50 Dollars 2002, New Zealand
| in Krause book | Number: 188b |
| Years of issue: | 09.2002 - 09.2012 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Governor: Dr. Alan Bollard (in the office 09.2002 - 09.2012) |
| Serie: | Fifth Series |
| Specimen of: | 20.03.2000 |
| Material: | Polymer |
| Size (mm): | 140 х 68 |
| Printer: | Note Printing Australia, Craigieburn, Melbourne |
* All pictures marked 
are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.
** The word "Specimen" is present only on some of electronic pictures, in accordance with banknote images publication rules of appropriate banks.
Description
Watermark:
Her majesty The Queen Elizabeth II.
The New Zealand monarchy has its roots in the British crown, from which it has evolved to become a distinctly New Zealand institution, represented by unique symbols. New Zealand's monarch-since 6 February 1952, Queen Elizabeth II-is today shared equally with fifteen other countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, all being independent and the monarchy of each legally distinct. For New Zealand, the current monarch is officially titled Queen of New Zealand, and she, her consort, and other members of the New Zealand Royal Family undertake various public and private functions across New Zealand and on behalf of the country abroad. 
Avers:
The engraving on banknote is, probably, made after this photo of Sir Āpirana Ngata.
Sir Āpirana Turupa Ngata (3 July 1874, Te Araroa, Gisborne, New Zealand - 14 July 1950, Waiomatatini, New Zealand). He played a significant role in the revival of Maori people and culture during the early years of the twentieth century. He was the first Maori to graduate from a New Zealand university, and an elected Member of Parliament for 38 years.
In 1895, a year before finishing his second degree (law), Ngata married 16-year-old Arihia Kane Tamati who was also of the Ngāti Porou iwi. Ngata had previously been engaged to Arihia's elder sister, Te Rina, but she died. Apirana and Arihia had eleven children; six girls and five boys.
Shortly after Ngata's legal qualifications were recognised, he and his wife returned to Waiomatatini where they built a house. Ngata quickly became prominent in the community, making a number of efforts to improve the social and economic conditions of Māori across the country. He also wrote extensively on the place of Māori culture in the modern age. At the same time, he gradually acquired a leadership role within Ngāti Porou, particularly in the area of land management and finance.
Ngata was also active in a huge variety of other endeavours. The most notable, perhaps, was his involvement in academic and literary circles - in this period, he published a number of works on significant Māori culture, with Nga moteatea, a collection of Māori songs, being one of his better known works. Ngata was also heavily involved in the protection and advancement of Māori culture among Māori themselves, giving particular attention to promoting the haka, poi dancing, and traditional carving that had been begun by Te Puea. One aspect of his advocacy of Māori culture was the construction of many new traditional meeting houses throughout the country. Yet another of Ngata's interests was the promotion of Māori sport, which he fostered by encouraging intertribal competitions and tournaments. Finally, Ngata also promoted Māori issues within the Anglican Church in New Zealand, encouraging the creation of a Māori bishopric. In December 1928, Frederick Bennett, was consecrated as suffragan bishop to the Waiapu diocese with the title Bishop of Aotearoa. Ngata and Bishop Herbert Williams campaigned for the recognition of Māori language as a subject for study in the University of New Zealand, with the study of Māori becoming eligible for a degree of bachelor of arts in 1928.
Throughout all this, Ngata also remained deeply involved in the affairs of his Ngāti Porou iwi, particularly as regards land development. He was instrumental in establishing the land incorporation scheme whereby unused Māori land with multiple owners were amalgamated under a farm manager-often Pakeha, who developed and ran the farm. In government he was able to arrange for the transfer of four blocks of farm land to Te Puea Herangi and her husband. He arranged grants and government loans to help her develop farms for Waikato. He fired the Pakeha farm manager and replaced him with Te Puea. He arranged a car for her so she could travel around her estates. In 1934, during the depression, the public, media and parliament became alarmed at the large sums of money being gifted to Te Puea and others. A royal commission was held and Ngata was found guilty of irregularities in expenditure and negligence in administration, but no major scandals were unearthed. His land projects up to 1934 had involved the expenditure of ₤500,000, most of which was recoverable. Ngata resigned in December 1934. Ngata fought for higher living standards for the Maori people, and was very active during an economic depression in New Zealand in the Thirties, developing large farms which provided jobs and helped to restore the dignity of many Maoris.
