Museum Notebook: Big bird farming in Whanganui
17 Jan, 2021 04:00 PM
4 minutes to read
Made of white ostrich feathers and a white-painted wood frame with a silver embossed decoration, around 1910. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 1948.12.7
Made of white ostrich feathers and a white-painted wood frame with a silver embossed decoration, around 1910. Photo / Whanganui Regional Museum Collection ref: 1948.12.7
Whanganui Chronicle
By: Libby Sharpe
Alexander Allison farmed at Letham, about 11 kilometres south of Whanganui. His dairy operation was not paying, so he bought a pair of ostriches from South Africa to start a new enterprise. The birds arrived in Whanganui in 1904.
The Letham ostriches were not farmed for meat or eggs, but to produce ostrich feathers for fashionable hats, cloaks and dresses.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/Stuff Osman the Great” was one of around 30 Siberian huskies to travel south as part of the Terra Nova expedition. The dogs’ arrival in New Zealand was met with much excitement, with a report in
The Press singling Osman out, saying “his heart would break if he were made other than the leader”. In the spring of 1910, the dogs were trained to work together on Quail Island, in Lyttelton Harbour, pulling a wheeled-sledge. The Terra Nova expedition departed on November 29 and Dr Jill Haley, curator of human history at Canterbury Museum, says the crew encountered a “tremendous storm” as they headed south, with Osman even being washed overboard.
They wrapped it in a tea towel to help it feed. It had now been passed on to The Nest veterinary centre at Wellington Zoo and was expected to make a full recovery before being released back into the Eastbourne bush. There was always a chance that it would get too-attached to humans, which would make release harder, James said.
Hayden James/Lower Hutt Kereru Rescue
A baby morepork was found after falling from a tree in bush behind Eastbourne. Interesting facts about the morepork, listed by New Zealand Bird Rescue, include:
They have a variety of calls, but the most familiar one is “more-pork” which reflects their name.
Whanganui dad dying of brain cancer after being misdiagnosed with a tooth abscess
23 Dec, 2020 01:15 AM
4 minutes to read
George Moana, 33, is making the most of the time he has left with his wife Nicole and his three children Jade, 11, Ezekiel, 4, and Willow, 1. Photo / Supplied
Emma Russell is a health reporter for the New Zealand Heraldemma.russell@nzherald.co.nz
A 33-year-old Whanganui dad is dying of brain cancer after being told the deadly tumour eating away at his bone was likely a tooth abscess.
George Moana can no longer open his mouth wide enough to eat a burger. He can only see out of his right eye because his left one has been removed.