What was happening in New Zealand/Aotearoa in 2005?
A brief glimpse into who we once were.
I’ve got to start with what was the most significant thing that happened in 2005 for me personally. As much as I appreciate that many people feel very differently, I was incredibly sad and moved by the death of David Lange. For all the terrible things that the fourth Labour Government wrought on our unsuspecting little country, I always felt that he was a special man.
He was fatally flawed in so many ways but I think a man of enormous heart and compassion and as funny as hell. So moved was I that I attended his memorial at Mt Smart and I don’t think I’d do that for any other politician, with the exception of Norman Kirk who died way before I was interested in such things.
Staying with politics for a bit, this was an election year and Helen Clark managed to hang onto power for a second term with 50 seats while the truly appalling Don Brash got 48 seats with his own charming brand of race baiting and dog-whistling. Helen couldn’t govern alone and went into coalition with NZ First, with Winston snagging his cushy number as Foreign Minister.
Aunty Helen had gotten herself in big trouble with the Foreshore & Seabed Act which many Maori were deeply offended by and this was reflected in the Maori Party, only formed the year before, sweeping 4 of the 7 Maori seats.
Finally, on politics, the Greens took a creditable 6 seats.
On the crime front, David Bain, jailed in 1995 for accidentally murdering his entire family, was pushing for a review of the forensic evidence. This actually happened and led to a retrial in 2007.
This year was a real low point for crime against children and the poster child for inhuman treatment of tiny people was Nia Glassie. Just three years old, she was put in a tumble drier, hung on a clothesline and swung around, beaten savagely and constantly, thrown violently onto a couch and made to suffer with immersion in freezing water and other unspeakable treatment. Death must have seemed like blessed relief.
Do you know what is truly depressing? 20 years later, we seem to have made no progress at all in addressing this consistent tragedy, because it still happens with disgusting regularity.
OK, enough of that. It’s grim as hell, but it is a true reflection of NZ society so we have to talk about it.
Musically, Fat Freddy’s Drop released Based On A True Story and you could not go to a café anywhere in New Zealand without hearing this intriguingly fat and rich NZ sound featuring.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1scoR3ka4k&ab_channel=FatFreddy%27sDrop
Of a slightly more quiet and reflective style, Brooke Fraser released Albertine and the album got global recognition. Here’s a sample here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXApy0IegKs&ab_channel=BrookeFraserVEVO
At the NZ Music Awards, then called The Tuis, Bic Runga swept up multiple awards foir her Beautiful Collision album https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4Y7Q0tP3kI&ab_channel=BicRunga-Topic
Rap was big in 2005 and the biggest of Kiwi rappers was Scribe. See if this brings back a memory or two https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7W4AIhg-9o&ab_channel=Scribe-Topic
Peter Jackson was a colossus internationally (figuratively and actually) after Lord of The Rings and his next big thing was King Kong, released in 2005. Big monkey, big audience.
On the local movie scene, Toa Fraser made the beautiful film No.2 which told a very Kiwi tale and won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyIDOqN0Z3w&ab_channel=REVISTACINETV-DEVON
The British & Irish Lions toured in 2005 and the All Blacks walloped them 3-0. Score! They also cleaned up the Tri-Nations Tournament with the stras being Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
The Black Caps had a decidedly modest year. It was the first year of all formats being played, Test, One Day and T20. Australia gave us a hiding in the first ever T20 international, ate our lunch 5-0 in One Dayers and won the Test series 2-0 with two gigantic beatings and a drawn third test.
We then toured South Africa where we got blitzed horribly in both tests, smashed 4-0 in ODIs.
In brighter news, we made the final of a Tri-Series against Zimbabwe and India and came second in the final. However, we beat Sri Lanka 1-0, so not all bad.
Mahe Drysdale and the Evers-Swindell sisters were storming world rowing and all got gold in World Champs. Good work.
This year also saw the rapid growth in sophistication, content and profile of Maori TV which continues to show up other channels today with their interesting and diverse content.
Something you might have forgotten. Angela D’Audney, an early TV newsreader died in 2005 of breast cancer, but not before appearing topless on the telly in a documentary she presented about breast cancer. A very courageous woman and it can’t be emphasised enough just what a scandal it was to many that one of our revered broadcasters should get her bits out on the goggle box. Good for her and it certainly made the subject higher profile, which was all she intended.
All in all, a mixed year of good music, great local film, two major deaths and a real mixed bag in sport.
That’s 2005 for you.