The subject matter of this book has been thoroughly covered in the Otago Daily Times (ODT, September 29, 2012), but it should be made clear that Shackleton's Whisky is as much about the man as his whisky.
This booklet is the third in a series on this train crash, New Zealand's second-worst (behind the Tangiwai disaster a decade later) as measured by the number of fatalities. It follows two booklets by crash victim descendant Elizabeth Coleman containing stories of people involved in the accident and the movement to erect a monument near the site.
Peter Dowden reviews Daughters of Erebus, by Paul Holmes.
"Here, beside the water, his life had changed. He forgot about school: about the foster home, the bullying policeman."
Another in a long line of railway nostalgia books, a seemingly inexhaustible genre, Last Train To Paradise approaches the topic from the social history side with a chatty, gossippy style that makes for enjoyable reading.
City councillors should be passionate about Dunedin's public transport and consider taking over its management, Peter Dowden writes.
What is it about Arthur Ransome - and John, Susan, Titty and Roger of Swallows and Amazons fame - that excites the devotion of hundreds of thousands of fans in Japan and worldwide? Peter Dowden gives his personal take on the attraction.
New Zealanders love their huts, and they love the name for them: less than monosyllabic in our dialect, it leaps off the glottus so fast that no time is wasted and we can get down to real business, like lighting the fire and getting the tea on.
Peter Dowden reviews Crisis.
Peter Dowden reviews A Merciless Place.
The Warrington Surf Life Saving Club has revived a historic name by adopting Moana Rua as its official Maori title.
Peter Dowden reviews Place Names of New Zealand.
Peter Dowden looks afresh at the model proposed by the University of Otago's new master plan and wonders if it is not, in fact, a retrograde step.
