Passionate about Stewart Island’s future
With a population of fewer than 400 people, an island at the bottom of a small pacific nation might not be everyone’s first thought of a place to make a life.
But for Stewart Island Rakiura Community Board chairman Jon Spraggon, there’s no other place like it. ‘‘We’re not isolated,’’ he said. ‘‘[The residents have] hunting, the outdoors, the sea right on their back doorstep.’’
Before serving on the community board, Spraggon had a long history in the education sector.
After qualifying as a teacher at the Hamilton Teachers’ College more than a few years ago, Spraggon, originally from the central North Island, made the move to Southland.
‘‘They [fellow students from the south] convinced me that Southland was the place to be,’’ he said. He never looked back. Apart from a seven year period in Wanaka as deputy principal of a primary school, he has called the island home for the past 24 years.
He was principal of the primary school on the island for two years, before trading the classroom for the wharf, and now serves as the Real Journeys’ ferry terminal supervisor.
Recently re-elected as chairman of the Stewart Island Rakiura Community Board, it is his third term as chair, and fourth on the board.
The unique lifestyle was the best thing about the island, he said.
While he enjoyed holidaying in the big cities, the peaceful relaxed shores of the island were always a sight for sore eyes upon his return.
The island had a resident population of about 380 people, and whether you are involved with the community or not, it was still a community, Spraggon said.
‘‘There have been people come here and had to move off,’’ he said.
It might sound ominous but Spraggon said the community were a good group of people who always knew how to pull together in times of need.
‘‘If something goes wrong … People who mightn’t really like someone but they all come along and help,’’ he said.
For the island, tourism is a double-edge sword.
While residents and businesses are welcoming more and more tourists, Spraggon was concerned the island’s facilities could suffer in the near future, trying to keep up with the demand.
‘‘We’ve got narrow roads and we lack some of the basic facilities,’’ he said.
‘‘We can cater for people on walking tracks but that lacks depth in the sense that we don’t have a lot of activities.’’
While the mostly owneroperated businesses were able to deal with the usual cruise ship numbers of about 140 people, it was the bigger ones with passenger number around 600 which could sometimes cause a bit of stress.
Spraggon also thought there needed to be an effort made to extend out the tourist season into its shoulder periods, as there were still visitors coming during those times.
More businesses were required to do that, and the island had seen a couple pop up during the past while, including a jade carver, but a wider variety of businesses needed to open.
‘‘It’s hard to open a restaurant when it’s only going to be viable for five months of the year,’’ he said.
Upon arriving on the island, sometimes tourists would find businesses shut down with owners away for the off-season.
‘‘We’ve got tourists coming but they can’t do anything,’’ he said.
‘‘Yet winter is actually a good time on the island.’’
Retaining the island’s character in the midst of tourism was important to him and other residents, as it was the friendliness of the people and the yarns tourists had with them down at the pub which was unique.
‘‘[Tourists] like going to sit down at the hotel and the talking with the locals … It’s those types of things we need to preserve,’’ he said.
‘‘But in doing it we need to increase the population because the basic population is too low.’’
The way of the future for the island, then, is in its next generation, an issue which Spraggon felt very strongly about.
‘‘We don’t have a high school, so the kids go away and they don’t come back,’’ he said.
In recent times there was a little light at the end of the tunnel, with more young families coming to, and staying to live on, the island.
‘‘In the past when children have gone to high school, we’ve lost the whole family,’’ he said.
He had seen an uptake in the past couple of years of high school students taking up boarding options at Invercargill schools.
‘‘It just puts another age group onto the island,’’ he said.