Queenstown.
Lake Wanaka, those days called Pembroke.
Lake Hawera, then he turned west and headed for the
West Coast. Those days the Haast Pass was only a foot track, so with a party of 4 they walked to the West Coast.
A really rugged part of the country and parts of Fiordland are still untouched. He crossed over the pass, then up to the glaciers, through Greymouth, Westport and up the Buller Gorge crossing over to the North Island sometime in 1938, then back up to Auckland.
In
Auckland he did what a lot of young fella's did he brought a motor bike, which I gather was his pride and joy. It was about this time that dad meet mum,
Ethel HOSKINS, the only daughter of
Robert and Ethel HOSKINS nee MAYER.
Dads father had a band which played at the Odd Fellows Hall in Avondale every Saturday night. Dad's brother
Jack
and
William (Bill) use to play in the
band.
Dad decided to go to the dance and on this particular occasion his mother who was at the dance introduced dad to mum. His mother use to go to the dances as well, and had meet mum on a number of occasions, mentioned to her that she had a son farming in the South Island and was due back very soon, she would introduce her to him when he got back. So they got together and where soon a couple. They use to go every where on the motor bike,
until one day, when taking mum home he turned his head to talk to her and she was not there, she had fallen off the bike and was sitting in the middle of the road laughing her head off. I don't think it was long after this that the bike was sold.
1939 war broke out and dad enlisted in the army. Mum and dad wanted to get married before he went overseas but her father would not allow it. I gather there was some really heated arguments which actually broke mum and dad up for a while. This was when dad meet another woman for a short while on the rebound, and unfortually for the young lady found herself pregaent. By the time she was sure, mum and dad where back together and engaged as a compromise from her father. The young lady had a baby boy which was looked after by dads parents till the child was about 9 mths old then he was adopted out. Dad and mum had know idea right up till about 10 years after the event, it was a family secret. Even now I cannot find our half brother who was born in Auckland in 1940, I wish we could, but the name of the young lady was never told to anyone, and yet dads brothers Jack's wife Olive nee HAYES use to work with her at Ross and Glendenning in Auckland. Dad never mentioned his son in all the time he was alive.
So Mum and Dad where back together engaged, her father was adamant that it would be unwise for them to be married just in case dad never came home. He reckoned it was better to wait for his return, and then see how it penned out.
So Dad joined up the day war was declared. He went into camp at HopuHopu near Ngaruawahia then to Papakura Camp near Auckland. Unfortunately he had problems with his teeth, so by the time this was fixed he had missed the first echelon and went with the 3rd. While he was in camp in New Zealand mum use to travel down by train to see him if he had time off.
This is a photo of Charles marching into camp from the New Zealand Hearld, he is on the front left of this photo.
Dad was in the 6th Field Regiment, his unit left on the Mauretania in 1940 via India. It was in India where the troops on this ship mutinied. The British Authorities would not allow the Kiwi's to leave the ship, with the tempature up to over 40 deg, the boys from NZ said enough was enough and stormed off the ship to sit in the shade of the wharf area. It was the best kept secret from the public of NZ. Dad said it was so hot in the hull of the ship that blokes where really crook, and if the English wanted to shoot us then they can shoot all of us, to hell with it, so enmass they left. The English where not use to the independent thinking of their troops and where not to sure how to react. The Kiwi's got their shade. From India they went on to Greece, Crete and after all the withdrawls to Egypt. Dad didn't speak about the war that much, only to say he felt sorry for the English boys the way the officers treated them, they had a couple seconded to the NZ 6th Field Regiment and ended up in NZ uniform and wouldn't go back to the English mob. They even came back to NZ, how the heck they got away with it goodness knows. Dad also had a lot of respect for the German Soldier, he meet quite a few when he was captured, after been released when the Germans where over run, he was a guard on the prisoners. He thought they were just ordinary blokes like himself. He didn't hold any grudges. He came home to NZ in 1943 a very sick young man. Shrappnel scars on his legs, sand in his kidneys, skinny as a rake. We cannot know what these blokes went through. But come home he did. Mum said that this is the only time she heard dad swear when he said I x?x?x well survived. I never saw dad wear his
War Medals all the time he was alive, he didn't join the RSA, I think he just wanted to forget.
Mum & Dad were married in the
St Judes Anglican Church Avondale Auckland
on the 28th October 1943 and honeymooned on Waiheke Island, in the Hauraki Gulf.
