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Double gold for Darts
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Population policy endorsed
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23 January 2023
PM Brown vows to change law
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Call for government to address Aitutaki water shortage issue
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Tragedy: Mother drowns trying to save daughter
4 January 2023
‘QR’ effectively becomes ‘KR’
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A year of ‘marked progress’
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Moana target 2025 World Cup
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‘No safety risk’: Airport waiting for funding to swap cracked slabs
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Missing teenager: ‘We’re not sure whether he is still alive’
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Stricter rules for e-cigarettes proposed in Amendment Bill
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We’re halfway there!
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Strategic plan focuses on rehabilitating offenders
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From the river to the ocean
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Staff reasons for Solicitor General’s resignation: PM
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Cook Islands and the British Commonwealth membership
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Pero’s national airline dreams dashed again
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Articles by Rod Dixon
How Mangaians helped rescue Raro’s economy
Saturday 18 February 2023 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, In Depth, Memory Lane
At the beginning of the twentieth century migrants rescued Rarotonga’s population and economy, then in apparently ‘terminal’ decline. Within a few decades these migrants had become established Rarotongan families, traditional landowners and custodians of the culture. Is a similar process currently underway?
Painting with scissors: exploring Tivaivai’s links to European modern art
Saturday 7 January 2023 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Art, Features
A major art exhibition in Sydney explores the link between tivaivai and Henri Matisse, the great French master of modern art.
‘Scurrilous rags’ and ‘brimstone belchers’ – Cook Islands’ early newspapers
Saturday 8 October 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
An ‘insatiable lust’ for reading matter among Cook Islanders led to the appearance of Rarotonga’s first newspaper Te Punavai in 1843, printed with the help of the Sydney Morning Herald. Later in the century came Te Manu Rere, Te Torea and Ioi Karanga, all generating controversy and landing one local editor in prison – the first inmate of Rarotonga’s newest jail. By Rod Dixon.
Who really built Rev John Williams’ Rarotongan ship?
Saturday 27 August 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features
John Williams was an evangelical Christian determined to spread the gospel throughout the Pacific. To this end, he constructed a ship at Rarotonga in 1827 with a ‘mechanical ingenuity’ that gave him legendary status in Britain and beyond. But who really built the ‘Messenger of Peace’?
Marjorie Tua’inekore Crocombe – An exceptional life
Saturday 30 July 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Marjorie and Ron Crocombe lived up to exacting standards in their personal and professional lives and their combined efforts impacted and inspired uncountable others. We were privileged to know them, writes former USP director Rod Dixon.
Spain and Russia in Cook Islands
Saturday 23 July 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
Four hundred years after it was settled by Polynesians, Rakahanga was visited by a Spanish Expedition searching for Terra Australis, then two centuries later by Russia’s First Antarctic Expedition.
Mangaian chic – pare tō fashion hats from the 1950s
Saturday 4 June 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
The discovery in Washington DC of a cache of 27 Mangaian reed hats or pare tō, dating from 1958, has reignited local interest in how these extraordinary fashion items were produced, writes Rod Dixon.
The Cook Islands Māori calendar
Tuesday 26 April 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
Traditionally, Cook Islanders observed Matariki as the commencement of the annual calendar, a calendar that reflected cycles of life in the agricultural economy of the south and the fishing economy of the north.
Tāote – Cook Islands’ medical pioneers
Monday 28 March 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
With very few resources and little official encouragement, the Cook Islands first local doctors tackled epidemics and eliminated diseases, laying the foundations for the modern Cook Islands medical service.
Manuae, Penthouse magazine and a sunken Aussie grader
Saturday 19 February 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
Over a period of two months in 1981, a group from Rarotonga cleared and constructed a 4000-foot airstrip on Manuae island.
Karlo Andersen ‘King’ of Manuae
Saturday 5 February 2022 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
In the 1950s, Karlo Andersen ran Manuae like a military barracks. “For a man with a notion to play god, the set-up was ideal.”
New book recalls lost era of heroic boatmen
Saturday 18 December 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in
A new book recalls the lost era of surf boat lighterage on Mangaia, bringing it to life through the memories of one of the boatmen and visually through 150 historic photos.
'Akatara from Cook Islands on exhibit in Venice
Saturday 11 December 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Art, Features
An exhibition in Venice exploring the sculptural beauty of command clubs from Oceania, including the Cook Islands, has inspired a Rarotongan experiment to discover how ancient weapons obtain their beautifully finished surfaces.
Earthquakes and tsunamis – the Cook Islands experience
Saturday 30 October 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
What does history tell us about the frequency of earthquakes and tsunami in the Cook Islands?
Mangaia’s great vaccine experiment of 1866
Saturday 16 October 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
The story of how Davida Numangatini’s abduction into slavery in Peru led to Mangaia’s great vaccine experiment of 1866.
Salt in their blood - The story of early Cook Islanders at sea
Saturday 18 September 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Cook Islands sailors were highly respected for their seafaring skills. As competitors in Australian surf boat carnivals, they were unbeatable.
The ‘Ponder houses’ of Harley Street
Saturday 7 August 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Several houses and schools in Rarotonga share a link with Scott Base in Antarctica and Auckland International Airport in Mangere, having been designed by the same man, architect Frank Ponder. Gradually disappearing, Ponder’s Rarotonga buildings retain important heritage value.
Reliving memories of Mangaia’s boatmen shooting the reef
Friday 11 June 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
Taking cargo over the reef in the outer islands involved extraordinary seamanship. Boats and canoes crossed the edge of the reef on the crest of a chosen wave. But when the sea was rolling from the wrong direction, a crossing could be fraught with danger. By Rod Dixon on Mangaia.
Fit for a Queen: Cook Islands art in the Royal Collection
Saturday 15 May 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Art, Features
With the recent passing of Prince Philip, we wondered what official gifts had been presented to Queen Elizabeth II, her consort, and other royals during their Cook Islands visits. This is what we found. By Jean Tekura Mason and Rod Dixon.
Wings and ‘whirlybirds’ over Mangaia
Saturday 24 April 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Weekend
In 1945 the ariki of Mangaia offered New Zealand land for an airstrip. In the same year, the ending of the Second World war released thousands of ex-pilots and surplus aircraft to service remote air-routes around the world. While other countries took advantage, another 30 years would pass before commercial aircraft landed on Mangaia. By Rod Dixon
