Message from the Academy Chair - Professor Charlotte Macdonald
Professor Charlotte Macdonald shares her foreword as Chair of the Academy Executive Committee.
A distinctive harbinger of kōanga – spring in Aotearoa is the call of the pipiwharauroa, the shining cuckoo (Chrysococcyx lucidus) with its series of rising notes followed by a dropping finale. One of the many migratory birds for whom New Zealand’s forests, wetlands and coasts serve as breeding and feeding grounds, the pipiwharauroa spends its winters in the warmer climes of the Pacific before making its long remarkable journey south in the spring. Oblivious to travel limits we humans face, the pipiwharauroa has continued its seasonal flight in 2020. Nature’s borders have not closed.
The bird also has a special place in our human history. As a sign of spring and new beginnings, and as a bird often heard but more rarely seen, the pipiwharauroa was the name chosen for the newspaper published from 1898 to 1913: Te Pipiwharauroa: He Kupu Whakamarama. The paper is one of a large number of Niupepa Māori – Māori newspapers published in Aotearoa New Zealand from the 1840s onwards.
Frederick Bennett, editor of Te Pipiwharauroa, chose the name for the paper because of the bird’s association with spring, to ‘bring people back to wakefulness’ as he put it. The masthead is itself an object of beauty, while the pages of the newspaper provide a lively glimpse into the news and concerns of a time of great uncertainty. The huge resource presented by the collection of New Zealand produced newspapers, including Māori newspapers, is a reminder of the great revolution that swept across the mid-nineteenth century world in the advocacy of universal literacy. In Aotearoa the daily world of print and reading was first and foremost one of newspaper reading for Pākehā and Māori, in English and Te Reo. The pages of papers such as Te Pipiwharauroa have much to offer in our understanding of the past, in our embrace of Te Reo as part of our national present and future, and as a globally unique collection.
Early summer raumati 2020 has also been the season for honouring top researchers in the annual round of the Royal Society Te Apārangi Research Honours Aotearoa awards. Instead of one large ceremony held over one evening, this year there were three less formal events held in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington (5 November), Ōtautahi Christchurch (12 November) and Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (18 November). These were great occasions, attended by a number of Fellows along with a range of guests. Winners displayed a great breadth of achievement across subject areas, career stage and location across the country. These occasions are reminders of the great pride we can take in the wealth of research being undertaken in a small nation with modest resources. To be able to gather and celebrate as a research community was also noted at each event; we are fortunate to be able to do so when for so many across the world in 2020 such events have become things to only dream about.
As Chair of the Academy Executive Committee I am delighted with the announcement of Professor Cindy Kiro’s appointment as CEO at Royal Society Te Apārangi. Professor Kiro brings a wealth of experience to the role and we look forward to welcoming her in March 2021.
Enjoy the lengthening and warming days ahead.
Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou
Charlotte Macdonald
Professor of History, FRSNZ