Save us a place to live poster

This poster features a reproduction of New Zealand artist Don Binney's painting 'Hauturu Rata' (1979). Although Binney also created works on paper, including limited edition print versions of the same subject as his paintings, this appears to be a colour reproduction of the painting itself.

The poster was created for National Conservation Week to raise awareness of the interdependencies of ecosystems for the survival of native birds. Conservation Week continues to be held annually by the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai.

In response to a question about this painting by art historian Damian Skinner, Binney noted: 'That work celebrates the realising of a lifelong desire to go to Little Barrier (Hauturu), where you have the yellow-crowned parakeet, the whitehead and the hihi (stitchbird), which you’re not going to see up in the Waitakere Ranges or in the Dome Valley. You’ve got to go out to that island to spot them and there they are, and there is that steep slope of the Thumb track behind them' (Don Binney, quoted in the book 'Nga Manu/Nga Motu – Birds/Islands').

Don Binney was an active environmentalist and used his art work to draw public attention to environmental issues. He is best known for his paintings of New Zealand birds soaring above landscape scenes. He often allowed his works to be used as part of environmental campaigns and was a public voice about these issues. He was one of a number of artists who protested the proposed development of an aluminium smelter at Aramoana in Otago in the 1970s. His painting 'Puketotara, Twice Shy' was reproduced on a series of stamps issued in 1981 by the self-declared 'Independent State of Aramoana' to raise funds for the anti-smelter campaign.