Daddy, where do Northlanders come from?

Child scratching head with question mark on blackboard concept for confusion, brainstorming and choice

Okay, my children have never asked me that. They're 6 and 4. They have no concept of what north means. They only vaguely understand 'land.' But it's useful to be able to deduce information about people you meet in Te Tai Tokerau based on their names and faces.

Hell, just yesterday I interviewed somebody at a medical community event and when I got his name I instantly identified which Auckland Samoan aiga he came from.

It's a gift in that it ties in perfectly with my skillset as a journalist, creative writer and (former) cartoonist. It's also a curse because when I superrecognise a face in the supermarket, I can't stop staring until I get a result from searching my mental database.

Creepy, yes, but hey, I make a living as a writer. Superrecognising pays the bills.

Anyway, if you ever find yourself in the Whangarei District and High Court, that's a good opportunity to reflect on where Northlanders come from.

I certainly had to appear in court in mid-October. No, not like that - it was because I'd been called up for possible jury selection. Once inside court, my super recognition skills went into overdrive. There were people I've interviewed for news stories. I had friends and friends of friends and friends of friends of friends amongst the jurors, legal staff, witnesses and defendants. The names pronounced in the court room (or, if they were Maori names, mis-pronounced, unfortunately) were a perfect cross-section of Northland society.

The surnames of the witnesses were mostly quite common Pakeha names indicating what one of their old British ancestors did for a job or where they came from. Then there was one witness whose name was one hundred percent Dutch, complete with a 'van' or 'van der' in the name somewhere. Typical Northland Dutchie (or South African?).

Like the names of many Northlanders with English ancestry, the judge's name was traceable all the way back to the Norman conquest.

The lawyers and the defendants: both Scottish. Not from the Waipu settlers, though.

Another defendant had a first name traceable all the way back to Biblical Israel. That's kind-of unusual when you think about it, but it's also typical Northland. Hell, my wife's even got the same first name (it wasn't her on trial, though.)

I'm not saying we're a community built by people who constantly have to go to court (that's Australia). What I'm saying is the names you hear and see around Northland give insight into the cultural groups whose history shapes our community.