24.07.2022 Views

eBook pdf for Issue 157

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

APPETISER<br />

A Family Affair<br />

Springston, situated 26 kilometres south-west of Christchurch,<br />

was settled in the mid-nineteenth century. The general store in<br />

Springston was in the hands of the Dartnall Family <strong>for</strong> over three<br />

generations; Alec Astle tells their story on page 50.<br />

1


EDITORIAL<br />

Dear Readers,<br />

In our striking cover photograph, the Auckland Tramping Club pause at the<br />

Commercial Hotel in Dargaville be<strong>for</strong>e continuing onto the Waipoua Forest <strong>for</strong><br />

a tramping expedition. It’s interesting to note the outfits in 1928; suit and ties<br />

<strong>for</strong> men and dresses, coats and hats <strong>for</strong> the women… and on the back of a truck.<br />

Fashion trends have certainly become more casual over the years. Even moving<br />

<strong>for</strong>ward to 1964, Ralph Levinson writes in his account of Joining the Work<strong>for</strong>ce,<br />

“I owned two white shirts and one pair of shoes – each evening I washed a shirt,<br />

pressed the other and polished my shoes”. Of course it seems contradictory (and<br />

laughable) nowadays that these same men’s <strong>for</strong>mal shirts, ties and black shoes were<br />

combined with ‘dress’ shorts and long socks as summer workplace attire <strong>for</strong> the office.<br />

And moving on to uni<strong>for</strong>ms of an entirely different variety; who amongst our readers belonged to the Scouting<br />

Movement? Perhaps you attended the same 1959 Jubilee described in David Hill’s article and prepared to ‘Be<br />

Prepared’ no matter what. Man-powered employee Joan Leonard sewed Relax brand raincoats <strong>for</strong> servicemen<br />

during the war years - not that much relaxing would have been on the cards <strong>for</strong> World War II soldiers!<br />

Onto other topics, Alec Astle profiles the remarkable Dartnall Family who operated a Canterbury general store<br />

<strong>for</strong> three generations, Mick Hodder’s remarkable leading story relates to his upbringing in a railway house<br />

during the 1930s and Wendy Clark remembers the ‘night soil man’ on Auckland’s North Shore.<br />

John Stackhouse, an author with a taste <strong>for</strong> the unusual, is welcomed back with a ‘Whodunnit’ <strong>for</strong> readers to<br />

puzzle. The intriguing collection of illustrative cartoons gives readers a glimpse of the First World War through<br />

the eyes of a New Zealand soldier.<br />

Nothing beats enjoying a good read on a cold wintry afternoon and our authors have contributed an assortment<br />

of worthy stories in this <strong>157</strong>th edition.<br />

Keep warm and stay well,<br />

Wendy Rhodes,<br />

Editor<br />

For just $57 you receive four superb<br />

issues of New Zealand Memories<br />

direct to your letterbox.<br />

A G i f t o f D i s t i n c t i o n<br />

Surprise a friend or relative with a gift. We will gift<br />

wrap the first issue, include a gift card with your<br />

personal message and post it direct.<br />

Freephone: 0800 696 366 or<br />

Freepost: 91641<br />

PO Box 17288<br />

Green Lane, Auckland 1546<br />

Email: admin@memories.co.nz<br />

Visit our website w w w.memories.co.nz <strong>for</strong> back issues and gift ideas.<br />

