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Story: Kiwi

‘Goodnight Kiwi’

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The ‘Goodnight Kiwi’, by animator Sam Harvey, appeared nightly to signal the end of transmission on Television New Zealand between 1981 and 1994. The animation ends with the kiwi, having turned out the light and put out a milk bottle, going to sleep in a satellite dish. It became a much-loved part of New Zealand culture. The instantly recognisable tune is 'Hine e hine', a lullaby written by Fanny Rose Howie.

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TVNZ Television New Zealand

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How to cite this page

Jock Phillips, Kiwi – A kiwi country: 1930s–2000s, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/video/10197/goodnight-kiwi (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Jock Phillips, published 1 March 2009.

Comments

Mary I Elder
17 May 2023
I still love this. I used to stay up each night to watch this. Very, very Kiwi