Norma Mae Evans: Through the Decades

Norma and Bob Evans: Early Settlers of Rotomahana

Norma, and her husband Bob, arrived in the Rotorua area in 1955, from Kurow, North Otago, where they settled on a farm in Rotomahana.  The farm was a returned servicemen’s settlement. In Norma’s own words “Everyone worked very hard, coped with the mud, the deficiencies and lived on £7 per week.” 

Each dairy unit consisted of about 120 acres and 60 cows, the units had a ‘part house’ a shed and a walk through cow shed.   Norma describes the ‘part house’ they arrived at, ‘they consisted of one large and one small bedroom, a living room, kitchen and a bathroom come wash-house”  The first thing they bought on arrival was a pair of gumboots for all six of them!

They were to farm there for 27 years. Husband, Bob, was a farmer when they married in 1946, but Norma was a town girl, she much adjusting to do!

:Rerewhakaaitu 21^st Jubilee Committee, 12^th July 1975. Page 14

In Norma’s book ‘Rotomahana: Returned Servicemen’s farm settlement 1953, 1954, 1955’ published 2012, she gives a history of the area both the physical and the community of people that formed those early years. There are photographs that show what they arrived to and how they developed the ‘farm’ and their family grew up. Norma also recalls the early days of the Rotomahana WDFF, in which she was an active member, and in the 1960s, president. 

During her time in the district Norma was also involved in other community events and organisations, these being: the Rerewhakaaitu Youth Club started by Norma and Triss Hill; the Co-ordination Committee where she persuaded the Education Department to provide educational ‘day classes’ for rural women out in the Rotomahana, Lake Okaro area; Norma was on school, hall and church committees;  Anti-Litter Committee; Civil Defence; Road Safety Committee; A&P Association and in the 1980s was a Lakes Inspector.  

From : Rotomahana: returned servicemen’s farm settlement, 1953, 1954, 1955.
Written by Norma Evans

In 1981 Norma and Bob restored the ‘Hickey’s Flat farm cottage’ it was a cottage constructed of Kauri, and nearly 70 years old. This cottage they donated to the Te Amorangi Museum c.1981 and thus Evansville came into being. Norma donated much of her collection of memorabilia and reminiscences to the Museum and formed a long relationship with the trust.

Sadly, Norma was to lose ‘her dear Bob’ in 1984.  Norma wrote his biography and published it in 1998.

Norma has documented her life and many life experiences in 3 books entitled “Oh dear me” and a biographical publication on her parents.  In 2012 she wrote ‘Rotomahana: returned servicemen’s farm settlement’ and in 2016 published “Rotomahana mud: farming it, coping with it, living on it, 1955”

In 1988 Norma was awarded for “a lifetime’s commitment to people” by the Rotorua North Rotary Club. She received a Service Award, presented by Grahame Hall.

In 1993, Norma was awarded a “Women’s Suffrage Award” and in 1997 she was awarded an M.N.Z.M. New Zealand Order of Merit, for her community work.

In 1995, Norma was awarded a Rotorua District Council Community Award.

But of course Norma did not stop there with her contributions to her community,  continuing…

Norma is pictured here with Council and Library staff and two of her daughters in 2010.

Norma donated her memoirs and some of her collection to the Rotorua Library, for which we are very grateful. She also donated much to the Te Amorangi Museum and the Rotorua Museum. 

Here Norma is at the Rotorua Library to launch her book on Rotomahana, c.2012

This is Norma on her 90th Birthday, at her final residence
Cantabria Home and Hospital.

Norma died on 18 April 2017. Wife of Bob. Mother and mother-in-law of Janice and Rob, Eleanor, Annette and Sandra.

To read her obituary click here

With thanks to The Rotorua Daily Post and Rotorua Library Heritage Collections for this blog post

Book Reviews : History made readable

Books from our Rotorua and New Zealand collections. 

The Aro Street Girls (Lyndsay Campbell, 2018) - Rotorua Author

Read about the author here

The story begins with a look forward to the next generation, Uncle Walter and niece Rose. Rose found a jewellery case in her mother’s things when she was having a clean out, it turns out it holds a locket with photos in it of Aunty Kathleen and a soldier. Uncle Walter tells her the story about the soldier and his part in the life of Kathleen… we take up the story in the Spring of 1916.

