Conflict between races

Press, 29 October 1977, Page 15

Conflict between races

Tomorrow night’s episode of “The Governor,” which deals with the major battles of the Maori-pakeha wars, should be a highlight of the series.

It is set at a time when thousands of troops from famous British regiments have come to fight against the Maoris, under the leadership of General Sir Duncan Cameron (played by Martyn Sanderson). Although a widely experienced fighting man, Cameron is increasingly disturbed at what he sees.

Not only are his own men dying, but his supposedly savage enemy is persisting against impossible odds with high courage and unquestionable chivalry.

For the first time, Cameron, the professional soldier, beings to have doubts about his own way of life.

Re-enacting the batles

proved a challenge for the TVI team. Brandishing greenstone and stone meres, spears and rifles, the Maoris and the Europeans suffered heavy casualties.

Although at some stage's the “enacted” battles got a little out of hand, the gruesome battlewounds still had to be simulated. Mitch Lovett, special effects man, was summoned to the field.

Usually a generous splatter of imported artificial blood would suffice, but for close-ups more detailed wounds were necessary.

Fashion through the ages has never changed as rapidly and drastically as it did during the nineteenth century — from the short, stocky look, to the tall and thin, and from the exaggerated bustle to the daring emergence of the cleavage.

This change in fashion posed problems for Rohanna Hawthorne, who was responsible for designing the costumes for “The Governor.”

“In the British Empire during the nineteenth century, fashion developed in

five definite stages,” she said, “and since ‘The Governor’ spans the years between 1845 and the late nineteenth century, I had to calculate just how far behind British trends New Zealand would have been and design the costumes accordingly.”