New Books: A Path Through the Trees

Mary Sutherland graduated from the University College of North Wales (now Bangor University) in 1916. She was the first woman forestry graduate in the world, and during WW1 she worked with women in Britain’s forests; on a Scottish Baronet’s estates, then with the developing British Forestry Commission. Mary came to New Zealand in 1923 and was employed by the NZ State Forest Service. An educated woman with practical skills working in an entirely male-run industry created challenges. 

After losing her position for the second time following the 1932 Economic Commission report, Mary forged a new career in botany at the Dominion Museum. During World War 2, she supervised at the YWCA-administered War Workers’ Hostel in Woburn and at the end of the war, she was appointed the Department of Agriculture’s first farm forestry officer.

A conservationist, and life-long lover of trees, Mary maintained her membership with the New Zealand Institute of Foresters throughout life: she served on the NZIF council in 1935-36, and as vice president during 1941-42. Interested in the world and in travel, Mary was proud of her university training. Believing all women deserved higher education, she served on various committees and the executive, for the Wellington Branch of the Federation of University Women.

Vivien is grateful to the Stout Trust, and the New Zealand Institute of Forestry for enabling Mary’s story to be published.

Tauranga connections

Mary Sutherland’s niece was the late Frances Glendenning, who lived in Welcome Bay, and was a friend of the Tauranga Library. Known as Frankie, she collected Sutherland family information, which included nine letters written by Mary, her 1952 diary and photographs.

Marion Stewart, who was Margaret Mackersey’s aunt, was a friend to Mary Sutherland. Marie, as she was called, owned the chicken farm ‘Cheriton.’ She set up the Tauranga Egg Marketing Cooperative which supplied American forces in the Pacific with eggs and chickens, and she was a long-standing member of the Tauranga Hospital Board. Mary and Marie’s cruise together in Fiordland in 1950 is a chapter in the book, written using information taken from Marie Stewart’s diary and Mary’s family letter.

Violet MacMillan was born in Katikati in 1902 and died in Tauranga in 1981. She was the first supervisor at the Woburn War Workers’ Hostel in World War 2 and  returned a year later to her position at Otago University College. Mary Sutherland who had been working as assistant supervisor, then took over as supervisor.

The author

Originally a trained nurse, Vivien Edwards worked as a freelance writer for over 20 years. She used to be a regular contributor to New Zealand Forest Industries magazine, hence her interest in how a woman came to be working in this country’s forests in the 1920s and 30s. Vivien has an interest in research, and Mary Sutherland’s story is her third book. The others were ‘Winkelmann: Images of Early New Zealand’ (Benton Ross 1987) and ‘Battling the Big B: Hepatitis B in New Zealand’ (Dunmore Publishing Ltd. 2007). As many readers will be aware, Vivien is also an active member of the Society and a past contributer to this blog.

A Path through the Trees has been reviewed on Kete Books and is available from Books A Plenty or directly from the author (Email).

Giving to Others

 

Jocelyn Hicks behind the cake stall at the 2020 Tauranga Historical Society Garden Party
Image courtesy of Fiona Kean, Private Collection

Earlier this month we gathered at The Elms to acknowledge Jocelyn Hicks and her considerable contributions towards heritage in the Western Bay with the posthumous awarding of the Tauranga Centennial Heritage Award 2020. Jocelyn, who passed away on 23 November, was remembered as a dedicated advocate for the preservation and communication of history. It was a wonderful celebration of Jocelyn’s life and achievements, culminating in Western Bay Plenty Mayor, Gary Webber, presenting the Heritage Award to Jocelyn’s husband, Robin Hicks.

The absence of Jocelyn’s self-described “gift of the gab” was keenly felt by everyone who attended. In looking for Jocelyn’s ‘voice’ I came across this wonderful Bay of Plenty Times article published in January 2005. It reminds us of just how much Jocelyn loved history and giving to others.

Jocelyn has a mission to accomplish. Some people might think history lessons are boring - but Jocelyn Hicks is working hard to change this perception. The Bay woman strives to make history interesting while passing on the stories of a large piece of Tauranga's heritage, The Elm's Mission House.

