This episode of documentary series The Enduring Land uses a mix of narration and reenactments to explore New Zealand's earliest agricultural activities. It covers a bitter rift between Māori and Pākehā fired by a colonial "thirst for land", and the country's first shipment of refrigerated meat in 1882. It's the story of two topographies: the growth of sheep stations on the South Island plains, and vast burn-offs in the hilly north, clearing bush for railway lines and farmland. Dutch-born presenter Ruud Kleinpaste (who later hosted Buggin' with Ruud) took elocution lessons, and learnt Fiona Kidman's script verbatim.
It was said that the smoke could be seen in Australia.– Rudd Kleinpaste on mass burn-offs of bush by North Island settler farmers, in the 1860s and 1870s
Made with funding from NZ On Air
A Television One Commissioned Independent Production
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