Obituary: Bruce Archibald Ferguson
Bruce Ferguson: 1917-2010
A man of many skills, a broad range of interests, a dedicated sheep and beef farmer, local body councillor, fish and game advocate, great father and friend to many, Bruce Ferguson was also the last of the old-guard farmers from Westhaven Inlet.
After a quite remarkable life, he died last month, aged 92.
Born in Nelson on December 18, 1917, Bruce was the only child of William and Olive Ferguson of Pakawau. They gave their son his middle name after his Uncle Archie who survived the Gallipoli Landings, but was killed two weeks later in 1915 at the Second Battle for Krithia. Bruce was a frail child, his mother’s friends openly doubting that he’d even survive infancy. How wrong they were!
It was Bruce’s father who, in 1915, bought the original block of 902 acres adjoining the North Head of Westhaven (Whanganui) Inlet that would form the basis of the Ferguson family farm. With the addition of two more blocks, this would later grow to 1640 acres (670ha). William spent a significant amount of time living and working on the farm, returning whenever he could to see his wife and child at Pakawau. They lived in several different houses in the area before moving into their own home in 1925 on a small block of land along the Pakawau straight.
Bruce started Pakawau School at seven years old, for a while getting a lift there every morning on the front of the teacher’s motorcycle. He sat and passed his Proficiency Exam at almost 13 years of age, then studying accountancy and book-keeping by correspondence. After leaving school he worked for a year at Kaihoka Station, hand-milking several cows morning and night. His farm duties left him with little spare time. His weekly wage back then was 12 shillings and sixpence.
Short stints of work followed around the district, including participating (with his dog) in the second-to-last Boulder Lake sheep muster for runholder Syd Flowers. Bruce then worked for two years for his father at Westhaven, living in basic hut accommodation, as the first house was not built there until 1938.
In 1937, Bruce attended a three-month-long Massey Agricultural College course to train as a wool classer. He believed in wool as a quality product and wore it whenever he could—in shirts, socks and trousers. Almost right to the end of his life, he sorted the wool from every shearing on his farm. One morning in May 2009, his son David told him that he was going to shear about 15 to 20 killers. His dad, as usual, was keen to sort the wool, so David helped him into overalls, drove him to the shed in the ute, sat him down in the swivel chair and slid each fleece along for him to sort as the sheep were shorn. Bruce was then 91½.
After Massey, Bruce returned to the farm but was soon called up for military service. Although he passed the necessary medicals, he was sent back to help his father as an essential farm worker, and around the age of 23, took over the responsibility for running the farm. When a RNZAF Hudson bomber on a coastal surveillance mission was caught in fog and crashed into a hill at Kaihoka in 1941, Bruce was involved with the recovery of the bodies of the four flight crew.
In 1940, Bruce married Dora Smith, who had lived next door to their home in Pakawau. They were married for just over 60 years, and though they were very different in many ways, their shared farm interests and family drew them into a strong relationship.
Early access to Kaihoka was nothing like it is today. Transport to the farm was initially by horse and trap, or just by walking, across the mudflats of the inlet. Cattle purchased from Alex Davidson’s neighbouring farm (now Miller’s) had to be driven the long way home, via Puponga then back over Pakawau Saddle and out across the mudflats. Once fattened, they would be driven out to the Richards’ property at Ferntown and then onsold to a butcher in Riwaka.
In the late 1930s, a partial dry road was built as far as the Kaihoka Lakes and later down to the mudflat just down below the Ferguson Farm. It was extended over Pecks Point in the early 1940s and only completed all the way to their farm in 1955. Bruce lived through an era of change, first of all farming with horses, then tractors and motorbikes. He was one of the first in the district to use aerial topdressing. A Lister diesel generator gave them their first electricity in 1953, for electric light, washing machine and other small appliances, but it could only handle one hot water jug at a time.
Bruce would later help dig holes for power poles and erect the power line in from the Kaihoka turnoff. Mains power was eventually connected in March 1961, much to the delight of residents in that remote corner of the bay.
A keen hunter, Bruce shot his first deer at 15. He often said his love of hunting and fishing was one of the main reasons he decided to come back and take up farming instead of carrying on with a wool-classing career. His hunting trips took him all over the backcountry of Northwest Nelson as well as off to South Westland and Fiordland. He was an avid trout fisherman right into his 70s, and built three boats for fishing in the inlet.
In his middle years, Bruce became very interested in local government and spent 19 years on the Golden Bay County Council. Whether you agreed with his strong views or not, he was respected for his honesty and saying what he thought – straight up. He also spent some time on the Nelson Bays United Council, and attended Local Bodies Conferences. He also spent nine years on the Northwest Nelson Forest Park Board Advisory Committee, some years on the Nelson Acclimatisation Society Committee, the Golden Bay Health Committee and the Fisheries Liaison Committee. He perceived that overfishing was having an adverse effect on both commercial and recreational catches, so he tried hard to have local and national fish stocks preserved. Often he would come from meetings very frustrated because he felt he was hitting his head against a brick wall.
His first trip overseas was to Expo 70 in Japan with Jack Nicholls. About three years later he joined a farmers’ tour to South America, visiting Peru, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico. In 1980 he enjoyed a four-wheel drive camping trip in Australia with Phil Christian and others. Bruce’s interests were wide-ranging and he read a huge number of books. He had an amazing memory and could recall things in fine detail from years ago. Although he could be quite impatient and didn’t suffer fools lightly, he balanced this with a keen sense of humour, often at other people’s expense. Bruce was frustrated by poachers spotlighting on his “territory”, and his son David recalls helping his father cut out the shapes of two deer from hardboard, to which they glued eyes made from roadside reflectors. One they set up in the Nguroa Swamp, where it could easily be seen from the road, and the other was put in amongst the rushes and scrub above Harveys Creek. Later they heard through the local grapevine that a hunter had fired several shots into the Harveys Creek decoy and been amazed when the deer had not fallen over. Only after crawling up to it over the thick mud and rushes did the “illegal” spotlighter discover he’d been had on.
Bruce was a regular attendee at Pakawau Hall card evenings. He was also a keen vegetable gardener and kept his family in fresh vegetables. Bruce missed his wife Dora terribly when she passed away in 2000, but, supported by his family and good friends, he was able to carry on living in his own home at Kaihoka until June last year, when he underwent his third major cancer surgery. His last 13 months were spent in Woodlands Rest Home in Motueka. He died on the August 12 and his funeral was held at the Collingwood Memorial Hall. Officiated by neighbour Joyce Wyllie, it attracted mourners from near and far. Afterwards Bruce was laid to rest in the Collingwood Cemetery. His grandson Peter (son of David and Marilyn), along with his wife Danijela and baby Leah, came home from Vancouver, arriving the Saturday before Bruce died, so he got to see his latest great-grandchild and gave her lots of lovely smiles.
Bruce is survived by his three children—Rosalie, Marjorie and David—eight grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren. Gerard Hindmarsh
