Kevin’s story: Country homestead
‘‘they would come in and give me a bottle’’.
Later, a more kindly childless couple – policeman Bill Sleeth and his wife – looked after her during the week while her mum worked daytimes. The friendship became so strong that ‘‘he gave me away when I got married’’.
On Maureen’s 4th birthday, she and Elsie moved into half of a twounit state house at 12 Rangiora Ave. Next door, at No 10, the Reddingtons would also become lifelong friends.
In 1946, Maureen and her mum were invited to Government House, for a reception held by Governor-general Sir Bernard Freyberg and Lady Freyberg for all the children of men who had died in the war.
‘‘I had chickenpox, but I was past the contagious stage and we really wanted to go,’’ says Maureen. ‘‘So Mum put makeup on the spots.’’ No-one at the event noticed. Maureen still has the souvenir invitation.
Elsie became secretary of the Rose Society, and planted roses all around her garden. One day at Sunday School, when Maureen was 8, Mr Jones, who ran the weekly class in the Rangiora Ave hall, said: ‘‘We’re short of Sunday School teachers; would any of your mums or dads like to come and teach?’’
‘‘I put up my hand and said: yes, my mum will, she used to be a school teacher.’’
(Elsie, nee Dever, had grown up on a farm in Gisborne, and despite having no formal teacher training, her quick mind and skill with pupils earned her a five-year soleteacher post at two country schools: Morere and Kowhai Bush. She married her childhood sweetheart, Patrick Olliver.)
During the lean years, Elsie made sure Maureen had library books, and the RSA’S Heritage programme for war-bereaved children gave her opportunities she wouldn’t have had otherwise. Even Mr Jones, from Sunday School, ‘‘until he was transferred to Whanganui, came every season for five years and dug our garden so we could plant vegetables. Those were the days when people really looked out for each other. We had wonderful neighbours and friends.’’
Times got better. Maureen was given the opportunity to go to boarding school at St Mary’s in Stratford, Taranaki, and later went to work at Arlidge Bros’ fruit and produce auction company. In 1966, Elsie remarried. Today Maureen, now Mrs Saville, says she’s grateful for her early experiences. ‘‘It’s been a good life.’’ Kevin Buckman can trace a definite musical streak in his family history, including past international opera singer Rosina Buckman, who was raised in A¯ piti.
Through his maternal line, he’s also related to iconic Kiwi guitarist Gray Bartlett.
His great-grandfather David Paterson was a hardworking pioneer from Scotland, who came to New Zealand with his wife and children and other members of his family aboard the immigrant ship Taranaki in 1879. During the twomonth voyage, he described the experience in a colourfully detailed diary, a copy of which Kevin owns.
David wrote that, finally reaching his daughter’s Dunedin home and enjoying ‘‘roast beef and mutton, green peas and young spuds’’ after the monotonous ship fare, was like ‘‘reaching the other side of, say, Jordan’’.
After a stint in Levin, David Paterson and his family moved to A¯ piti, which was opened up for settlement in 1885. He established what Kevin thinks was a carriagebuilding business, employing several men.
He also built a large, handsome homestead. Unfortunately, in a building accident, a wall fell on him, leaving him with a permanently damaged back. Kevin remembers him as a ‘‘stooped old man’’.
The Buckmans and Patersons became intertwined through marriage. Kevin’s maternal grandmother was originally May Paterson, who married a Dobson; their daughter Helen (Nell) Dobson married George Buckman and became Kevin’s mother.
Kevin remembers visiting the old farmhouse, which was, he says, ‘‘quite flash for its day’’. After old David Paterson died, Kevin’s two bachelor uncles, his mother’s brothers, lived there.
On visits, his memories are of a well-built, well-kept house, with a woodstove in the kitchen, a parlour, and a dining room with a sideboard and big family table. Outside, there was a large garden, an orchard, and a well.
When the uncles died, the ageing homestead was gifted to a relative who moved it to the Taonui/colyton road and restored it.
It stands there still, a proud repository of generations of family memories.
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Email: tinawhite29@gmail.com