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Hero image for Weekly Review No. 437 - Ornithology ... Notornis Expedition

Weekly Review No. 437 - Ornithology ... Notornis Expedition

Short Film (Full Length) – 1950

In November 1948 New Zealand got its own Lost World story, when a population of takahē — a large flightless rail, long thought extinct — was found in a remote part of Fiordland. The rediscovery of ‘notornis’ (a cousin of the pūkeko), by Southland doctor Geoffrey Orbell, generated international interest. This episode of the NFU’s Weekly Review newsreel series treks from Lake Te Anau high into the Murchison Mountains, where the team (including naturalist Robert Falla) find sea shell fossils, evidence of moa-hunter campsites, and the dodo-like takahē itself.

Attempts to preserve the notornis could be justified by its beautiful colour alone.
– The narrator provides a 1950s conservation perspective

Key Cast & Crew

Generic Profile image for John Mallitte

John Mallitte

Writer, Editor

Generic Profile image for Briton Chadwick

Briton Chadwick

Narrator

Profile image for Don Oakley

Don Oakley

Camera