75. Brother and Sister, Worlds Apart: (1) Dead Ducklings, War Canoes, Steel Works and a Leper Settlement

 

Auckland University from Princes Street Gardens

In September 1972 I moved with my young family from London to take up a position at Auckland University in New Zealand where I was employed until my retirement thirty years later. At that time my older sister Elizabeth was in Nigeria where she spent most of her working life with the Church Missionary Society. Both of us wrote regular letters home to my parents in Malvern Link, Worcestershire.

As I indicated in an earlier blog (30. "Love, Death and Letters from My Mother's Hut"), my mother kept our letters. Two siblings could hardly make more diverse career choices and these letters provide, to my mind, an interesting contrast between a thoroughly secular and a thoroughly religious life. So Elizabeth and I have agreed to try and paste together a blog giving some indication of the different things we were writing home about at specific times. I am sure we will find some strange juxtapositions.

We both recognise that we self-censored our letters home as we hid some of the real emotional dramas in our lives. In this 'presentation of selves for parental eyes' we sought both to maintain some of our personal privacy and to protect our parents from too much concern over matters outside their control.

This blog is experimental to see what a mix of extracts from our letters reads like before proceeding with more. We have chosen letters that refer to September and October 1972.The protocol that we have followed in editing these letters is to set mine out in the present typeface (Times) and Elizabeth's letters in Courier. Where we have felt compelled to add a present glossary on the events reported, or some reflection on the memories that they trigger, we have done so by shifting to italics.

Elizabeth wrote home more frequently than I, usually every Sunday, so we will start with excerpts from her letter of September 10th 1972. This was her first term at the Vining Centre in Akure.

E: These letters give an idea of what life in Vining College was like in the time of Cornelius Olowomeye who was the Principal then. There is not much about any teaching but rather taking people to the hospital. That seemed to be my most important role - I was in charge of the College Dispensary which met each morning after chapel (Morning Prayer) which began at 7 am.


September 10th '72

Dear Ma and Daddy,

My ducklings have hatched  at last, but I am not sure if I couldn't have done something to help more of them to have hatched out. There were 12 eggs and 6 of them hatched. One of those died. But it seemed to me that there were babies inside the other eggs but the mother didn't continue sitting on them after the first lot had hatched. Now I have 5 small ducklings to keep an eye on. They never taught us at Foxbury (CMS Training Centre) how to look
after ducks!...

This compound is really like a farmyard. I keep having to go outside to shout at the goats or sheep who will come and eat up all my bushes. Then yesterday I saw that a pair of pigs that often come visiting from the town have had piglets and there are 7 little ones! Just now there are some chickens scratching around under the trees. I haven’t yet done anything much about my garden. I have started a few pots on the veranda and I think I shall concentrate on them. There is a lot of Pride of Barbados all around the house. I think that when Ethel has gone I shall have some of them dug out, because there is not much room for anything else.
With much love,
Elzabeth.

October 1st
We have started the new term this weekend – so all the students are back (or sick and therefore late!) We just have one new woman so far, although we were expecting 3. We nearly didn’t start at all because there was no money. All the Diocese have failed to pay us their grants – but we have managed to loan from Akure District Church Council, enough to buy our food supplies. The Government ought to be paying the cocoa farmers soon and then money will start to circulate again.

Sad news about my ducklings - ALL have died!! Like 10 little nigger boys - 2 drowned, one disappeared in the bush, others I think got pneumonia. So I must start again.


J:

Deepacre Motel, Takapuna, 1st October 1972

Dear Mum and Dad,

Well here we all are in Auckland. The flights went off smoothly and on schedule. The TWA jumbo from Heathrow was half empty so we had plenty of space. It’s an incredible plane with lounges and film shows and the children thoroughly enjoyed it, even though the journey to Los Angeles was eleven hours. We saw quite a lot from the plane – Iceland, icebergs on the sea, the edge of the Arctic, the Canadian Rockies and then the hills and coastline around L.A. It seemed extraordinary to be in the Arctic Circle on a direct journey to New Zealand!

We arrived in Los Angeles at 4pm (their time) and left again in the dark at 9pm. The stop gave us a chance to have a wash and for the children to run around. We then boarded the Air New Zealand DC8 for Auckland. The children were very tired by this time and the plane was full and cramped so we all slept fitfully. After five hours we arrived in Honolulu at midnight Hawaiian time, and stopped for an hour and had a walk. It was stifling hot – it’s on the Tropic of Cancer – with great tall palm trees and ornamental fishponds around the airport.

