Porirua Writer's Walk - Michael King - 1945-2004
Michael King was born in Wellington, and grew up in Paremata. Journalist, academic, writer, and dubbed ‘the peoples’ historian’. Nationally and internationally acclaimed but loved by Porirua for his portrayal of the beauty of the local scenery in his poetry and prose.
Michael King Sculpture
The view from the large window-shaped Michael King commemorative sculpture on Wineera Drive, Porirua, takes in the landscapes mentioned in this engraved text:
“Waking each morning with the bedroom windows open and the smell of flowers and fruit, or rain on earth, from the garden outside. Getting up before dawn and making my way barefoot through the macrocarpas and pines to the beach. There I would collect oars, rowlocks and fishing gear from the shed and walk the short distance across the sand and shells to the water.
By now the sun would be lighting the crests of the hills around the harbour, and they seemed to hang in the still air. I would wade out to the anchored dinghy, peering ahead as mullet scattered in front of me and flounders kicked up mushrooms of sand.
Once in the boat and moving I loved the dip of the oars, the creak of the rowlocks and the whisper of water along the sides. The sun would be coming up as I slipped past the bleached shellbank we called Cockleshell Island. In the channel where the water ran green and deep opposite Moorhouse Point, I tossed the anchor over the side and waited for it to grip”.
Being Pakeha Now, 1998
Michael King won a wider range of awards for his books, journalism and television work than any other New Zealand writer. For more information about this great New Zealander see:
http://www.writerscentre.org.nz/michael_king.php
http://www.bookcouncil.org.nz/writer/king-michael/
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/keyword/tags-64
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=3558193
View Media Statement: Michael King commemorative sculpture unveiled in Porirua