MARCH 2018
The
Produced for the community, by the community
This Month with Harry This month we will endeavour to leave the old pub site and start heading up the main road into central city. However before we go we will relate one or two facts about the place and one or two of the legends.
1955
For many years the Royal Hotel in Woodend was the only place in N.Z. that you could buy beer by the pound. The council pound was on the corner straight opposite. It is known that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, he of Sherlock Holmes fame, stayed at the Royal Hotel when he visited N.Z. in the early 1900s. He was interested in things Maori and spent time at the Tuahiwi school where he presented young Wiremu Karaitiana with a signed copy of one of his books. In the late 1930s, Harry Barnes was the publican at the Royal. His only son, Alan, was the first N.Z. serviceman to be killed in World War 2 when his flying boat crashed in Singapore on the day war was declared. During World War 2, a cousin of my father spent several hours sharing a fox-hole with a member of the Maori battalion during the battle of Casino. When this guy found out the cousin was familiar with Woodend, he related the story of how one of his ancestors had been with Te Rauparaha during the sacking of Kaiapohia. After the battle they had
gathered up several pieces of carving to take back to Kapiti Island and were carrying them to waiting canoes in the Cam River. For some reason they had to abandon them and buried them at what was to become the hotel site with the intention of retrieving them at a later date. They were found by the workmen digging a cellar for the pub, who sold them to one of the many museum agents touring N.Z. at the time sourcing artifacts. A legendary tale that has been told many times, and is supposed to be true, Continues on page 20 >>>