Settlement looks back on its past
Scandanavians with bush skills wooed to tame rugged bush
The settlement of Norsewood began on September 24, 1872, the day 150 years ago when the first settlers arrived at the edge of Seventy Mile Bush. They came on the Hovding, 365 Norwegians and 11 Swedes the passenger list shows, deliberately one nationality so they could relate well to each other and make settling together harmonious.
On arrival they agreed to name the future settlement Norsewood representing their heritage and occupations.
Why did they come?
Prior to 1870 the route from Wellington to Hawke’s Bay was via the coast. The impediment to building a road was the impenetrable 70 Mile Bush which covered the area from Takapau to the Manawatu Gorge.
With a need to connect the two population centres the issue for the Government was how and who would help clear this land and build the road.
The Vogel Assisted Immigration Scheme provided the finance and Scandinavian people with bush skills were considered by the Government to be ideal.
The incentive was enticing: A new land and beginning — most were poor and left behind a basic subsistence living. Forty acres of land, guaranteed work for four days per week on infrastructure projects, no money required upfront, debt paid by instalment once in Norsewood and earning money.
Bror Eric Friberg, a Swede who had been living in the Hawke’s Bay for some years, was appointed to recruit immigrants and he portrayed New Zealand as a place where wages were high and the fertility of the soil unparalleled. Were they painted an honest picture? Did the settlers rely heavily on their imagination and hope for a better life?
How did they come?
On June 1, 1872 the Hovding left Norway carrying these 365 Norwegians and 11 Swedes accompanied by Friberg. A fortnight later the Ballarat left London with 79 Danes.
On September 15 the Ballarat docked at Napier, followed seven hours later by the Hovding after voyages of 90 and 108 days respectively.
The journey by sea in the Hovding was 108 days of extreme discomfort — dried preserved food, cramped conditions in the hold, candlelight only, all locked down in storms, sea sickness, competing with the plague of rats.
Why Norwegians and not Scandinavians?
The first Hovding passengers were all specially recruited to establish Norsewood and Dannevirke — 95 per cent of them were Norwegians, some Danes & Swedes. The second Hovding visit delivered a mixture of Scandinavians, some to Norsewood and Dannevirke, mostly to Makaretu.
The other immigrant boats carried
a mixture of nationalities, with a small percentage taking up sections in the bush.
In all assistance was given to 1250 Scandinavians and central
Europeans who landed through the port of Napier over a five-year period — the Vogel years.
How did the first migrants settle in?
After a brief stop at Napier it was a three-day walk to the Te Whiti clearing on the bush edge. There were 63 mainly Norwegian men who made this journey, followed two weeks later by their wives and family.
How they felt on their first night can only be imagined. From their established lives and communities of villages and towns, roads, they had travelled to the most remote land on the globe and then to one of the most remote regions in that land. The nearest civilisation was Napier, three days away.
Their 40 acres of land must have seemed a wonderful prospect before they left home. Now with the bush stretching in every direction, alone, isolated, they must have wondered what they had let themselves in for — an inescapable environment which was to dominate their lives for a generation.
They built their houses from what the bush offered, split timber or punga logs, split shingles for the roof, hammered dirt floor, open fire cooking.
The bush canopy was all encompassing, bush tracks narrow and muddy, a major fear of getting lost in the bush. All tasks were manual, including bringing in stores.
With these conditions it was no wonder that a number abandoned their sections and up to one third swapped sections. Some of the immigrants who had trades opted to abandon their allocated sections to ply their trade in civilisation.
During the voyage out many friendships had been established. This resulted in many sections not
being built on, instead they would pool their resources and build shacks alongside each other, especially where their sections met.
The only road fit for purpose was today’s main road. All other lines dividing the sections were single file muddy tracks or only marked by surveyors’ pegs.
Women had a particularly tough life. Heather Cheer writes:
“The pioneer women of Norsewood had to show huge resilience and courage when they came to this new land as the men were employed by the Government to build roads and the rail and were away from home during the week.
“This meant the women worked hard keeping their families fed, clothed and safe.They made do with meagre shelter, until a proper sawn timber house was built years later.
“As some had brought spinning wheels with them from Norway, they spun warm woollen clothes for the families.
“Water had to be carried in buckets from nearby streams until a well could be dug.˘Baths were a wooden tub situated in the wash house where the water could be heated. Eventually they progressed to a tin bath.
“After an area of land was cleared they tended vegetable gardens. The soil was very rich and things grew well, especially after a fire had deposited ash which acted as fertiliser.
“The women were responsible for milking the cow which grazed in the nearby bush and making butter which could be traded at the local store. As the bush was so dense a bell was tied around the cow’s neck so she could be found.
“The nearest˘doctor was in Waipawa so it was necessary for some women to become midwives, especially as large families were common.
“They were very religious people and would walk miles to church, often heard singing hymns as they went along.
“Norwegian women were hospitable, forthright , honest, had a good sense of humour and were very hard working people.”