Order online securely today and pay via internet banking or credit card.<br />

2


Editor<br />

Wendy Rhodes<br />

Graphic Design<br />

Icon Design<br />

Administration<br />

David Rhodes<br />

Distributed by<br />

Are Direct<br />

Subscriptions & Enquiries<br />

Phone tollfree: 0800 696 366<br />

Mail: Freepost 91641,<br />

PO Box 17288, Greenlane, Auckland 1546<br />

email: admin@memories.co.nz<br />

www.memories.co.nz<br />

$57 <strong>for</strong> four issues<br />

(Price includes postage within NZ)<br />

Contributors<br />

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington,NZ<br />

Astle, Alec<br />

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection<br />

Clark, Wendy<br />

Clover, Ken<br />

Dove, Rodney<br />

Hill, David<br />

Hirst, Helen<br />

Hodder Alan<br />

Janes,Terry<br />

Leonard, Joan<br />

Levinson, Ralph<br />

Nelson Provincial Museum<br />

Paeroa and Districts Historical Society<br />

Pickmere, Alan<br />

Rhodes, Donald<br />

Smith Judith<br />

Smith, Malcolm<br />

Stackhouse, John<br />

Stewart, Graham<br />

Subritzky, Mike<br />

Tairawhiti Museum<br />

Ujdur, S<br />

Veronese-Cowell, Tania<br />

Veronese, Zeff<br />

Waipu Museum<br />

Whakatane District Museum<br />

Opinions: Expressed by contributors are not<br />

necessarily those of New Zealand Memories.<br />

Accuracy: While every ef<strong>for</strong>t has been made to<br />

present accurate in<strong>for</strong>mation, the publishers take no<br />

responsibility <strong>for</strong> errors or omissions.<br />

Copyright: All material as presented in<br />

New Zealand Memories is copyright to the publishers<br />

or the individual contributors as credited.<br />

Contents<br />

Life on the Railways 4<br />

Alan (Mick) Hodder grew up in a railway worker’s cottage in the 1930s.<br />

Scouting Around 8<br />

Off to the Pan-Pacific Jamboree with David Hill.<br />

Ampelio Saves the Pilot 11<br />

A tall but true tale from Zeff Veronese.<br />

There’s No Town Like It! 12<br />

Malcolm Smith taught at Blackball between 1961 and 1963.<br />

Off to Sunday School: Rangiora, 1934 15<br />

Helen Hirst’s introduction to St Mary’s Church.<br />

From the Regions: Coromandel / Bay of Plenty 16<br />

Joining the Work<strong>for</strong>ce 28<br />

Ralph Levinson started work as an insurance clerk in 1964.<br />

Man Powered 34<br />

Joan Leonard helped the war ef<strong>for</strong>t in 1944.<br />

Centrefold: When Duty Calls 36<br />

Nelson Troop 4th Contingent photographed on 27 February 1900.<br />

The Great Cartoon ‘Whodunnit’ 38<br />

John Stackhouse solves a World War One puzzle.<br />

The Scows 48<br />

Early New Zealand cargo vessels are examined by John Newsham.<br />

Dartnall Family General Store at Springston 50<br />

Alec Astle follows ninety years of retail ownership.<br />

The Night Soil Collection 56<br />

Wendy Clark discusses a delicate subject.<br />

From the Regions: Northland 58<br />

Reader’s Response 68<br />

Happy 150th Birthday SPCA<br />

Mailbox 69<br />

Index and Genealogy List 70<br />

Editor’s Choice: Snowy Queenstown in 1934 72<br />

ISSN 1173-4159<br />

June/July 2022<br />

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 282-471<br />

Cover image:<br />

Members of the Auckland<br />

Tramping Club outside<br />

the Commercial Hotel,<br />

Dargaville c.1928.<br />

3


STORY<br />

4


STORY<br />

Life on the Railways<br />

Alan (Mick) Hodder<br />

I<br />

grew up on the railway at Whangaehu in the 1930s. Our house was so close to the track that when we<br />

went out the gate, we often found ourselves walking through steam. Trains went by about every two<br />

hours, mainly carrying freight, with one passenger carriage. It was the only means of transport <strong>for</strong> the<br />

majority of farmers as most didn’t own a car. There were a few Essexes and Fords on the road and, towards<br />

the end of the thirties, a few American cars appeared.<br />

Shopping meant catching the train to Whanganui; heavy items were placed in the guards van, usually by the<br />

supplier, but the rest had to be carried in the passenger carriage (including 25lb bags of flour and 40lb bags<br />

of sugar). Two expresses (the 595 and the 610 from New Plymouth to Wellington) and vice versa were also<br />

regular runs. I remember being on a train going to Whanganui in 1931 when it suddenly stopped and the<br />

guardsman came hurrying through the carriage to see what had happened. There was a shaking… the Hawke’s<br />

Bay earthquake had struck!<br />

Our house was a railway worker’s cottage with no electricity, two water taps (only cold water from both - hot<br />

water had to be heated on the black Orion coal fired range and carried to the kitchen sink) and lighting from a<br />

kerosene lamp in the middle of the table or by candles. Sunday was bath day and the hot water had to be carried<br />

to the wash house, several yards from the back door.<br />

5


STORY<br />

Railway workers were allowed to fence off what was<br />

known as the ‘long acre’, a half mile strip of railway<br />

reserve; one side was the day paddock, the other the<br />

night. We hand milked two or three cows on the long<br />

acre and the milk was separated with the cream being<br />

collected by the factory lorry. We also raised two pigs<br />

each year. Sides of bacon meat hung in the kitchen. A<br />

large vegetable garden included an area <strong>for</strong> small fruits<br />

(blackcurrants, gooseberry and raspberries) and we also<br />

raised ‘chooks’. Their eggs were preserved in Norton’s<br />

egg mixture in a bucket. Sometimes it worked!<br />

Both the butcher and the baker called once a week,<br />

and a tinker sold material, cottons, buttons and the<br />

like. The tinkers mode of transport, a horse and<br />

wagon, was also his home.<br />

Growing up as boy in the Depression meant you<br />

lived life to the full. Because of lack of company, I hung<br />

about the station and learned how to fold tarpaulins<br />

by watching, then helping, the station master.<br />

One train I remember well was the circus train -<br />

Wirth’s Circus perhaps - that came by. It didn’t stop<br />

at Whangaehu but we watched it as it went by. It was<br />

about a half a mile long, pulled by two AB engines<br />

and pushed by a WW engine. There was a long uphill<br />

section just after Whangaehu around a curved section<br />

which we could see from the station. The trains were<br />

so long and hadn’t enough power to get up the incline,<br />

so they had to disconnect half the wagons, take the<br />

first half up to a siding at Baker ‘s crossing, go back<br />

and collect the rest and take them up and reconnect<br />

the whole train be<strong>for</strong>e proceeding on to Fordell. The<br />

WW gave extra power to do the shunting.<br />

My father was in charge of a team of four or five men;<br />

his title was ‘ganger’ and the others were ‘surface men’.<br />

They were responsible <strong>for</strong> maintaining nine miles of<br />

track which involved chipping weeds and replacing<br />

wooden sleepers. My dad was also responsible <strong>for</strong><br />

burying animals caught up by a passing engine. One<br />

day the 3:30 reported running through a mob of sheep<br />

near Ratana. Dad hopped on the hand jigger to go<br />

clean up the mess, but found very little evidence when<br />

he got there. The locals had taken care of it – cheap<br />

meat!<br />

The team also carried out minor repairs on the<br />

track. Late one afternoon, while they were unloading<br />

full lengths of rail <strong>for</strong> a deviation <strong>for</strong> the new railway<br />