Ngata was knighted in 1927, only the third Māori (after Carroll and Pomare) to receive this honour.
Ngata's grandson Hōri Mahue Ngata wrote a widely used Māori-English dictionary.
Near Sir Ngata is Porourangi.
Porourangi is the name given to the historic meeting-house of the Ngati Porou people which stands majestically at the foot of Puputa Hill. To reach Porourangi you have to travel seven miles north-east of Ruatoria over roads of good quality.
The timber for this meeting-house was fetched from the Mangaoporo Valley and had to be brought down the Waiapu River. When the logs reached a place where they could be brought ashore easily, the many helpers would sledge them up to the meeting-house site.
It took twelve years, from 1852 to 1864, to build the house. When it was completed it was truly a work of art. Each part of it is designed not only to display Maori skills, arts and crafts, but also to represent ancestral figures, elders and warriors who performed great deeds for their people. All these ancestors lived within the Ngati Porou tribal area.
The carvings were done by Tamati Ngakaho, an elder who lived at Whakawhitira.
The tukutuku patterns are very unusual. Along each wall traditional Maori patterns, such as poutama, roimata, patikitiki and purapurawhetu, alternate with images of different ancestors and warriors, each one with his name included in the tukutuku work.
Two figures on the poutokomanawa, the posts in the middle of the meeting-house, represent Hamo and Rongomaianiwaniwa, the wife and daughter of Porourangi, the chief of the Ngati Porou tribe. The tekoteko, the figure on top of the meeting-house, represents Tuterangiwhiuiti, who was a descendant of Porourangi and a great warrior.
The maihi or barge-boards are carved only at their lower ends (raparapa). This carving is to show that no eating, smoking or entertainment should take place in this meeting house. However this rule is not being carried out, and today seems of little importance.
After the flood in 1937, Porourangi had to be moved from the creek-side to its present site. This undertaking was supervised by Sir Apirana Ngata. The tukutuku work was all renewed and the scroll work and carvings were re-painted. The most impressive part of the operation was the shifting of the tahu, or the ‘ridge pole. One hundred people were engaged in moving this.
About seventy yards from Porourangi stands the Bungalow, the home of the late Sir Apirana Ngata. It is a beautifully built family home, surrounded by flower gardens, shrubs, a lawn and a tennis court.
On the death of Sir Apirana he was laid to rest beside his father, Paratene Ngata, on Puputa Hill overlooking Porourangi, the Bungalow and the Waiapu Valley. (Henrietta Kaiwai)
The map of New Zealand is on top.
On the left side is Cyathea dealbata, also known as the silver tree fern or silver fern, also as ponga /ˈpɒŋə/ or punga /ˈpʌŋə/ (from Māori kaponga or ponga). It is a species of medium-sized tree fern, endemic to New Zealand. It is a symbol commonly associated with the country both overseas and by New Zealanders themselves.
This fern is known to grow to heights of 10 m or more (though it occasionally takes a rare creeping form). The crown is dense, and the fronds tend to be about 4 m. long and have a silver-white colouration on the undersides. This distinctive silver colouration has made them useful for laying along tracks for night walking. The scales are a dark brown and are often twisted and glossy.
Arriving relatively late in New Zealand's history during the Pliocene epoch (around 5.0-1.8 million years ago), the silver fern occurs on the main islands of New Zealand and on the Chatham Islands to the east, mostly in the subcanopy areas of drier forests and in open scrub. It is known to grow well in well-drained humus, and once established, it will tolerate drier conditions. It does best when sheltered from winds and should be protected from frost. It does not grow under the dense canopy of mature forests.
Pororangi Poutama (Pororangi Poutama)
The tukutuku design behind Ngata is called Poutama Porourangi and is based on a panel in the wharenui (meeting house). It represents the search for knowledge and speaks to Ngata's achievements in the Māori and Pākehā worlds. (Encyclopedia of New Zealand)
Tukutuku panelling is a distinctive art form of the Māori people of New Zealand, a traditional latticework used to decorate meeting houses.
