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

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The Rise and Fall of Empire Day

Empire Day fell on the 24th of May and was celebrated in New Zealand from 1903 - two years after Queen Victoria passed away on 22 January 1901. The date was The Queen's birthday, but it was also one shared with a 7-year-old boy. Find out what happened on this special day and hear the personal story of a young boy dreaming of reuniting with his Dad who was fighting in the second world war, in the latest episode of Eyewitness.
Chris Cameron with his mother

Making Popstars: Truebliss

What is it like to be catapulted to overnight stardom? That very scenario happened to five Kiwi girls who became part of all-group Truebliss back in 1999. South African-born Megan Alatini recalls the moment that changed her life and what it meant to be on Popstars - the first music-based reality TV show of its kind to have a world premiere.
Megan Alatini says doors opened for her after her True Bliss experience

Tiwai Point: Fifty Years in the Furnace

Tiwai Point is a polarising place, people tend to love it or hate it. 2021 will be its 50th year of operations, it could also be the smelter's last. Eyewitness follows the history of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.
21586193 - a vibrant sunrise overlooking bluff aluminium smelter new zealand

Changing Medical History - New Zealand's First Open Heart Surgery

Prior to 1958 mortality rates for babies born with heart conditions was extremely high. But a groundbreaking open heart surgery performed 62 years ago at Greenlane Hospital by Sir Brian Barratt-Boyes changed medical history forever. Sonia Yee looks at the lead-up to the big day and the innovative machine used in the operation.
Helen Arnold post-operation with her parents

First Female Police Recruits: 'They were a fine bunch of young women'

In the 1940s, Marie Storey was part of the third intake of women to join the police force in New Zealand. She speaks to Sonia Yee about being used as a decoy to catch a pervert; segregated training and why women were working as plain clothed officers.
Patrol in Willis Street, 1944. Left,  Jan Sneddon, (m. Pope), right, Marie Storey

Rebuilding an iconic road: the making of State Highway 80

Rebuilding the iconic Mount Cook Road was both a challenge and a privilege. Find out more in this episode of Eyewitness.
On the way to Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park..

The Leap of Faith To Save a Language

Forty years ago the Māori language was on the brink of dying out. Only 5% of Māori spoke it fluently. A massive push to save it was underway and at the heart of that movement was a little school at the foothills of the Urewera Ranges...
KIa Kaha Te Reo Maori

The Making of Grace Kwan

How culturally diverse is New Zealand television and when did things start to shift? Sonia Yee explores the making of character Dr Grace Kwan - the first Asian character to become part of mainstream TV on New Zealand's most loved soap opera, Shortland Street.
Lynette feels we have fallen behind in terms of the diversity on our screens

The fall and rise of the gold kiwifruit

New Zealand is the third largest producer of kiwifruit in the world. But in November 2010, that looked to change when kiwifruit vines across the country became ravaged by the bacterial disease PSA. It spread like wildfire and wiped out the Zespri Gold breed at the time. Sonia Yee speaks to award-winning researcher, Professor Russell Lowe and New Zealand's leading organic kiwifruit breeder, Jeff Roderick, to find out how PSA affected the wider industry and what it took to fight a disease that was destroying one of New Zealand's most precious export products.
Episode image

Georgina Beyer on Carmen Rupe: 'We had to live in this twilight'

"From the good and the great to the lowest of the low, she bridged a gap," says Georgina Beyer of transgender trailblazer, Carmen Rupe. Find out more in this episode of Eyewitness.
Carmen Rupe

Swine Flu 2009/2010

As Covid-19 sweeps across the world, Eyewitness examines another outbreak that captured the headlines a decade ago.
Episode image

Eyewitness: Apec 1999 and the crisis in East Timor

APEC 1999; the unlikely story of how a free trade talkfest helped save a nation from destruction. Produced by Justin Gregory.
Dame Jenny Shipley

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