Staked family’s future on the flip of a coin

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 17

Staked family’s future on the flip of a coin

By

TUI THOMAS

Anna Hayes lived In Kurow most of her life and often .thought someone should write a history of the district. The opportunity came to record part of it herself as the centenary approached of the Hayes family’s pastoral run, Normanvale, in the Hakataramea Valley. Last month her book, •'From the Toss of a Coin,” was published by Pegasus as her contribution to . the centenary, which will be celebrated at Normanvale on Easter Saturday. The former Arma Chapman, who married the grandson of the founder of Normanvale (Alpheus Hayes), came from a pioneer Kurow family herself. She knows this area of South Canterbury well, has a liking for history and a deep affection for the sheep station where she and her husband (also named Alpheus) brought up their family. She began her painstaking research seven years ago. continuing her work after she moved to Christchurch with her husband when he retired from Normanvale in 1973.

"I enjoyed writing the

book,” she says, "but it was heavy going at times. I really got myself lost when searching old titles in the Lands and Survey Department.” Anna Hayes is a thorough person who takes a task seriously. She went through old station accounts, wage books, family documents, letters and old newspaper files, consulted records in lib-

raries and museums. “It was a lot of work, but I had to be accurate.”

She had many a chuckle during her research. “I came across little incidents that really made me laugh — things that I could not put into print,” she says. A pity, perhaps, for the sake of the story. But Mrs Hayes did not want to risk hurting or offending descendants by “telling tales” on their forbears. She has succeeded in writing the story with warmth and understanding of people who cared about each other and for the land they developed.

“From the Toss of a Coin” is so named because

Alpheus Hayes flipped a shilling when standing on the chilly Glasgow wharves in 1871 to help him decide which of two ships'he would board after a holiday in Scotland to restore his health. Heads for New Zealand; tails for home to his parents in Nova Scotia, Canada. Heads it was. So he boarded the New Zealand-bound China tea-

clipper, Wild Deer, where he met Anna Kezia Groves, whom he married in - Dunedin three years later.

Alpheus Hayes was already a successful timber miller when he bought 3000 acres of rolling tussock land at Hakataramea in 1878 and named it Normanvale after a brother. Today the pastoral run is farmed by his great-grand-son, Garfield Hayes. The Hayes family and their land have survived depressions, droughts, debts, rabbit infestation and snowstorms — and prospered. Successive owners have shared good times and lean years with their

employees In the kindly atmosphere of an isolated, interdependent community. Hundreds of men, women and their children have lived on Normanvale in the past century. And it is pretty abvious, from reading the book, that members of the Hayes family had social consciences, were hospitable and generous. The Normanvale hostel,

home to many workers on the property from 1938, was described officially as one of the best in New Zealand and there are many incidents told by the author which show strong bonds of affection between employers and workers.

“From the Toss of a Coin” presents an integral part of Kurow’s history, written in an unpretentious style that will appeal to city dwellers as well as to the people who will take part in the Normanvale centenary.

Mrs Hayes did not know last week exactly how many guests would attend the service at St Stephen’s Church in Kurow on March 25 and

the social gathering to be held in a large implement shed on the farm. But she believed the number would “run into the hundreds,” including descendants of the Normanvale family, their employees, and business associates. Afternoon tea will be a lavish spread, typical of wbat Hayes family grandmothers and great-grand-mothers laid on for visitors. "The local church women who are doing the catering have already planned 25 to 30 different dishes,” Anna Hayes says. Hospitality is a tradition at Normanvale, a “muchused home.” Garden parties to raise funds for community efforts, wedding receptions, and large family Christmas parties have helped make up its W’ay of life. Many of these occasions have been recorded in a display of old photographs of family, farm, and district events, mounted by Anna Hayes for the centenary. And she has used many historic photographs in her book, as well as a 1910 sketch map of Normanvale and other nearby runs, a family tree, and a list of emnlovees from 1883 The book of 147 pages is priced at $6.