Bay Harbour: January 19, 2022

Bay Harbour News Wednesday January 19 2022
8
NEWS
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
$33,000 needed to meet surgery goal
SUPPORT: Nuk Korako with and Renee Veal before his 720km
cycling odyssey from Banks Peninsula to Bluff.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
• By Kristie Boland
WITH $33,000 left to raise to
hit the goal target of $90,000,
Renee Veal’s life-changing jaw
surgery is beginning to look
within reach.
A concert, raffles and other
events are in the pipeline to
help Veal reach that target including
a concert by Lyttelton
band the Settlers.
Settlers vocals/band member
Anthony Horan said playing a
show to raise funds for Veal is a
“no-brainer.”
“We take for granted some
things in everyday life that
other people struggle with …
[we’re] more than happy to
help out,” Horan said.
Fundraising raffles are ongoing
and have included tickets to
the L.A.B/Shapeshifter concert
in Hagley Park last weekend
along with accommodation
prizes for various places.
“We’re getting very, very
close to the finish line which
is very exciting … it’s a huge
amount of money I’m very
thankful for everyone, I never
thought I’d get this far,” Veal
said.
Veal, who grew up in Rāpaki,
needs a total jaw reconstruction
and jaw joint replacement
operation.
For the past 10 years, the
26-year-old has struggled to
sleep and eat properly and
often experiences migraines.
“The pain is pretty consistent,
some days I have really bad
days some days I have good
days,” Veal said.
Veal has significant widespread
musculoskeletal pain
due to an underlying hypermobility
syndrome.
This makes her joints hyperflexible,
causing soft tissue
injuries, bone wear, joint tear
and early arthritis.
The most disabling area of
pain is her jaw, which often
dislocates. This is known as
hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos
Syndrome.
“I try not to let it [affect me].
If I talk too much, which is
quite a common thing for me,
at the end of the day I have a
sore jaw and headaches, but I’m
used to it now and I know what
to expect,” Veal said.
The specialised jaw surgery
costs about $90,000.
Replacing Veal’s jaw will
ease her chronic daily pain and
greatly improve her life.
The public health system will
not fund Veal’s procedure, so
the community has been rallying
together since June last year
to raise the funds.
Last October former National
list MP for the Port Hills
Nuk Korako biked 720km
from Rāpaki to Bluff and
raised about $30,000 for Veal’s
surgery.
Korako and his wife
Christine are continuing
their support for Veal and
have some ideas for future
fundraisers.
Veal is overwhelmed by the
support she has seen so far.
“Just a huge thank you
to everyone who donated
or spread the word [we’ve]
been overwhelmed with the
generosity coming in from
people all over the place.
I’ve been blown away by the
kindness of people, it’s a very
humbling experience.
“It’s a huge amount of money
I’m very thankful for everyone,
I never thought I’d get this far.”
Treasures from the past: The Darra
ON THE QUIET western shore
of Ōtamahua Quail Island in
Whakaraupō Harbour one
might chance upon the ship
graveyard there.
One large skeletal wreck in
particular stands out, that of the
Darra which in its heyday was
one of the fastest sailing ships
ever built for the fabled Orient
Line.
Her strong iron frame slowly
rotting in the shallows is all
that’s left of this once sleek
clipper.
Built by the Aberdeen,
United Kingdom, shipbuilders
Alexander Hall and Co, using
carvel planks on that iron frame,
she had two decks and three
masts, was 58m in length with
a 10m beam, 6.4m draft, and a
displacement of around 1000
imperial tonnes.
The Darra launched in June of
1865 and initially sailed the British/Indian
trade routes as a tea
clipper for several years before
departing from London in 1874
with emigrants bound for the
Australasian colonies.
From there she traded coal and
timber to the Americas before
settling into the passenger run
between the UK and Australia
from 1887. It was at this time
that she set the London to Adelaide
speed record completing
the route in just 70 days.
In 1899, while berthed at
Sydney harbour, the Darra was
gutted by a fire, abruptly ending
her 35-year sailing career …
until she was bought by the
Westport Coal Company, towed
to Dunedin for a refit, and then
on to Lyttelton to serve the port’s
steamships as a coal hulk for the
next half century.
While she had certainly
seen better days, the Darra’s
rather comfortable quarters and
luxurious saloon had remained
untouched by the fire, and thus it
was that several families came to
call her home over the years.
The Eames family lived aboard
for some 12 years from around
1904, with father J P Eames
supervising his coal hulk crew
while wife Mary and their three
daughters Emily, May, and Else
made the most of their floating
home.
The Eames also hosted pleasant
dinner parties for town and
harbour guests, with the Darra’s
fine old oak dining table ending
up many years later in the Lyttelton
Museum’s collection.
Finally, in December 1950 the
Darra went into the dry dock to
be refitted one last time to play
the part of the Charlotte Jane for
the centenary celebration of the
first ships’ arrival in Canterbury.
After this last hurrah she was
stripped and scrapped with
the hull beached in the ship
graveyard. Three years later the
New Zealand Army practised
their explosive demolition skills
on her but failed to dismantle
the strong iron frame, which remains
to this day slowly rusting
in tranquil waters.