Triumph and tragedy in the hills
TA book about Haldon Station tells more than just the history of another high country run in the Mackenzie – it is also a story of pioneers, their innovation, courage, and fortitude, living through two world wars, market crashes, rabbit plagues, droughts and loss. Rachael Comer reports.
he sense of history was so strong at Haldon Station, when Mary Hobbs first visited it she said she could almost feel the stories of the past etched into the walls of the old buildings.
For 165 years the station has been a place successive generations of New Zealanders have called home.
Haldon Station in the Mackenzie, has a boundary adjacent to the eastern side of Lake Benmore, and extends up to the Kirkliston Range, and is 69.6 kilometres from Fairlie and 55.8km from Takapō /Tekapo.
The turn-off is just past Burkes Pass, at a bend on State Highway 8, locally known as Dog Kennel Corner, named for the dogs used to dissuade sheep from straying across the vast adjoining boundaries in the 1800s.
And now a book on the stories of the station, Haldon – Iconic Station of the Mackenzie, has been written by award-winning Aoraki/Mt Cook-based Mary Hobbs, and commissioned by station owners, Han and Jenny Klisser, who bought the property 31 years ago.
A line in the book, from Hobbs, perhaps best describes the sense of history she felt when she visited the station for the first time: ‘‘The tack shed for horse harnesses and saddles, the wool shed, and the homestead are all well over 100 years old – they all had their stories.’’.
The book, Hobbs’ ninth, was two years in the making and involved many hours of research, including poring over handwritten journals from the station’s former owners and farmworkers.
Hobbs said it was an honour to read through the journals, and she came to know the writers through their daily entries.
She also felt privileged to hear the stories of those living who had grown up on Haldon and continued to hold it in their hearts.
The farm diaries included detailed notes – when artichokes were first planted, the many varieties of fruit trees that were established, bees kept for honey, fish delivered to Stony Creek and cows kept for butter, cream and milk.
The extremes in temperature of the Mackenzie Country were frequently noted.
Hobbs contacted many people for the book – including members of the Innes family.
The Innes’ first connection with the station began in 1911, when James Innes purchased the lease on Stony Creek Block.
In 1919, he purchased the lease on the Kirkliston Block and the Homestead Block, and also Black Forest.
He retired in 1954, although his sons, Ian and Allen had both been running it with him since the mid1940s.
Through her detailed conversations with the families, Hobbs said she developed a bond with some members of the family that remain special.
‘‘It was very important for me to relay their stories accurately. It is a very sensitive experience to share and entrust another with precious, deeply-felt family memories. I cared about this very much, and wanted to get it right.’’
The book also mentions the tragedies the family faced when Daniel Innes, eldest son of Belinda and James, was killed on December 19, 1998, aged 26, in a helicopter crash on Tiburon Island, Mexico.
Just under 10 years later, on July 19, 2008, James and 30-year-old son Andrew died, when the helicopter James was flying, crashed near Price, Utah, in the American west.
The book’s stories also took in two world wars, rabbit plagues, drought, crashing markets, family achievements and tragedies, as well as the highs and lows of lives lived in a remote area.
Hobbs uncovered photographs and maps of the station dating from the 1850s to the present that were also used in the book.
She said it was important the stories of Haldon were told and kept alive.
‘‘Haldon’s history mirrors part of our history and who we are as New Zealanders, and today, it is more important than ever that these stories are kept alive.
‘‘Passion, creativity and persistence were at the forefront as well. All of the owners were passionate about the land, and focused on caring for it, and making it the best it could be.’’
Almost all the people that took up the leases of these stations began with no money, and had to scrape together enough for the deposit, she said.
‘‘They were incredible.
‘‘If only more New Zealanders had the knowledge of the history of our pioneers and the understanding of the effort it took – it was a huge undertaking, whether on a high country station, a farm or in a city.
‘‘The foundations of all of our cities and industry began with the pioneers.
In 1857, Dutch pioneer brothers Frederick and Thomas Teschemaker, and their mother, Henrietta, lay claim to a more than 8093ha run in the Mackenzie Country.
By the time Henrietta Teschemaker boarded the Royal Stuart, from England, for the threemonth journey to New Zealand, she had been married and widowed twice, and had raised four children.
Her two youngest Frederick, 21, and Thomas, 15, made the journey with her.
The bold move to a foreign country was initiated by Henrietta’s late husband Frederick Teschemaker, who planned to initially make the journey with his oldest son. However, tragedy struck when Frederick died on September 26, 1853.
Land was sighted on January 3, 1855.
Journals show on November 12, 1857, the family, ‘‘Took up the Country – Haldon’’.