bridge, one went rogue and caught my father’s ankle.<br />

He hobbled home and realized his foot was not right,<br />

so spent most of the night with his foot under the<br />

garden water tap. Using two brooms as crutches, he<br />

got on the first train to Whanganui and came home<br />

with his foot in plaster.<br />

My father regularly checked the tracks, paying<br />

particular attention to the curves. A member of the<br />

family accompanied him on a Saturday bringing home<br />

mushrooms and watercress from the drains on the side<br />

of the rack, and manuka <strong>for</strong> pea stakes. The buckets<br />

were 4-gallon kerosene cans with the tops cut off and<br />

number 8 wire as handles.<br />

Every now and then steam engines needed to refill<br />

their water tenders from a big water tank next to our<br />

house. The fireman needed to climb up on the tender<br />

to do so. It was amazing how much coal fell off during<br />

this process. Needless to say it didn’t stay on the<br />

ground very long - we kids had friends in high places!<br />

The Whangaehu River was notorious <strong>for</strong> flooding.<br />

The first flood I remember was in the late 1920s. It<br />

got so bad that Dad and the team laid the piano on<br />

its back on the kitchen table. The task of keeping the<br />

bridge piers clean of debris which often came down<br />

in the floods was a challenge. The only way was to go<br />

down and saw through the offending rubbish to free<br />

the jam. Once one of the gang was standing on a pile<br />

of debris, while trying to clear it, when it gave way<br />

and he was swept downstream clinging to a piece of<br />

rubbish ending up on a sandbank downstream.<br />

My schooling took place about a mile away. There<br />

were two teachers, one <strong>for</strong> each of the Infants and<br />

Standards. Initially everybody had slates in their desk<br />

with pencils; later we had pens with ink in small china<br />

pots. There was a horse paddock <strong>for</strong> those who rode to<br />

school, otherwise pupils walked. A plot in the horse<br />

paddock was fenced off <strong>for</strong> children to grow vegetables<br />

and cow tucker, such as mangles. School attendance<br />

was fairly good. A pink certificate was presented if you<br />

didn’t miss more than five half days in the year. The<br />

famous Dr. Gunn checked over our health yearly.<br />

One <strong>for</strong>m of entertainment was ‘spinning the top’.<br />

A string was wound around the top and then thrown;<br />

success depended a lot on the quality. Some pupils<br />

could keep their top spinning by using a whip. Those<br />

who couldn’t af<strong>for</strong>d to buy one used a pine cone.<br />

Hopscotch was another popular playground game.<br />

Sunday dinner was a major event. There was always<br />

someone from the valley, or fellow railway workers,<br />

as guests. While the railway bridge was being built,<br />

construction workers lived in huts on flatbed wagons<br />

parked in the station yard. One hut was home <strong>for</strong> a<br />

married man with a wife and two children, and my<br />

mother often had them over <strong>for</strong> a meal. Imagine<br />

cooking a Sunday roast meal on a coal-fired stove kept<br />

hot by constantly feeding coal! A pudding was always<br />

6


STORY<br />

“A large vegetable garden included an area <strong>for</strong> small fruits (blackcurrants,<br />

gooseberry and raspberries) and we also raised ‘chooks’. Their eggs were<br />

preserved in Norton’s egg mixture in a bucket. Sometimes it worked!”<br />

served up in those days – on good china and a starched table cloth. My fond memories are of Mum’s apple pies<br />

and rice puddings. We lived well.<br />

There were no fridges. Milk and meat were kept in a metal safe which hung underneath the water tanks. Meals<br />

were prepared in the kitchen, called a scullery. Surplus produce during the growing season was stored in the<br />

scullery <strong>for</strong> a later date. Every shelf was filled with spare fruit in big Agee preserving jars as well as jams, pickles<br />

and relish in smaller jars with paper tops glued down to seal. Keeping tops on homemade ginger beer was a<br />

problem – the corks had to be tied down with string. Perhaps there might have been a little ‘extra’ in it!<br />

I still have my mother’s recipe book, neatly written in, I think, copper plate style although sadly a little worse<br />

<strong>for</strong> wear. My granddaughter, who lives in Ottawa, rang recently <strong>for</strong> my mother’s tomato sauce recipe from the<br />

treasured book. In the back of the book are handy hints recipes <strong>for</strong> household use:<br />

“Stove polish: turpentine, Zebra paste, black lead, baking soda and ammonia.<br />

Soap making: fat, borax, caustic soda, resin and water.<br />

Floor polish: Lux flakes, CO polish and water.<br />

Repulsing ants: boracic powder, sugar and water.”<br />

Our family left the house by the railway track soon after the 1936 flood, moving into town where we had<br />

electric lights and a flush toilet. And where we could purchase ready-made clothes to replace underwear made<br />

from flour bags.<br />

Growing up on the railway didn’t hurt my sisters and I… we’ve all lived well into our nineties. n<br />