It was because of this dedication, hard work and perseverance to preserving the historical site that the Pahoia woman was nominated as the Bay of Plenty Times Unsung Hero. Through her work at The Elms, the 67-year-old former teacher is working towards eliminating any perception that history is boring.

"I want to do everything I can to educate people, while keeping them interested."

A task Mrs Hicks, a kiwifruit orchardist, is working on thanks to her role as the director of guiding at the Mission Rd site.

"I want to illustrate regional history's importance."

Three days a week, the self-confessed history nut spends hours examining the remnants of the mission and reiterating her knowledge of the site, which dates back to the 1830s. Mrs Hicks said: "People just don't realise the significance of the site until I tell them."

Others, she said, did not even know it was there.

"This is really disappointing being that the house is regarded second to the Treaty House at Waitangi."

It is because of the Bay's lack of historical knowledge that Mrs Hicks spends every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday educating those who walk through the gates. While Mrs Hicks spends countless hours a week traipsing the mission's grounds as a visitor guide, she also spends numerous hours fulfilling her duties as the guiding director.

"There are rosters to do, guides to train and then there's re-training," she said.

Her passion for history also meant that during the cruise-ship season she rarely had a minute to spare.

"Working in with cruise-ship tours takes a lot of organising, she said. "It's a busy job but someone's got to do it," - and it just so happens Mrs Hicks loves her role.

While she admitted the job required a love of people, the greatest advantage, she said was having "the gift of the gab" - a trait she attributed to spending 30 years as a teacher. But, she said being the guiding director had its down sides.

"There is no rest for me, I have to work Easter Monday and Boxing Day."

Ironically Mrs Hicks said she clearly remembers visiting Mission House as a child.

"My parents brought me here a few times," she said, while looking at the displays around her.

Even back then, she said the home's owners, the Maxwells, used to invite people into their home for tours.

Julie Green, Ana Hicks, Brittany Fowler, Angela Fowler, Robin Hicks, Garry Webber, Penny Hicks, Robert Hicks, and Astrid
Image courtesy of Lee Switzer, Private Collection

Colin Maungapōhatu Bidois and Te Hokingamai o Mauao

Colin Maungapōhatu Bidois and Te Hokingamai o Mauao [1]

The Orange Folder

The yearning felt by the Nameless One for his beautiful maunga, Puwhenua, was matched in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries by the iwi of Tauranga Moana as they saw Mauao taken out of their kaitiakitanga “through Crown breaches of the Treaty of Waitangi, through Crown manipulation and laws which were aimed at dismantling the social and political infrastructure of Maoridom, laws such as the New Zealand Settlement Act 1863, The Native Land Act 1873, The Waste Lands Act 1876, The Public Reserves Act 1854, The Harbour Act 1878 and other statutes.” [2]

C.M. Bidois' Grave

The words quoted are those of Colin Maungapōhatu Bidois, a kaumatua of Ngāti Ranginui whose archive of papers relating to his work for the iwi of Tauranga Moana has passed into the keeping of the Te Puna Memorial Hall Society. This blog is a very preliminary acknowledgement of his generous gift and a humble, necessarily brief, exploration of just one aspect of this remarkable man’s life – his part in the return of Mauao to the tāngata whenua. I am indebted to Wikitoria Bidois for permission to access these particular papers.

Maungapōhatu would be the first to say that he was one of many. His submission, quoted above, opens with a gracious acknowledgement of another eminent kaumatua, Kiritoha Tangitu, who had, Colin said, promoted the possibility of the return “approximately 10 years ago.”

That takes us back to another document in his papers: the well-marked and flagged pages of Roimata Minhinnick’s Report on Mauao/Mount Maunganui, WAI 540, received at the Waitangi Tribunal on 13 June 1999. [3] Colin’s interest in this document was intense. From his highlighted sections and Post-it notes the researcher can see his mind at work and the threads of argument being woven into a firm fabric to enfold him as he took his seat before the Maori Affairs Committee. Like Kiritoha, he was a Pirirakau man. He was determined to assert their agency in the confusion and collusion that followed the so-called “Pacification Hui” that followed the battle of Te Ranga. He stood the Pirirakau claim up against the convenient Crown fiction that Governor Grey’s Promise to Tauranga Iwi [4] (actually, a deal struck only with Ngai Te Rangi) had settled (pun intended) all arrangements [5] between the Crown and tāngata whenua.

