Copyrighted Material
WAUGH STORIES
Growing up in
Hokitika
Growing up in
during the 1960s Hokitika during the 1960s
Alec Waugh & Richard Waugh
Alec Waugh & Richard Waugh
Copyrighted Material WAUGH STORIES
Cars Around Town New Zealand has always been a car-minded country. During the decade of the 1960s the number of vehicles doubled on our roads. In small towns like Hokitika, new cars were one of the most visible signs of changing times and greater prosperity. State Highway 6 was extended with the opening of the new Haast road in late 1965 and brought even more cars. Richard, living near the town centre, recalls those times …
P
UFFING AND TIRED FROM SO MUCH RUNNING, I was almost home. Past the Regent
Theatre and into Tancred Street, I stopped outside our empty garage – no car and no Mum and Dad! My heart sank as they said they would wait for me. But then came the ‘boop-boop’ of the old Austin horn as they pulled up, looking for me on the way home from school. Soon we were on our way to Schaef’s garage in Herbert Street, Greymouth. There in the large workshop that December afternoon was our brand new 1963 Holden EH Station Wagon, one of the first to be delivered on the West Coast. It was green in colour and had a white top which gleamed in the dim light. I hopped inside and clambered all over the seats. The smell of the new interior made an immediate impression, and so did the flash-looking instrument console. Dad said goodbye to Gordon Gillespie, the sales manager, and off we went for a test drive near the Greymouth Aerodrome. Mum had a drive and then it was home to show the new car to Granny and the family. We paused outside Addisons’ shop where my sister Lesley was working part-time so she could see it. To have a brand-new car for the first time was a proud day for us all, thanks to Dad having some overseas funds which enabled him to purchase it. He was generous with this small investment, and soon after lent some of those precious funds to friends Colin and Jean Watson to help them also buy a new Holden. We lived in town and our garage door, facing Tancred Street, was usually open, so the new Holden was visible for all to see. Its colours and modern style were a real contrast to most other cars around town, many of which were grey or black like our old Austin Hereford and the Wolseley 4/44 of our neighbours, the Bradleys. Two of the well-known garages were close by. A.H. Baty (Hokitika) Ltd was in
20
Copyrighted Material CARS AROUND TOWN
The Waugh family’s new Holden EH Station Wagon outside their Tancred Street garage, December 1963. The iconic model was a best seller in Australia and New Zealand. WAUGH COLLECTION
21
HOKITIKA
GUARDIA
N 21 OCTO BER 1960
Revell Street and Thomas Bros Garage Ltd on the corner of Weld and Sewell Streets. Often I would see Allan Baty or one of his three sons, John, Ray or Vern, test driving a Volkswagen or Peugeot. They also obtained the Hino and Fiat franchises. Joy and Owen Johnston, a solicitor, and friends of my parents, were always good customers and had several Volkswagens and Peugeots over the years. Our farming friends Charlie and Jean Barnhill in Kowhitirangi were loyal Volkswagen owners too. One time Charlie took Dad and me for a run in his new 1966 Beetle 1300. He demonstrated its off-road ability by turning into a rough
Copyrighted Material WAUGH STORIES
Hokitika Primary School The 1960s was an eventful time of social change throughout New Zealand. A new and modern Hokitika Primary School opened in the early 1960s at the end of Park Street to serve the town and nearby districts. At the end of the “baby boom” era the school doubled in size during the decade. Richard was among the founding year pupils and remembers …
I
T WAS A SUNNY DAY as Mum said goodbye at the classroom door and I was ushered in.