Tukutuku patterns vary considerably from iwi to iwi throughout the land. Certain designs are associated with particular iwi, some may have different names in different regions, or the names may be spelled in various ways. Many forms are related to mythologies, the stories about them vary from iwi to iwi. Some of the traditions are recorded here; this information has been drawn heavily from the works of Te Rangi Hiroa, and of John M. Mepham at Tokomaru Bay. Hiroa has suggested that the simpler forms are probably the older designs, later patterns developed pictorial forms, such as ancestral figures or other shapes.
Denominations in numerals are top left and bottom right. In words bottom left.
Revers:
Blue wattled crow or kokako (Callaeas cinerea wilsoni) is a large native bird with a distinctive steel grey body with a black face "mask" and sky blue wattles. The variety on the note is the North Island kokako.
The kōkako belongs to the endemic New Zealand wattlebirds (Callaeidae), an ancient family of birds which includes the North and South Island saddleback and the extinct huia.
The kōkako is the only member of its family still surviving on the mainland.
A dark bluish-grey bird with a long tail and short wings, it has a pair of brightly coloured, fleshy "wattles" extending from either side of its gape to meet below the neck.
The North Island kōkako has blue wattles, while the South Island kōkako has orange or yellow wattles. The bird is not particularly good at flying and prefers to use its powerful legs to leap and run through the forest.
In Maori myth, it was the kōkako that gave Maui water as he fought the sun. The kōkako filled its wattles with water and brought it to Maui. His thirst quenched, Maui rewarded the kōkako by making its legs long and slender, enabling the bird to bound through the forest with ease in search of food. (Department of Conservation)
In 2013, there was an amazing story behind the kokako named Duncan.
DOC ranger Hazel Speed has mastered catching kōkako in the depths of mature native forest in Pureora. She’s also adept at moving through the dense scrub on Tirtiri Matangi Island to monitor these birds that, although renowned for their inability to fly long distances, can still move pretty quickly-especially when you’re on their tail. But what does she do when faced with kōkako catching in suburban Auckland? One adventurous kōkako, going by the name Duncan, gave her the chance to show us.
This adventurous kōkako was released a couple of years back in the northern Waitakere Ranges into the intensive predator-controlled area of Ark in the Park. His appearance a few weeks ago in the eastern suburb of Glendowie (think 30 odd kilometres away, on the opposite side of Auckland) and you’ve got a complex challenge for our biodiversity ranger!
Luckily the residents of Glendowie were up for the challenge. Locals were so charmed by this blue-wattled crow that they’d stop in the street (on foot and in cars), fascinated, amazed and concerned. Then they’d bring their children and friends back to see him.
Hazel saw the nonplussed become engaged overnight by Duncan’s presence. One neighbour did a letter drop to ask if people would keep their cats inside at night. The same neighbour ensured tea and coffee and a toilet was available for the catching team (you can’t just pee in the bushes in suburbia like you can in the field!).
She also made soup for the team and even put Hazel up overnight (including dinner), so she could be up early to mist net the errant bird. And yes those are her kōkako cupcakes, to thank Hazel for her hard work.
And hard work it was-a number of days were spent over two weeks trying to figure out the best way to catch Duncan-not to mention negotiating access onto neighbours property, impenetrable hedges, tall fences, the likelihood of guard dogs, an extremely busy road and avoiding power lines with mist net poles!
On the morning of Wednesday 15 May, one neighbour with three young boys asked Hazel, “Do you think you could catch Duncan today? It’s my son’s 4th birthday.” And like any great DOC worker, she delivered… and the three boys got to witness Duncan close-up (although behind a ranch slider!). Can you picture the boys peering into the small room in their house (that had been specially cleared of the boys’ shoes and stuff the night before), as Hazel safely checked Duncan over before popping him into a transfer box?
The media was keen on a Duncan close-up too, and Hazel negotiated a deal to ensure the bird could be caught without the distraction of cameras (and the associated crowd) in exchange for witnessing the bird’s release back into the Waitakere Ranges.
