Eyewitness

The moments that made us who we are as described by the people who were there.

Hosted and produced by Justin Gregory and Sonia Yee

Abstract illustration featuring an eye on a pink background. Text reads "Eye Witness" below it.

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The New Zealand food revolution

Did you know that the tomato only became popular locally about 1920? Or that brussels sprouts and silverbeet didn't catch on until the 1930s? Our national diet has undergone massive changes in the last half-century. Duncan Smith heads to the annual NZ Symposium of Gastronomy to find out why.
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Are You Y2K OK?

In last year of the old millennium, governments and businesses warned us all of the dangers of the Y2K Bug. So did the hype help? Or was this bug never going to bite?
The Chatham Islands sunrise on the first morning of the year 2000. Sourced from Te Ara.

The Lions of Lawrence

Two lions escape from a circus in small town New Zealand. Who you gonna call? Produced by Justin Gregory.
Sultan and Sonia.

The Experience of a Lifetime - Sinking of Mikhail Lermontov

Why is a Soviet ship lying on the bottom of the Marlborough Sounds? Produced by Justin Gregory.
The Mikhail Lermontov listing to one side near Port Gore.

New Zealand health camps: 'Under the Gunn'

Health camps have been helping sickly Kiwi kids get better for a century now. What was it like to be at one? And why are the camps today failing to thrive?
Captain Elizabeth Catherine Gunn. S P Andrew Ltd :Portrait negatives. Ref: 1/1-014009-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/22766391

Taranaki or Egmont: what's in a name?

A famous mountain gets two new names. Was this a messy compromise or a farsighted decision? Or is it still too early to tell? Produced by Justin Gregory.
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'The strap' - corporal punishment at school in New Zealand

Getting the strap at school - a harmless rite of passage or an awful abuse of power? Produced by Justin Gregory.
Corporal punishment in schools

A carpet of dead bodies: a Hiroshima survivor's story

At thirteen Taeko Yoshioka Braid survived a moment of history that changed the world forever; the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Produced by Lynda Chanwai-Earle.
The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of the Japanese city of Nagasaki on August 9, 1945 rose some 11 mi (18 km) above the bomb's hypocenter.

Behind the Iron Curtain

Moscow, near the end of the Cold War; paranoia, politics and perestroika. An embassy guard recalls life behind the Iron Curtain. Produced by Justin Gregory.
The New Zealand embassy in Moscow in 1980.

The Only Way to Pay?

EFTPOS and ATMs changed not just the way we bank, but arguably, the way we live. But was that a good thing? Produced by Justin Gregory.
An image of one of the very first Bank of New Zealand EFTPOS cards.

It'll never catch on

Trade Me - buyers sending money to people they've never met for goods they've never seen? It'll never catch on! Produced by Justin Gregory.
The very first Trade Me homepage from 1999.

The night the lights went out in Auckland

Auckland, 1998. After a long, hot summer, the lights suddenly go out in the city.
A 1998 file picture of the darkened Auckland skyline at the height of the power crisis. New Zealand Herald PhotographNZH 2aug01 - NZH 17may04 - NZH 14jun06 -

How hard can it be?

In early 90s Christchurch, a remarkable group of Pasifika performers take their first steps towards success.
Oscar Kightley

Foul tactics

In the icy waters of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, a protest boat is rammed by Japanese whalers and sinks soon afterwards. But who was really to blame?
An image taken from Sea Shepherd vessel Steve Irwin showing a Japanese harpoon boat on 2 February.

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