Standing nervously at the front, I was introduced to the other children. That’s about all I can remember of being a new entrant at Hokitika Primary School. In fact I don’t remember much else except Miss McGrath the teacher was kind, there was much to learn, and there was a bigger play area than we had at the Hall Street Kindergarten. While I didn’t appreciate it at the time, this was the founding time of the primary school. The school had been built in 1961 and was occupied in 1962 with eight classrooms. It was a busy transition as the new school was established as a separate entity from the Primary Department of the nearby District High School. The new school had eight modern classrooms. Plus there were still three rooms in use at the old infant block on the corner of Park and Sale Streets. I joined Miss McGrath and the other children in her new classroom at the western end of the new school. Only years later did I discover Miss McGrath’s first name was Joan and that she drove daily from Greymouth to Hokitika for about 15 years. Even now writing her first name seems disrespectful. I remember some visits to the old school block along Park Street, to see Alec. Later in 1966 the building was moved across the road and converted into the technical block classrooms. In the late 1960s we walked from the primary school to have our woodwork classes there with Mr Henry Pierson. At the beginning of the Gold Rush in Hokitika, in the mid-1860s, various enterprising individuals and churches established the first local schools. When the Education Act was passed in 1877 which provided for free, secular and compulsory education in New Zealand, a new “State” system of schools was established on the West Coast. Ninety years later, in the 1960s, we were still frequently called “State Kids” which differentiated us from the children who attended the Catholic school. Fortunately we
36
Copyrighted Material HOKITIKA PRIMARY SCHOOL
Primer Four at Hokitika Primary School in the centennial year of 1964: Front row from left: Margaret Wieblitz, Vicky Haines, Wendy Fleming, Jane Heald, Karen Trevathan, Janette Curtain, Lynette Wickes, Jan Malcolm, and Melanie Collyer. Second row from left: Mervyn Trevathan, Glenn Johnston, Betty Maitland, Jayne Hasson, Gillian Kearns, Gloria Skelton, Christine Howat, Diane Mills, Jan-Maree Wilson, David Maitland, and Nigel Andrews. Back row from left: Miss Susan Brown, Simon Thelning, Richard Waugh, Kenny Algar, Neil Bradley, Ian Preston, Donald Thorn, and Murray Breeze. WAUGH COLLECTION
were nearing the end of a long era of animosity between Catholics and Protestants. I was to continue with many other children from that infant class of 1962 over the next eight years at Hokitika Primary as the school went up to Form Two (Year Eight). Some of the boys included Nigel Andrews, Colin Bell, Neil Bradley, Murray Breeze, Glenn Johnston, David Maitland, Ian Preston and Donald Thorn. Some of the girls were Betty Maitland, Janette Curtain, Vicky Haines, Pauline Handisides, Diane Mills, Lynette Wickes and Margaret Wieblitz. Mr John Crossman was the new headmaster from 1963. He was a thick-set man
37
Copyrighted Material WAUGH STORIES
Westland High School 1st XV Rugby team of 1966. Front row from left: Alistair Cameron, Chris Burrows, Barry O’Brien, Murray Blackmore (Captain), Kevin Mahuika, Richard Molloy and Terry Craig. Middle from left: Derek Richards, Gary Howat, Alec Waugh, Lee Whiley, Malcolm Walker, Miki Baird and Mr Kevin ‘Jock’ McGrath Back row from left: Barry Bone, Peter Howat, Stephen Russell. VIA ALEC WAUGH
and I signaled a shot at goal. It was a long kick and his very intense look said “Really?” I hit it straight and true and it soared between the posts. He looked at me again and said, “Do you think you can do that again, son?” I knew better than to reply! West Coast senior rugby was never the standard setter for New Zealand Rugby. For the few that had the ability to do so, one always had a further hurdle to overcome, the bias of coming “from the Coast”, considered by many as a rugby backwater. What the Coast did have were many identities, some fine footballers, and the local clubs in Hokitika – Excelsior, Kiwi and St Mary’s – all very much part of the community fabric. Go Excelsior Go!
he
AS A YOUNG MAN FROM THE WEST COAST, Alec managed in 1968 to overcome the prejudice
from the city players, and made the Police Cadet 1st XV at Trentham, Wellington, as fullback. He did the goal kicking, and received favourable comment about future representative possibilities. His last rugby game for the Wellington Rugby Club saw him score in the corner, but damage his ankle in the process. The ankle injury and a history of other knee injuries, together with short sightedness, contributed to an early retirement from rugby at 20 years of age. THE NEXT TIME A WAUGH PLAYED RUGBY on Cass Square was not until 1980 when Michael Waugh
played for Nelson Bays under 16s, at centre, in a South Island Tournament.
