THE large group of 400 Maori is nearing the end of the land march, a long, determined trek from the top of the North Island to Parliament, led by Whina Cooper.
Among the marchers is journalist Sharyn Steel, sent by the Evening Post newspaper to describe the progress of the hikoi and ask those at the heart of it why this event is so important.
“This is a sacred march for Maori,” Whina tells Sharyn.
“It isn’t just for fun. We think our land is the soul of us and this march is our only hope of retaining it now.”
The 1975 Maori land march was one of many significant events Sharyn experienced during her career as a journalist.
Her book, Struggling to Fly, details this 20 years of her life, and she says when she looked back journalism had changed so much.
“I saw it as social history as much as my memoirs.”
Sharyn left Otago University in 1969, deciding a job that specialised in one area was not for her. Journalism’s variety appealed, and she was determined to pursue a career in this field.
She says in the book that when she studied sciences she loved doing the experiments: “But when I thought of working as a scientist, I felt constricted and constrained. I wanted to learn about the whole world, not one little part of it.”
Over the next 20 years Sharyn would find herself writing about some of this country’s key moments, taking part in protests against the 1981 Springbok tour, and being under investigation by the Security Intelligence Service.
Sharyn’s first journalism job in 1969 was at the Northern Advocate in Whangarei, where she was the only female working in general journalism.
In Struggling to Fly, she describes her battle to be taken seriously as a woman in a man’s world.
“I felt like a complete misfit. Here women and men were totally different and confined to separate duties. Somehow I had crossed the line separating them.”
Sharyn says in today’s newsrooms there is more of a balance, with women making up at least 50%, in some places, even more. She says the balance is not quite the same with editors, but in time she believes there will be a similar number of women editors to men.
“It’s not negative that it’s taken that time to change. If you look at the legal profession, I think that’s more restrictive than the media. I think it’s a generational change.”
After leaving the Northern Advocate in 1970, Sharyn began work at the Christchurch Star where, initially, she was a court reporter and feature writer for the Saturday paper.
After living in London for a time, Sharyn returned to NZ in 1974, and joined the NZPA team covering the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch. Later, she became an NZPA Parliamentary reporter, the only woman journalist in the press gallery.
It was during this time that Sharyn was appointed to cover the Wellington High Court trial of Bill Sutch, who was charged with passing secrets to a Russian spy in Aro Valley.
“It was New Zealand’s biggest real spy scandal,” Sharyn says in the book.
The case took five days, and after seven hours of deliberation by the jury, Sutch was acquitted.
Sharyn went on to become the senior diplomatic reporter for the Evening Post, and she believes it was this role that first attracted the interest of the SIS.
She says sharing personal information in her book was not difficult, as any secrets in her life were effectively given up during the SIS investigations.
After the birth of her first child, Sharyn and her partner moved to Niue, then spent some time travelling America.
They returned to NZ in 1979, when Robert Muldoon was Prime Minister, and Sharyn describes the impression she had of the country:
“There was somehow a dull, grey feeling about the country that I hadn’t known before. It was as if people were scared of him, afraid of something.”
When a friend suggested she consider a role as a television presenter, Sharyn met the chief reporter at Television One.
Saying she had a good journalism background for television news, the chief reporter then assessed her appearance, telling Sharyn her eyes could come across as “pop eyes”, distracting viewers.
As well as her eyes, Sharyn’s voice was the wrong pitch for television, and she says she left feeling completely humiliated.
“Trying desperately to hide my bulging eyes and squeaky voice.”
In 1981, Sharyn was back at NZPA, sent to cover protests against the Springbok Tour – a tour she strongly objected to.
“In my personal life, I chose to be a protestor. But as a journalist you have to try to write fairly about both sides.”
In 1982, Sharyn began writing for the National Business Review, becoming knowledgeable in economics and foreign exchange.
This led to a story for the Australian Financial Review on Prime Minister Muldoon’s economic rulings, which she considers a highlight of her career, and which later won a Westpac Award for economics reporting.
After several years at NBR, including two as business editor, Sharyn left journalism to work as the Minister of Finance’s press secretary in 1989.
Sharyn has already written a book on the next chapter of her life, due to be released next year.