History – Summer excursions

In the early 1900s, Albertland’s roads were practically non-existent so settlers relied on waterborne transport. Shepherd’s Store, in Port Albert, made a regular monthly run to Kaiwaka, delivering goods and cargo aboard the Ivy, George Bennett’s 42-foot Logan launch.

Wharehine photographer Harold Marsh went along with his camera on several of these trips. Leaving Port Albert at 3.30am, Ivy motored down the Oruawharo River at seven knots, passing Hargreaves homestead, FitzGerald’s Okahukura Landing and Motu Kumara. They stayed overnight at Bickerstaffe wharf on the Otamatea River and carried on to Kaiwaka in the morning.

Mr Bennett had already offered to take local settlers and friends on a picnic excursion up the Otamatea before heading back to Port Albert, so about 30 people came aboard for the day.

Photos show the ladies, gentlemen and children in their Sunday best, long skirts and trousers, long sleeves, ties, hats, shoes and stockings. Umbrellas and parasols completed the picnic outfit.

The Ivy took them nearly to Batley, where she anchored. Groups of picnickers rowed to shore in the dinghy and, as one newspaper reported, ‘thoroughly enjoyed themselves in all sorts of games and amusements’.

Stockings rolled down and trousers rolled up, they paddled in the tide (no swimming) and chased children along the beach. Lunch was eaten under trees on the foreshore, followed by rest and relaxation in the shade before packing up for the return trip. On one excursion, the weather turned rough and it began to rain heavily so everyone headed back to the boat.

As shelter on deck was limited, they made themselves at home in the hold and ‘spent a jolly time telling yarns and singing songs, oblivious of the weather outside’ as they motored back to Kaiwaka. They reached the Landing at 9pm and most would have had a wet and windy trip to their homesteads.

Messrs Bennett and Marsh stayed in Kaiwaka overnight before making the return journey to Port Albert next morning.