The last leg of the journey was a further eight hours leaving Honolulu at around 1am and arriving in Auckland at 7.40am NZ time – all very confusing. We were met at the airport by Peter Tillott (my boss) and his two children and taken to their home for breakfast. It was a beautiful sunny morning and the first sight we had of New Zealand as the plane flew in over the islands and beaches around Auckland and over the top of Rangitoto, the volcanic island in the gulf of Hauraki near Auckland, was the most impressive sight we saw on the whole journey.

We reached our motel about 11am but our room wasn’t ready so we went for a walk on Takapuna beach. The children kept going remarkably well considering how little sleep they had – Stuart only about four hours since Tuesday night in England. About 5pm we all went to bed and slept for thirteen hours or so. We have all adjusted to the time change but Pat and I still feel we are on an aeroplane! Since we arrived we have been taking it easy, exploring some of the beaches and generally getting our bearings.

I am sorry it was such a rush at Heathrow but we were very glad to have you all there even for so short a time.

Love from us all, Pat, John, Stuart, Sacha and Lewis.

I have always been the kind of traveller who likes to know in advance the topography of anywhere I am going so had studied maps of Auckland in some detail. As our flight  approached I recognised the layout of the city but the early morning sunlight throwing light and shadow over the islands of the gulf, and the sparkle of the calm sea below, made my introduction to New Zealand a magically exciting one. One that in retrospect I rate triple A+. [A+ for anticipation; A+ for the actual experience; A+ for the pleasure of recall ages later.] With travel, as with romance, work, dining out and many other things, you can have three bites of the cherry. But as you age triple A+ experiences, like triple A+ banks these days, are harder to find, so I keep a good store of them in my long term memory bank.

4^th October

We are still in our motel but will be moving shortly to a house we have rented for the next few months. Our address will be 168B Seaview Road, Milford, Auckland. We started looking for somewhere on Tuesday and were fortunate to find the one we did. There are plenty of properties available for buying but few for renting.

The house is at the top of a hill overlooking the beach and sea at Milford and is about seven miles from the city centre on what is called “The North Shore”. The beach is about five minutes walk downhill (over a rickety bridge, subsequently demolished) and about ten minutes coming up! As soon as we found the house we went to the local school – Campbells Bay Primary – to see the Headmaster. Stuart and Sacha started yesterday and are settling in.

Shortly after we had agreed to rent the house in Seaview Road an ex-LSE staff member who is now at Auckland University phoned to ask how we were getting on. He and his wife are New Zealanders but they have worked abroad for the last ten years and came back here last January. It transpired that their house was in the same area as Seaview Road and that their two children, a boy aged 6 and a girl aged 5, went to Campbell's Bay School! So yesterday when we picked our two up at  the school we went back to their house and the children all got introduced. Schools here start at 8.45am and the five year olds finish at 2.30pm, the rest at 3.00pm. This means there is a lot of time after school for going to the beach or playing and the older children all seem to play tennis after school. It’s hardly rained since we came and has been pleasantly warm, but we are assured it’s not always so dry.

I have been in to the university on and off but will really start on Monday next when the children will be at school and we shall be settled in the rented house.


E:
October 8th
It was good to get your letter earlier in the week telling of John and Pat's departure to N.Z. It seems that our family get-togethers are often at Heathrow airport! I am sorry that I wasn't there to complete the gathering.

We have started the new term. I was exhausted by Friday! The teaching timetable is not very heavy - although since all the lessons are 'new' there is a good deal of preparation. But things like 'needlework' take up a bit of time, because the women are both helpless and also demanding attention. The first week is the worst - getting them all started on new things - deciding what they want to make and getting them cut out. I gave 5 of them 5 yards of material to cut into 5 pieces to make tablecloths with. It was like a market in minutes. The last piece was only 35" long and no-one would take it!!!
 

...Then one small girl cut her head open on a stone - not a big cut - but a lot of blood and a hysterical mother. Last night one baby woudn't sleep but cried ... so I was woken at 3.15am to diagnose ... probably worms or eaten too much. I gave 1/4 Aspirin in water and the baby slept off!! But I can't say that I did - at least not properly.

