The Double Rainbow: James K Baxter, Ngati Hau and the Jerusalem Commune

by John Newton

Through interviews with former followers and members of the local community, this cultural history discloses the insiders’ perspectives on noted New Zealand poet James K. Baxter and his international community, Jerusalem. Founded under the mana of the local hapu, Ngati Hau, the Jerusalem commune proved a magnet for disaffected and damaged young people. The settlement quickly became the country’s most famous hippie community as well as a media byword for the idealism and excess of the emerging youth culture. Rather than treating Jerusalem as a cultural dead end, this reconstruction views the community as an early prototype of the bicultural struggles in which New Zealand society remains engaged. Unlike previous explorations, this unique survey answers questions such as What was life really like at Jerusalem? What did it mean for the local community to be deluged with long-haired strangers and the media attention that followed them? and How did the Maori and Pakeha interact? and reveals an image of what a bicultural Aotearoa might yet become.

Genres: History, Biography

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Please see: John Newton


John Newton is a New Zealand poet, novelist, literary critic and musician. His poetry appears in several major New Zealand anthologies, he has written books about literary history and art, and his first novel was published in October 2020. He was the 2020 Robert Burns Fellow at the University of Otago.Tales from the Angler's Eldorado (1985)
Lives of the Poets (2010)
Family Songbook (2013)

The Double Rainbow: James K. Baxter, Ngāti Hau and the Jerusalem Commune (2009)
Hard Frost: Structures of Feeling in New Zealand Literature 1908–1945 (2017)
Llew Summers: Body and Soul (2020)

Escape Path Lighting (2020)