7


STORY<br />

Scouting Around<br />

David Hill<br />

January 1, 1959. Over 120 of us marched off from Napier’s<br />

Tiffen Park, around past Clive Square, towards the Railway<br />

Station. The 14 to17-year-olds were in front, pretty much<br />

in step, thanks to the Army Cadet training we had at high<br />

school. The young ones straggled behind, pretty much not in step.<br />

We wore our khaki shirts with epaulettes and badges, our kneelength<br />

socks with green or scarlet garter tabs, our lemon-sqeezer<br />

hats. Rows of Boy Scouts, on our way to the Pan-Pacific Jamboree,<br />

at Cornwall Park in Auckland.<br />

“Jamboree” means a big gathering of Scouts. It’s a wonderful<br />

word, apparently invented by Lord Baden-Powell, Boer War hero<br />

and founder of Scouting. When asked why he called it that, B-P is<br />

said to have smiled and replied “What else could you call it?”<br />

The week-long 1959 assembly brought 8000-plus Scouts,<br />

Rovers (the senior branch) and Scoutmasters from Australia, the<br />

United Kingdom, Canada, the Pacific, most other countries of<br />

the British Empire – already on its way to becoming the British<br />

Commonwealth. And of course from all over New Zealand.<br />

Eight thousand: it was an astonishing feat of logistics in preemail,<br />

pre-cellphone, unreliable toll-call days. So astonishing, that<br />

we teenagers took it <strong>for</strong> granted.<br />

We reached the railway station. Peter Tait, Napier’s mayor <strong>for</strong><br />

an unprecedented six terms, addressed us, and I apologise <strong>for</strong> not<br />

remembering a single word His Worship said. We steamed off in a<br />

special train, stopping at Hastings, Waipawa, Waipukurau, Otane,<br />

Norsewood and Dannevirke to pick up more scouts, be<strong>for</strong>e a paper<br />

bag tea at Palmerston North. Imagine a passenger train stopping at<br />

those little stations these days. Actually, imagine a passenger train<br />

these days.<br />

I’ve still got my Jamboree Logbook, “With the Compliments<br />

of THE NATIONAL BANK of New Zealand Ltd”. Anyone<br />

remember that name? My spiky, 16-year-old’s handwriting and its<br />

stiff prose shows how much was crammed into the jamboree’s eight<br />

days.<br />

“Crammed” described the train as well. I’d naively asked<br />

my parents “Will there be beds on the train? Should I take my<br />

pyjamas?” Mum and Dad smiled. It was my first experience of<br />

sleeping on an a NZR seat, with all the flexibility and softness of<br />

a park bench.<br />

We reached Greenlane Station at 6 a.m. next day, and marched<br />

about two miles to Smith Sub-Camp, behind the stone walls of<br />

Cornwall Park. My first time in Auckland. My first jamboree. I was<br />

levitating with excitement.<br />

The 8000 were divided into about ten sub-camps, along both<br />

sides of Greenlane Road, around Alexandra and Cornwall Parks.<br />

Each sub-camp was named after a significant person or place in<br />

NZ scouting, and each had a ceremonial gateway.<br />

8


STORY<br />

I have no photos; I had no camera (we’re talking bulky Box Brownies then), but I remember the Aussies’<br />

entrance: a giant bamboo pylon, plus an emu made from ropes’ ends. Another gateway was covered with stags’<br />

heads; a third featured a volcano with a genuine fire on top.<br />

At the March Past and Opening Ceremony, we trooped into Alexandra Park in our youthful thousands. I<br />

carried the Napier Contingent flag, and knew that life couldn’t get more wonderful, even if the lone scout from<br />

Ceylon (as it was still called then) got a bigger cheer than Napier’s 120.<br />

Governor-General and swashbuckling cricketer Lord Cobham spoke to us. So did Prime Minister Walter<br />

Nash and Opposition Leader Keith Holyoake, and I apologise again, but I can’t remember a word any of those<br />

distinguished gents said, either. But I do recall being struck by the PM’s gravelly Birmingham voice, and Kiwi<br />

Keith’s broad NZ vowels, while the Gov-Gen sounded just like a BBC newsreader.<br />

All through the Jamboree, the official programme kept us busy. There was a Scouts’ Own Church Service on<br />

the slopes of One Tree Hill, lit by hundreds of torches. There were presentations and per<strong>for</strong>mances by every<br />

district. Otago re-enacted the Relief of Mafeking, which made Baden-Powell into a national hero. Fiji did “a<br />

spear dance”, in my logbook’s unimaginative words. The Sea Scouts showed the history of whaling in New<br />

Zealand. There were displays by Girl Guides, Brownies, The Boy’s Brigade. (Who recalls that lively, Christianbased<br />

youth organisation?)<br />

We were given free entry to the stock-car racing at Alexandra Park, and my logbook eagerly noted that “one<br />

car turned over and caught alight”. Buses took us to the Auckland Museum, from where I saw the almostcompleted<br />

span of the Harbour Bridge.<br />

The campsite at the Pan Pacific Scout Jamboree in Cornwall Park, Auckland in January 1959.<br />

Courtesy: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 1207-639<br />

9


Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ. Ref: Eph-A-WAR-SA-1900-04-cover<br />

36


When Duty Calls<br />

Nelson Troop 4th Contingent photographed on 27 February 1900 by Henry Brusewitz. The six riflemen in<br />

military uni<strong>for</strong>m prepare to serve King and Country in the South African (Boer) War (11 October 1899<br />

to 31 May 1902). To qualify as a mounted rifleman, each candidate needed to be in good physical health,<br />

an accomplished horse rider and, if possible, own his own horse. The photographer, Swedish-born Henry<br />