Dad was really quite unwell and mum would say that any unexpected noise he would hit the deck, he couldn't sit still for long, and would drop off to sleep anywhere. They first lived with his Aunt Ella and Jack Wilkinson until they moved into their house at 7 Ash St Avondale. This is where all us kids where born. It was a small too bedroom house, shed out the back and a big section. The first family car was brought here in the 50's, a
1928 Essex. Dad though he was the king pin when he brought it home. It was so big and I remember him taking us all for a ride around the block, he loved this car. The first car he owned after selling the motor bike was a
Austin tourer, two door about a 1926.
Dad worked for the Auckland Laundry Service delivering laundry around the Auckland area.
He then applied for a job with the
Auckland Transport Board as a tram driver about 1945, he was a conductor first until he got his Motormans Ticket in 1947, there he stayed through to the about 1960, he drove trams, then when they where taken off the roads in 1956 drove the buses.
This is the run that Dad was on, Avondale Meadowbank. This photo is of the tram heading to Avondale under the Morningside rail bridge.
About 1954 we moved to
48 Waitangi rd Onehunga
he stayed with the ATB until about 1959 then joined the Howick bus company. He did go back to the ATB for a while but didn't last. The 1960's where inchy feet for dad he couldnt settle at all. He moved to the Otahuhu bus company for a while then took his first inside job with Allied Industries, making TV's etc. We where now living at 5 Hilton place Glen Innes.
The photo to the right is of Mareati Beach, Dads parents house is the 3rd from the Y junction on the left of the road heading down to the beach, which was about a kilometre away. This photo was taken about 1950, the road was shingle and the trip from our place to the grandparents took nearly 2 hours, to do about 40km's
He had made up with his parents and spent a lot of time down at Maraetai Beach where they lived. We seemed to spend a lot of time down there and not as much with mums parents. Dad's excuse was he didn't like Mums parents part of town.
While all this was going on dad had also gone down to Kawarau to see if he could get a job at the paper mills.
He also looked at moving to Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. It didn't amount to anything as mum didn't want to go, I remember some awful arguments. Dad had a nervous break down about then and went away for about 4 weeks with his parents on a trip around NZ. I don't know what the full story was but he was not well. His parents had a
bus caravan
which we use to sometimes stay in at Maraetai beach for the holidays. When he came home he seemed more relaxed, though still ichy footed.
They moved again up to Whenuapai where dad got a job at the Airforce Base as a driver and aircraft cleaner. They lived in a big old house in Hobsonville Rd, the grounds where much to big for dad to look after. Then as Kaye and I lived in Christchurch he decided that that would be his next move, and down they came to the South Island. They had a flat in St Albans, he worked for Steel Brothers who use to make Toyota cars. He enjoyed the job but the cold in the winter got him and back they went to Auckland and to a job at Smith and Browns where he was a material cutter.
The photo to the right is Christchurch taken from Hagley Park looking east towards New Brighten and Sumner Beaches.
They had one more stint down in Christchurch where they lived in Brougham St Sydenham. Once again the cold got to them and dad's mum was sick so they went back to Auckland. They lived with his Aunt Ella in Ladies Mile Ellerslie till he retired, then moved into a pensioners cottage at 182 Ladies Mile. The name of the street was named after a race meeting as the Ellerslie race course, which is not far from here. He was here until he died in 1986.
Dad was a very complex person, a quite man and never really talked about anyone in a negitive way. Surprising when you think of the childhood he had. I must admit he did have a temper in his younger years and could fly of the handle at the tick of a watch. He use to like nature and would sit and watch the clouds, liked the forces of nature the wind and the storms that they get in Auckland. He loved the birds and any wild life, and I don't think he would have intentionally kill anything at all. I use to see him pick up a worm or snail and put it aside just incase he stood on it. He hated guns and would never let one in the house, I supose he saw to much killing in the war and it left a profound influence on him. Boy! did he like tinkering with his cars, it was hell for mum to get him in for tea as he had his head under the bonnet all the time. His cars never squeaked he had rubber every where to stop any noise. He loved music and would spend a lot of time listening to his records. We as kids where not allowed near the record player or his records, get to close and you where yelled at.
Dad died suddenly on my birthday 29 October 1986 at his home in Ladies Mile. He was my dad and even though we where not that close I loved him. I wish I had taken more time to get to know him properly, but kids want to do their own thing and at 15 I left home. Once I left Auckland I only saw mum and dad once a year. I suppose there is a lesson to familys don't let the opportunity to know one another go, you only get one stab at it. This page cannot do justice to dad, it just give's a bit of an insight to what he was like, and some of the things he got up to.
Some more photo's of dad.
This page is dedicated to him in his memory, son, brother, husband, and father to us his children.
Rest in peace dad.
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