New curriculum to explore Cook’s arrival in NZ

A young woman died in a crash near Palmerston North yesterday when a vehicle pursued by police hit a power pole.

The woman was a passenger in the car. A 15-year-old boy who was at the wheel has been rushed to Palmerston North Hospital with critical injuries.

A second young woman in the car was sitting in the back seat. She suffered serious injuries.

The driver failed to stop for police in Palmerston North’s western suburbs, at 1.30pm yesterday, Central District commander Superintendent Sue Schwalger said.

The car crashed into a power pole at an intersection near Longburn, a small settlement to the southwest of the city.

‘‘The front-seat passenger of the vehicle died at the scene,’’ Schwalger said.

A woman who works at Awapuni Nurseries said the car that crashed was a Subaru.

The car ended up in a ditch on the other side of the road from the pole, she said. ‘‘We heard a loud bang in the office and then the power flashed. Then it was all just sirens, instantly.’’

O’Leary Engineering owner Dean Sandbrook heard the noise of screeching tyres from his office, before seeing a ‘‘flash of blue’’ as he turned his head.

‘‘I heard the tyres let go. I was on the phone at the time. It was going that bloody quick.’’

Witness Marc Bailey reported the police chase beginning near Palmerston North’s border, with the blue Subaru heading south.

He said he saw the beginning of the chase and then came across the crash a few seconds after it happened. ‘‘It was deep in the drain when I got there. I was stopping traffic as there was a power line across the road.’’ Keith Harper says he’s lucky only his car was damaged after he came across a herd of cows on State Highway 1 in the early hours of Saturday.

‘‘I was heading south to Timaru and it was quite a rainy, dark, cloudy night. Plans are in place to commemorate Captain Cook’s arrival in New Zealand by teaching young Kiwis about the country’s dual heritage.

The Ministry of Education is working in conjunction with Tuia Encounters 250 to introduce a new subject into the national school curriculum.

The curriculum, set to commence in 2019, would teach students about the first encounters between Ma¯ ori and Europeans.

Totaranui 250 Trust member and Whitney Street School principal Cheryl Wadworth, of Blenheim, said e-book stories from each region would be used to help incorporate local knowledge into the curriculum.

‘‘[The e-books] could be accessed by all kids in New Zealand,’’ Wadworth said.

‘‘These digital and interactive books will be aimed at both junior and senior levels.

‘‘We hope to make them flexible so that each child can learn at their own pace.’’

Totaranui 250 Trust co-chair Raymond Smith said three stories from the Marlborough region would feed into the national curriculum.

‘‘The first e-book would focus on the careening of the Endeavour at Ship Cove [in Queen Charlotte Sound],’’ Smith said.

‘‘The second would focus on Cook’s lookout on Arapaoa Island, and how Cook disproved the southern continent theory that New Zealand was just one big island.’’

The third e-book would focus on Motuara Island, which was where Cook ‘‘proclaimed the South Island on behalf of King George III’’, Smith said.

‘‘It would explore the significance of place names before and after the arrival of Europeans.’’