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It might seem like a distant memory for waterlogged Aucklanders, but the Queen City has not always been so thoroughly damp.
But that was far from Auckland’s first experience with water shortage - and it was once so bad that city officials were once forced to breathe life into an unusual superhero to save Aucklanders from themselves.
He was Robert D Frogg - and he is now missing.
The message came on a rare bluebird day in Auckland, with Watercare going public with a bizarre appeal.
Robert D Frogg was created in 1989 and trademarked by Watercare and the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) as part of a campaign to encourage Aucklanders to save water.
Adverts placed at the time featured a signature from Mr D Frogg, giving his role as Official Water Conservation Officer.
He told Aucklanders to lay off the hoses and turn off dripping taps, with the apparent aim being to avoid having to build a $100 million dam.
This ad, dredged from the archives by the popular Facebook page Timespanner, shows a monochrome Frogg in the pages of the ARC’s Greater Auckland magazine.
Advertisement asking Aucklanders to save water, featuring Robert D Frogg.
It might seem like a stretch - and the employment of a cartoon amphibian to deal with the question of investment in infrastructure was not universally well-received.
Timespanner also found these comments from Trevor Rogers, the then-MP for Howick, in 1994.
”Everyone from Auckland could tell other members that for several years we had Robert D. Frogg, morning, noon, and night on radio, television, or whatever, telling us to save water in Auckland otherwise people would have to build a $100 million dam. Well, they did that for years.
“They spent several million dollars a year telling everybody to take notice of Robert D. Frogg and they avoided the compounding problem of growth in Auckland. In my electorate alone there is a 36 per cent growth in housing. There are no extra water supplies, yet some people are saying that we have no water shortage. Those people have to have rocks in their heads.”
Hip-hop history
How many frogs you know have a place in the history of hip-hop in Aotearoa?
Look no further.
Along with a healthy dose of shaming in his catchphrases (”only drips waste water”), Robert D Frogg also worked alongside a pair of Kiwi hip-hop pioneers to inspire rangatahi to save water.
Double J & Twice The T’s 1990 song Def To Be Green was an anthem of water conservation and environmental consciousness and featured Robert D. Frogg prominently in the artwork for the cassingle.
Talk about drip.
The duo also took the single on a nationwide tour, bringing the message far beyond Auckland.
It was on this tour that Double J & Twice The T found themselves performing in Christchurch, in front of a young Malo Luafutu.
Luafutu, better known now as Scribe, told the Aotearoa Hip Hop: The Music, The People, The History podcast the performance was the first time he saw a live hip-hop act and he and his friends were fascinated by the beatboxing, saying: “We all tried to be beatboxers after that gig.”
The Herald asked Watercare if they knew any more than it was letting on.
Watercare’s chief customer officer Amanda Singleton told the Herald that they believed that Robert D Frogg was last seen in the Waikato region not long after his retirement in the 90s.
“His name came up in conversation the other day so we thought we’d take a look down memory lane and try to find our old water-saving mate,” Singleton said.
“We’ve been told to expect a fairly dry spring and summer, so we thought he might have some useful tips to share. Our dam storage is looking really healthy, given the enormous amount of rain we’ve had this year. But regardless of dam levels, water is a taonga and we should always use it wisely.”
Chris Marriner is an Auckland-based journalist covering trending news and social media. He joined the Herald in 2003 and previously worked in the Herald’s visual team. He always turns off the tap.
