National Library of New Zealand - Te Puna Mātauranga O Aotearoa Services to Schools - Supporting literacy and learning

Home › Culture, Identity & Heritage › Primary Sources › Galleries › Environment and Conservation › Trojan cow, by Ashley Smith, 2009. Alexander Turnbull Library. NZ Cartoon Archive. DCDL-0012565.

Primary Sources

Explore these primary sources and discover how they add to our understanding of New Zealand's past.

Trojan cow, by Ashley Smith, 2009. Alexander Turnbull Library. NZ Cartoon Archive. DCDL-0012565.
Trojan cow, by Ashley Smith, 2009. Alexander Turnbull Library. NZ Cartoon Archive. DCDL-0012565.

Description

This illustration of men hauling a huge ‘Trojan cow’ into a green walled city from a blasted landscape outside refers to the controversy surrounding the increasing conversion of land into dairy farming on the Canterbury Plains. Hand in hand with this has been an upsurge in demand for limited water supplies including plans to divert and dam rivers for agriculture and pastoral production. The Trojan cow is a reference to the destruction of Troy by Odysseus’s Greek army and the fabled notion that one should ‘Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.’ The gift may not be what you expect!

Discussion

What are some other positive and negative aspects of dairy farming in New Zealand?

Usage statement
You can copy this item for personal use. It cannot be used commercially without permission, please ask us for advice. If reproducing this item, please maintain the integrity of the image (for example don't crop, recolour or overprint it).

Teachers if your students want to use an item from this site in their work, they must cite it correctly. The easiest way to do this is to copy and paste the caption accompanying each image into their document.