Skip to main content

Waimarino County and Other Excursions - Martin Edmond

Readers of Martin Edmond's Chronicle of the Unsung (2004) will have picked up his interest in archaeology and pacific prehistory.

The autobiographical parts of his latest book Waimarino County and Other Excursions (Martin Edmond, Auckland University Press 2007) give us more on how he came to that.
"I recall when my mother stopped her red and white Hillman Imp on a suburban street in Huntly one day and said, What's it you are going to be, a doctor or a lawyer? replying, Actualy I want to be an archaeologist."

Edmond had a 1972/73 holiday job at Takatu and spent some of his spare time looking at and digging in archaeological sites. "I drew a map of the pa site and sent it to Auckland Musuem, my sole contribution to archaeology."

It is easy to disagree. His writing is rich in landscape, history and their connection. This book has a startling example: an account of his accidental personal discovery of the Tongapurutu rock carvings (p81). It is a fine piece of writing which exposes his emotional response to the site. Surely not all archaeological contributions need to be as prosaic as maps.

Popular posts from this blog

  For Museums. I love museums – there that is out. I have been associated with them all my life – as a donor to at least five, associated with their research with three, published in their Records and as a Board Member for one. I love that they use physical objects to tell a story. They can have art galleries and libraries and archives attached – they are often a good fit - but none are necessary. It is physical objects that are their heart. Their essential nature lies around those objects. They need a building to protect them – from decay, theft – and that building itself has to be protected, from fire, decay, earthquake – a suitable place for guarding taonga – treasures. The collections need to be catalogued, by someone who knows enough to adequately describe them and they need to be available for experts to study and, within reason, to anyone else who develops an interest in them. A Museum needs its public interface, through displays that engage its public. It does not...
Read more

Bookhabit - Auckland, August 1908: A Stop on the Great White Fleet World Cruise By Robert Garry Law - This booklet places the visit of the Great White Fleet to Auckland in its New Zealand context and its geopolitical context - that of great power riva

Bookhabit - Auckland, August 1908: A Stop on the Great White Fleet World Cruise By Garry Law eBook - published 2008. This booklet places the visit of the Great White Fleet to Auckland in its New Zealand context and its geopolitical context - that of great power rivalry over prestige, territorial ambitions and projection of force by battleship lead fleets. It shows the social context of Auckland 100 years ago. Illustrated with contemporary pictures, many drawn from colour printed post cards. 37 pages. The first chapter is free - there is a small charge for downloading the whole book.
Read more

Egyptian Revival

  On a visit today I was taken by an Egyptian revival style piano. I have amongst my books a Taschen Description de l’Egypt . Being Taschen it is of course just the illustrations rather than the full contents including original nine volumes of text. See Description de l'Égypte - Wikipedia . Still a delight albeit at reduced size. It was of course the eventual output of Napoleon's expedition to Egypt, accompanied by his savants, to explore, map and transform Egypt with French enlightenment.   Today I was at the Waiheke Musical Museum on Waiheke Island, the museum sometimes known after its founders as the Whittaker Museum. A great living history show by the now proprietors talking and playing on the many historic keyboard instruments there. One particularly took my fancy – an Egyptian Revival piano, pictured above. Here is their page on the instrument: Upright Piano – Egyptian - Waiheke Musical Museum . The performer on the piano said it was a rather ordinary instrument m...
Read more