Crown Lynn, buzzy bees and other pieces of Kiwiana speak volumes about our identity as New Zealanders, as Sean Gillespie discovers.
With all this talk of New Zealand becoming a republic and hoisting a new flag, we need to ask ourselves - who are we? Rugby victories and military successes aside, Kiwiana
Kitsch collectibles and cultural icons are examples of what separates us from the rest of the world.
John Perry, an avid collector of all things New Zealand, says Kiwiana is wide ranging.
"To me, it's so much more than Swanndris, Jandals and Tip Top ice cream."
So what is Kiwiana? "As far as I'm concerned, it's cultural heritage. It's a mirror; it reflects us, and us is one of those amorphous things. 'Us' is the big picture," says the Helensville man.
Mr Perry says examples of Kiwiana reflecting our culture are Crown Lynn pottery, which boomed in the 1960s, and Sovereign wood. Our crafted cultural symbols tend to better reflect us than mass-produced goods such as L&P and Tip Top paraphernalia, he says.
After working as a Helensville art teacher in the early 70s, Perry commanded the reigns at the Rotorua Museum for 20 years. This helped him hone his views on Kiwi culture.
"We reflect the environment that we are a part of," he says, "it's isolated, insular and rugged and that's kind of like what we tend to be."
Modern New Zealand society grew out of a conservative and conformist society into a more hardy and individual group, he says. Perry says it wasn't until the post-Muldoon 1980s that New Zealand society started to realise who it was and let go of its identity crisis.
"There was a mass-migration of the mind," he says. "We have a much clearer picture now and, if Kiwiana helps us realise that, that's great."
He says one of the country's gradual changes was white New Zealanders realising they're not Europeans.
"I see myself as being a Pacific Islander because, damn it, this is a Pacific island. This is where I've spent all my life.
"On the cultural jigsaw puzzle, we fit into the South Pacific and Australasia rather than Europe."
This view is increasingly popular, he says. "The Pacifika Arts Festival is a good example of that."
Richard Wolfe, a Freemans Bay resident and author of half a dozen books on New Zealand culture, says the Taranaki gate is a good example of Kiwiana reflecting our culture.
"It's a no-nonsense, unsophisticated, functional solution to a problem that has faced farmers all over the place."
The gate is a "not-at-all-flash", flexible and economic solution to farmers fencing problems.
"It reflects the no-frills sort of approach we tend to take," he says.
Wolfe says the rugged-and-rural "she'll be right" Kiwi attitude, which is behind a lot of Kiwiana, developed in the decades after World War II when the country was forced to stand on its own feet with limited resources.
However, he says Kiwi ingenuity now needs to adapt to the sophisticated 21st century. Our identity as a nation has been developing strongly since the 1980s but he doesn't think we're quite ready to dump the monarchy in favour of becoming a republic. "It will happen, but these things take time. It's a bit like Mainland cheese, I guess."
He says we have more pressing social issues such as health and education.
However, Perry thinks we are ready. He says New Zealand has stood alone for a long time and now it's time for the country to have a political system reflecting that.What do you think?
Email: letters@theaucklander.co.nz
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