Story: Communes and communities

A dog, a rooster and several residents mill around the Sunburst community's hay barn. Sunburst received approval under the government's ohu scheme in 1974, and was the first ohu (intentional community) to be established. Ohu is a Māori word meaning a communal working group.

Sunburst residents – a loose group of friends who had lived together in Auckland and the Hokianga – had to carve their settlement out of the bush on the 80 hectares they were allotted on the Coromandel Peninsula. The land lacked vehicle access until a neighbouring farmer bulldozed a track, and residents rigged up a flying fox to transport supplies across the Rangihau River. Sunburst lasted about six years.

Listen to some Sunburst residents singing the praises of the community, and an interview with a member about the more giving way of life that they hoped to practise.

Transcript

[Singing]

The real reasons we got it there, its like all our pasts had sort of led up to it, every road we've taken it led up to sort of going back to what is closer to reality than all our lives we've known. Like we've known that you've gotta compete, you've gotta take, you gotta do all this stuff to get by. When you're climbing the ladder and rush to work into all the sort of things. Yeah, I me me my.  But when you're looking at nature, everything's giving, the trees are giving oxygen, the animals are giving milk, the rivers giving life to the land, everything's giving, everything natural to giving and that's the natural state of us, people, giving, the more you give, the more you get.