Queenslander revisits old home town

Mrs. Elizabeth Mina Zahl, of Gayndah, Queensland, is making an extended stay in New Zealand, having come over for the school jubilee celebrations.

Older Kaitaia people may remember her as a member of the Denny family.

This is her third visit back to Kaitaia since she left in 1916 to join the rest of the family, who had moved to Gleneden in Queensland in 1912. At that time Gleneden must have been smaller than Kaitaia, having a total of eight families living in the area.

Gayndah, situated 120 miles from the coast and 260 from Brisbane, has an equal population to Kaitaia at present, and is the centre of the citrus growing area of Queensland.

Mrs. Zahl related her beginning as a dairy farmer with a herd of three cows which, in due course, was enlarged to 85.

These were all milked by hand with the assistance of her children. Conditions of climate in her area are of vivid contrasting temperatures and long periods of drought.

Recently, drought conditions prevailed for eight years and for periods as long as 13 months at times water had to be transported by tractor over long distances to keep the herds from dying.

Mrs. Zahl remembers that her grandfather took the first passengers from Awanui to Auckland on the “Swallow,” which was owned by the Subritzkys. This was before the time of the “Clansman” and “Apanui.”

In 1902, at the age of eight, she started school at Mangatete, but soon changed to Kaitaia, where her first teacher was Mr. Blakey.

Early memories of Kaitaia School include a wire gadget designed and