High Country splendour

Press, 18 October 1980, Page 17

High Country splendour

High Country. By Yva. Momatiuk and John Eastcott. Reed, 1980. 128 pp. $25. - .7 " More' than a -century ago Lady Barker wrote, in “Station ; Life in New Zealand,”;'that;‘.‘no one but Turner could venture upon such a mixture of • pale sea-green: with deep turquoise . blue, purple with crimson and orange.” She was describing the sky over the zSoutty- Island ’High - Country and generations- sinCe have’-- been as awed as the firet-settlers by the grandeur of ' the sky arid .the land along the island's backbone. That - grandeur has been frequently- photographed; but seldom , to better effect than -in this glorious ■collection. ..of.'': more than • 80 photographs of a colour and quality that does justice to the natural splendour of- the region. The authors are a husband and wife team, a New Zealander and a Pole. Their book appears to be a spiri-off ' from an article commissioned by the “National Geographic” maga?ine and allows them to make use of many more pictures than a" magazine article. The plates are divided into sections on the land, work; the people, and the seasons. Each section is followed by the captions identified by miniatures of the plates. The system works well in letting the illustrations speak for themselves from pages without words, but it is a little annoying to have to turn constantly to

and fro to discover where a picture was taken.

The captions, and the brief introductory essay, are not always satisfactory. T-hey have the flavour of being written for a North American audience — sometimes breathless, sometimes close to being patronising —rather than for down-to-earth New Zealanders. Hie authors are probably correct when they write that “The High Country became . . . a romantic mental outlet 7 for the human spirit, its last frontier of uncurbed freedom and challenge”; they are closer to New Zealanders’ appreciation of themselves when they add that “hard work, voluntary help and basic honesty are imperative to'survive financially and socially;”; “ . . .. - . “High Country” would have been improved if it had included a straightforward ; account of the practicalities of farming and living in the harshly beautiful country it illustrates. A great deal of information is scattered through the captions. It might have been drawn together to good effect, for many New Zealanders today are surprisingly ignorant about the realities of life in some of the more remote parts of their country. Still, the illustrations are what give “High Country” its quality (and its price). They are outstanding making this one of the very best of the growing list of glossy interpretations of New Zealand. — Literary Editor.