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Hero image for Landscape - Muttonbirders

Landscape - Muttonbirders

Television (Full Length) – 1969

This Landscape documentary looks at the muttonbirding culture of the deep south, as Rakiura (Stewart Island) Māori exercise their customary right to harvest the birds for food, oil and feather down. The hunt begins with a rugged trip to the islands where hundreds of thousands of tītī (or sooty shearwater) arrive annually to breed. The kinship of birding is evident as families (and a poodle) set up camp. Soon the salty kai is plucked from burrows and sent by wire downhill to the ‘pluckhole’. This was an early gig for director Bruce Morrison (Heartland, Shaker Run).

The sealers would drop their [Māori] wives off at this place, while they went away down south ... sealing. There was only women and children left on this place. That’s how it come to be called ‘Women’s Island’. The sealers would pick up their wives on their way back.
– How Women’s Island got its name

Key Cast & Crew

Profile image for Bruce Morrison

Bruce Morrison

Director, Writer

Profile image for Bob Lapresle

Bob Lapresle

Producer

Generic Profile image for Darryl Ware

Darryl Ware

Narrator

Generic Profile image for Donald Kay

Donald Kay

Sound

Generic Profile image for Mark Westmoreland

Mark Westmoreland

Editor

Generic Profile image for Cedric Heward

Cedric Heward

Camera Operator

See all 8 credits

Produced by

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NZ Broadcasting Corporation