Project Takahē

When the takahē was rediscovered in the Murchison mountains in 1948, it made world headlines as a back from extinction story. This documentary checks in on the big flightless birds three decades later, with their future under threat (by deer, stoats and breeding failure). Doctor Geoffrey Orbell recalls the 1948 expedition. Project Takahē was the first Wild South documentary made by TVNZ’s Natural History Unit (later NHNZ). The images of takahē – blue, green and red, plodding in the snowy tussock – marked the first time most New Zealanders had seen the bird in the wild.    

Much of it [Fiordland] is still unexplored. One can imagine coming face to face with some strange creature...and this is exactly what happened: a weird bird returned from the past.

– Narrator Peter Hayden

Key Cast & Crew

Neil Harraway

Director

Michael Stedman

Producer

Peter Hayden

Writer, Narrator

Simon Greenfield

Editor

Peter Wells

Assistant Editor

Errol Samuelson

Sound