People in spring are always interested in spring gardens. Ads encouraged them even more. I thought “What if I designed my own spring garden and made my own ad?”. So I did a design by google canvas which was rushed and an advertisement! May all flowers bloom in this season of spring!

Do you want to make an advertisement one day?

In New Zealand, people use 10 dollar bills sometimes. There is a tiny detail you never noticed in those ten dollar bills. “The bird?” No, not the bird… It’s a woman called Kate Sheppard! “What’s so cool about her?” What’s cool is that she changed voting rights for all women across Aotearoa. “How?” I’ll tell you…

Long ago, Catherine Wilson Sheppard was born in 10 March 1848 in Liverpool, England, UK. She moved to New Zealand in 1868. There, she became active in many community groups. She also joined the Women’s Christian Temperance Union New Zealand. In 1887, she became WCTU NZ’s leader for voting rights and laws. She used this role to push for women’s right to vote. Kate worked hard to give women voting rights. Her hard work gave her 30,000 signatures. In 1893, the women successfully gained the right to vote. This made New Zealand the first country to allow women to vote. Kate is seen as an important person in New Zealand history. She replaced Queen Elizabeth II in the 10 dollar note. Till this day, she still holds a significant role in our history.

If you ever saw Kate Sheppard, what would you do?

Tourists mostly care about Queenstown, Botanical Gardens and other stuff, there is one thing they forget about. That is the Kowhai tree! Now you are probably wondering “What is a Kowhai tree?”. A kowhai tree is the unofficial national tree of New Zealand, growing about 8 meters / 26 feet long. It’s a type of small, woody tree that is part of the pea family. There are eight different species of kowhai trees. This tree has smooth bark and tiny leaves. After the flowers bloom, unique looking seed pods appear. These seed pods keep six or even more smooth, hard seeds. Kowhai flowers bloom from July to November. This means tui birds, wood pigeons and bell birds can enjoy their nectar for about 4 months! If you plant a kowhai tree as a seed it will take many years to grow. The wood from kowhai is strong and dense. In the past, people used it to make tools or machines. Kowhai trees were a part of the Maori culture. They used its flexible branches to build parts of their houses. They also used it so that they could capture birds. The bright yellow kowhai flowers were used to make yellow dye. Kowhai was a very important medicine for Maori. They would heat the bark with hot stones inside a calabash. It was then made into a cloth to help heal wounds or to rub on a sore back. In some cases they would turn kowhai into a liquid medicine called an infusion. The medicine was used to heal bruises or muscle pain. Legend says if someone was bitten by a seal the medicine was put on the person and they would get better in a few days.

So now you know about the kowhai tree. Did you ever think that kowhai was used as a medicine?

If you ever sail out to sea make sure to always have a musician to entertain. Sea shanties are loads of fun, but with friends it’s even better! Singing along with friends is way better than singing by yourself. In this sea shanty I used a website called chrome music lab. So I did a sea shanty called Wellerman which was really popular before so I used a tutorial to make it. The instrument I used was a piano.

Do you want to create or use a sea shanty?

When you go on a walk in the Kate Sheppard Memorial Walk you might see these fragrant white flowers called “Camellias”. These white camellias aren’t just flowers, it’s history. This special grove filled with white camellias was planted in 1993 to remember the 100th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage Day in Aotearoa. In 1893, a woman named Kate Sheppard made women achieve the right to vote. The suffrage leader, Kate Sheppard and one thousand supporters, white camellias became the symbol of women’s suffrage. One hundred groups, individuals and companies came to donate 100 camellias. The Kate Sheppard Memorial Walk was established completely by coincidence.

Do you think that white camellias are just flowers or history?

In this post you are reading, I am going to explain about a song I made in Chrome Music Lab. The instrument I used was Marimba because of the gentle feeling of flower petals in spring. High notes are mostly used to show the positive emotions that occur in the season of spring. The gentle feeling of when there are no beats is calming. So it doesn’t feel dramatic when you play it. Like things with really fast tempo might make you rush. So I made it just 120.

Have you ever done song maker in chrome music lab? If you want to, share your experience!