The contents are listed under 20 or so headings, beginning with Who are we?, Our tangata whenua, Our Flag, Our Stars, Our Shaky Isles, Our Songs, Our Farms, Our Heroes, Our Poets, Birds and Trees we love, etc, and ending with How We Say Good bye, Haera ra, Ka kite, and, See you''.
And there you have the problem I have with this book: it's respectful of our Maori connection, but gives an impression that the rest of the population is fully functional around the ''barbie'', camping, or making pavlovas.
For instance: I understand that ''our'' New Zealand was originally ''Maori'' New Zealand, and so the early pages need to focus on the when, where and how of Maori arrival and their myths and legends; the inclusion of a translation of everyday Maori words is also useful; tourists get a buzz exchanging kia-oras with locals.
But there is nothing about the when, where and how of European settlement. Did they/we just materialise? Didn't they/we also cross oceans in small boats, risking life and limb, with many loved-ones lost on the way?
Also missing is any reference to the wider, multi-cultural nature of New Zealand's population: no photographs or texts about the things local Samoan and Asian communities ''do for fun''.
And some of the ''statistics'' may give a wrong impression. While it's probably true that ''over 500,000 New Zealanders identified as Maori in the 2006 census'', how many of those resemble the representation of Maori shown in the book?
But enough of my high horse stuff. Presumably the publishers have done their homework.
They will have researched their choice of short story to illustrate the literature that ''defines a New Zealander'' and chosen Katherine Mansfield's, At The Bay, for reasons they can articulate but I can't.
In ''the days that are important to us'' I can understand why Anzac Day, Waitangi Day and Matariki (the Maori New Year) are included, but not why Christmas Day and Good Friday, aren't.
Indeed, the only section that seems to define modern day New Zealand are the activities included in, ''The Things We Do for Fun'': jet boating, hiking, bungy jumping, attending music festivals, playing and watching rugby, cricket and netball, messing about in boats, camping.
To me, these activities are what makes our New Zealand ''ours''.-
- Ian Williams is a Dunedin writer and composer.
