Negative Comments

Duncan Fallowell wrote a book called "Going as Far as I can" and the NZ Listener reviewed it this week. The controversy all started when the Sunday Star Times originally reviewed the book and latched onto the phrase.

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Duncan is a great writer, not up my street, but very well thought of back in the UK in literary circles.
It is very interesting because the book is really about identity. The fact that White New Zealanders seem to feel the need to deny their roots in order to create a nationalist culture. I guess that is actually the issue, not that the historic Victorian buildings have been bulldozed, which is a travesty that leaves much of Auckland looking like a bad 60's new town. In order not to appear English many people, whose grand fathers come from Oldham, will openly run down Pohms in denial of their own heritage. I often feel it is a bit like burning books!
Personally I am English, yet on my recent trip to London I didn't meet another "English" person for 24 hours. I write "England" on all my travel papers where it asks "where were you born?" Yet in my country there is little to recognize in the England of my 60's upbringing. I am simply proud of the history of who I am because it what makes me, me. If my heritage was about a pioneer who moved 12,000 miles from an industrial northern town in England, with no money, to create a farm in a very underdeveloped country, well I'd be proud of that. As a foundation to a new country I'd have thought it was a great characteristic to build on and be proud off.
New Zealand is a mix of Cultures it is what makes it special and they should all be represented in Museums and Art Galleries. The cultural heritage of every section of the community needs to be on display. New Zealanders should, in my humble view, be very proud of who they have become and concentrate less on manufacturing a National Identity. Over contemplation of any naval is sad and all political involvement in the arts a disaster.