But Colin was also wise enough not to pursue only narrow interests. Elsewhere in his collection I found a faded orange folder with a mysterious label in his handwriting. In order, I list the first four documents it contains.
 
First, a draft Deed of Trust of the Mauao Trust, undated but for the year (2007 [6]) and unsigned, but intended for signature by eminent representatives of Ngai Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Pukenga as well as Colin himself as Chairman of Te Rūnanganui o Tauranga Moana. Colin has marked several elements of the draft in an evident effort to guide discussion to his salient points – phrases like, “stand possessed”, “receive and hold” “protect and preserve.” A question mark appears alongside clause 3.3, “Objects and Purposes Independent.” He endorses processes around appointment and removal of Trustees with the simple word, “Iwi.” Administrative details concerning bank accounts and use of the Common Seal are marked with arrows. Tax, remuneration and liability references are circled.

C.M. Bidois' Grave

Colin had prepared carefully for what the next document suggests was a hui to take place on 16 July. It is a handwritten list of significant dates, absences and appointments, and three heavily-scored items for lawyer Spencer Webster’s attention. Touchingly, the last entry on the page is a note to self: “Thank Rahera [probably, Rahera Ohia] for letter.”

The third item is another handwritten list, undated, but headed, “Set Adgenda [sic].” Once again we get a glimpse into the mind of a master of situations: an orderly sequence of topics for korero, attention to cost implications, a note lining Rahera and Spencer up for a rewording of a specific clause, and a firm conclusion: “then Response to MoMA [Minister of Maori Affairs].”

Most telling, perhaps, is the fourth item: a newspaper clipping dated 29/05/07 in Colin’s handwriting. The Herald had invited the chairman of the Ngāti Whātua o Orakei Trust Board to write an article it headlined, “Ngāti Whātua to move forward minus theatrics.” Colin has underlined the first sentence of the second paragraph: “Any Treaty settlement is going to involve claims and counter-claims ...” and has marked at the margins other remarks warning of the arduous and adversarial path – the hard yards – that lie ahead of the “real negotiators.”

And this, in reality, was just the beginning. There are 30 more documents in the orange folder, evidence of face-downs, stand-offs and compromise as Mauao stood tantalisingly in the shadows. But the last item, a folder in its own right, contains the introduction copy and associated speech notes and press statement for the Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill. The patupaiarehe had vanished into the night and the light of legislative scrutiny shone on the return of the maunga. The Act was passed in May 2008. Even so, ten more years went by before the Mauao Historic Reserve Management Plan [7] was concluded.  Three other sets of documents, largely unexamined, detail Colin’s part in this protracted negotiation.

Researchers of the future will find much to value in this archive. Those of us who knew Maungapōhatu can feel privileged to get glimpses of his personal approach to public life. Those who will now never meet him will find a mother lode of insights and narrative on aspects of iwi development and tenacious purpose in te rohe o Tauranga Moana. Just as he wanted.

References

[1] As Chair of the Rūnanganui, Colin preferred the term “The Vesting of Title to Mauao Historic Reserve.”  See letter, 2 August 2007, to Huata Palmer, then Chairperson of the Ngaiterangi Iwi Incorporated Society.

[2] Colin Maungapohatu Bidois, Submission to the Maori Affairs Committee re Mauao Historic Reserve Vesting Bill, 27 February 2008.

[3] Roimata Minhinnick, Report Commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal for the Tauranga claim (Wai 215), endorsed WAI 540 – A2 and WAI 215 – A49.

[4] AJHR 1867, A20.

[5] In the words of the Tauranga District Lands Act 1867: “all grants, awards, contracts or agreements”.

[6] Colin had begun the process in 2003: see email, Ngāti Ranginui Iwi to Spencer Webster, November 3 2003.

[7] https://www.tauranga.govt.nz/Portals/0/data/council/plans/files/mauao_reserve_management.pdf

Tuhi Harvey (1908-1990)

Tuhi David Harvey was a giant of a man, not necessarily in stature but in strength and achievement. He was named by and for a Maori Chief and after his father David Harvey an English immigrant carpenter.* According to his eldest daughter Pat, “He was a soft touch for any genuine cause or misfortune, he drove luxury cars and lived in the fast lane.”

