Te history with Radar

They spent about six months in a leaky boat, taking the greatest emigration route known to man. They were our ancestors - said Te Radar on Tuesday night to a packed Waihi Memorial Hall.
Alone on stage, with only one opened bottle of Emersons Pilsners beer and a projector as props, the TV personality/comedian/opinionist gave the briefest picture of "the history we were never told about at school, or at least I wasn't anyway".
Although it was a family show, Te Radar, aka Andrew Lumsden, slipped in plenty of adult humour and had the audience literally rolling in their seats.
Eating the Dog - the name of the show was in memory of a dog who was actually eaten.
The year was 1846 and the dog, Rover, belonged to Thomas Brunner who, along with four others, walked almost the entire length of the South Island's west coast and back, and apart from one pet dog, their diet for the nearly 20 month journey consisted of fern root.
Even so, "we have never heard of him or his guides, have we?" said Te Radar. "We've had the outlaws, the bank robbers, stage coach holdups, but we don't know about them, we never celebrate that part of our history."
He told of the infamous Burgess gang, who were hung for murdering four businessmen and splashing their money around town.
Jacobson and Cassin initiated the Great Uranium Rush of 1955 - and Uranium flavoured icecream, "but did we know about that. No we did not".
"We have failed to celebrate so much of our folklore, like how our people broke out of prison. A jail in the South Island let them out, so long as they were back by 5.30 or they wouldn't get any dinner - things like that make me proud to be a Kiwi.
"My favourite outlaw was the Taranaki Highwayman aka young Robert Wallath, who only robbed from the rich. The most remarkable thing is that Taranaki didn't even have a highway, barely even a footpath in 1892 but there you have it.
"Unfamous New Zealanders of courage and valour, morons and dufusses, people like you and me, NZers one and all - these were our stories," he said in finishing.
On tour throughout New Zealand, the show is raising funds for schools, scout and guide groups and was brought to Waihi by the 1st Waihi Scout group.
A boy scout himself growing up in Ohinewai by Huntly, Te Radar remembers caving in Waitomo. "It was down a cliff and it was terrifying. Being a scout was very traumatic actually. But seriously, it gives people the chance to do all that stuff you can't normally do. If you can tie a knot and light a fire, well those are the main skills in life, aren't they?