OAMARU

Annabel Wilson, Laura Williamson and Liz Breslin at Clyde, during their 2020 poetry tour of the Otago Central Rail Trail.

Hannah Hayes’ cycling exploits inspire new research

Inspired by a visit to historic Hayes Engineering Works, poet Liz Breslin is embarking on a creative critical PhD exploring the life of Hannah Hayes.

WORDS: Rosemary Baird IMAGE: Liz Breslin

In late 2020 three poets, Liz Breslin, Annabel Wilson and Laura Williamson, embarked on a ‘spoke’n’word’ tour’ of the Otago Central Rail Trail. The three women packed amps, mics and notebooks into their bike trailers and pedalled the length of the Rail Trail, performing in historic halls as they went. Along the way, the trio dropped into Hayes Engineering Works. Liz had lived in the region for 20 years, but never visited. “I found a family history of the Hayes and there was one paragraph about Hannah Hayes that captured me,” says Liz. The paragraph reads: “About 1896, Hannah Hayes left one of her older daughters to look after her young family and she went on pushbike, all over the Maniototo and Vincent counties, the Lindis Pass area and the Mackenzie country, to every station she could possibly get to on, or with, a pushbike, selling the [pollard] cutters.” “I went away and thought about the assumptions and presentations we make about women at that time and how we tell their stories,” says Liz. “How was Hannah able to get away with being on a bike for three months unchaperoned, at a time when that was far outside the norms of acceptable female behaviour?” Liz has now started working on a creative critical doctorate at the University of Otago. In the creative part she plans to collect up ‘scraps’ of historic evidence and local supposition about Hannah and integrate this into creative writing and visual elements. “I'm interested in further understanding what it was like to be a person in that time, outside the dominant narrative,” she says. Critically, she will be looking at the wider context of ‘unsettling women writers of the rural South Island’ and what we can learn from their essays, poems, diaries, and stories. Just at the very beginnings of her research, Liz has appreciated the help provided by Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga’s Hayes Engineering staff: “They have been brilliant and so friendly and also put me in touch with the Hayes family,” says Liz. Jess Armstrong, Property Lead Hayes Engineering, is thrilled with Liz’s project. “It’s so exciting to see our properties providing the spark for creative work and historical wonderings,” she says. “Hannah’s story has been one that has always interested the team here and we hope Liz may unearth a few new stories about the remarkable Hannah Hayes.” Liz is also very keen to source any other records, information, or diaries from the area of Central Otago to set a context for Hannah’s story. If you have any ideas or leads, please contact her at editor@lizbreslin.com n