The Glens Of Tekoa

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30325, 28 December 1963, Page 3

The Glens Of Tekoa

By the Braes of Balquether. By Shona Mcßqe: With Drawings by Brownie Davison. Printed for the author by the Pegasus Press. 103 pp.

The author of this book printed “for private circulation” and limited to an edition of 400 copies, is a descendant of William Mcßae, pioneer runholder of the Amuri County whose original homestead at the Glens of Tekoa, built about 1859, is still standing. The copy of an official document of the Nelson Provincial Council of 1864 shown on page 35 of the book reveals that the Glens of Tekoa property by then was stocked with 11,000 Merinos, and that it consisted of 22,522 acres of freehold and 83,000 leasehold. A noticeable feature of the book is its wealth of old photographs depicting life on the property from the days of the horse and buggy to those of the station waggon. These photographs and the quotations from station diaries interspersed throughout the book certainly give it a flavour of old times. The supporting narrative is in the nature of historical jottings that mirror the countless activities qf the station round. It contains a good deal of verse compiled by the author and intended to recapture something of the past. One of the plates depicts the "Glens of Tekoa Station Diary” lying open at the page headed “November 10th, 1865.” It is a stout looking diary written in a bold, clear hand, and has already been drawn upon by W. J. Gardner in his book, ‘‘Amuri: a County History.” Only a few meagre quotations from it appear in the book under review. It is the sort of diary that the Canterbury historian would give anything to lay his hands on, and the author is to be commended for bringing it out into the light of day. In her acknowledgements, Mr Gardner’s initials are wrongly given as J. W„ and on page 40 of the book the initials of Travers should read W. T. L. instead of W. L. T. The book is handsomely produced and has a coloured frontispiece depicting “a view from the Mandamus river towards the homestead.”