Brusewitz, worked from premises in Waimea Street (now Ruther<strong>for</strong>d Street) Nelson in 1900.<br />

Nelson Provincial Museum Pupuri Taonga o Te Tai Ao. HBZ 6x8 703 4th Contingent 27 2 1900 30296R~1 riflemen on horse.<br />

37


FEATURE<br />

The Great Cartoon<br />

‘Whodunnit’<br />

John Stackhouse<br />

Hiscocks or Prain?<br />

Who was the artist who penned these cartoons in the Great War to end All Wars?<br />

A set of World War One cartoons caught my eye recently, all unsigned and advertised as by an unknown artist.<br />

The smell of a story and a challenge could not be resisted, so I managed to secure a number of the black and<br />

white originals.<br />

There were many clues and, even better, there were self-portraits. Not quite as good as 21st century CCTV<br />

footage, but there he is, pipe between his teeth, ink pot by his foot, hair swept up and a disgruntled look. He had<br />

a distinctive drawing style, progressive <strong>for</strong> the time, as I learnt through research. But <strong>for</strong> all the in<strong>for</strong>mation, who<br />

was he? After much comparison of known, signed drawings by New Zealand cartoonists, it came down to two<br />

names, Hiscocks or Prain? Prain or Hiscocks? A sort of cartoonist’s ‘whodunnit’.<br />

Well, here is the evidence. What are your thoughts?<br />

A set of cartoons<br />

World War One was reported widely, as no other war<br />

had been be<strong>for</strong>e. Not only did this happen through<br />

the press and official government channels, but also<br />

through the letters, postcards and photographs of<br />

the ‘everyday’ soldier who was involved. This, at the<br />

time, was an ‘in<strong>for</strong>mation wave’ when compared to<br />

reporting and recording of past conflicts.<br />

A generally overlooked record was also being made<br />

by cartoonists, often serving as ordinary soldiers, who<br />

took pencils, pens, ink and paper as essential items<br />

with them and recorded their war. They give us a<br />

very different glimpse of war <strong>for</strong> the ordinary soldier<br />

but their day-to-day records in the <strong>for</strong>m of their own<br />

personal cartoons, seldom surface. Their personal<br />

cartoons mostly remained unsigned and unpublished.<br />

In the case of those illustrating this article, it seems<br />

all but one are ‘working sketches’, the basis <strong>for</strong> more<br />

detailed cartoons and illustrations to be completed at a<br />

later date. In just a few sketched lines cartoonists told<br />

their unique, visual stories.<br />

Originally there were over twenty cartoons as a<br />

group, but I did not manage to purchase them all.<br />

The twenty covered aspects of the trip to England via<br />

Egypt, a couple of figures sketched in Panama, some<br />

in Egypt, his time in England and on the Western<br />

Front. There most probably were many more than<br />

these at one time.<br />

This article gives a glimpse of the life of two New<br />

Zealand cartoonists actively serving in World War<br />

One and includes a small sample of a unique, personal<br />

record of war.<br />

These men were:<br />

2/314 Gunner Eceldoune Frederick Hiscocks,<br />

born ‘May 1881’ in Australia to English parents.<br />

Noted as ‘horse breaker’. That is what Fred Hiscocks<br />

told the recruiters behind the army recruitment desk<br />

on 21 August 1914 when he went from his home in<br />

Seatoun to Wellington city to enlist. Much of the<br />

in<strong>for</strong>mation given was correct. However, he was in<br />

fact born on 19 April 1879 and he was at the time of<br />

enlistment a well-known New Zealand cartoonist. But<br />

because of his age, old <strong>for</strong> a recruit at the time, and his<br />

occupation of cartoonist, not a skill sought after by the<br />

army to defeat the Kaiser’s ambitions, Fred Hiscocks<br />

decided to change a detail or two in his favour.<br />

So his life began as a gunner in the New Zealand<br />

artillery, a somewhat different occupation to that of<br />

one of New Zealand’s leading cartoonists. Off with the<br />

‘Main Body’ of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force<br />

to Gallipoli in October 1914 and then to France. He<br />

remained in England after the war and worked as a<br />

cartoonist <strong>for</strong> a variety of publications and drew <strong>for</strong><br />

early animated cartoons.<br />

24/1520 Lance Corporal George Gordon Prain<br />

was born in Dunedin in 1892 into an early Otago<br />

pioneer family. The eldest boy of four he also had<br />

one sister. His mother died pre-war, his father dying<br />

unexpectedly in October 1914, tragedy seeming<br />

to striking the Prain family regularly. Brother<br />

Harry, badly wounded 8 August 1915 in the Otago<br />

Regiment’s actions on Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, died<br />

in an accident at Levin in 1922. Another brother,<br />

38


FEATURE<br />

It’s not easy being a cartoonist at war!<br />

39


FEATURE<br />

Alexander, was killed in action on the Somme, 15 September 1916, also a member of the Otago Regiment.<br />

George’s youngest brother, Robert, was just too young <strong>for</strong> active service. George was also wounded in June<br />

