Branches farmer led way for others
IN many ways Frank Spencer Mee was an innovator who paved the way — in some cases literally — for future generations in the Queenstown Lakes District and New Zealand.
Frank died in Queenstown on January 10, aged 95, and was farewelled at a private service in the resort.
He was born on April 2, 1922, in Dunedin and raised in Becks.
Farming was in his blood.
He was the fourth of five sons born to James and Myra (nee Hanger) and spent his early years on the farm in the Manuherikia Valley.
His mother died when he was 5, and when Frank was 8 his father married his late wife’s sister, ‘‘as they did in those days’’, Frank’s son, Michael, said.
‘‘It wasn’t uncommon . . . what often happened was the sisterinlaw would come around and look after the children and the next minute they’re married.’’
Frank was one of the older children in the blended family of 13 — the ‘‘second half’’ comprised seven daughters and one son, which ‘‘made up for the five sons to start with’’, Michael said.
He attended primary school in Becks before going to Waitaki Boys’ High School.
After school the 18yearold went into the Territorials and then joined the army.
Michael said his father was on final leave when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, in Japan, and the war ended.
‘‘He missed going to war, which was a good thing.
‘‘He lost two brothers in the war.’’ Both Frank’s brothers, John and George, were Lancaster bomber pilots.
Frank returned to Becks and in 1952 went overseas — ‘‘straight off the turnips’’ — for nine months, being present to see the Queen’s Coronation the next year. Then, at the age of 31, Frank returned home — his father died soon after and around the same time his sister, Myra, a nurse, introduced him to her work colleague, Jean Hughes.
Frank also started farming with his brother that same year, but ‘‘that didn’t last very long’’, Michael said.
The following year Frank bought Branches Station, near Queenstown, for £4000 and bought 400 cattle for £18 a head.
‘‘Dad bought the Branches and he decided he was going to need someone to cook for him, so he asked Mum to marry him.
‘‘I would like to think that was tongueincheek, but you’re never too sure with my old man,’’ Michael said.
The couple married the same year at St Paul’s Cathedral in Dunedin.
‘‘Mum told me . . . it was something to do with the minister not being available at the other church and they said ‘we can do it in the cathedral if you like’ and so they did.’’
Frank, who had also learnt to fly at Taieri, purchased an Auster plane but later sold it when he found a Land Rover and trailer were of far more use for transporting fence posts and wire into Branches.
According to the book Skippers:
Triumph and Tragedy Frank set about tidying up a rundown cottage on the property, installing a coal range and erecting fences for a horse paddock before driving mares and geldings up the washedout track from Skippers.
In Danny Knudson’s book, Frank said the road from Skippers had been closed for about 15 years at that time, so he struck a deal with thethen Lake County Council: if it paid for half of the road upgrade, he would cover the rest.
The council agreed.
Ultimately, Frank reformed the road and took 500 cattle to Branches but reduced the herd when the price of cattle slumped.
He later introduced 500 merino sheep to the farm but struggled to make farming there profitable.
Pests were a constant issue at Branches. Thousands of goats ate everything in sight, so the government paid deer shooters 10 shillings a tail to reduce their numbers.
But the rabbits were the biggest problem.
Once the Rabbit Board became active, so did Frank.
He worked on the road so he could truck in about 50 tonnes of carrots. After feeding the rabbits twice, arsenic was added to the bait.
The Skippers book said in one night 50,000 rabbits were killed — Frank estimated in 1955 alone half a million rabbits met the same fate.
In 1957, the couple welcomed their children, Michael and Liz, the first twins in Queenstown to be born at the old maternity hospital, latterly known as Bungy Backpackers.
Two years later, in 1959, the couple sold Branches.
Mr Knudson’s book said Frank, in 2011, was asked what had been special about farming the Branches.
‘‘The adventure, I suppose,’’ he replied.
‘‘Mustering cattle, hardships, good lessons, cold winters.
‘‘And the road.’’
Michael Mee said his father took a year off from farming after selling that station and earned a living painting the historic Kawarau Bridge, among other things.
The couple bought Kawarau Falls station, which included the foothills of the Remarkables and Peninsula Hill, from Grieve Jardine in 1960, intending to continue sheep farming on the land.
There had been a suggestion the Mees could fence the property and keep deer for people to see at close proximity, but at the time it was illegal to keep or breed deer in captivity.
However, when deer were declared a noxious animal and the government policy became total extermination, the couple immediately applied for a government licence to keep deer.
That application received almost total opposition, but the Mees persisted.
Our Place in the Sun — The Kelvin Peninsula said the couple continued lodging applications until they were eventually granted a oneyear ‘‘zoo licence’’ on the condition no feral deer were to be used.
The couple then scoured the South Island until they found eight unwanted pet deer and a fawn which was bottlefed by Mrs Mee.
In the first year, five more fawns were born and a herd was built — the only stock purchased by the Mees were breeding stags, making them the first deer farmers in New Zealand.
‘‘The Forest Service used to walk around our fences and make sure they were all good, and that fencing model was used for deer farming in New Zealand,’’ Michael said.
It was Christmas Day 1966 when the deer park was finally opened to the public with deer and goats on display and, under their licence conditions, a maximum of 25 head were kept on the property.
But, for the following two years, the Mees continued to fight the system, seeking to keep other animals on the farm, all under the watchful eye of inspectors, who visited every three months to monitor the number of stock.
The Mees continued lobbying before they closed the park voluntarily in 1971 in protest.
Almost immediately, necessary approvals were granted to enable them to keep a variety of animals, George Singleton’s book said.
Honesty feed stations were established so visitors could purchase food to feed the animals and Deer Park Heights became a popular tourist attraction, at its peak catering for about 60 car loads of people a day and up to 400 bus visitors a month.
Ultimately, the park grew to nearly 1000 red and fallow deer, alpaca, Himalayan tahr, llama, bison, yaks, donkeys, goats, miniature horses, kunekune pigs and ducks.
Eventually, in August 2009, the Mees closed the park to the public — Frank told the Otago Daily Times at the time the couple were ‘‘getting too old, so we’re giving up’’.
Peninsula Hill was also used as a backdrop for television commercials and movies, including Lord of The
Rings and XMen Origins: Wolverine.
A Korean prison was built in 1986 for the Walt Disney movie The Rescue and after the film crew left Frank sought to turn the prison into a restaurant, but permission was refused by the Queenstown Lakes District Council.
Frank also battled the council over developing residential sections on his land.
‘‘He was probably antiauthority. He didn’t like to be told what to do by anybody,’’ Michael said.
‘‘Dad tried several times to do a new subdivision and got bureaucrated out of it, or he just wasn’t willing to go by their rules.’’
Ultimately, Frank developed only 117 sections out of more than 1000. Michael said he had to talk his father into developing his latest 17lot subdivision, The Peninsula.
A talented sportsman he also spent time on the golf course — playing off a five handicap — and gave a section to the Queenstown Golf Club to auction when it developed the Kelvin Heights course in the 1970s.
Frank was also a founding member of the curling club.
‘‘He was very good at sport — he probably could have gone to rep level, especially in tennis, but he never did because he was always too busy working,’’ Michael said.
He is survived by his wife Jean, children Liz and Michael and five grandchildren.