Memory Lane
Rarotonga’s elusive railway and locomotive
Saturday 25 June 2022 | Written by Sian Solomon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
The Cook Islands' first ever railway track and locomotive is as elusive as it is amazing.
RSM Maitai: A rusty remembrance
Saturday 23 April 2022 | Written by Sian Solomon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
One hundred and thirty years ago, the Royal Mail Service (RMS) Maitai ran aground off the island of Rarotonga, stranding 43 people and entwining the lives of others forever.
‘He loved and lived life at full speed’
Saturday 12 March 2022 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Tributes flowed and the island mourned for the most popular, sociable and sporty ‘pa’paa lawyer of the Cook Islands’, who was buried yesterday at his home in Avaavaroa.
Ross Hunter: The man of iron and steel
Friday 11 March 2022 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Well-known local businessman Ross Hunter passed away recently following a debilitating stroke two years ago.
JP retires after two decades of service
Saturday 8 January 2022 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Memory Lane
After 20 years on the bench, Justice of the Peace (JP) Rima David retired from court duties in September last year. She shares her experience with senior journalist Melina Etches.
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.
Resting in sunlit seas
Saturday 28 August 2021 | Written by Melina Etches | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Olly Silk sailed into Rarotonga in 1959 and 62 years later she was returned to the deep big blue, with her burial at sea on Wednesday.
80 years of ‘hard but good life’
Tuesday 10 August 2021 | Written by Supplied | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Eighty years ago, a time when war dominated world affairs, a baby girl was born in Reureu; colloquially known as Reureu Te Mata o Teerui – a village situated on the western side of Aitutaki, far removed from the turmoil of war-torn Europe.
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.
Nicholas family reconnect through history
Saturday 7 August 2021 | Written by Al Williams | Published in Features, Memory Lane
The Nicholas family has a long and rich history across the Cook Islands, throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, and the world. Al Williams met a member of the extended family who is making connections across the globe.
Mutiny on the Vaka? The story of unescorted Mangaian sea voyage
Saturday 3 April 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Almost 30 years ago, a Mangaian vaka set sail for Rarotonga with no electronic or navigational aids, no captain and no escort vessel. The vaka was ‘missing’ for two days and a night and mounting concerns for the crew’s safety sparked an air and sea search. Here the vaka’s navigator, the late Ma’ara Peraua, and crew member Maire Kareroa record their memories of the voyage, while extracts from Rod Dixon’s 1992 diary describe reactions on the ground in Mangaia.
Christchurch earthquake, ten years on: The trauma, chaos and the compassion
Saturday 27 February 2021 | Written by Ruta Tangiiau Mave | Published in Features, Memory Lane, Weekend
A decade ago, on February 22, 2011, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch at 12.51pm, causing widespread damage across the city, killing 185 people, in the nation’s fifth-deadliest disaster. Cook Islands News columnist Ruta Mave had just dropped her children at school when the incident happened.
From hunters to watchers – whaling in Raro waters
Saturday 6 February 2021 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Commercial shore-based whaling began on Rarotonga in 1865 with the help of Rarotongan whaler Jimmy Pi’i and members of a Ngāpuhi family from New Zealand. With whale numbers already in decline, it soon became clear a commercial industry was not viable. Yet a local taste for whale-meat meant opportunistic whale-hunting continued off Rarotonga and Aitutaki for almost another century.
The day ‘the Don’ and ‘Phar Lap’ visited Rarotonga
Saturday 12 December 2020 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Zane Grey “the father of the American cowboy novel’ was one of the many celebrities who visited Rarotonga on the Union Steamship Company’s trans-Pacific liner service. Others included the English novelist D.H. Lawrence, the composer Percy Grainger, several All Blacks squads, the Australian cricket legend Don Bradman, the actor Peter Lawford, the 1932 New Zealand Olympic Team, and the great New Zealand-born Australian racehorse Phar Lap.
The Flying Nicholas Brothers of Ruatonga: Pt 2
Saturday 21 November 2020 | Written by Rod Dixon | Published in Features, Memory Lane
This second of two articles, concludes the story of two courageous brothers from Ruatonga, Tatio and Marama Nicholas, who flew with Bomber Command and the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Second World War. By Rod Dixon.
The flying Nicholas brothers of Ruatonga
Saturday 14 November 2020 | Written by Supplied | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Tuaine Kaitara Nicholas of Ruatonga and his wife Ngatuaine had four boys and three girls. Three of the boys enlisted in the Air Force in WWII and a fourth was directed by his brothers to the Army. In the first of two articles, Rod Dixon tells the story of two of the courageous Nicholas brothers, Tatio and Marama.
‘Cook Islanders have served bravely and with distinction’
Thursday 12 November 2020 | Written by Losirene Lacanivalu | Published in Features, Memory Lane, Weekend
Local war veterans were remembered at the 102nd Armistice Day commemoration in Rarotonga on Wednesday November 11 - the day when an armistice was signed to end the Great War.
Jim Marurai: The unexpected prime minister
Saturday 7 November 2020 | Written by Supplied | Published in Features, Memory Lane
Former Cook Islands prime minister Jim Marurai passed away peacefully at the age of 73, in his Ivirua home on the southern island of Mangaia, where he was born and raised. Veteran journalist Florence Syme-Buchanan pens a poignant tribute to the former leader.