Run 225, was more than 8093ha, named by the Teschemakers after the Haldon Hills of Devon where the boys spent their childhood.
On May 7, 1859 Frederick laid the first sods of Haldon hut, and they built up the station over the next decade.
Then, on January 20, 1868, the family left Haldon for good.
Hobbs described the Teschemaker brothers as ‘‘fine examples of the early New Zealand pioneering spirit’’, arriving with little in the way of money or farming skills, but making up for it with enthusiasm, strength, courage and a willingness to work hard.
Both Frederick and Tom were community-minded. Frederick was a member of the local Road Board, a member of the South Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club, the national Steeplechase Club, the South Canterbury Jockey Club and the Burkes Pass Sloggers cricket team. He later represented the district at the Provincial Council and was a member of Parliament for the Gladstone District in the House of Representatives from 1876 to 1878.
William Cuningham-Smith, John Wallace and George Dennistoun took up the station over the next 10 years and rollicked through the decade with a combination of hard work and fun, selling for a profit, just before a slump in prices.
The Pringles followed and were hit by an explosion of rabbits. After a tough decade, they sold to the Preston family. Their journeys cover more than one generation, riveting stories, and three chapters in the book.
The Innes family’s first investment in a lease on part of Haldon began in 1911. In 1919, the remaining leases were taken up, including Black Forest Station. Their tenure has been the longest to date.
Paddy Boyd has worked at Haldon for four decades and been manager at the station for most of them.
Han Klisser arrived in New Zealand in 1951 with £15 to his name.
Born in Holland in 1927, he grew up in Amsterdam with his parents and younger brother Leo, none of whom survived World War II.
Han liked New Zealand and had a go at everything – a job at a department store, a glass-works factory, a waiter, a labourer, and he also sold photos, and worked at a sock factory.
He then found a temporary job working as a chauffeur, driving a wealthy man on a tour of the country.
When they arrived in Wellington, he fell into conversation with a Dutch chef, and after enquiring with him about business opportunities, the chef advised that if Han wanted to go into business he should get into a bakery because ‘‘the bread here is terrible’’.
This set about a period of hard work and sheer determination for Han – he learnt how to make bread and took a job with a bakery owned by his dentist friend Dr Reizenstein and his wife.
Han earned an extra commission on every loaf he sold, until one day he was told the commission was costing too much.
By then he had scraped together enough money to purchase his own bakery.
He then met his future with Janna (known as Jenny), marrying in December 1956, and together they worked hard, putting everything into the success of their business.
Over time the couple constantly reinvented their business, and in 1965, at an international trade fair in Europe, Han entered into a gentleman’s agreement with the licensee for Vogel’s Bread, which authorised Klisser Farmhouse Bakeries to bake Vogel’s bread in New Zealand for a small royalty.
He also signed a franchise agreement with a large supermarket chain in The Netherlands, in 1987.
In 1991, Klisser Farmhouse Bakeries was sold to Goodman, Fielder and Wattie.
When the Klissers began their bakery in the 1950s, they were making 1200 loaves per week – when they sold their business they were making in excess of 500,000 loaves of bread a week, including Vogel’s bread.
Han was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to baking in 2004.
Looking for a new adventure, the couple were invited to view Haldon Station, and after lunch and dinner there, decided to buy it on the condition the Haldon homestead block was made freehold prior to the sale.
On the first day after the sale was completed, Han asked station manager Paddy Boyd to make a note in the farm diary that he and Jenny wanted nothing from the Haldon property and that all income from the station was to be reinvested in it.
Just as they did with their quality bread, the Klissers found the key to successful farming was good water, high quality feed, the best quality stock and excellent management.
Han and Jenny also knew water was paramount for the station, and the expansion of pivot irrigation by the Klissers, and the Boyds, was started in 2010.
This has turned arid, dry wasteland, infested by hieracium and rabbits, into productive paddocks full of feed for the stock, with the addition of trees for shade and shelter.
It has also enabled the station to become self-sufficient, as the necessary stock feed is grown on the station and the stock can be directly sold to the market, cushioning it from drought and, combined with high quality mixes of grass, has increased the stock quality.
Improvements to the farm have included substantial work and expenditure on riparian fencing, shingle race-beds and riparian planting to trap sediment and nutrient run-off.
The Klissers, along with other station owners in the area, have also ensured Haldon School remains open, with a teacher so children can stay at home during their primary school years. The school has a roll of four.
Hobbs said she retained a deep respect for the Klissers and was honoured to tell their inspirational story. Haldon – Iconic Station of the Mackenzie is available in all good bookstores and also from Haldon Station.