Volunteer soldier at 54, breaking in land at 77

Press, 28 July 1976, Page 22

Volunteer soldier at 54, breaking in land at 77

Mr Edward Arnott Anderson. who died recentlv at the age of 89. was a man of great energv and enthusiasm When most people would have been happy to he ''□joying a we'l-eamed retirement. he took up an abandoned property on Bank' Peninsula at the age cf 77 and proceeded to bring it back into production At the start of World War If he considerably reduced his age to be able to go overseas to serve in the Middle East with the Second New Zealand expeditionary Force. Mr Anderson was the son of Mr Andrew Anderson, and the grandson of Mr John Anderson, who came to Canterbury in 1850 in the Sir George Seymour and set up the firm which was known in Christchurch for many years as Andersons. Ltd. Mr John Anderson was an early Mayor of Christchurch Educated at Christ’s College. and Rangiora High School for a time when his parents were overseas. Mr Arnott Anderson began work on a property up the Rakaia River before going to the 500,000-acre St Helens station in the northern part of the province in 1905 as a roustabout. WORK ON VIADLCT Subsequently he worked for a while on a station in the North Island before joinng the family firm, which was then building the Makatoki viaduct in the King Country, one of the largest viaducts in the Southern Hemisphere. He began as a riveter’s mate, or boy. While in the King Country he became interested in farming in the district and. with a brother, drew a Crown block of about 800 acres of pumice country near Taumarunui. A sawmill was established on the property and through his energy Tutamai was cleared of bush and scrub and from carry - ing no stock was developed to the point where it was carrying two sheep to the act* and a cattle beast to three acres. He was one of the first to use superphosphate in

th* K.ng Country and established a stud of the dual purpose Red Poll breed of cattle which was extended to the stage where he had 100 breeding cows and at his annual disp enishing sale cattle went to all parts of the countr. He retained an affection for the breed to his death, being patron of the breed society. But as a result of the Depression in the earlv 1920 s Mr Anderson had to walk off He then managed the Feilding branch •>f the stock and station firm of Murray Roberts and Company for a number of years, including those of the slump of the 19305. Not long before the war he took up about 45,000 acres, mainly Maori leasehold, behind Taihape, and took in both sheep and cattle on grazing. WAR SERVICE In 1940 he volunteered to serve with the New Zeaand forces, reducing his age from 54 to 39 to go overseas. He went into Tren’ham camp with his son. Andrew, in the spring of 1940 and reached the Middle East towards the end of that year with the first detachment of the 4th Reinforcements. His son. Andrew, followed with the last section of the same reinforcement and another son. Derek, with the sth Reinforcements. Still another son, Anthony, served with the British forces in Europe W’th the 19th Battalion Mr Arnott Anderson saw servics in both Greece and Crete and returned to Egypt after being wounded in Crete. Subsequently he was given a job in Egypt preventing waste and returned home again in the middle of 1943. He then returned to fanning, taking up the Royal Oak property in the Hundalee, which he renamed Kalimera. a link with his service in Greece, as the name is “good morning” in Greek. When his son Derek, returned home from the war Mr Anderson took him into partnership, and for a sho-t time Andrew’ also worked for them until he took up an adjacent pro-

pertv at Ciaverley. About 1949-50 Mr Anderson and his son began using the Cheviot ram across the Romney ewe, the basis of the Perendale breed, and their Mount Guaid'an stud was established when the Perendale Sheep Society was formed, putting them in the category' of pioneer breeders of these sheep in the South Island. BACK TO LAND After 20 years Mr Anderson retired to Sumner, but after nine months the call of the land proved too strong for him and he set out to find another property. The result was that in May, 1964, at the age of 77, he took up a 346-acre property called Double Bav on Banks Peninsula, which had been abandoned three years previously and to which access could be obtained only by sea. The fences had fallen into disrepair and the house was a shambles from the depredations of birds and opossums. His second wife, who had lived in a small cottage in Suffolk, England, before their marriage in 1963, helped in the development of the property, holding a spade behind the battens while her husband drove in the nails as they refenced the property and taking part in the mustering of stock on the country, which in places was too steep and rocky and had too many underrunners for use of a horse.

At'Double Bay Mr Anderson used the Cheviot with the Merino, looking to the development of a sheep based on the two breeds. In 1971 he retired a second time, on this occasion to Diamond Harbour, where he. rewrote a book called “A Life’s Roundabout,” which he had prepared earlier about his life and his forebears. Mr Anderson is survived by his second wife and a daughter, Mrs R. T. (Judith) Lewis (Edinburgh). and three sons, Messrs A. H. (Anthony) Anderson (England). A. B. (Andrew) anderson (Ciaverley), and D. A. (Derek) Anderson (Hundalee).