Tokirima History
Awarima
A fascinating account of the history of the Allingham's on a Tokirima farm from 1910 to 1953
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Tokirima History Awarima A fascinating account of the history of the Allingham's on a Tokirima farm from 1910 to 1953 Recorded by Rosemary Corbett |
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ALLINGHAM'S "AWARIMA" Allingham's was the last farm on the road to the Wanganui River from Tokirima. These farms were opened up for settlement (in 1910). Farmer workers on the Main Trunk Railway construction qualified for land ballots at that time and Mr C.T. Allingham, the original owner, was one of these. The property, like many others in the area, was really too small to farm as an economic unit in the conditions which existed at the time and only subsistence farming was possible. After years of struggling on he finally decided to try his luck elsewhere and sold out to Dad in 1941. Although there was a road to Tokirima it was closed to vehicular traffic for most of the year, the worst slip being at Allinghams Bluff less than a mile away from the house. This slip was sometimes negotiable in summer. The biggest advantage of this farm was that it provided a place to winter our lambs and calves. Because of this it was there that our farming operations tended thence forward to move northwards towards the Ohura Valley. However we did not move up to Awarima to live until after Alan had returned from overseas. The move was made in the summer of 1945-46. Before then we used the house when working up there, sometimes staying overnight. We even had a telephone installed in 1943. This was a private line connection (single wire) to the Rauwhare Telephone Office (Sam Wilson's). It was put in with the help of Mr Don Beattie a Post Office Line Foreman from Lower Hutt. His daughter was the wife of the then school teacher (Athol Bibby) and he came up to visit her while they were at Tawata. The telephone was a great boon, although the speech level was not very good on long-distance calls, the instrument being an ancient Western Electric model dating back to about 1895. During the later years of the War we also made a start on extending the house, adding a large porch, an extra bedroom and an inside toilet and wash-house. The work was spread over a period of years and was not finally finished until late in 1946 Dad's niece Lena Parker and her sons Ivan and Lew were at Allinghams when we made the move so they shifted down to the Ohuriti homestead. The two boys were cutting scrub at the time. While Allinghams owned the farm they had installed a 12 volt battery-operated lighting system in the house. The batteries were charged by and "Iron Horse" petrol - driven motor generator. This system was still working when we took over the farm, but through lack of proper maintenance and care it had gradually run down, so that when we move up there it needed an overhaul and new batteries. This was duly done and we then had electric light of a sort. When I was home on holiday I took the opportunity to re-wire the whole system and install several additional lights. This was done more or less piecemeal in conjunction with some of the extensions we made to the house. The 12-volt lights were not particularly bright but were better than Kerosene lamps. About this time (end of the War) there were some higher voltage lighting systems becoming available as War Assets. I think they were 36 volt or 48 bolt ex-army systems. However with many more important things to think of we did not pursue the matter, but waited until the "King Country Power Board" extended into the area in the early 1950's. To distinguish this property from Ohuaraitit Dad gave it the name "Awarima" which it bore from then on. It was Maori for "Five Rivers", the five being those which generally bounded the area - two are actually only creeks. At first Mum felt more lonely and restricted at Awarima than she had at Ohuraiti because she could no longer see the folk across the river or hear the children at school. About 1946 the County Council cleared the road to Tokirima and built a new culvert across the Opura Stream, so we had road access to Tokirima and could use the car to get out to town. We still had problems at Allinghams Bluff in the winter when that part of the road became a bog and we had to use a horse to pull the car across. There were also places where slips still came down and blocked the road in wet weather, Still's Bluff was a notable example. However things were much better than they had been as far as access was concerned. In 1951 Alan bought a bull-dozer for use on the farm and steady progress was then made with the development of Awarima. Among other things the bulldozer came in very useful for clearing slips off the road, and from then on we were able to have virtually unrestricted access to Tokirima. Despite its age (built in 1910) the woolshed at Ohuraiti was in surprisingly good condition so in 1950 (the time of the high wool prices) we decided to move it up to Awarima. Alan masterminded the job. The whole building had to be dismantled, the pieces numbered and put across the Wanganui River on cable to the Tawata Flat opposite the homestead. This was done in February-March 1951. Mr Cliff Blank then loaded the pieces on to his truck and carted them round by road via the Te Maire Bridge to Allinghams. This required about four or five trips with the truck. All the timber was then soaked in a long trough filled with creosote. Alan bull-dozed the site with the new bull-dozer - there were several trees to remove in the process. The woolshed was then re-erected in its present position. The whole job was a major one requiring much planning and effort - it was not completed until September or October of that year. The shepherd's quarters at Ohuraiti were also pulled down and transported to Awarima where they were re-erected as shearer's quarters. All these buildings are still in existence at Awarima. A new sheep-dip was built at Awarima in 1952. I helped to plaster it when I was home in the Christmas holidays that year. One thing which was
a welcome change at Awarmima was the existence of a good water supply.
We found a good spring in the bush across the valley on the eastside of
the house and ran a pipe from it to a holding tank at the bottom of the
house. We then installed a Villier's petrol driven pump to pump water
up to the house tanks. The spring was just above the level of the house
tanks so some years later when we When the King Country Power Board extended electric power in the area in 1950 most of our heating and lighting problems could be solved. I remember that the Maori Shearer that summer thought that the millennium had arrived, as with ample hot water they could have baths and wash their clothes every day if they wished. The only fly in the ointment was some carping inspector from the Labour Department ruled that the shearing quarters did not comply with the regulations as regards sleeping space per person. When this person asked my brother Alan what he was going to do about it Alan replied that "the overflow would have to sleep in the palatial residence of the boss". I do not remember what the inspector said to that, but in the long run Alan had to extend the sleeping quarters.
Typed by Lyn Neeson Sep 2003
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