1918, but fully recovered.<br />

George left <strong>for</strong> the war as a member of the 8th Rein<strong>for</strong>cements in late 1915, a short stop in Egypt and then<br />

to France as a member of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. He returned to New Zealand and made his mark as a<br />

cartoonist in New Zealand and Australian publications.<br />

The Challenges of Cartoonists at War.<br />

As shown in the previous cartoon set (on page 39), this cartoonist did persevere with his cartooning under<br />

what would have been very varied and challenging circumstances through years of war. Although he clearly<br />

abandoned his short-lived pursuit of a History of the Great War, he did, however, leave a valuable record of war<br />

in his distinctive style.<br />

The Western Front: Making the Best of it!<br />

The artist’s reintroduction to France was the same as many of New<br />

Zealand’s soldiers, via the camp at Etaples, in Picardy. Then on to<br />

the Somme. The New Zealanders became well known, maybe even<br />

notorious, to the French <strong>for</strong> a variety of reasons. The cartoonist was<br />

certain the French would remember the New Zealanders long after<br />

the war had ended.<br />

In fact he goes on to provide a design <strong>for</strong> a proposed monument (at<br />

right) to the New Zealanders to be erected in Picardy.<br />

(‘Onward N.Z.’, as noted on the plinth of the proposed monument,<br />

were the words on the New Zealand Expeditionary Force badge worn<br />

on New Zealand uni<strong>for</strong>ms.)<br />

40


FEATURE<br />

Although clearly an amusing jibe at the pomposity of many monuments to the rich, famous and their deeds,<br />

this figure embodies the tone of the artist’s cartoons at this time. They highlight the ordinary New Zealand<br />

soldier trying day to day to make the best of an often quite dismal existence. To the artist the New Zealand<br />

soldier was a resourceful realist. The French of Picardy admired the New Zealanders as soldiers but were often<br />

the ‘victims’ of his resourcefulness, as many a chicken owner knew all too well!<br />

By contrast George Prain designed a 1918 Christmas Card <strong>for</strong> the New Zealand Rifle Brigade. It contrasts in<br />

context sharply with the cartoon below. In 1916, the war was a seemingly never ending blood and mud bath.<br />

By Christmas 1918, the war had ended, hope was returning.<br />

Christmas and New Year soon arrived, dismal weather<br />

after the bloodbaths of the Battles of the Somme. This<br />

was the worst winter in Europe <strong>for</strong> decades. The artist<br />

turned his thoughts towards Christmas and New Year.<br />

His ‘Design <strong>for</strong> a Xmas Card’ encapsulates his thoughts<br />

of Christmas <strong>for</strong> the men at the Front... not a cheerful<br />

scene. It is a very apt interpretation as the men on<br />

the Western Front struggled to gain any cheer from a<br />

freezing, wet Christmas in the trenches.<br />

The men admired the artillery observers who hung<br />

precariously in baskets below very vulnerable observation<br />

balloons, but they certainly didn’t envy them. German<br />

gunfire and aeroplanes often wreaked havoc on the<br />

balloons, but at least the observer had a parachute to help<br />

him escape harm, a ‘luxury’ the men of the air <strong>for</strong>ce at the<br />