IN HOKITIKA, Excelsior and St Mary’s are no more. They amalgamated together to form Wests in
1992. Kiwi remains.
46
Copyrighted Material
TV Arrives In the 1960s television was a major technological advance in New Zealand. Nationwide the number of licensed sets went from 4,808 in 1961 to 628,017 by 1969. In Hokitika much voluntary effort by local enthusiasts enabled the townsfolk to watch television before it was made available by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation. Richard recalls …
T
HE OLD WHARF BUILDING was packed with families
as Dad, Lesley, Alec and I squeezed our way through the doors looking for any available seats – some of which were banana boxes supplied by Jim Fairlie’s fruit shop. Everyone was chattering loudly. There was an air of excitement and frequent glancing up at the small screen high on the wall. Spontaneous applause greeted the first moving images – clearly discernable, but quite ‘snowy’. What was on the screen? The 18th Olympic Games being held that year in Tokyo, Japan (October 1964). Quite what the local returned servicemen thought about the host country I don’t know, as it was only 20 years earlier that some of them had been fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific.
Col Howat on his bike by the old wharf building with the new TV translator tower being readied for installation. GARY HOWARD
47
Copyrighted Material WAUGH STORIES
Airport and Aviation Mysteries Hokitika’s first aerodrome was on the “Southside’” of the Hokitika River but in early post-war years major construction work formed the new airport on the “Seaview” terrace above the town, adjacent to the cemetery and hospitals. The airport opened in December 1951 and continues to serve Westland today. In the 1960s West Coast Airways operated the scheduled South Westland Air Service with Brian Waugh as Chief Pilot. Richard recalls …
H
OKITIKA AIRPORT in the mid-1960s was a fascinating place for a child. The terminal
was often busy with an NAC DC-3 or West Coast Airways Dominie loading or offloading passengers; friends and family were waiting inside, much freight and lots of cars and taxis outside. At other times it could be very quiet with no one around except a stray sea gull overhead and something flapping in the wind near a hangar. With Dad working most days up at “the drome,” as he always called it; I spent time around the hangar on Saturdays while he did a job or two. The large double bay building had exposed internal roof framing which made for many perching spots for birds – with the inevitable droppings on anything underneath, including the Dominie and me!
Hokitika Airport in July 1964 with West Coast Airways DH89A Rapide ZK-AHS ready for another South Westland scheduled flight. DAVE McDONALD
86
Copyrighted Material AIRPORT AND AVIATION MYSTERIES
87
21 DECEM GUARDIA N HOKITIKA
Sometimes I helped Dad top up the oil in the Dominie engines. It was a fun job unscrewing the large brass cap at the rear of the engines and carefully tipping in the golden brown oil. In one part of the hangar lay a damaged and mangled Cessna 180 fuselage with smashed windscreen which I feared was the wreckage of Geoff Houston’s crashed Cessna. It wasn’t. Outside and close by the hangar’s back door was a derelict early 1920s open car sitting on the gravel all rusty and with no wheels. Its small doors still opened. I loved playing in it. Sometimes Dad and Des Wright worked on repairing their cars in the hangar. I would follow Dad into the Met office and Aeradio office where he talked, often at
BER 1964
The West Coast Airways hangar and DH89B Dominie ZKAKS with open rear door ready for a supply-dropping flight. Alongside is Des Wright’s Auster Autocraft ZK-AUO and Volkswagen Beetle. IAN WOOLHOUSE
Copyrighted Material WAUGH STORIES