On the day of release, despite warnings, certain journos had brought their ‘city boots’, and gumboots had to be picked up on the way back across Auckland for them. Duncan was then released back into his home in the Waitakere Ranges and exited the transfer box like a shot. It was an exhilarating day for Hazel and all those involved (Department of Conservation blog).
On the background - Pureora Forest. It is part of 78,000 hectare Pureora Forest Park, in the central North Island. It is one of the most ecologically significant forests in New Zealand and is home to a large population of kokako.
Anti-logging protests were led by conservation activists Stephen King, Shirley Guildford, and others in the late 1970s in what is now Pureora Forest Park. They had a novel way of erecting platforms on treetops, sitting over it to protest logging operations in the forests. The result of their efforts was tri-fold: the park was established in 1978; the Government of New Zealand changed rules to meet the protesters' demand to permanently stop logging operations; and the Native Forest Restoration Trust was formed which ensured that the park develops several areas into its present format.
One of the pine forest areas that was restored with native species of trees, with great efforts of Guildford, was named in her memory in 1988 a year after her death as the "Shirley Guildford Grove".
Lower altitudes are characterized by tawa and tree ferns, as well as tall native trees, including kahikatea, matai, miro, rimu, and totara. The Pouakani Totara tree, New Zealand's tallest totara, is located east of the Field Centre. The giant totara, rimu, matai, miro and kahikatea trees tower 40-60 metres, and belong to an ancient family of trees dating from the dinosaur era. Higher altitudes include kamahi and Hall's totara; sub-alpine herbs are abundant near the peaks. Grasses within the park include toetoe. The Pouakani Totara Tree is the largest recorded totara tree in New Zealand and is located just outside of the park in the Wairapara Moana Incorporation reserve, located on the SH30 road.
The feral house mouse has a significant population within the park. There is rich native bird life in this forest including the rare kōkako and the kaka, kākāriki, kuku (kereru, a native pigeon), and North Island Robin. Sika Deer have been shot or sighted within the confines of the park, believed to be an illegal liberation. Pigs are present, and of the at least eleven pest species that co-exist within the park, possums and goats are subject to management operations.
In bottom left corner is Supplejack or kareao (Ripogonum scandens) leaves, they are eaten by kokako. The plant forms impenetrable thickets used by the birds for nesting. Supplejack produces bright red berries once it emerges from the shade of the forest canopy.
Traditionally supplejack was used by Māori to bind and pull objects. For example the vine was used to tie firewood together and for towing small canoes. Medicinally the supplejack root was boiled to make a drink to help a variety of conditions including rheumatism, fever, disability, bowel problems and skin diseases.
In bottom right corner is Sky-blue mushroom (Entoloma hochstetteri). It is notable for its bright blue colour which fades with age. The blue coloring of the fruit body is due to three azulene pigments. Whether Entoloma hochstetteri is poisonous or not is unknown. Entoloma hochstetteri grows in woodlands of western parts of both the North and South Islands of New Zealand, where it is associated with Nothofagus and Podocarpus species. The species was first described as Hygrophorus hochstetteri in 1866 by the Austrian mycologist Erwin Reichardt, before being given its current binomial name in 1962 by John Albert Stevenson. It is named after the German naturalist Ferdinand von Hochstetter.
Denominations in numerals are top left and right. In words top, in center.
Comments:
1) Each polymer note has two transparent windows. One of the transparent windows is oval and has the denomination of the note embossed in it. The other window is in the shape of a curved fern leaf.
2) There is a fern immediately above the clear fern-shaped window. When you hold the note to the light, the fern should match perfectly with another fern on the other side.
3) You should be able to see a shadow image of the H. M. Queen Elizabeth II when you hold the note to the light.
4) Each note has an individual serial number printed horizontally and vertically.
5) Polymer notes have raised printing, which can be felt when you run your fingers over it.
6) Tiny micro-printed letters “RBNZ” should be visible with a magnifying glass.
7) Most commercial papers used in forgeries glow under an ultraviolet light, however the polymer notes use special inks which appear dull except for specific features that glow brightly. For example, the front of each genuine note includes a fluorescent patch showing the denomination.
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