I'm swinging out on a rata vine
in the great Pureora forest, Yaaaay!
swinging like a spider
attached by an umbilical cord from its web
billowing about in the breeze.

Then a loud noise starts my heart pounding
for suddenly assaulting my ears
is the whining of a chainsaw
clouds of tree-cutting smoke
sawdust flying
woodchips flailing
scattering bits of Pureora forest everywhere.

The whining of that chainsaw
and clouds of tree-cutting smoke
makes me run away to hide myself,
my heart suddenly pounding
at the felling of the great Pureora forest.

Alas, so sad! Alas, so sad!
It is all coming to an end.

Pureora Forest

Dr. Hirini Melbourne
Tühoe, Kahungunu.
Composer, university lecturer.

Hirini Melbourne devoted his life to promoting Maori language, culture and music. Of Tuhoe descent, he was a native speaker of Maori. As a student at Auckland University in the 1970s, he was a member of Maori activist organisation Nga Tamatoa, which petitioned Government to have Maori taught in schools as part of its focus on Maori identity.

He began writing songs and stories to fit with the urban experience of Maori of his generation and turned his frustration with the quality of educational resources for Maori into action by becoming editor of Maori School Publications.

In a class of his own, he led the resurgence of traditional Maori music, and over the years he has composed many Maori songs, including the popular Tihore Mai Te Rangi, and he has produced more than 20 recordings.

The music critic Elizabeth Ellis says his simple but beguiling melodies, combined with his poetic lyrics in te reo Maori, have appealed to a wide range of people, including children.

His discovery of traditional Maori musical instruments led him on a journey of discovery around New Zealand as he researched their histories and uses through asking the old people. Working with with musician Richard Nunns and instrument-maker Brian Flintoff, he led the revival of a Maori tradition that was almost stamped out. He has used these Maori instruments in the feature films Mauri and Once Were Warriors, and these instruments are now widely used by musicians and in kapa haka performance.

He served as a member of the board of the New Zealand Film Commission and the New Zealand Music Commission and as an assessor for Te Waka Toi and the Arts Board of Creative New Zealand over many years. He also composed music for various festivals, productions and orchestras.

In 2002, he was teaching in the School of Maori and Pacific Development at Waikato University, and working for his doctoral thesis on the history and development of Maori Music entitled From when the gods sang, to the present.

In March 2002, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waikato, and in July 2002 he received the Te Waka Toi Exemplary Award for outstanding leadership and service to Maori arts and culture.

In the 2003 New Year Honours, Dr Melbourne was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to Maori language, music and culture. He died not long after, at his family home in Hamilton, on Jan 6 2003, after a long battle with cancer. The range and depth of Hirini's knowledge and activities in Maori language, music, literature and historical research was formidable: he made an enormous contribution to New Zealand's cultural landscape.

In June 2003, a posthumous CD, with accompanying DVD of discussions and performances, recorded in the final weeks of his life, increased that contribution. The album, Te Hekenga-a-rangi,uses traditional instruments incorporating subtle layering of the sounds in the studio and invoking atua wahine (female deities). More details Te Hekenga-a-rangi