1866 as a burly 21-year-old, attracted by the gold, and went on to represent Westland in Parliament. Seddon was New Zealand’s longest serving Premier/Prime Minister for 13 years, from 1893 to 1906. The statue of “King Dick” 6 had been unveiled in May 1910, so was more than 50 years old when I gazed up at the heavy set man wearing a large coat. More appealing for us children was Bootes Milk Bar directly opposite. Our only residential neighbours in Tancred Street were the Bradley family who lived in 5 a modest sized home. Jim operated his J.A. Bradley electrical service business out the back. In the mid-1960s he built a new workshop and small showroom which displayed new Admiral television sets with their nicely polished timber cabinets. The Bradleys were a Catholic family with eight children and we knew them all well. Two of the youngest, Paul and Angela, were good friends with Kathryn and me. We 4 happened to be outside their front gate playing one day when Leonie, the youngest, arrived home as a babe in arms from the maternity hospital, in their Wolseley car. On weekend afternoons I often called in and Millie Bradley would be listening to racing on the radio and 2 chatting with her friend Renee Jacobs, the well3 known local pianist. Opposite the Bradleys were the Renton storage buildings but they were soon replaced. By the late 1960s a new modern Addisons’ shop and Greenstone factory and showroom became popular attractions. Further along Tancred Street was Perry’s commercial building. I bought my matchbox models from the corner shop, run for a time by Alan Pegley. The western end of Weld Street was dominated by the large Westland Hotel and at the top of the street, Preston’s Drapery shop, with its prominent façade in a commanding position. Next to the hotel were a small bookshop and the West Coast Airways booking office. The airways office were the NAC agents, and where Merv Rumsey was manager and later Des Wright had his Air Travel (Hokitika) Ltd business. I was always impressed by the very large blown-up photograph displayed on one interior wall of a DH89 94
Copyrighted Material TOWN ARCHITECTURE AND PEOPLE
7
8
9 10
11 12
16
1
17
15 14
Downtown Hokitika in late 1969 with the clock tower prominent at the intersection of Weld and Sewell Streets (1). Some other buildings of note; Road Services garage (2), War Memorial Hall (3), Thomas Bros Garage (4) Regent Theatre (5), Dominion Hotel (6), Preston’s Drapery (7),
Hotel Westland (8), Air Travel offices (9), Hokitika Guardian (10), Methodist Church (11) and hall (12), Police Sergeant house (13), Police Constable house (14), Police Station and jail (15), Railway Hotel (16) and Post Office (17). WAUGH COLLECTION
95
13
Copyrighted Copyrighted Material Material WAUGH STORIES
Taking Off Pioneering Small Airlines of New Zealand 1945-1970 By Richard Waugh with Bruce Gavin, Peter Layne & Graeme McConnell
Hoki to Haast New Zealand’s First Airline By Richard Waugh Invercargill, Craig Printing Company Limited, 2009
Invercargill, Craig Printing Company Limited, 2003
Kaimai Crash New Zealand’s worst internal air disaster By Richard Waugh Invercargill, Craig Printing Company Limited, 2003 (Reprinted 2012)
You can take the boys out of the West Coast but you can’t take the West Coast LOST…without trace? out of the boys! Brian Chadwick and the missing Dragonfly By Richard Waugh
A New Church for a New Century East City Wesleyan’s Early Story By Richard Waugh
Invercargill, Craigs Design & Print Limited, 2010
The Story of Nelson Aviation By Richard Waugh & Graeme McConnell
Invercargill, Craigs Design & Print Limited, 2013
Invercargill, Craig Printing
Brothers Alec and Richard Waugh reminisce Company Limited, 2005 in Waugh Stories about 1960s Hokitika – the time of the town’s centennial and the Haast highway opening. Evocative and true stories – sometimes humorous, always informative, and occasionally sad – tell of the characters, sports, environment, architecture, weather, NAC of the time. transport, and other events Illustrated History of They demonstrate why The Hokitika, situated by New Zealand National sea, river and mountains, is one of the most Airways Corporation 1947fascinating small towns1978 in New Zealand.
God Knows Where They Come From! Four faith stories from Hokitika By Allan Davidson, Steve Lowe, Ted Schroder and Richard Waugh
By Richard Waugh with In their later careers Alec and Richard Peter Layne and Graeme became nationally prominent in diverse McConnell spheres of police, church, aviation and Invercargill, Craig Printing Company Limited, 2007 community service.
Invercargill, Craigs Design & Print Limited, 2014
(Reprinted 2008)
For Hokitika’s 150th anniversary they combine their memories, research and insights These are available from Craigs Design and Print Ltd: in a well-illustrated bookbooks of compelling social www.craigprint.co.nz history and darn good West Coast yarns.
For further information and sample pages of the aviation books see: www.nzairlineresearch.co.nz
152