History – Reflections in the mid-1940s

I left Auckland in January 1944 to take up a position as the school dental nurse for a couple of months. No-one I knew seemed to have heard of Waipu, but then a friend at the bank said she had heard it spoken of as “the place where everyone’s surnames started with “Mac”. So, when I arrived by bus, I was not surprised by the number of “Macs” on the letterboxes. School had not started so I had to use the telephone directory to contact children. There I discovered 21 McKays, 17 McLeans and all the others likewise!

Waipu was still very much a Nova Scotian place with very few outsiders in the 1940s and while people were very friendly, outsiders were “different”. School staff, bank staff and some post office staff were very much a separate lot.

The dance nights, which were held quite frequently, were friendly and pleasant, and all weddings were “open” and everyone was expected to attend. Many of the old Gaelic traditions and phrases were still in use. I did at first wonder what on earth was happening when I heard that a “frolic” was to be held at the cemetery. I soon found out that “frolic” was a Gaelic term used for a community working bee.

It took time to catch up with all the nicknames, but one soon found out that most, were meaningful. For instance, Rod Don Gussy Ferry McKay means Rod, son of Don, grandson of Gussy whose family lived on the Ferry farm. Perhaps the most unusual of this family, to us at least because he lived in the centre, was Danny Ferry. To my knowledge he was seldom thought to have any surname, as he was so often introduced as Danny Ferry and strangers often thought of and called him Mr Ferry. It was never corrected to Mr McKay in my hearing. He had been a teacher, long retired when I first came, and had taught at least two generations of families and was admired by all.

It was still wartime, and transport was challenging. If we wanted to go to Auckland for a weekend, we would share a taxi to Maungaturoto and catch a train on a Friday evening, arriving in Auckland about 10.30pm. The return trip was no better. We would catch the train about 11pm, arriving in Maungaturoto about 4.30am. We would walk along the tracks and find wood and bits of coal to light a fire in the station waiting room, catching the Maungaturoto to Whangarei bus that stopped in Waipu about 7.45am, just in time to start work. It was not a trip done very often!

Don’t miss the next ‘Old Waipu’ event to hear more fascinating stories at the Heritage School, 41 Halifax Dr, Waipu, on the May 9 at 2pm.