not dodge this and, whilst respectful, didn't have the 'everything was fine until the Europeans arrrived' angle, cos it definitely wasn't, albeit of course the Europeans in innocence brought in diseases to which the Maoris had no natural resistance, with terrible consequences.
The point I was trying to make was the history of NZ is far more harmonious from all elements and ethnicities and this makes for a more relaxed society, with mutual respect (equality in diversity to use the cliche) than any other country I can think of that was colonised by the Europeans in the 18th/19th centuries. The inter-marital mixing (again this is experience/observation from people I know) seems to have strengthened both cultures.
Anyhow, thanks for taking the time/trouble to write a comment. It was so great to meet you and I'll continue to use your work for both inspiration and exemplar!
Posted by: Richard Rudin | February 14, 2011 at 11:13 AM