An original ‘buy local’ advocate

Wellsford has welcomed myriad visitors over the years, but few as remarkable as Esther James, who in 1931 was on her way to becoming the first person to walk the length of New Zealand.

In his recently released book on James’s New Zealand and Australian walks, author Ian Dougherty explains that ‘the plucky Auckland girl’ had been unable to find work in Auckland during the Great Depression.

She picked up some employment in Wellington modelling clothes in a department store, aimed at encouraging people to wear more wool. This led to an offer from the Manufacturers’ Association to tour the country promoting New Zealand goods.

Figuring that the more publicity she could generate for her assignment, the greater the benefit to the country, she decided to walk the whole way, wearing only New Zealand-made clothes and eating only New Zealand-produced food.

James had set out from Spirits Bay on 3 December 1931, and made her way south down what became State Highway 1.

Heading up Topuni Hill, on her walk from Kaiwaka to Wellsford, she was offered a ride from one of the people directly responsible for the official response to the Depression – the MP for Kaipara and future prime minister, Gordon Coates. When James declined the ride from Coates and explained her mission, he wrote in her logbook that she was, “Certainly one of the very best representatives for New Zealand and New Zealand made goods it has been my very good fortune to meet.”

From Wellsford, James headed west along State Highway 16, with overnight stops at Port Albert, where she visited the local dairy factory, Tauhoa and Glorit, not without incident. She wrote at the time that, walking between Tauhoa and Glorit, she thought she would take a short-cut through a paddock and, just as she was about to jump over a large fallen tree, up rose a boar from the other side.

He made a spring at her, but she jumped on top of the log and was held prisoner there with the boar trying to bite her. She called for help for about 20 minutes until the owner brought a bucket of milk to entice the boar away, which gave James a chance to run for the fence.

Esther arrived in Bluff on 18 June 1932, after walking for 128 days, covering 1604 miles (averaging 12 miles a day) and taking about six million steps from Spirits Bay, with a few detours and rest days thrown in.

She was treated to extraordinary hospitality during her walk – there is no record of her having paid for a single meal or night’s accommodation during the six-and-a half-month journey.

Her unprecedented walk was a remarkable achievement in itself, but also a means to an end. Through the many talks in homes, schools, streets, meeting halls and picture theatres; the casual chats; the newspaper articles she had written; and the extensive and prolonged media publicity she generated; she had dramatically boosted the ‘buy local’ cause.

After completing her NZ trek, Esther then walked from Melbourne to Brisbane.
Ian Dougherty’s book New Zealand Maid: Esther James And Her Campaigning New Zealand And Australian Walks

During The Great Depression is available from bookshops and directly from the publisher saddlehillpress@xtra.co.nz for $40 post free.