Obituary: Harry Riley
The Golden Bay community has lost an exceptional servant with the recent passing of Harry Leonard Riley.
Born in Collingwood on 28 July 1919, Harry was already a third-generation New Zealander. His great-grandparents had arrived in Nelson in 1842 and his grandfather moved with them to Collingwood in 1854, beginning a Riley connection to that part of Golden Bay that continues to this day.
Harry spent his early years at Rockville before his parents began farming at Wharariki in 1924. Neither electricity nor phone lines served the area at the time. The Rileys ordered their groceries in bulk from Wellington by mail, posting their order at the Puponga Post Office. The groceries arrived later by coal ship and were left at the Puponga wharf to be collected.
Because the family farm was too far from the local school at Puponga, Harry was sent away from home for his schooling, first to his great-grandmother’s in Kaituna and later to his grandparents in Hamilton. Aged 11, he returned to the Bay to attend Pakawau School, where he completed his education at 14.
Farm work was the only post-school option for young Harry, and he worked on his family’s properties at Pakawau and Wharariki until the outbreak of World War II.
He began his naval service in 1942 and saw action in the Pacific before being discharged in 1946.
Returning to Golden Bay, Harry married Mavis Hickmott, to whom he had been engaged for four years. The couple settled in Pakawau before moving to Harry’s parents’ farm at Wharariki, which Mavis and Harry eventually bought.
As a 27-year-old, Harry was asked to stand for the Collingwood County Council and was duly elected in 1949, beginning a 30-plus-year career of service in local body politics. To get to Collingwood County Council meetings in the early days, Harry biked the 10 kilometres from Wharariki to Pakawau and got a lift from there into Collingwood. He became chairman only two years into his first three-year term on the Collingwood council.
In those days, roading was the main preoccupation of county councils, and the Collingwood district began to take on a new look as the gradual tarsealing of the district’s roads proceeded. Improved roads and bridges gave residents better access to their properties and reduced their isolation from the rest of the world.
When the newly amalgamated Golden Bay County Council first met in 1956, Harry became its first chairman and he held that position until 1977, when he was replaced by newcomer to the Bay, Philip Woollaston, in what was described as an “election shock.”
Skeet Barnett, who was deputy chairman of the Golden Bay County Council under Harry, attributes many of the roading and bridging advances achieved here in the 1960s and 70s to Harry’s lobbying skills.
While Harry represented the ratepayers of Golden Bay he looked beyond the confines of the district, and the networks he built up led to benefits to his community. Between 1966 and 1979 he chaired the Ward 10 group of the Counties Association. This group represented all the non-urban counties in the top of the South and lobbied for improvements to amenities. Harry was regarded as a man who knew exactly which door to knock on—and how hard to knock.
In 1973 Harry was part of a deputation of councillors from Golden Bay and Buller who unsuccessfully lobbied the government in favour of a road between Collingwood and Karamea. Harry also chaired the Nelson Airport Authority from 1971-79. His name can be seen on the plaque commemorating the opening of the terminal building.
After his local body career finished, Harry served on the Planning Tribunal of New Zealand until 1986. The tribunal’s main role was to hear appeals against local authorities’ town planning decisions. He took part in the process by which the “Think Big” projects, including the Clyde dam, were authorised.
Harry was awarded the MBE in 1972 for service to the community. It was upgraded to an OBE in 1980.
People who choose to serve their communities make sacrifices and so do their families. This paper recently recognised the work of the late Ben Hurst and we are pleased to similarly recognise Harry Riley’s. The service of both these men has greatly benefited the Golden Bay community. Behind each of them was a staunch and supportive wife and a loyal family. The GB Weekly honours the unsung efforts of Belle Hurst and Mavis Riley and their families.
Harry Riley is survived by his wife Mavis, his daughters Kay and Wendy, his son Murray, 8 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. A celebration of Harry’s life will be held in the Collingwood Memorial Hall tomorrow, Saturday 25 July at 1.30pm.
Neil Wilson
