art & about with naomi mccleary
Time Passing
Derek Challis in his Te Henga garden.
In mid-January my friend of 48 years, Derek Challis died. He was 90 years old. I attended his 90th birthday last October; a wonderful day of circling conversations with so many people his life had touched; but it was clear to me that the fire was burning low and that the end was near. Derek was apparently amused that he had attended his own wake! Derek and his wife Ellynne had lived in a rain-forest paradise at Te Henga for over 40 years where he had crafted wonderful gardens that bordered and penetrated the edges of the native bush he so loved. Their home was a simple one, but it enclosed a treasury of books, paintings and ceramics, much of it acquired through personal friendships with writers and artists. The Challis’s hospitality was legendary. So who was Derek Challis? I want to celebrate the life of a man who achieved so much in his own right; a sailor, teacher, scientist, raconteur and gardener. But Derek’s life was part of a larger narrative arc. He was the son, born out of wedlock to Iris Wilkinson (aka Robin Hyde). His early years were undoubtably marked by what was, in the conservative 1930s, a very fraught start in life. Although Derek was fostered for most of his first 8 years, he was in no way an abandoned child. His mother was faced with earning a living as a writer/journalist while constantly battling both physical and mental ill-health. Her final voyage, begun in 1938 through war-torn China to the UK, was intended to be a breakthrough into the international literary world and the novel that came out of her travels, Dragon Rampart, was well-received. But on the brink of World War II illness and destitution overwhelmed her and she took her own life. So many people start their journey in unusual circumstances and their experiences settle into a chapter in their life story. As Robin Hyde’s stature in our literary history grew through the decades, so did interest in every detail of her life, not just for the sheer quality of her writing, but for her struggle as a woman
writer. It is a story of brilliance and of tragedy. As academics and writers have beaten a path to Derek’s door, he has had to keep his part of the history alive. He has always been gracious about this; always adamant that he was loved and well-cared for; but I think it may have been both a joy and a burden. As the custodian of all Robin Hyde’s ephemera; letters and unpublished work, he, along with Ellynne, has also been a fierce protector of accuracy in examining her legacy. Most have been respectful but not all. This culminated in the publication in 2002 of The Book of Iris: A Life of Robin Hyde. An incomplete biography by Gloria Rawlinson was taken over by Derek and researched and largely re-written by him. A monumental undertaking, it stands as the definitive narrative of her life and was a finalist in the 2003 Montana NZ Book Awards. But here’s the other Derek Challis. He joined the navy at 15 and spent eight years at sea. I don’t know much about that – but I first met him on a hot summer’s day in Kawakawa in 1973 where he was building a kauri timber yacht, the first of four boats he owned. A lifetime of sailing the beautiful Northland waters was a passion. He was teaching biology at the Bay of Islands College, subsequent to a university career starting with a degree in philosophy and then a master’s in zoology and work alongside Morton and Miller on the definitive NZ Seashore. This is also when I was introduced to Derek the raconteur, the story teller with tales to tell and a great sense of theatre. The return to Auckland and Te Henga saw him working as a scientist in water treatment, but I see the creation of the ‘magic garden’ and home as his great work of art through those years. Robin Hyde has two grandsons and five great grandchildren; but with Derek’s passing the last visceral link with her is broken. The fascination continues; perhaps expressed by a beautiful new publication Shining Land: Looking for Robin Hyde by Paula Morris with photographs by Haru Sameshima, also long-listed for this year’s Ockham Book Awards. Derek lived to see this book, and delight in it. I recall Derek saying quite recently that he thought his mother’s poetry was among her best work. I concur. The beautiful poem reproduced on page 19, written when he was five, graced his 90th birthday invitation. My thanks to Ellynne Challis for generously sharing her memories and for permission to print Bluecap.
Your local MP Dr Deborah Russell MP for New Lynn New Lynn Electorate Office 09 820 6245 newlynn.mp@parliament.govt.nz 1885 Great North Rd, Avondale, Auckland
213 – 215 Woodlands Park Road, Titirangi, Auckland 0604 Phone: 09 817 8495 or 09 817 6188 www.kenturnermotors.co.nz
Authorised by Deborah Russell MP, Parliament Buildings, Wellington
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