A city built on primordial rock shaped by seismic forces and wild ocean winds, Wellington is uncompromising. The environment is elemental and fit for only the hardiest plants, those that can survive shallow infertile soils and salt laden air. These plants cling to the rugged hillsides and no matter where one turns, the city is framed by their presence. Nature is to the fore here and the birdsong must rank among the most diverse symphonies on these islands. My ears were constantly pulled this way and that as I turned about trying to ascertain and identify unfamiliar voices singing ancient songs.
Wellington: view from the botanic gardens, 22 August 2020
On the way down we visited numerous memorials to the young men who lost their lives in the ‘great war’. Later while viewing the harrowing Gallipoli display at Te Papa I was forced to confront the memory of loss that haunted generations and wondered about those young men so carelessly pulled from farms and small towns and thrown into the fire of unmitigated tragedy. Overwhelmed I broke free from this labyrinth of grief and stumbled into the light of Maori Taonga.
The collection of Taonga at Te Papa speaks to the nation’s deep history, a potent memorial to those intrepid Polynesian explorers who discovered the planets last unclaimed lands and of the nations, culture and philosophies that they created under here these strange southern skies. The city itself speaks of those who came later, refugees from uncaring worlds determined not to repeat the injustices from which they had fled and with that principle in mind forged what would eventually become one of the world’s most progressive, inclusive and least corrupt societies.
Wellington cemetery, grave of Harry Holland Labour Party Leader.
By accident I stumbled upon the grave of Harry Holland, the Labour leader whose sudden death in 1933 opened the door for the man who would become the nations most revered leader to take on the mantle of leadership that would reshaped the fledgling NZ nation into a social democracy. After Savage’s historic government came to power in 1935 they turned NZ into the world’s ‘social laboratory’ and thereafter for a time the Western world went where we went. Wellington is redolent with architectural reminders of the time, notably the art-deco era buildings built to house the new government departments tasked with shaping the ‘cradle to grave’ welfare method that remains to this day the bedrock of NZ society.
A trip to Wellington is a spiritual odyssey that stirs many emotions including pride, awe, respect and wonder. There is a sort of ‘magic’ at work here, an amalgam of elements that speaks about what it means to be a child of these islands. Otherwise it is a city that sparkles with art, culture and memory. Wellington is our best and most beautiful city. It is our heart, our breath, our beauty and soul.
Johnstone's World 