Where can I find information on New Zealand culture and kiwiana?
Level: Intermediate
Check out one one of our favourite kiwiana websites from Otorohanga Kiwiana Town. Click on the things kiwiana button on the left-hand side of the screen to get a brief description of each item. There’s also a section with recipes (like possum stew!).
The Christchurch City Libraries has cool stuff on kiwiana in the Reference section. Once you're in Reference, click on Society, then find the link on the page that says New Zealand Culture and Kiwiana. It's under the heading Culture and Traditions.
Another website to explore is the Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Click on the link at the top that says NZ Identity & Heritage, and this will take you to a page full of things that are special to New Zealanders, like monuments and flags.
Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand has a really good section called New Zealand in Brief, which covers all sorts of things like culture, history, the environment and government.
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First go to the Te Ara Homepage.
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Now click on the story near the bottom called New Zealand in Brief.
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Don't forget you can click on Read the Full Story for more information.
HOT TIP: We chose Christchurch City Libraries, Ministry for Culture and Heritage, and Te Ara because they’re either from a government organisation (Ministry or Council) OR a reputable organisation. You can tell this by their web address – they have either .org or .govt in their address. They’re also New Zealand sites, so relevant for us.
There's also a great page on In2Edu about kiwiana icons and objects, like gumboots, pavlova and buzzy bees. They even have a picture gallery of places around New Zealand that are full of kiwiana.
HOT TIP: Another place to look is Wikipedia which has great coverage of many topics, including Kiwiana. But you need to be aware that this information is contributed by lots of different people. If you are using this site, it always pays to check the information against that on other sites or in books from the library.
You could also do a general Google search using the word kiwiana and limiting the search to pages from New Zealand.
HOT TIP: Remember to ask at your local library. Richard Wolfe and Stephen Barnett have written some really good books on Kiwiana.