BEHIND THE HILL, BESIDE THE SEA
Emma Gilkison + Robin Robilliard
Emma Gilkison and Robin Robilliard discuss the two remarkable social history books they have written about two of the most beloved locations in Te Tauihu, the Top of the South Island: Tāhunanui Beach and Mōhua Golden Bay. Chaired by Kerry Sunderland.
Tāhuna Beach Camp Inc 100 Years of Beachside Memories, 1926 – 2026 celebrates how Tāhuna Beach Holiday Park has been the backdrop to quintessential Kiwi summers for generations. Over the years, the Holiday Park has worn many hats: an army base during wartime, a temporary home for returned soldiers, a humble campground that evolved into a four-star holiday destination, and a gathering place where friendships flourished and summer evenings came alive with magic shows, quiz nights and talent quests. Woven throughout this centenary history are the stories of guests who return year after year, some for decades, creating family traditions and treasured memories. Their recollections sit alongside those of the volunteers and community leaders whose vision and dedication shaped both the Holiday Park and the wider Tāhunanui reserve.
Behind The Hill is a social history, recording people’s lives from interviews, from one end of Golden Bay to the other. Each and every portrayal has something to say about the values and norms of the time. The book follows the revolutionary changes that affected one of New Zealand’s most isolated areas over succeeding decades – with the arrival of hippies, worldly foreigners, IT specialists, retired professionals and bearded environmentalists.
Emma Gilkison
Originally trained as a journalist, Emma Gilkison worked as a freelance writer and a columnist for The Sunday Star-Times and The Dominion. She then began a decade of working in communications for the public sector and NGOs. In 2013, she gained a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Creative Writing) at Whitireia Polytechnic. She has also studied short fiction and science writing at Victoria University’s International Institute of Modern Letters. In September 2018, her first book was published by Awa Press: The Heart of Jesús Valentino. She lives in Nelson with her family.
Robin Robilliard
Robin Robilliard’s writing career began in the 1950s with fortnightly articles for the Auckland Weekly News. She went on to author and photograph two popular social study series, Families of New Zealand and People at Work (Price Milburn), followed by her Country Readers, which sold in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In the 1980s and early ’90s, Robin travelled widely, recording the lives of people in 63 countries as varied as North Korea, the Soviet Union, and Saudi Arabia. Her syndicated articles appeared in the Dominion, Christchurch Press, and Waikato Times. In 2014, her memoir Hard Country, an inspiring and entertaining story of a determined woman and an isolated farming life in Golden Bay, was published by Penguin Books. At the age of 92, Robin has self-published her latest book, Behind the Hill.
Kerry Sunderland
Kerry Sunderland is a freelance journalist and writes creative nonfiction. She is the author of Belonging in the Baton Valley: Life in a Remote River Catchment (2024). Her personal essay ‘Mother Issues’ appears in Otherhood: Essays on being childfree, childless and child adjacent (MUP, 2024), a short memoir titled ‘The Eagle’s Gift’ was published in A Liminal Gathering (Elixir & Star Press, 2023) and her personal essay, ‘Scared to Death’, was published in Headlands: New Stories of Anxiety (THWUP, 2018). In 2024, Kerry received a NZSA | CLNZ Research Grant and in 2025 undertook a Michael King Writers Centre residency to write about her journey to become a deathwalker and her work to improve death literacy. Kerry also curates the Nelson Arts Festival’s literary programme, Pukapuka Talks, and coordinates writers’ retreats and workshops.
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