Jack Lovelock oak inspires exhibition
A tree gifted by Adolf Hitler that is growing in Timaru has inspired an exhibition of others dating back to the same Olympic Games over 80 years ago.
Hitler gifted oak saplings to the 130 gold medal winners at the 1936 Olympic Games, with New Zealander Jack Lovelock receiving one for winning the 1500 metres.
Lovelock’s oak is planted at Timaru Boys’ High School (TBHS).
Whisperings about Timaru’s ‘‘scary Hitler oak tree’’ during photographer Ann Shelton’s childhood inspired her to traverse Europe finding other trees with the same murky past.
‘‘Local young children often talk about the scary Hitler oak tree.
‘‘It was years later that I thought of the tree again and asked permission to photograph it.’’
Eleven of these trees are the subject of her exhibition at the Christchurch Art Gallery, although she has captured 27 more.
‘‘It’s one of those stories that starts off local - particular to a place - and ends up global.’’
Lovelock was a pupil at TBHS from 1924-28, becoming Dux and boxing champion in his final year, and picked the school to house his prize.
The tree became sickly during its boat trip to New Zealand and was planted at the Christchurch Botanical Gardens until 1941, when it was healthy enough to be transported to the school.
Jeff Elston, who went to TBHS during the mid-1970s, remembers the tree when it was smaller but it was not until he started work at the school’s Memorial Library that he started to appreciate it.
‘‘For me, it didn’t have the reverences it does now,’’ Elston said.
‘‘Now it’s incorporated into the learning at the school.’’
Elston said the trees thrive best in the Northern Hemisphere, but when a German scientist doing a thesis on them visited the Lovelock oak she was impressed.
‘‘It was one of the healthiest species she’d seen. The tree here has survived rather well.’’
The scientist estimated that the Lovelock oak could grow 36m taller and live another 700 years, Elston said.
Timber from the tree has been used in trophy bases and coasters.
‘‘Nothing goes to waste that comes from that tree.’’
Students had been taking acorns from the tree since the 1950s and planting them around New Zealand, he said.
‘‘We have a large boarding facility at the school and a lot of farm boys took the acorns home.’’
Elston is currently the curator of the Memorial Library, also working as an archivist there.
‘‘The library has the largest repository of Jack Lovelock memorabilia in the world.’’
South Canty rivers could rise
South Canterbury rivers could rise rapidly on Tuesday as the result of heavy rain predicted along the main divide on Monday night.
MetService has issued a severe weather watch for Canterbury headwaters, in place until Tuesday 9am.
Tekapo-Twizel Rd crashes
Two crashes occurred on TekapoTwizel Rd (State Highway 8) on Sunday and Monday. In the first, two people were hospitalised. Emergency services were called to SH8, between Tekapo Canal and Hayman Roads just before 6:30pm on Sunday, a police spokesman said. One of the vehicles involved in the crash, a silver four-wheel-drive, had rolled onto its roof, he said. A St John spokesman said one person was flown to Dunedin Hospital and another driven to Timaru Hospital, both with serious injuries. It was unclear whether the patients had been travelling in the same vehicle, he said. In the second, one person was trapped in a vehicle after a two-car crash near Mt Cook. Emergency services were called to Tekapo-Twizel Rd, near the Mt Cook turnoff, just before 10:45am, a Fire and Emergency New Zealand spokesman said. The person was removed from the vehicle and flown to Dunedin Hospital by helicopter, a St John spokesman said.
Water shutdown
The Mackenzie District Council will shut off water in Twizel between 10:30pm on Wednesday and 3am on Thursday to enable the council’s contractor to carry out maintenance. The council said on their Facebook page that the water supply may be restored earlier than advised if the work is completed sooner.
Caravan loses control
The driver and passenger of a vehicle towing a caravan were taken to hospital with moderate injuries on Sunday, after the vehicle which was travelling on Cave-Albury Rd lost control at about 1.20pm. St John media liaison Elliot Steel said two patients were transported from the crash to Timaru Hospital. Members of the Pleasant Point fire brigade also attended the scene.