My Account
A letter to Mahurangi Matters recalling an old bearded man who used to sit under a pepper tree in front of the Warkworth Pub in the 1940s has unearthed his photograph.
Maureen Young first wrote to Mahurangi Matters about the man whom she remembers being fascinated by as a child (MM Dec 6). She recalled that he would have a beer in one hand and a pipe in the other and wore a pink woollen singlet.
In a subsequent letter (MM Dec 20), Maureen was able to add more details. The man was an Estonian named Eugene Busche, better known as “Bob”. He squatted in a derelict old house on the Nelson Lawrie farm neat Scotts Landing.
Mahurangi Matters reader Ron Smalley spotted the letter and realised he had a photo of Eugene in his possession.
He says neither he nor his wife, Betty, knew anything at all about Bob, but Betty had bought the framed photograph when she saw it at a jumble sale.
Ron says the man’s face really appealed to her.
“You can read his character in it,” he says.
A note taped to the back of the photo frame reads: “Eugene “Bob” Bush [sic]. Estonian – cook off Russian Ship. Lived by Mahurangi River.
