Today is the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. On that day, pandemonium struck. People fled with a …
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Autobiography & Travel
Ukraine: War and Wonders – The Dnipro – Ukraine’s ‘National River’
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleRivers, big rivers. They can be political borders – think of the Rhine – when it marked the ‘civilised’ Roman Empire to …
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When a forest is dead, but somehow still there – either as bleached stumps, and felled, and possibly burnt trunks, I call …
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We owe so much of what we know of early Dunedin to just a few artists! Up till 1850, there’s only a …
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Biogeography & Vegetation
Deans Bush–Pūtaringamotu and the Mystery of the Missing Tree Ferns
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleTree ferns are indicators of a consistently pretty wet climate. In New Zealand-Aotearoa, if you look closely (and not too closely if …
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The Ghost of a young prostitute Locals know that Room 1 of the old Vulcan Hotel, in the tiny village (permanent population …
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Biogeography & Vegetation
The Immolation of Waimate Bush, Canterbury, New Zealand
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleIn the court case following the 1878 fire that virtually annihilated Waimate Bush, a witness described the wind conditions as “a hurricane” …
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Biogeography & Vegetation
The Lost Taieri/Taiari Bush, near Dunedin, New Zealand
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleLeads to New Zealand’s ‘lost forests’ turn up in all sorts of places. I was in the Dunedin Public Library when I …
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My Submission I thank the Environment Select Committee for the opportunity to make a submission on the Fast-track Approvals Bill – at …
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Archaeology, History & Culture
A Crimean Gothic Woman from the Seventh Century
by Mike Poleby Mike PoleCrimea, Goths and Archaeology The indigenous people of Crimea are generally regarded as the ‘Crimean Tartars’. But Crimea has older identities than …
