Kickstart your comic obsession with James' review of graphic novel series Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples. Lovers Alana and Marko are from two opposing worlds enmeshed in intergalactic war - with daughter Hazel, they are a dangerous symbol of life as it could be.

You can find the first in the Saga series in our library catalogue here: https://discover.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/search/card?id=007f3bc9-98d6-5574-bbca-aa98f3c58c3b&entityType=FormatGroup

This episode looks at Queen Street’s landforms and its role as a gathering place for Aucklanders. The landform of Queen Street has been shaped by both natural and man-made forces.

Join Rebecca Freeman (Senior Specialist Historic Heritage, Auckland Council) and Marguerite Hill (Heritage Researcher, Auckland Council) as we explore the impacts of the Waihorotiu Stream, the Albert Park volcano and early land reclamations on the Queen Street we know today.

Queen Street teams with intangible heritage: events that have happened there but have left no physical mark. It is a gathering place for people, and it has become the place for Aucklanders to parade, protest and celebrate. Queen Street has seen two riots and dozens of Santa parades, as well as numerous peaceful protests.

Tune in to hear about a few of these events.

Sources:

Landforms

Auckland City Heritage Walks – The Original Foreshore

Best, Simon. (1989). The Queen Street Gaol: Auckland’s First Courthouse, Common Gaol and House of Correction (site R11/1559): Final Archaeological Report.

Clough, R, C Judge, and S Macready (2012). City rail link project: Archaeological assessment

Hayward, BW (2019). Volcanoes of Auckland: A field guide. University of Auckland

Hayward, B W, G Murdoch, and G Maitland (2011). Volcanoes of Auckland: The essential guide. University of Auckland

IPENZ (n.d.). Heritage walks: The engineering heritage of Auckland

Parades, protests, and celebrations

‘Queen Street riot’, NZ History https://nzhistory.govt.nz/queen-st-riot-auckland

Ben Schrader, ‘Parades and protest marches’, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand https://teara.govt.nz/en/parades-and-protest-marches

Auckland Libraries, ‘The 1932 Queen Street unemployment riot’, Heritage et al http://heritageetal.blogspot.com/

Russell Brown, ‘Riot going on’, AudioCulture https://www.audioculture.co.nz/scenes/riot-going-on

Reference for image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1337-46, photograph by Stephen Fleay.

Tom the elephant arrived in Auckland with his owner Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, in December 1870. Despite his visit to Auckland only lasting five weeks, he left an impression on Aucklanders, especially local children.

Join Rebecca Freeman, (Senior Specialist Historic Heritage Auckland Council) and Marguerite Hill, (Heritage Researcher Auckland Council) to find out about Tom’s time here in Auckland.

Source:

Timespanner https://timespanner.blogspot.com/2009/07/princes-elephant.html

Reference for image: Excerpt from New Zealand Herald, 9 December 1870, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH18701209.2.22

Simone Nathan was a visionary leader in causes affecting both women and children, both in New Zealand and abroad. Despite her many significant successes, she is often remembered more for her marriage to wealthy merchant David Nathan, than her own work and contributions.

Join Rebecca Freeman, (Senior Specialist Historic Heritage Auckland Council) and Marguerite Hill, (Heritage Researcher Auckland Council) for this interview on the life and work of Simone Nathan, with a particular focus on her efforts to extend Plunket-style infant welfare centers to Palestine through her involvement with the Women’s International Zionist Organisation.

Sources:

Matthews & Matthews Architects Ltd. (2019). David Nathan Park and Homestead, Manurewa Auckland: Conservation Plan.

Trotter, S.A. (2019). Zionism ‘at the uttermost ends of the earth’: A New Zealand social history c.1900-1948 (Doctoral thesis). University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.

Women’s International Zionist Organisation website. http://www.Wizo.org

Reference for image: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, AWNS-19371124-46-2

Join Rebecca Freeman (Senior Specialist Historic Heritage, Auckland Council) and Marguerite Hill (Heritage Researcher, Auckland Council) to hear about Queen Street’s cinemas and department stores.

If you really wanted to go shopping in the days before suburban malls, you needed to head to Queen Street and Karangahape Road.

There were five major department stores in central Auckland during the twentieth century. Three of these were on Queen Street: Smith and Caughey's and Milne and Choyce were an upmarket, luxury shopping experience, while John Court was a family-friendly alternative.