Kathleen a young lady from a family of means living in Aro Street, Wellington is very smitten with a young man from a very different walk of life, a young man her mother disapproves of.  Freddie Watkins is a personable young man and very reluctant to sign up to the army, he has pacifist ideals and would rather not go, but when a woman in black confronts him with a white feather, a symbol of cowardice, he gives in and enlists. 

Neither of them knows just what lies ahead, but they promise to write to each other. The letters take a long time to arrive, he tries to write once at the battlefield, but it’s very difficult because at the front in Passchendaele, it is wet and muddy, and the noise of the guns and the screams of the injured, are his constant companion. When his letters do arrive, they have blacked out words and phrases due to censorship, and no-one really knows what the lads went through.

Meanwhile back in Wellington Kathy wants to go to university, her dream is to be a teacher. Then one day her father Oscar dies and turns her world upside down, her mother Violet cannot cope and both girls need to get a job.  

And the war continues on and on... and more families are losing their boys and injured soldiers are invalided out of the army, conscription begins. Life will never be the same again for either of the girls, nor for their family.

A well written fictional story based on fact, which illustrates life during WWI, for those left behind and those who lost their loved ones to the Spanish flu, that returned with the soldiers at the end of the war.  

CAM - Borrow from Adult Fiction, Ground Floor. Reference only copy in Rotorua Heritage, Heritage & Research Area, 2nd Floor.

Filming the Colonial Past: The New Zealand Wars on Screen (Annabel Cooper, 2018)

University of Otago Associate Professor Annabel Cooper's book explores the depiction of the New Zealand wars in New Zealand film and television over the past 90 years.

Cooper also discusses new forms of media and innovative platforms, such as digital and online media. She pays particular attention to the rise of Māori creative control in filmmaking and the importance of this in telling our stories.

From a local perspective there is a discussion of Rotorua's role in early filmmaking. Rotorua was a popular film location largely due to its scenery, but also because the Te Arawa people at that time were active in the tourism industry as experienced guides and performers, and these skills adapted well to film acting. There is also a very brief discussion of the film adaptations of the local love story - Hinemoa and Tutanekai.

The book draws on over 40 interviews that Cooper has conducted with those in the film industry. Also throughout there are many coloured photographs highlighting New Zealand's cinematic history.

Filming the colonial cast: the New Zealand wars on screen would appeal to those interested in New Zealand history, particularly the New Zealand wars, and those with an interest cinema and the local New Zealand filmmaking scene.

791.43 COO NZ - Reference only copy in New Zealand Heritage, Heritage and Research Area, 2nd Floor.

Historic houses: a visitor's guide to 65 early New Zealand homes (Linda Burgess, 2007)

Linda Burgess makes you feel like you can step into one of these houses and feel at home. From Northland to Otago, the reader is taken on a journey of seeing New Zealand's history through the lens of hearth and home. Cob houses, stone houses and houses made from native timber where innovative, hard-working and entrepreneurial people lived. This is also a history of strong, gracious and friendly hosts who raised large families while making a living from the land and business interests.

Dwellings like 'Sayers Slab Whare' and 'Rai Valley Pioneer Cottage' pretty
much stand as they were built. Some unusual features of two houses such as, a cave and a square concrete structure with 24 gun placement were especially intriguing. Apart from the differences in design, materials and location the gardens of these houses link them. The gardens feature a mix of local native and exotic plants and remain largely intact today. The reader will enjoy Burgess's style of writing.


728 BUR NZ - Borrow from New Zealand History/Travel, 1st Floor. Reference only copy in New Zealand Heritage, Heritage & Research Area, 2nd Floor.