time did not have. The cartoonist recorded an instance of a<br />

lucky observer who jumped <strong>for</strong> his life amidst the German<br />

shrapnel shell bursts.<br />

41


INDEX and GENEALOGY LIST<br />

A<br />

ABLE Mr & Mrs 55<br />

Ahipara 59<br />

ALPS Mr & Mrs 55<br />

animal welfare 68<br />

Aratapu 67<br />

Army Cadets 8<br />

Army Camp (Opua) 62<br />

Arthur Skelton's Band 32<br />

artist 13<br />

Auckland 8,28<br />

Auckland Bus Co. 28<br />

Auckland City 29<br />

Auckland Tramping Club 66<br />

Awanui Beach 58<br />

B<br />

babies (district nurse) 60<br />

BANKS Sir Joseph 16<br />

Barwick's Auction Mart 69<br />

Battenburg cake 30<br />

Bay of Islands 62<br />

Bay of Plenty 24<br />

BAYLDON Francis 17<br />

BIGGS Mr & Mrs 55<br />

BIRCHALL Deaconess 15<br />

Blackball 12<br />

Blackball mine 12<br />

Blackball School 12<br />

Boer War 36<br />

Boy Scouts 8<br />

BRICKELL Barry 31<br />

Brown's Mill 31<br />

BRUSEWITZ Henry 36<br />

Burlington Tea Rooms 30<br />

bushman's camp 26<br />

C<br />

CAMPBELL Mr HH. 65<br />

Canterbury 50<br />

cartoonist 38<br />

cartoons 38<br />

CASTLE Len 31<br />

Chandris Line 33<br />

Christchurch 52<br />

CLARKIN Pat 23<br />

coal (Blackball) 13<br />

COBHAM Lord 9<br />

Commercial Hotel (Dargaville) 66<br />

commuting (Auckland) 28<br />

COOK Capt. James 16<br />

cooking (coal range) 7<br />

Cornwall Park 8<br />

Coromandel 17<br />

Coronation Hotel 65<br />

Croations 66<br />

Cruickshank, Miller & Co. 31<br />

Crystal Palace 32<br />

D<br />

dance venues 32<br />

Dargaville 66<br />

DARROCH Davey 48<br />

DARTNALL Arthur 51<br />

Audrey 52<br />

Clement 51<br />

Cyril 52<br />

Edmund 50<br />

Henry 50<br />

Henry Lloyd 51<br />

DARTNALL Henry Martin 52<br />

Howard 50<br />

Lucy 50<br />

Mabel 52<br />

Neville 52<br />

Pauline 52<br />

Percy 51<br />

Sarah 51<br />

William 1,50<br />

Winifred 52<br />

Dartnall & Co. 51<br />

Dartnall & McMeekan 51<br />

Dartnall Bros. 52<br />

department stores (Auckland) 31<br />

Depression 6<br />

District Nurse 60<br />

dog registration (1898) 61<br />

dog tax' 61<br />

Doyleston 50<br />

DUDLEY Archdeacon B.W. 15<br />

DUFTY Todd 20<br />

DUSKY Mrs 15<br />

DYSON William 46<br />

E<br />

EARP George 19<br />

EBAN Mr 56<br />

education 6<br />

effluent 56<br />

EGGINTON Ray 567<br />

emigartion 19<br />

emigrant's clothing 19<br />

employment 28<br />

essential industry (WWII) 34<br />

F<br />

Fairbairne Wright & Co. 52<br />

farming (Thames) 20<br />

fashion (1960s) 32<br />

Flagstaff Hill (Russell) 63<br />

flax milling 20<br />

food delivery 54<br />

FORNASIERO Ampelio 11<br />

Evelina 11<br />

<strong>for</strong>tified village 27<br />

Fortress Bay of Islands 62<br />

FRIZZEL Mabel 52<br />

G<br />

Galaxie 32<br />

Gallipoli 38<br />

ganger (railway) 6<br />

General Store 1,50<br />

George Roy Ltd 50<br />

George Walker Ltd 31<br />

gold diggers 19<br />

goldfields 18,23<br />

government <strong>for</strong>ces (1898) 61<br />

GREEN Audrey 52<br />

Greenlane 8<br />

groceries 54<br />

Guardian Assurance 28<br />

gumdiggers 66<br />

GUNN Doctor 6<br />

H<br />

HAMILTON Laurie 50<br />

hand tools 30<br />

handy hints 7<br />

Hauraki Plains 20<br />

Hawke's Bay Earthquake 5<br />

HAWKES Wayne 32<br />

HIRST Helen 15<br />

Joan 15<br />

HISCOCKS Eceldoine Frederick 38<br />

HOGAN Edward 56<br />

HOLLAND Nathaniel 16<br />

HOLYOAKE Keith 9<br />

horse teams 23<br />

horses (Boer War) 36<br />

HOSKIN Ernie 53<br />

HOWARD John 50<br />

Hutt Valley High School 69<br />

hymns 15<br />

I<br />

insurance clerk 28<br />

IVORY Winifred 52<br />

J<br />

J. Evans & Sons 59<br />

J.J. McCaskey & Son 34<br />

Jamboree 8<br />

Jamboree logbook 8<br />

JANES Terry 68<br />

JOLLIFFE John 63<br />

K<br />

Karaka Creek 18<br />

kauri gum 59<br />

Kelston Boys' High School 28<br />

KEMP Thomas Samual 62<br />

Kerepehi 20<br />

KING Marcus 63<br />

Kohukohu 64<br />

Kohukohu arch bridge 63<br />

Kororareka 63<br />

KRISKOVIC Petar 66<br />

L<br />

Lake Okataina 27<br />

Leo O'Malley Menswear 32<br />

LEONARD Joan 34<br />

Lerry's Rebels 32<br />

LEVINSON Ralph 28<br />

Lucky Hit gold mine 18<br />

M<br />

machining work 35<br />

Maclean Bros. 65<br />

MAHN Harvey 33<br />

Mahurangi River 49<br />

Man Power regulations 34<br />

Man Power Scheme 34<br />

Mangawhare 67<br />

Mangonui 60<br />

Maraehaka Harbour 26<br />

marching team 35<br />

MARICIC Josip 66<br />

MARSHALL John 53<br />

MARTIN Henry 52<br />

McCRAE Robert 28<br />

McKAY Alexander 60<br />

McMEEKAN Robert 51<br />

McWILLIAM Charles 50<br />

MEIKLEJOHN Septimus 49<br />

merchandise (store) 53<br />

Mercury Bay 17<br />

Mil<strong>for</strong>d 32<br />

Milne & Choyce 32<br />

70


INDEX and GENEALOGY LIST<br />

