Rocks and Hard Places fills local history gap
Cliff Turley of Patons Rock celebrated the launch this week of his book Rocks and Hard Places about the Takaka Hill. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
The launch this week of Rocks and Hard Places, another illustrated local history book by River Press, this time about the Takaka Hill, is the culmination of a literary dream for its 78-year-old author, Cliff Turley of Patons Rock.
Cliff’s lifelong fascination with the longest hill route in the country reflects well in all the stories and remarkable photos he has collected into this book, which fills a significant gap in our local history.
At 184 pages and packed with photos, diagrams and anecdotes, it’s one of those books you could pore through for months and still pick up interesting snippets, from a description of the first recorded crossing of the Pikikiruna Range in 1843 by Heaphy, right up to The Gathering dance parties at Canaan.
The exploits of those who first trudged over the Hill—from surveyors to goldminers to packmen and priests—all make interesting reading, as do the succession of roadmen, engineers, quarrymen and settlers who made the Marble Mountain their lives. Recognisable generational family names like Harwood, Sixtus, Henderson, Page, Bruning, Savage and Richards all jump out at you, first from the photo captions then from the fuller stories of generous explanatory text.
The book culminates in pictures and descriptions of the various Gatherings held up at Canaan, which actually started as a motorcycle club meet amongst the rolling glades and sinkholes of Canaan during the early 1980s. These were organised by the likes of local bikers Bruce Burnett and Joe Stocker.
Cliff says that collating and writing the book was a 10-year-plus project. “I became aware that many of the older drivers and roadmen were literally a dying breed,” he says. “It was obvious that if I didn’t get their experiences down, all that history would be lost.”
So he started in 1994 by taping the experiences of 90-year-old Reg Page, a former Farewell Spit Lighthouse Keeper who became a popular Gibbs Motors driver from 1922-40. Later with Bill Gibbs, Reg owned “Big Green”, a Hudson Super Six that carried passengers over the Hill on a near-daily basis, offering a door-to-door service.
Another driver remembered by his tales, Phil Craven, estimated he drove the Hill at least 10,000 times. And few “older” readers could forget Kelly Page, who for 22 years threw out the Nelson Evening Mail newspaper and drove freight, passengers, and mail and for the Newman brothers until 1991. A few days after getting a new Volvo to drive, he and 23 passengers were trapped by flooding at Upper Takaka. All his passengers were put up at the Rat Trap, but he was more than happy to sleep in his new bus.
Although born in Upper Takaka, Cliff Turley spent most of his early days in Hawkes Bay. After graduating from Canterbury University he pursued a 21-year teaching career in England, returning in 1975 to establish a home at Patons Rock, teach at Golden Bay High School and bring up a young family. His fascination with the Takaka Hill stems from childhood memories and a natural empathy with all past and present people he has met on countless trips over it. Many of these were on foot, as Cliff explored the early bridle tracks and visited farms, residents and hut sites with his wife Gerda and interested friends.
Along with launching his book this week, Cliff intended on Thursday to guide on foot Nelson Bishop Richard Ellena over the Takaka Hill’s old bridle track as the beginning part of his 40-day, 1000km pilgrimage around the diocese. “They used to call it beating the bounds of the parish,” says Cliff. “Bishop Edmund Hobhouse started it off nearly 100 years ago, when he would walk all the way over from Nelson to Collingwood. A great walker, he’d cover 30 miles in a day.”
At the book launch at the Junction Hotel last Wednesday, ex-roading engineer Phillip Drummond spoke of all the effort that has been put into stabilising Eureka Bend, revealing the ongoing tenacity that’s always been needed to keep the road open. Some of the historic roadwork photos in this book are real stunners. This book has the potential to be amongst our most well-read local history books, not only because of all the recognisable faces, but simply because it’s so relatable. After all, what Golden Bay resident hasn’t a story to tell about going over the Hill?
Cliff’s book is available from Take Note Takaka, and all other good bookshops. He will be available there to sign copies at 10am Friday 20 February, and at Paper Plus in Motueka at 11am, Thursday 26 February.
Gerard Hindmarsh