Second Time Lucky: one man's journey the length of New Zealand (Erik Westra, 2018)

Erik Westra had been crazy about cycling from the time he was a child. After one cycling tour in the States, he was excited to read about the Tour Aotearoa cycle ride, a ride of 3,000 kilometres from Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairia to Bluff, to be completed in 30 days!. Along with other cyclist, Erik made it as far as Marlborough Sounds before a spectacular fall from his bike resulted in a badly broken wrist and withdrawal from the tour.
Once recovered from surgery and therapy, Erik began to plan completing the Tour. Then he decides, this time he wants to start from the beginning again, but take a different approach. As Erik says in his book "I'd be more observant: sensitive to this country's people, history and spirit...I would stop more often and talk to people, listen to them, pay attention and pay my respects as I went."

This book is an interesting account of Erik's two attempts at riding the length of New Zealand, the second of which is successful. He tells of meeting different people along the way, and out-of-the-way places that he passes through. And often of memories that are triggered as he finds himself again in places he's visited as a child with his mum, Ans Westra, the photographer. Whether a cyclist or an armchair traveller, this is a fascinating look at Aotearoa, New Zealand.

993 WES NZ - Borrow from New Zealand History/Travel, 1st Floor. Reference only copies in New Zealand Heritage and Rotorua Heritage, Heritage & Research Area, 2nd Floor.

Love our Rotorua Authors

Just a few of our talented writers

Phil Andrews

Aunty Bea

Robyn Kahukiwa

Guide Rangi

Love Books and Reading Month

Click the above link for details of what's on!
Here's a sneak peek...

Get to Know Zinio 

If you love reading magazines, here is your chance to come along and find out about our new digital magazine service, Zinio for Libraries. You don't need to book, just pop in and our friendly staff will show you how you can get the latest magazines for free on your device or computer.​​ Everyone is welcome and no booking is required.

Date: 10am-noon, Friday 3 February, Friday 10 February, Friday 17 February & Friday 24 February.
Venue: Magazine Area, Rotorua Library

💻

Check out the book reviews from previous posts in this blog, just type Rotorua Authors in the search box. All titles of the books above are available to borrow from the Rotorua Library. 

Book Review : Tangata Whenua: The world of the Māori / by Don Stafford

Tangata Whenua: The world of the Māori

Don Stafford was a local to Rotorua and a historian to the city and he presents an authoritative but easily understood account of the history of the New Zealand Māori.

A broad diversity of topics is examined with information drawn from tradition, myth and history.

He starts with the migrations of the Polynesian people and moves to the story of Kupe. The communal living of Māori in iwi and hapū is explained through protocol, custom, connection to the land and connection to each other.

He includes the legend of a well-known love story between Hinemoa, a beautiful chieftainess who lived at Ōwhata  and Tūtānekai a handsome young chief who lived on Mokoia Island in the middle of Lake Rotorua.

He showcases carvers, weavers and includes artwork by Gottfried Lindauer and Charles F. Goldie. Throughout, the author presents both traditional illustration and contemporary photographs that successfully support the text.

For Māori and non-Māori this is worth reading and for those local to Rotorua, there may be someone that you recognise within these pages.

You can find this book in the Māori non-fiction section at 305.8994 STA

Review by Ani Sharland. Heritage and Research Team Leader

Discover Rotorua Heritage – Meade Street

Meade St, namesake killed by experimental torpedo

According to the book “Rotorua streets: the stories behind the street names of Rotorua & district” by Philip Andrews, Meade St was named after a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, the Hon. Herbert George Philip Meade (1).

 Born in 1841 in England, Herbert, the 4^th son of the Earl of Clanwilliam, had a short but adventurous life. During his navy career, records show he spent time in Jamaica, Australia and New Zealand (2,3,4).

In 1865, he accompanied William Mair, Julius Brenchley and Te Poihipi Tukairangi carrying letters from Governor Grey to Chiefs of the interior North Island and around Lake Taupo. As Meade travelled he wrote about his observations and experiences in journals which were later published as “A ride through the disturbed districts of New Zealand” (5). 

Pai Marire Worship (5)

The title may have had something to do with his capture by Pai Mārire (Hauhau) supporters at Tataroa on 27 January 1865. He was released, later painting a watercolour that depicts the ceremony to decide his fate. This painting features in the recently published book Tangata Whenua (5,6,7).
Meade’s party stayed at Ngae, Ohinemutu, Motutawa and Epiha from the 26^th of December 1864 to the 2^nd of January 1865 (5). He describes cooking, lounging on warm stones, tattooing, entertainment, a night of public bathing in the lake, the geothermal scenery and the famed beauty of the women of the Ohinemutu area (5).

