Local Opinion

Currently, we have the opportunity to provide feedback to the council by completing submissions on the Representation Review, which closes at 5pm on September 5 and the Local Alcohol Policy and bylaws, closing at 5pm…

Since Whakaari is reminding us that we live with active volcanoes, it’s a good time for a reminder about what volcanic ash is, and what it isn’t. I haven’t yet seen any cringey headlines claiming…

When Walter James, a Te Rore farmer, arrived on horseback at William Chester’s he was saddling his horse. It was seven on a March morning in 1880 and the two men intended to go together…

Occasionally I decide to use these opinion pieces to give the local district council a nudge or a serve regarding their tired – and sometimes tiring – efforts to balance democracy with physical reality. Aka,…

I must confess I was deeply moved to see Lydia Ko’s emotional reaction to her gold medal achievement in Paris this month. The trickle of tears running down her right cheek made me smile as…

Meghan Hawkes recalls some of the stories making news Waipā in 1915. Te Awamutu’s Queen Carnival – a fundraising event – eclipsed any former social function held in the district. Mrs W H Grace, the…

Sitting inside trying (failing) to keep warm, I find myself daydreaming about Kiwi summers. Something that is part of our culture is heading to the beach, and having spent years overseas I can truly appreciate…

‘The Captain of all these men of death’ – the dreaded tuberculosis – every so often visited the Te Awamutu district. The unflagging efforts of Isabel Pope in February 1911 could not save her husband…

This week our local news has been full of the wonderful successes of our athletes at the Olympic games. I’m guessing more than one of us has basked in their glory. As well as that,…

Thinking about time as someone who studies the Earth can get a bit weird. Volcanic activity spans hundreds of thousands, and even millions of years. We consider a volcano that has erupted within the past…