The Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation presented a series of World on Stage events during the summer of 2023 at the Centennial Peace Plaza in the Gardens. The September 9, 2023 event celebrated Asian heritage and culture. Pacific Paradise Entertainment performed Polynesian dances from Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa and Tahiti.
These episodes on Australia include information about New Zealand as well.
This episode of Fun with Maps is about one of 6 Australian states, the island state of Tasmania. Host Dan Hanson looks at how Tasmania was joined to the mainland 10,000 years ago. Tasmania was first called Van Diemen's Land and the British Empire sent convicts there as a punishment and for free labor. Dan looks at the city of Hobart, Australia's second-oldest capital city after Sydney (New South Wales).
Being so far south Tasmania - Hobart in particular - serves as Australia's chief sea link to Antarctica, with the Australian Antarctic Division located in Kingston. If you are lucky you can see the aurora australis (southern lights as opposed to the northern lights aurora borealis). Geographically and biological isolated, Tasmania is known for the now extinct Tasmanian Tiger and the Tasmanian Devil. The Tasmanian devil, also called a Tassie Devil, is a carnivorous marsupial (like Kangaroos, Wallabies, Koalas, and Wombats.) It was made famous in the Warner Brothers cartoons. Dan points out the similarities and differences between the real animal and the cartoon.
Fun with Maps - Tasmania Part 2 (with Ash Nallawalla)
This is a special additional Fun with Maps episode about Tasmania. Host Dan Hanson spoke with his longtime friend Ash Nallawalla. Ash was born in India but emigrated to New Zealand and now lives in Melbourne Australia. Ash has visited Tasmania, one of the 6 Australian states, and shares that perspective with us.
Ash said the people are affectionately called Tassies and the island, which resembles an apple, is called the Apple Isle. He says that not only was Tasmania once connected to the mainland but also New Zealand was probably connected to the east coast of Australia. With Hobart so far south Ash told of wanting to film the Aurora Australis, the southern aurora. He told of some sites to visit in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania, such as remnants of the Van Diemen's Land prisons, the Museum of Old and New Art and more.
Ash has travelled extensively and says his favorite destination is New Zealand for the amazing scenery. He has travelled from the top northern point with all the volcanic scenery to the southern tip. Of course he visited Hobbiton where the Lord of the Rings trilogy was filmed.
2020
Fun with Maps - New Zealand
In this episode of Fun with Maps host Dan Hanson looks at New Zealand and the Lost Continent of Zealandia in Oceania. New Zealand is home to the Maori people, terrific rugby like the All Blacks team, the haka ceremony, the beautiful scenery as the setting of the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies, Milford Sound and much more. Modern technology is allowing us to see more of the huge lost continent of Zealandia underneath New Zealand, 94% submerged under the ocean.
In the Fun with Maps episode about New Zealand we spoke about the Haka. But you have to watch it to understand it. Here's a video of what some have called the greatest Haka ever.
2018
New Zealand and Iceland lead world in travel security and medical
Jerry Torma, Director Compensation and International HR for Nordson Corporation, spoke at a meeting of the Northeast Ohio International Business Network welcoming Icelandair to Cleveland. He said that only 2 countries in the world earned the highest ranking for both travel security and medical care: New Zealand and Iceland.
Milford Sound, one of New Zealand's most famous tourist destinations
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (commonly called the North Island and the South Island), and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands.
The Polynesian Maori reached New Zealand in about A.D. 800. In 1840, their chieftains entered into a compact with Britain, the Treaty of Waitangi, in which they ceded sovereignty to Queen Victoria while retaining territorial rights. In that same year, the British began the first organized colonial settlement.
A series of land wars between 1843 and 1872 ended with the defeat of the native peoples. The British colony of New Zealand became an independent dominion in 1907 and supported the UK militarily in both World Wars.
New Zealand's full participation in a number of defense alliances lapsed by the 1980s. In recent years, the government has sought to address longstanding Maori grievances.
