THE HEATHER BLOWS ANEW

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 308, 28 December 1940, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE HEATHER BLOWS ANEW

THE Battle of Culloden, that crowning blow to tlie Stiiart hopes in tljp land wbicli was once their kingdom, had strange results. One of them was a '"little Scotland" hi a green island which at that time was over twenty years away from discovery. On the heels of that battle came the Highland clearances, for it was thought necessary to break U|> the feudal clan system which bred so much close-knit loyalty amidst the Scots people. The severities of the clearances gradually depopulated the country; the humble folk were turned out of their little crofts where their ancestors had lived and died for generations, and the land was converted into deer, parks, sheep runs, all the things most valuable to wealthy landlords. The Highland clearances, the dispersion of the clans have been wailed often enou*>h by the pipers and the poets of Scotland, starvation followed homelessu.-ss, and at h|st for many there was little to do but die or emigrate. And then Jicgan, on ii small scale. a duplication of that Gaelic exodus which bad populated the British Isles, and Ireland, so many thousands of years before. Once more the ('ftp! fared forth to all parts of that New World which seemed to them tp offer less hunger anil despair than did their own. Meantime, an earliest young minister of Assynt. Norman MpLeod, had beep watching the misfortunes of his people with pitying eyes. In 181". when Europe was yet recovering from the enormous debts and i.'sses of the Napoleonic Wars, and when the Emperor himself, without country or people, was already a sick, discouraged man on his prison isle of St. Helena. Norman McLeod and 11 lar<re poj-tion of hi.s Hoc!.; sailed away from their misty homeland to Nova Scotia. There, for thirty years, they tried to wrest a living from the wilderness. How hare) and difficult it was! (.raduajly farms sprang out of the barren land, but all the colonists managed to do w : as to keep themselves from starvation. The climate, the poor ground . . . everything was against them. Still they struggled on. and f'lP little settlement of St. Anns lifetime a close-knit popimui|ity. And thpn, after those difficult thirty years, the minister, now an old man. indomitably decided that the* - could not leave their children this heritage of labour and need that had l>epn theirs. They must fiipl anqther home. This decision sprang "Ut. of a letter written by one of his sons, resident in Australia. The letter spoke so glowingly of the climate, the fertility, t)ie prospects of thjs sun-bashed continent of the south. According to t]|p Scots temperament, a quick decision was pf course impossible. The pros aj|d cons of*the whoje venture were cautiously weighed, hut. ill spite of those thirty heart-breaking years of pioneering, the agreement to leave St. Ann's and try anew in a yout|gpr land was almost unanimous. Frqni 1851 to 1859. six ships left Nova Scotia. Thpy were built., manped and prftyisjpned by the settler* themselves. Tt js a long way from. N°va Sppti a to Australia, yet those little ships came across the stretches, pf ocean without a loss. The voyagp took nearly sjx mpnt,hs. Norman McLeod was then 71, a stprn, "white-hajred o|d P! a n wjio faepd any hardship without a treinor. last Apstl'f'lia was reachecj. Some of t]ip sett)Prß ?"PTfl&ined. but to the ma,jprjty another thousand miles pr mprp was a small obstacle if, as some said. New Zealayd offered wore to tl|e quegtinjr pipnepr t)I3H did her continent sister. And so tl|p jjttte ships made their slow way to New Zealand. AJ, this tlpie niost of the Nova Scotians spoke Oaelic only. That however, did not prevent them negotiating with tl|p Government fpr land- Jn 18-itf settlement in Npvy Zealand was rapidly increasing. l|t|t not as yet extensive, so tNPI'P was a wide lieJd pf PURiee. They at last settled PU Ibe green Mile a"'l splendid sea cpi)s>t of Waipii, and the St. Ann's folks at last had a new and permanent fiPS»P-

In the early 'sixties there were 1000 Gaelic-speaking folk in Waipu and the surrounding country, and it is now regarded as the centre of Scots activities in Xew Zealand. The*spirit which had brought them across the world, soon converted lovely Waipn into an even lovelier farming district. There were no plough*, lint there were strong and willing arms. They fenced with rail fences. sowed their -wheat, harvested it with th'-« sickle, threshed it with Hails, and winnowed it by pouring from a pan to the ground, preferably in windy weather. Less than three years alter their arrival the Waipu crofters exported large iiuantities of wheat to Auckland. Auckland, by the way. was always their chief export centre. They built their own ships and traded with the city on the Waitcmata. They say that Highlanders grow best on oatmeal, potatoes and milk, like the Irish.peasant, and in the fir*t days of the settlement -his was often the staple diet. Hut the generous land provi led food, too. There were wild pigeons, wild pigs, wild honey, innumerable eels, and plentiful fishing grounds (the Hen and' Chickens, for example i. Of course, the women made their own cheese, bntter and curds, this latter being a form of impressed cheese. The housewife cooked (>n the usual pioneer arrangements, camp ovens, three-legged pots and boilers. Her firewood whs quick-burning rata, taraire, manuka. The Waipn women quickly liecaroe famous cooks. Their prowess in this ait was most notable at the frolics, so they say. This delightful word was a left-over from America, and it meant "working bee." The system of exchange of labour was very much in vogue among the crofters. Thus seasonal work beeame easier for the smaller families. Felling, stumping, burning—all the processes necessary to convert hushla,nd into farmland—were evenly shared. Stumping, by the way. was then done with the axe. the crowbar and human strength! One of the favourite frolics was a carding bee. Waipn has always been famous for its wopj, and at various periods it lias been famous for woollen articles, such as socks. Waipu socks were usually grey, this colour l>eing contrived from a mixture of natural black and white wool. Apparently Waipu was one place where the black sheep was prized. Strangely enough, the Canadian type of log cabin was never introduced. The first nikau-roofed whares were replaced by slabwalled houses with shingle roofs. There were huge chimneys of timber, lined with stone or clay, and on the open fire the housewife cooked her meals. For the mattresses the children went out collecting mingi-mingi. that springy vine, or bulrush down. Blankets were mainly those, brought from Nova Spotia. How many things these settlers had to do! The days were Beyer long enough, and they had to work by moonlight. For recreatipn in the old days the yojjnger people had dancing, and the merry reel and schotti-sehe were often danced to the music of a viql|n\st or wandering for, strange as it seems, Waipu had po piper of its own. The Sabbath was strictly kept, and the men clung to the American custom o.f wearing a frock coat and silk hat. oq that- day of rest. Vet on the other days of the week an easy informality reigned; the store unofficial club, and the frolic was always a source of fun and amusement. "Home"' to most of us means England, even though we are perhaps of Welsh or Irish descent. But the- Waipu crofters had two '"homes" —Scotland and Nova Scotia. For they preserve almost ec|i)a] loyalty for the country where their ancestors and clansmen rose for the Bonnie Prince two centuries past, and the little misty land diic south of Labrador, which two generations ago their people strove so bitterly to colonise. >Vaipii is still intensely Scots—hardworking, loyal, hospitable, truly the land of a hundred thousand welcqmes—"Cead Mile Failte,*'