Pipiwharauroa

bread that had been spoiled by being cut crookedly. They only cost five pence each and were very filling.

From the boarding house we moved to live in a house nestled behind the Fish and Chip shop in Childers Road. Mum grew the potatoes for chips and washed the dishes for the owner of the shop. He was Dutch and when he decided to return to Holland he offered to sell her the house. Not trusting banks she had her savings hidden in the house and he accepted what she could find hidden away.

Nan Keriana also moved to Gisborne not long after us and lived in a bach with a washhouse behind it on a large section in Aberdeen Road opposite the Botanical Gardens. Later on, after many years working for the Holdsworths on Paringahou Station, her daughter and sister to Mum, Maraea Houia was helped by the Holdsworths to build a new home on the section where my wife and I now live.

kitchen chairs made from a plank on top of a couple of boxes. We did not have electricity and relied on kerosene for lighting, a wood stove and open fire for cooking and outside there was a large copper set up on steel bars and surrounded by large rocks for heating water and bathing in. Two to three of us could fit in the tub at a time and we bathed every couple of days.

When I was about ten years old Mum decided to move to Gisborne and sold our two horses and our cow to meet the cost. Dad joined us three months later. This was the first time ever I travelled outside of my birthplace and where I spent my formative years. Our first place of residence was in a boarding house in Lowe Street around about where The Warehouse now stands, we all lived in the one small room. From there we watched the local pākehā boys jag for fish such as mullet that came in at low tide seeking the pea and corn waste dumped into the water by Watties Cannery.

Some of the workers from the GRC freezing works came over to swap ‘leftover’ meat from their job for fish. Findlay’s Bakery was just down the road and sold loaves of freshly baked

In earlier years we were frequent visitors to their place and spent much of our time gathering pipi and catching kahawai, flounder and eels from the Taruheru River that ran alongside the gardens. The current was quite strong and dangerous and we had to take care when swimming in it and one time built a boat out of scrap wood and attempted to sail across it.

At times I would take off with my cousins playing around town and over in Kaiti. Mum was strict and really tough and made it clearly known that I was to be home by 4 in the afternoon otherwise there would be hell to pay. If I did not reach her deadline she came after me on her bike. Spotting her my auntie would say, “Boy, I think you are in trouble.” That was me, while Mum was greeting Auntie I took off, knowing she was in close pursuit I fast-tracked it and beat her home. One time, trying to protect me, my father hid her whacking stick but that only made matters worse and she grabbed an even heavier branch from the peach tree to lay across my hands. That was lesson 3.

After a time in town we connected with the Apostolic Church, a group of the congregation were singing on the footpath so we stood and listened and eventually accepted an invitation to join them inside. Pastor Bert Robinson led the congregation and Charlie Nikora was one of his supporters who later took over the Pastor’s role. We sat at the back and joined in the choruses of the waiata we knew. I joined its youth group led by Ian Tasker, the Renata and Baker whanau were also members and we all had an awesome time.

At about this time I made my first foray into rugby which was a real experience. Whenever I received the ball I gapped it to the corner and easily scored a try. My coach had to point out to me that I should really head for between the goal posts making for an easier conversion, all I wanted to do was get clear of the opposition players and avoid being tackled.

One time we travelled by bus to Napier and were told to take our gear and a gift as we were to be billeted by the family of our opposite in the home team, I thought perhaps we would stay at a marae. Billeting was a term I had never heard of but soon to experience. Fish heads were certainly not on the menu for tea, sitting down I noticed the knife and fork but wondered what the spoon was for as there were no such thing as puddings at home.

It was a real shock starting at Gisborne Intermediate, I had to wear a uniform and again speaking Māori was forbidden and the cane was in frequent use. It was just the same moving on to Gisborne Boys High School. All we were taught that I remember was English and history about Captain Cook. If I had bothered to remember when he arrived here I would have had much better marks in School Certificate.

To be continued next month