Miner's Right 19<br />

Monaco 32<br />

MONTGOMERY Mr A.W.S. 23<br />

Montgomery's Hotel 23<br />

Mount Maunganui 24<br />

MRZLJAK Josip 66<br />

N<br />

Napier 8<br />

NASH Walter 9<br />

Nelson 36<br />

Nelson Troop 4th Contingent 36<br />

NGAPUA Hone Heke 61<br />

NICCOL George 48<br />

night service truck 56<br />

night soil 56<br />

night soil collection 56<br />

North Shore (Auckland) 56<br />

North Shore Drainage Board 56<br />

Northcote Council 56<br />

Northern Maori 61<br />

Northern Wairoa 67<br />

Northland 58<br />

NORTHWOOD Arthur 59<br />

Northwood Bros. 60<br />

Norton's egg mixture 6<br />

NZ Expditionary Force 38<br />

NZ Medical Corp 52<br />

O<br />

O'NEILL Dorina 11<br />

Mick 11<br />

Ohinemuri 23<br />

Omaha 48<br />

Opua 62<br />

Orange Hall 32<br />

Orete 26<br />

Oriental Ballroom 32<br />

Orion coal range 5<br />

Otago Regiment (WWII) 38<br />

Owharoa Hotel 23<br />

P<br />

pa 17,27<br />

Paeroa 23<br />

PAGE George 53<br />

Pan Pacific Scout Jamboree 9<br />

Parker 45 fountain pen 28<br />

PARKINSON Sydney 16<br />

Passchendaele 42<br />

Patetonga 20<br />

Peter Pan Ballroom 32<br />

PETRINOVIC Josip 66<br />

Piako River 21<br />

PleaZers 32<br />

PRAIN Alexander 38<br />

George Gordon 38<br />

Harry 38<br />

Robert 40<br />

Public Work's Dept 62<br />

Q<br />

Queenstown 72<br />

R<br />

RADCLIFFE Frederick 63<br />

RAE Phyllis 13<br />

Rahotu School 13<br />

railway 5,8,20,28<br />

railway workers 6<br />

railway workers' cottage 5<br />

Rangiora 15<br />

Rawene 61<br />

Ray Columbus 32<br />

retailer (Springston) 50<br />

Richmond 50<br />

riflemen 36<br />

Rotorua 27<br />

RULE Mr W.H. 50<br />

Russell 62<br />

Rustic Camp (Dargaville) 66<br />

S<br />

Salked & Co. 50<br />

SALKELD Walton 50<br />

Salkeld, Howard & Dartnall 50<br />

school leaver 28<br />

SCOTCHER Mr 20<br />

Scouts 8<br />

scows 48<br />

Seddon Richard John 24<br />

Selwyn 50<br />

SERCOMBE Mr W.J. 50<br />

shipping Arrag-na-Pogue 48<br />

Australis 33<br />

Dungarven 48<br />

Eclipse 48<br />

Eunice 48<br />

Hawk 48<br />

HMS Endeavour 16<br />

Jane Gif<strong>for</strong>d 49<br />

Kiatia 48<br />

Korara 48<br />

Lake Erie 49<br />

Makarau 48<br />

Ngahau 48<br />

Owhiti 49<br />

Pandora 64<br />

Pirate 49<br />

Scout 48<br />

Southern Isle 48<br />

Surprise 48<br />

Ted Ashby 49<br />

Vesper 48<br />

Zingara 49<br />

shipping (Northland) 59<br />

SHRIMPTON John 15<br />

SMEELE Peter 31<br />

SMITH Des 68<br />

SMITH Judith 12<br />

Malcolm 12<br />

SMITH Norman 32<br />

SOKOLIC Bogoslav 66<br />

South African War 36<br />

Southbrook 15<br />

SPCA 68<br />

SPCA Tauranga 68<br />

spinning tops 6<br />

Springston 1,50<br />

St Mary's (Southbrook)<br />

STANISLAUS Sister<br />

15<br />

14<br />

STICHBURY Peter 31<br />

storekeeper (Springston) 50<br />

SUBRITZKY Capt. Henry 59<br />

Dorothy 59<br />

Sunday School 15<br />

surface men (railway) 6<br />

Surfside (Mil<strong>for</strong>d) 32<br />

T<br />

Tai Tung Restaurant 32<br />

TAIT Peter 8<br />

Takapuna Beach 49<br />

Tauranga 25<br />

Tauranga SPCA 68<br />

Tauranga Town Hall 25<br />

TAYLOR Mr 14<br />

telegraph bureau 54<br />

Thames 18<br />

The La De Das 32<br />

THOMPSON Joseph 50<br />

timber industry 20<br />

TOIA Hone Riiwi 61<br />

TOMKINS Sarah 51<br />

Totara North 49<br />

tourism (Rotorua) 27<br />

Traey of Waitangi 63<br />

train AB engine 6<br />

travelling shop 55<br />

TURNER Bill 23<br />

Turua 20<br />

Turua Mill 20<br />

TYNAN Dorothy 59<br />

John 59<br />

Tynan's gum store 59<br />

U<br />

uni<strong>for</strong>ms (WWII) 35<br />

V<br />

VERONESE Dorina 11<br />

Zeff 11<br />

Victoria Arcade 30<br />

violin maker (Auckland) 32<br />

W<br />

Waihi 24<br />

Waihopo 59<br />

Waikato Battery 23<br />

Waikino 23<br />

Waipoua 66<br />

Waipu 65<br />

Wairoa River 67<br />

Waitakere railway line 28<br />

Wakefield 50<br />

war ef<strong>for</strong>t (WWII) 34<br />

Warkworth 49<br />

weighing babies 60<br />

West Auckland 28<br />

Western Front (WWII) 40<br />

Westland 12<br />

Whakarewarewa 27<br />

Whakatane 26<br />

Whangaehu 5<br />

Whanganui 5,34<br />

Wharf Store (Mangonui) 60<br />

Whitcombe & Tombs 31<br />

Wirth's Circus 6<br />

World War One 38,52<br />

World War Two 11,34,62<br />

WRIGHT Henry 18<br />

X<br />

Y<br />

Z<br />

Each issue of New Zealand<br />

Memories contains an index<br />

and, in keeping with genealogy<br />

ideals, all surnames of<br />

individuals are listed in capitals.<br />

71


EDITOR’S CHOICE<br />

Snowy Queenstown 1934<br />

Ballarat and Camp Streets, Queenstown taken by a New Zealand Herald photographer in 1934<br />

Auckland Libraries Heritage Collection 1370--645-11<br />

72

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!