Ohinemutu Geyser Mokoia Island and Lake Rotorua (5)

1 Meade Street taken from Fenton Street

1 Meade Street taken from Fenton Street

Meade was killed in 1868 when an experimental torpedo exploded in his workshop (1). A Daily Southern Cross article from Papers Past gives a pretty graphic account of his accident, last words, death and the Coroner’s investigation.

The only explosions around Meade Street are of the nearby Pohutu Geyser at Whakarewarewa (8).


The beautiful building on the corner of Meade and Fenton Streets is the Landmark Restaurant (9). This became a restaurant in 1976 and was originally a private home built by Charles Kusabs (10). Charles imported a Sunbeam car from England in 1908 and established Kusabs Motors (11). He was the first to carry passengers on the “Round Trip” to Te Wairoa and Waimangu (10,11,12).

As well as being the first to negotiate Mount Ngongotaha by car, Don Stafford points out in his book, “The new century in Rotorua”, that Charles Kusabs was expected to negotiate Eight by-laws for “motors” under the Motor Regulations Act, 1908 such as carrying a bell and driving under five miles per hour around corners (11).

 References

1.       Andrews, P. (1999). Rotorua streets: the stories behind the street names of Rotorua & district. Rotorua: Bibliophil

2.       Great Britain: Colonist, Volume XI, Issue 1152, 9 October 1868, Page 4

3.       Fatal accident to Lieutenant Meade, R.N.:  Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3504, 8 October 1868, Page 5

4.       Ancestry.com. 1861 England Census [database on-line]. Access Ancestry free at Rotorua District Library.

5.       Meade, H. (1870).  A ride through the disturbed districts of New Zealand. London: John Murray.

6.       Pai Mārire supporters: New Zealand History  

7.       Atholl, A., Binney, J. & Harris, A. (2014). Tangata Whenua: and illustrated history. Wellington: Bridget Williams Books.

8.       Pohutu Geyser Postcard Kete Rotorua

9.       Rotorua Hotels, Motels, Guesthouses  Kete Rotorua

10.   Charles Edmund Kusabs 1872-1948 Kete Rotorua

11.   Stafford, D. M. 1988. The new century in Rotorua: a history of events from 1900. Auckland [N.Z.] ; Rotorua [N.Z.] : Ray Richards Publisher and Rotorua District Council.

12.   Batchelor, J. (1956). Waimangu-Te Wairoa round trip, Rotorua N.Z. Rotorua: J. Batchelor.

This Blog was written by Sandra Quinn 

Book Review : "The Ringers stand" by Godfrey Bowen

A Tribute to Godfrey Bowen, co-founder of the Agrodome, and brother of Ivan Bowen who pioneered the Bowen Technique still used by shearers today.

 

In 1982 he wrote a fictionalized account of Sheep Shearing competition “The Ringer’s stand” the book starts off with “Old Sam was a contractor of 30 years standing and he really knew his shearers. He had employed them all – good, average and indifferent – and occasionally the no-hoper” so begins the story of the Ringer.  The Ringer must prove himself worthy of his reputation and proceeds to do just that, and along the way sending the previous No.1 shearer back to No. 2 with some resentment but also grudging respect for the Ringer’s clearly the better, faster shearer.

Throughout the story some Shearing slang is used, these are just a few:

“Strangers” – the neighbours sheep with their owners earmark

“Fleeco” – Skilled shedhand who takes away the shorn fleece

“Wet ewes” – Ewes suckling a lamb

“Fadge” – An incomplete bale of unpressed fleeces, oddments or pieces

“Strides” – Shearers trousers

These slang terms give the reader a clear picture of the shearing shed and what is involved in shearing 800 sheep a day! Not a place for the unfit and fainthearted.

A copy of “The Ringer’s Stand” is held in the Don Stafford Room, Heritage Collection on the 2^nd Floor.