Since the first films were screened in Auckland in the 1890s, cinema became an entertainment sensation, rivaling and eventually surpassing live theatre, vaudeville and opera as the most popular form of recreation and entertainment.

Listen in to find out where Queen Street’s cinemas were located, and how the technology and theatre experience developed and changed from 1910 to 1990.

Sources:

Cinemas

Ben Schrader, 'Theatres, cinemas and halls - Theatre rises, cinema declines', Te Ara - the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/42391/demolishing-the-majestic-theatre

Hayward, B.W, and Selwyn P. Hayward (1979). Cinemas of Auckland 1896-1979. Lodestar Press, Auckland.

Department stores

New Zealand Fashion Museum http://nzfashionmuseum.org.nz/

Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga, Milne and Choyce Department Store (Former) https://www.heritage.org.nz/the-list/details/2620

Each of the department stores mentioned have their own company histories, which are available from Auckland Libraries.

Image: John Court Limited on the corner of Victoria Street East and Queen Street, 1961, photographer Vera Jane Ellis, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections, 958-112

Tūāpapatia te āpōpō – laying the foundations for tomorrow

Te Wiki o te reo Māori 14-20 Mahuru 2020

Māori Language Week – 14-20 September 2020

Explore te ao Māori with Poukōkiri Whakatapoko Tapaenga Maureen Ned's review of Tikanga Whakaaro: Key concepts in Māori culture by Cleve Barlow. Beautifully written in both te reo Māori and English, this pukapuka provides the perfect foundation for those beginning their journey in understanding Māori culture.

With the Heritage Fesitval upon us, archaeologists from Auckland Council's Heritage team discuss the varied work that goes into preserving our city's built and cultural heritage.

The panelists are:

Rebecca Ramsay - Specialist Archaeology

Myfanwy Eaves - Senior Specialist Archaeology

Edward Ashby - Māori Heritage

Robert Brassey - Principal Specialist Cultural Heritage

Daniel Windwood - Built Heritage

Joe Mills - Specialist Historic Heritage

Originally recorded at Tāmaki Pātaka Kōrero on May 1 2019 as part the New Zealand Archaeological Association's Archaeology Week.

Image: View of site of Clark's old brickworks, looking to Carder's site, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections JTD-0521-T

Allegro moderato

Scherzo – Allegro molto

Elegia – Adagio

Finale – Allegro non troppo

Anton Arensky was an influential Russian composer, pianist, and professor at the Moscow Conservatory where some of his more notable students included Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, and Gretchaninov. Arensky was himself taught by Rimsky-Korsakov and mentored by Tchaikovsky from whom he drew much inspiration and subsequently is evident in his works. The D minor piano trio starts the first movement in the tradition of late German Romanticism with a grand sonata form wielding impressive, sweeping melodies underlied by tremulous, destabilising, syncopated accompaniment reminiscent of the Mendelssohn D minor trio’s first movement. The second movement “Scherzo” is a whimsical concoction of good humour and delightful cheer presenting the light-hearted spirit of the dance. The third movement “Eegia” presents an unrelenting sombre mood with muted strings and tender themes to really emphasise the grieving character of music as this trio was dedicated to the memory of Karl Davydov, a renowned Russian cellist and Arensky’s friend. The Finale begins with an explosive theme but soon recalls motifs from the previous movements giving the piano trio a cyclic structure before insistently driving the work to a fantastical end. (Programme notes written by Joseph Chen)

Alison and Ineka are still in Literary Lockdown on tonight’s episode of Books & Beyond. This feast of fun and fabric includes discussion about repurposed beer crates, flotation tanks and side hustles – with a side of reading thrown in for good measure.

Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog: https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/books-and-beyond-literary-lockdown-2.html

Auckland Libraries' radio show Books and Beyond explores the world of books with guest authors, recommended reads, gems from the Central City Library basement and… beyond.

This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 30 August 2020.

It’s a frenzy of soft furnishing tonight because Alison and Ineka are in Literary Lockdown. Find out who has the best pouffe, and what these two have been reading during Level 3.

Read more on the Auckland Libraries blog: https://aucklandlibrariesblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/books-and-beyond-literary-lockdown-5.html

Auckland Libraries' radio show Books and Beyond explores the world of books with guest authors, recommended reads, gems from the Central City Library basement and… beyond.

This episode originally aired on Planet FM 104.6 on 23 August 2020.