The youngest of at least twelve children he, like all his brothers, trained in carpentry and later became a master builder. Married to Maisie, a very young redhead from Taumaranui, they spent a few years in Australia and came home on ten pound tickets with two small children in 1932. Excelling at swimming and rowing he had done a stint as a Bondi Lifesaver.

Tuhi aged 20 as a Bondi Beach Lifesaver in 1930. Harvey Family Image

Sport and shows of his immense strength were a major part of his leisure time: rugby, rowing, golf tennis, and hunting to hounds. He cycled from their home in First Avenue to Mount Maunganui, via the Matapihi rail bridge, to work as a builder during those depression years for 10 ‘bob’ a day ($1). At night he made rowing skiffs and Maisie did lead-lighting to supplement their income.  

In 1938, by the time their third daughter Gaye was aged one, they had moved to a double-storey home in 11th Ave (where the Plaza shopping centre is now located.)  Then in ’42 he joined Harry Smith, a Dunedin bricklayer, in buying Pemberton Bros joinery factory on the Devonport Rd / First Ave Corner. (Tuhi had joined the Hauraki Regiment and trained as a gunner, but men with 4 children did not have to serve overseas, and son David was ‘on the way’ when his call-up came.) By 1949 they had over 100 men on the payroll, one of the Bay’s largest employers.

Smith Harvey Construction Ltd. BOP Year book, 1958
Courtesy of Tauranga Library Heritage & Research

Smith Harvey Construction Ltd. produced prefabricated houses as well as joinery and retail timber supplies. In 1945 they began to source their own timber and mill it themselves, including purchase of all the necessary milling gear and some blocks of bush in Oropi and Pyes Pa. Apparently Tuhi was quite conservative in his milling operations only taking some of the available rimu and tawa from each block. The sawmill was on Anglican church land next to the Mission Cemetery (where the Trinity Wharf Hotel is now) and this business was known as Tuhi Timbers.

They were one of the first local businesses to both export and import timber to and from South America. They were also one of the first three logging operations to export radiata pine to Japan from the Tauranga Wharf on Dive Crescent. All the timber was donated for the Dive Crescent Rowing club building which was built with volunteer labour by the members.

Vessel loading New Zealand pine for export to Australia, Tauranga Wharf, c1956

Around 1950 due to very limited yard space, a large tract of land in Chapel Street was used for the processing and storage of the sawn timber. There it was planed, stacked and dried, and in 1953 a treatment plant was added. Tuhi had pioneered what was known as boron treatment of tawa, thereby making it a durable product, and they churned out mainly weatherboard, tongue and groove flooring and tool handles. His daughter Gaye remembers going with him late in the evenings to change the hoses over as two consignments could be put through the gas treatment chambers in 24 hours. The Devonport Road site housed the office, joinery factory and timber sales.

Treatment plant and yard at Chapel Street

Gaye also informed me that during the 1950s her father owned and ran, in addition to all his other operations, a mill near Barkes Corner named Craven Wood. This fitted in rather neatly with his other business of breeding and racing horses, which in the end became his abiding passion.

Tuhi (on right) and friend hunting. Harvey Family image

Unfortunately due to sheer size Smith Harvey was forced into receivership in 1960, and in 1962 Charlie and Alf Odlin bought them out. In 1986 it was sold to Winstones Ltd who in turn allowed it to go to Fletchers and the mills and yards ceased trading in 1988, due to the government stopping indigenous logging operations.

* Tuhi’s mother Elizabeth Susan Harvey owned several tracts of land including Moturiki Island, next to the main Mount beach, which she sold to ‘the railways’ for the rock to construct the East Coast line.

Sources: Personal interview with Gaye Craig — Tuhi’s daughter
               Notes written by her late older sister Pat
               Article by Ron Lipinski on Tauranga Sawmills in BOP Times 1st Nov, 2006
               Bay of Plenty Yearbooks published by Astra Publicity, Auckland c 1956,1958
               Harvey family images