Videos

Coverage of the Miss Deaf New Zealand competition, hosted during the 34th New Zealand Games for the Deaf social evening at Auckland Deaf Society, October 1990.

Auckland Deaf community hold their annual picnic at Duders Beach, 1951.

Footage from the 40th Anniversary of St Dominic’s school for the Deaf in Feilding held in June of 1984. This video shows a tour of the school grounds, welcoming speeches to attendees and the celebrations that follow over the weekend.

A farewell party and awards evening is hosted by the Christchurch Deaf Club Basketball Club, with awards and prizes given out by Peter Downie.

Mojo Mathers is New Zealand's first Deaf Member of Parliament. She's using her position to advocate on disability, but she's battled her own prejudices.

On 6th April 2006, members of the Deaf community and supporters gathered on the steps of parliament to celebrate the NZSL Bill passing its Third Reading, becoming the NZSL Act (2006). This marked the end of a long journey to give NZSL official status in Aotearoa New Zealand. This footage was screened on TV3 that evening.

This segment from Māori TV’s Te Hēteri focuses on the experiences of Māori Deaf, catching up with Patrick Thompson, Whiti Ronaki, and Hemi Hema.

The New Zealander of the Year will be announced tonight and as part of it, a number of local heroes have been recognised. One of them is Aucklander Victoria Lessing, who has been deaf her whole life and has spent 20 years raising the profile of NZSL. Two years ago, her passion developed into a company called Merge NZ, which she runs alongside her business partner, Jaime Brown.

Memories of Keith and Irene Gordon, recorded on 27 June 2000. They were both foundation members of Manawatu Deaf Society – founded on 7 July 1962. Keith was awarded life membership of Manawatu Deaf Society on 16 December 2000.

Leading into the biggest competition of the year, we get to know more about some of the players in the Marlins, Auckland’s Deaf Rugby team; Opeti the family man, Talia the bodybuilder, Sailusi who wants a job and David who is a first-time dad.

The grit! The determination! The hours of practice! Finally it’s game day for the first Deaf Netball New Zealand versus Australia in Manawatu. Watch highlights of the gameplay followed by expert post-match analysis and limbo shenanigans at MDS. Good times.

The Sign Singers perform the hit song 'Sailing' broadcast on Stars on Sunday in May 1982. Ian Watkins, introduces the group by saying “…and I’m delighted to welcome back to the programme the deaf sign singers.”

Dressed in jandals, John Ooteman takes to the podium for his gold medal in the 35 km time trial, supported by a crew of New Zealand supporters. 

Scenes from NZ Deaf Sport Convention in Christchurch 1979, with sports such as shot-put and athletics, including some impressive sprinting and middle distance running.

News Review presents a round-up of coverage of the 1989 World Games for the Deaf including a feature on a Deaf-blind wrestler, as well as the closing stages of games in the men’s football, volleyball and basketball.

'Strangers' was a TVNZ-produced drama series, including one Deaf character played by 7-year-old Sonia Pivac. This short documentary is a brief look behind the scenes of the filming process.

The NZ team returns from the XIV World Games for the Deaf, Köln, Germany 1981.

Ava Buzzard talks about commuting to school via her father’s motorbike, home signs, signing and oralism, and the next generation of signers.

John and Laura discuss their eventful lives, including immigrating to New Zealand, meeting the local Deaf community, and how their meeting led to a marriage which at the time of filming had lasted 56 years!

Boarding students at Titirangi School for the Deaf are treated to a day out to Motihue Island (Te Motu-a-Ihenga) in the Hauraki Gulf, 17 kilometres from downtown Auckland.

As a warm-up in preparation for their upcoming game vs the Australian Deaf rugby league team, the Deaf Kiwis play against the NSW Deaf rugby league team on 4 June 1988. The game was won by NSW, 18–8.

The 2nd Asia Pacific Deaf Youth camp (APDYC) held at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre in Turangi is featured on ‘Inside Out’. Altogether, there were 43 Deaf youths from 12 countries, 15 youth leaders, 10 interpreters and a couple of guest speakers.

A group of deaf and hearing-impaired people feature in ‘First Half’, where they “are using drama as a means of communicating”.

The ceremony and speeches to open McHattie House, used as the national office for NZAD.

Deaf students dress up and parade around the back of Titirangi School for the Deaf at its annual Christmas party.

John McRae is filmed at his home in Napier where he lived with his wife Verna. John explains some highlights from his life story including his experiences at school, travelling the world for Deaf sports, and his involvement in the Deaf community. The video includes his commentary of various photos and objects in their house.

During 'Deafness Awareness Week' in 1995, One Network News runs a news clip that highlights why Teletext is invaluable to the Deaf community. Patreena Bryan shares with us how captions give Deaf people equality.

The popular athletics interclub and open championship ran to a tight program, from 8:00am to 12:00 noon. The Oxspring Shield for interclub athletics went to Auckland with 32 points. The 32nd Annual NZ Games for the Deaf in Christchurch provided valuable experience for hosting the World Deaf Games to be held in Christchurch in January 1989. At Cowles Stadium, Shona McGhie and Tony Walton are also interviewed by News Review.

Members of the Deaf community and their families attend the centenary celebrations at Sumner School for the Deaf.

The ‘007’ themed Miss and Mr Deaf New Zealand event, expertly hosted by Victoria Skorikova and Tony Walton was a major fundraising event for the 2nd Asia Pacific Deaf Youth Camp. It was organised in 5 weeks and raised $7,000 towards camp costs.