October 15th.

Most of the women seem to be pregnant this term - or to have children under a year. We are hoping to have a session on Family Planning this term - but it is a bit late as far as most of them are concerned.

 

J:

Milford, 18^th October

Thank you both for your letters with all the news of your busy Harvest Festival. We still aren’t used to the idea that it’s spring here and that in two months the children will break up for the summer holiday. Teaching has already finished at the University and the students are now busily engaged with exams. I am fairly well settled in to my job now and am gradually getting round meeting people in the University and in the business community in Auckland. I am the first person appointed at the University to a post in Business Studies so most people are rather intrigued as to what I am going to do. At the same time it means that there is plenty of opportunity for new ideas. In due course the University is setting up a Department of Business Studies but so far has not been able to fill the vacant Chair.

We are slowly beginning to sort out the various areas where we might like to live permanently and to drive around to look at some of the houses available. The main thing is to be reasonably near to the primary school and, if possible, to a beach and yet not too far from the University. Most people here think that 1/2 an hour’s commuting is a long way! It’s a nice change from driving an hour each way to High Wycombe and back. Where we are now takes about 20 minutes from door to door.

The first week we were here the weather was marvellous but last week was very wet and when it rains it rains. So on Saturday we took the children to a museum in Auckland that had a lot of Maori and Polynesian articles in it. These included a Maori war canoe 82 feet long, many Maori woodcarvings and replicas of the traditional buildings in their villages, as well as actual fishing boats of different kinds from all over the South Pacific – Melanesia, the New Hebrides, Rarotonga, the Sandwich Islands and places I had never heard of before. There were also headdresses and cloaks worn by chiefs on special occasions (like war!) including some made of birds’ feathers.

We’ve hardly been out of Auckland so far although last week I went to the NZ Steel Co about 30 miles south of Auckland – right out in the country – and saw steel being poured – very spectacular, like a firework display.

E:
October 22nd

One student delivered a baby boy this week - on Thursday. It was unexpected as far as I was concerned because I hadn't realised that that student was due so soon. And neither she nor her husband had prepared a thing for the new baby!! So suddenly we had to go shopping. They hadn't even got S.T.'s, olive oil, nappies or a razor blade - as required by the hospital. Part of the trouble was that they had no money to buy them - but partly I felt it was just thoughtlessness for they have 2 other children and they had left all the old nappies and baby clothes at home.
 

I had a letter from John. They seem to be settling in very quickly. I should think that New Zealand is a nice place.

What a pity that May Panter didn't enjoy the guitar music. I doubt if she would approve of our lyrics with drumming and dancing and even clapping that go with it in our Chapel! In fact I can think of quite a lot of things she wouldn't approve of in this place! Babies puddles in the classroom... even on the table..!! How you get over the importance of basic cleanliness to Yoruba women I don't know.

October 29th.

I discovered that the one week old baby was very jaundiced and had a large 'haematoma' on the head - so we took it to the hospital for a check-up. They saw a doctor who precribed phenobarb and an injection of paraldyhyde. Mrs Treadgold and I went into town and looked round part of the Oba's palace and she bought some writing paper etc. She is a very 'lively' person - and very nice indeed - but much nicer when she relaxes and doesn't talk too loudly.

We went to Idaure in the afternoon on Sat and visited the Vicar there and his wife. Then we came back for the evening service and I was called out to take the same baby again to the hospital. It was admitted. Then we went on to Ann's for supper.

After the morning communion service the father came to say that the baby had died in the night. I don't really know what was the matter unless it was chronically anaemic, or had some infection. Very sad. The parents were very controlled, but weeping. The students made a box and they buried the baby in St. David's churchyard.

We went to the Leper Settlement this morning and greeted the folk there. Mrs T. had never seen anything like our Leper Settlement - and it is pretty ghastly. One poor man is very sick there - with tetanus I think .... but they won't admit a leper into the hospital and it seems they don't get any medicine except for their leprosy pills. I fear he will die soon - but I will go and tell them in the Health Office in the morning tomorrow.

... This evening we had a session of plays in the hall in honour of our guest. It was great fun and went off very happily with men dressed as women in the men's play and vice versa in the women's play. All a great laugh.

Lots of love,

Elizabeth.