Pioneer, Aged 87, Awaits Rain

Northern Advocate, 25 January 1939, Page 11

Pioneer, Aged 87, Awaits Rain

Eighty-seven years old, Mrs Florence Gertrude Hedditch is waiting in Whangarei for rain at Kerikeri. C With her daughter, Mrs C. Moutray, and Mr Moutray, late of Wellington, Mrs Hedditch is to. make her home in a new house at Kerikeri. Owing to the dry weather, there is no water in the tanks of their new home. In the meantime, they are the guests of Mrs Hedditch’s son, Mr C. H. G. Hedditch, Hatea Street, Whangarei, where they have been staying for the past month. Eighty-Seven Yesterday. Mrs Hedditch celebrated her 87th birthday yesterday, the occasion being marked by a family re-union, attended by sons and daughters from various parts of New Zealand. The central feature was a birthday cake bearing 87 candles, made - by Mrs J. Perrow, Pembroke, Lake Wanaka. - Remarkable Lady. * :. j

Typical of New Zealand’s hardy pioneers, Mrs Hedditch is a remarkable little lady. She was in fine fettle when approached by a “Northern Advocate” representative yesterday afternoon, and her looks completely belied her age. .

“I have never had a day’s illness in my life,” she declared. She is. an avid reader, and reads books, letters and papers without her glasses (when her family will let her). She corresponds freely, and receives and .posts letters, every day. Fine knitting -and crochet work are child’s play to her. She is very active and fond of walking, and can often ’ outlast her sons and daughters in this respect. Liked Flying.

Four years' ago she had her ’first aeroplane, flight. “I liked it so much that I did not want to- come down again,’' she said gaily. She is fond of travel, and only six years ago returned alone from a sojourn in Tasmania.

She has travelled extensively throughout New Zealand, and withstood a recent one day’s journey from Taranaki *to Auckland remarkably well.

“Cars are my favourite form of travel,” she says. Mrs Hedditch can look back over a long, strenuous and useful life.

Born in Swansea, Wales, she came to Melbourne with her parents, the late Mr and Mrs John Robert Frith, when only three years old, the journey by sailing vessel occupying six months. The family settled in Tasmania. \ 1 . Married at 17. When not quite 17 she met the late Mr E. C. Hedditch, a New Zealander who was visiting Tasmania. Only one boat a year plied between the South Island and Tasmania in those days, and the courtship was swift. The happy pair returned to New Zealand on the vessel on which Mr Hedditch had left New Zealand.

Lake Shipping Service. They settled at Pembroke, on, the shore of Lake Wanaka, where Mr Hedditch established his lake shipping service with the Royal Mail paddle steamer Theodore and a small launch. It was a hard life. The nearest doctor was at Queenstown, 77 miles away across the Crown Ranges, impassable for six months of the year because of snow. Under these conditions Mrs Hedditch raised a family of five sons and five daughters. In the meantime Mr Hedditch plied his lake steamer service, transporting wool from lakeside sheep stations and other goods. Ratting Timber. Once a week lie rafted 75,000 feet of sawn timber, tied together in one huge bulk with flax, down the Clutha river from its lake source to Cromwell, 33 miles away. At the destination, he unpacked and stacked the timber, and then walked 33 miles until picked up by a trap. He would arrive home at 11 p.m. on the same day. At one stage rabbits so overran the lakeside country that sheep could no longer bo supported owing to the shortage of grass. Mr Hedditch was busily employed transporting sheep from the stricken areas by means of punts. Homestead Burned. After 30 years of residence at Pembroke. the Hedditch home was de*

stroycd by lire, and the family removed to Wanganui, where they took up farming. About 14 years ago Mr Hedditch died, and Mrs. Hedditch later made her home in Tasmania for a period. Of recent years she has been living in Wellington. Large Family.

| Four sons and five daughters of her I family are still living. They arc: Mrs W. Thomson, Pembroke; Mrs E. Knowles, Queenstown, Lake Wakatipu; Salmon. Launceston, Tasmania: Mrs J, Per row, Pembroke; and Mrs C. Moutray, late of Wellington; and Messrs Ernest Hedditch, Auckland; Lionel Hedditch, Stratford; Gor-

[ don Hedditch. Whangarei; and, Ivan I Hedditch. Wanganui'. The eldest son. Mr Charlton Hedditch, died a few years ago. There arc also 17 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Family and Church. Throughout her life Mrs Hedditch has centred her greatest interest in her family. Her other principal activity has been in the Church of England, and '!?he was organist in the Pembroke Church for 25 years, a duty which is now being carried on by one of her daughters.