Mrs. Teller Great-Great Grandmother Is 98 This Day

Northern Advocate, 18 December 1942, Page 5

Mrs. Teller GreatGreat Grandmother Is 98 This Day

Of the 117 direct descendants of Mrs. Annie Telfer. of Parua Bay, Whangarei, who tqday celebrates her 98th birthday, only one—a daughter aged 70—has died of natural causes. The only other deceased members of this exceptionally long-lived family are two grandsons, one killed in the Great War and one in the Australian bush. There were 12 in Mrs. Telfer’s Own family, six girls and six boys, the eldest 79 and the youngest 60. There are 54 grandchildren and 50 greatgrandchildren, while there is one great-great-grandchild. Looking back, with unclouded mempry, Mrs Telfer has recounted the tale of her life, an epic story, which, like stories of all of New Zealand’s pioneers, is one of absorbing intetrest to the modern generation. It cannot be doubted that Mrs Telfer has made the best of a life, which, in spite of all latest innovations is fundamentally the same today. There exists today the same progressive spirit which inspired that band of settlers to leave its native shores.

Gradually changing in motion from the surge and roll of the vast Pacific to the gentler motion of the Waitemata, two ships with tiers of white sail taut on lofty masts came on October 9, 1842, to Auckland. As they swung sedately past the cone of Rangitoto. through the ever-narrowing channel, their rails were crowded by men and women getting their first glimpse of what was to be their future home. The ships were the Jane Gifford and the Duchess of Argyle. two ships that will live in the memory of Aucklanders as those that brought the first party of organised settlers from Greenock, to the pohutukawa-fringed shores of New Zealand. On board were Mr and Mrs McKinley, who shared the changing emotions of those around them, glad that they had at last arrived in a land where they might build anew, thoughtful of the new troubles and hardships that lay ahead, sad at the thought of relations left in their homeland. —to which return was a matter of months, not days, in uncomfortable sailing vessels. There were no busy wharves where the ships might tie up and disgorge their cargo, not even substantial dwelling? for the settlers to sleep and rest in, only primitive roupo huts. On October 10 the emigrants were landed at Mechanics’ Bay, where at high tide they were able to carry their baggage to the huts erected for their accommodation.

They were a fine lot of men and women, ready to take what came, but their ideas of the life in the new land must have been rudely shattererd after years of life in England’s great cities. They did not surrender in the constant battle against nature, however. and to those early pioneers do the people of New Zealand owe the prosperity and freedom they today enjoy. Parua Bay In 1864 Mr and Mrs McKinley were ' the parents of Miss Annie McKinley, now Mrs A. Telfer, of Parua Bay, Whangarei, and 98 years old. Mrs Telfer was born in Queen Street, Auckland, two years after the arrival of the emigrants. From Mrs Telfer, the words “I remember'’ sum up the history of Northland, for she has seen the rapid advance of the North for nearly a century. In 1864 she married Mr John Telfer, and the young couple took up some bush land at Rukuwai. Parua Bay, bought from Mr J. T. Wilson. Here, surrounded by virgin bush and with the threat of marauding natives still existent, they proceeded to carve out a homestead and farm. The only communication that could be had was by small sailing ship from Auckland or by pulling-boat to Whangarei. It is easy to imagine the loneliness of such a life, separated from all that was well-known and customary, and the long and arduous trip to the little town of Whangarei came as a welcome relief.

As times passed, Mrs. Telfer witnessed the gradual, yet steady, change in the land around. Bush was felled, and roads built, which primitive and rough, though they may have been, allowed journeys by horse and buggy to be made easily. She heard the challenge of the Boer War * and watched the men of New Zealand leaving to take their part for the first time in the ranks of the Empire’s fighting forces. She saw the arrival of undreamt-of facilities, the wheezing and spluttering of the first motor cars, the wireless bringing the world so much nearer. The Great War, which was to establish peace for all time, taking many of Northland’s children in its grasp as it struggled four weary long years and after that the misery and suffering of the depression days. And today, Mrs Telfer has seen the arrival of a more terrible, more vast struggle which had threatened the very shores of New Zealand. The Russian scare of generations ago, when New Zealand awaited in alarm for a blow from this power, was witnessed by Mrs Telfer in the same manner.

Unique Family Record

Mrs Telfer has a record that will not be equalled in Northland, and perhaps in New Zealand, for many years. She possesses a photograph of herself with four succeeding generations, and is particularly proud of her great-great-grandchild. Unassuming and quiet-natured, Mrs Telfer has made no claim to fame, but has been content to live in the homestead at Parua Bay, where she arrived so long ago. Her husband, Mr John Telfer, has been dead 59 years. Looking back, Mrs Telfer speaks of her girlhood days in Auckland, ana remembers when the shores, now tfbv-

ered by wharves and embankments were hidden by the brilliant crimson of the pohutukawa. The pohutukawa was ready to break into flame on the arrival of the emigrants in New Zealand, and the. same trees are flowering again today. Memories ox the Maori wars and fear that the town might be sacked or destroyed by the dusky warriors, jostle with the thoughts of Colonel Wynyard and Mrs Wynyard in their buggy with a halfcaste driver. Down on the foreshore the pit sawyers were busy day long, providing timber for the evergrowing town, ripping with the laborious and slow pit saws the giant kauris. Queen Street had a boarded sidewalk and a creek ran down it where now the clangour of traffic echoes night and day. Maoris supplied much of the food, bringing down the harbour, fruit, fish, pigs and potatoes, and obtaining in exchange drink and clothing which induced them, in the name of civilisation to imitate the European. From a humble beginning, Mrs Telfer has watched Whangarei grow to a flourishing centre, and it must be with pride that she knows she has done her share in promoting its prosperity.