New Zealand 24

Listen to New Zealand 24, a 25-year-old man from Auckland and Queenstown, New Zealand. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject.

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 25

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 14/08/1999

PLACE OF BIRTH: Auckland, New Zealand

GENDER: male

ETHNICITY: Pākehā

OCCUPATION: sea-kayak guide

EDUCATION: diploma

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject has never lived outside New Zealand. He was born in Auckland, where he lived until the age of 12. He then moved to Queenstown, where he lived until age 18. Following that, he was in Greymouth for three years to earn a diploma and then returned to the Queenstown area, where he was living at the time of this recording.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH: 

He speaks Māori.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

RECORDED BY: David Nevell

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 08/08/2025

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

So I can tell you the story of why those fantails are considered to be an omen of death. Right? So this place, Piopiotahi, was in Māori mythology carved out by an atua or a god called Tū Te Rakiwhanoa. And when he was done, he shacked up with this wahine, a lady called Hine-nui-te-pō, who was an atua in her own right. And she was the closest thing we really have to the Māori goddess of death.

Um, and so she came here, and she thought the place was beautiful, and she thought Tū Te Rakiwhanoa was beautiful, and she took them for herself. And she lived just up that valley in Lake Ada, um, which the Māori believe to be a portal to the underworld that she guarded. And so, have you ever heard of Maui, a character from Moana? Um, really, he’s from a lot of Polynesian mythology, and he was sort of like the hero in a lot of stories. He was, eh, you know, the demigod that always fought on the side of the mortal people. And so he, um, the whole time he was, you know, doing all these great things, um, you know, leading up to the story. Uh, for example, he lassoed the sun, and he brought it closer to the earth so that the days would be longer and people could have more time to grow their, their crops. Um, he stole fire from the atua, Mahuika, and gave it to the mortal people to teach them how to cook. And, um, you know the whole time he was doing this, he had a little helper, um, sort of like a Robin to his Batman. Um, and the helper was a little bird, a songbird, called the piopio. Um, unfortunately, it’s now extinct.

But Maui calls the piopio, and he says, “We’re gonna go kill Hine-nui-te-pō, and we’re gonna bring her down and bridge the gap between the mortal and the immortal world.” Um, and so the piopio: He’s on board. He gathers up all his mates, um, all of the other birds in the forest, and they have a bit of a kōrero, a meeting, and, um, Maui tells them the plan. And the plan is to find Hine-nui-te-pō asleep, crawl up in between her legs into her vagina, and through her body. That would be the only way to kill death itself. Interesting idea, and that’s what a lot of the birds thought as well.

Um, so they were a bit skeptical of Maui’s plan, and they didn’t really want to be involved. So he said, all you need to do is promise just not to laugh. That’s all I want from you. And so the birds promised not to laugh, and Maui felt good about his plan, so he goes up there in the middle of the night, finds Hine-nui-te-pō, and, uh, he gets about halfway in there. And, um, the little pīwakawaka, that little fantail that was cruising around, just can’t contain his laughter. He’s cracking up, and then soon after, you know, all of the other birds in the forest crack up and there’s this big uproar, a big ruckus in the forest. And what do you know? Old Hine-nui-te-pō wakes up. And she sees Maui between her legs, and she has these big, giant, granite teeth, and just like that, she kills Maui, and that is the end of Maui’s adventures.

And so the little piopio was the only bird that didn’t break its promise. And so that one little piopio flew all the way around Aotearoa, telling everyone what had happened, and singing the songs of Maui’s life. And that little piopio, that one bird returned here, uh, where we get our namesake. So piopio is the name of the bird, and tahi means one. And, um, a lot of people will say that when it rains in Milford, it is the piopio crying for his long-lost brother, uh, which I think is beautiful.

TRANSCRIBED BY: David Nevell

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 11/08/2025

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

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