. . . Poetry Notes

Autumn 2013 Volume 4, Issue 1

ISSN 1179-7681 Quarterly Newsletter of PANZA

(Gregory O’Brien, A Nest of Singing Inside this Issue Welcome Birds, 2007: 71). Until the late 1960s and the early 1970s Māori writers in New Hello and welcome to issue 13 of Zealand were scarcely mentioned in the Welcome Poetry Notes, the newsletter of PANZA, annals of ’s national 1 the newly formed Poetry Archive of literature. The names of Hone Tuwhare Michael O’Leary on early New Zealand Aotearoa. (Ngā Puhi), (Te Aitanga- Māori women poets and Poetry Notes will be published quarterly a-Māhaki, Ngāti Porou), and Rore Hapipi and will include information about waiata aka Rowley Habib (Ngāti Tūwharetoa), goings on at the Archive, articles on are the more obvious male writers who historical New Zealand poets of interest, Classic New Zealand began to be noticed. However, there poetry by Marie R Randle occasional poems by invited poets and a were also Māori women writing during 5 record of recently received donations to the 1940s to the 1970s period, none of the Archive. whom appeared in the major poetry The Ladies’ Guide to Articles and poems are copyright in the by A Lover of Both anthologies of the time. 6 names of the individual authors. c1883 The newsletter will be available for free No Māori woman, no cry download from the Poetry Archive’s Comment on George website: Neither Curnow’s A Book of New 9 Clarke Zealand Verse (1945) nor An Anthology http://poetryarchivenz.wordpress.com of New Zealand Verse (1956) edited by Comment on the Stratford Robert Chapman and Bennett, included 10 Evening Post any Māori women poets. Some Māori Michael O’Leary on women writing at the time may have been composers of waiata, pōwhiri, and Donate to PANZA through early Māori women other traditional forms of verbal PayPal 11 expression, and although their works

poets and waiata may not have reached beyond the Marae Recently received and the local tribal areas where they were donations Aotearoa writer and publisher, written and performed during this period, they should have been acknowledged in About the Poetry Archive Dr Michael O’Leary discusses Māori women’s poetry and waiata of the early these major anthologies as weavers of and middle period of the 20th century. the word in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Erihapeti Murchie In this essay I discuss the Māori women poets and songwriters and their virtual non-existence in the New Zealand One composer of waiata and poetry is literary world before the 1970s, when Erihapeti Murchie, a rangatira me wahine toa of Kai Tahu, Kati Mamoe, PANZA of Ngāti Raukawa, Ngāti Toa and Te Āti Awa published her first Waitaha and Ngāti Raukawa. Born and PO Box 6637 raised at Arowhenua, near Temuka, her Marion Square work, Waiariki, said to be ‘the first book of stories written by a Māori woman’ work encapsulates the definition given Wellington 6141 above and she is a good example of a

...... Autumn 2013 Māori woman who wrote about living in highest peak) was given to her whānau Skimming the stream the Pākehā world and Te Ao Māori, and in recognition of her achievements. One And slim black eels within, who had achievements in both, beyond of Erihapeti Murchie’s waiata shows her Aloft in trembling flight most people’s ability to succeed in only talent for composition on the spot. At The flick flack tiwaiwaka one. While at Teachers’ the tangi of Kai Tahu leader Tipene Pirouetting its delicate haka College Erihapeti met and married O’Regan’s father there was no song for And the Little White Bridge Malcolm Murchie, a Pākehā from his poroporoakī so she was able to sing Triumphant stands still Whanganui. Together they had ten this waiata atāhua, ‘Papaki te Tai’, To spring floods, children and both shared a common which she composed spontaneously: interest in politics, the arts, conservation But life is ever changing and social justice, attending rallies Papaki te tai ki uta ra With voices stilled and the richness against apartheid in South Africa and the Whatiwhati te waka, tere iho ki raro ra, That the tidal flow is witness to Vietnam War. In an unpublished memoir Has ebbed – and Awarua titled ‘What I Believe’ Erihapeti stated: Tumokemoke te iwi ki raro e, No more chatters Te korowai o te Aitua, o kaa roimata e, Free from the bridge below. My attitudes and my hierarchy of (Murchie, private papers: unpublished). beliefs have filtered through from Takihia mihia poroporoaketia the ancestral past of a largely Haere hoki e te wairua ki kaa tupuna e Māori researcher, historian, and dispossessed takatā whenua (people composer of waiata, Charles Royal, has of the land – the Māori) … my Waihoa matou hei whakawhiriwhiri written about the aspect of Mōteatea that people will retain their status as Te ara tika mo kaa mokopuna Murchie evokes so well. Whilst Royal is kaitiaki ō te mauri ō te whenua I tēnei Ao hurihuri e talking generally about the art form in an (custodians of the spirit of the land) historical context his words could … shaping of a culture distinctly Here is her English translation of it: equally apply to her writing. Royal Aotearoa New Zealand that blends writes: Polynesian with other European ‘Waves crashing’ elements (Murchie, private papers: Clearly Māori did and do create unpublished). Waves crashing against the cliff, poetical compositions which might The waka is broken down below, be described as literature, Along with her Ratana religious beliefs particularly oral literature; yet the these kaupapa underpin Erihapeti The iwi sit in sadness under, term fails to capture the entirety of Murchie’s life. She did much to help her The cloak of the Aitua, and tears the tradition. For example, most people both formally and informally. writers in the West have since the When her family moved to Dunedin she We’ve wept, mihied, Renaissance intended their works to was instrumental in obtaining the site The spirit has returned to the tipuna, be represented on the written page. for the urban marae, Araiteuru, and her Mōteatea [Māori song or poetic whānau would awhi many young Māori And we will remain to seek composition] composers on the other students living in the predominantly The right path of the mokopuna hand conceive their work essentially Pākehā city of Dunedin in the 1960s and Within the changing and turning world for performance, while the ‘literary’ 1970s. Among her many official (Murchie, private papers: unpublished). quality of the texts cannot be denied positions she was National President of (Royal, in Oxford Companion to the Māori Women’s Welfare League, A poem, ‘Awarua (Te Hura Kohatu)’, , 1998: 346). 1977 to 1980. During this period she written at Arowhenua sees Murchie in a completed a Māori research project, reflective mood, thinking about the Maewa Kaihau Rapuora Health and Māori women, and impermanence of life and her she was active in getting government interpretation of and affinity with Another example of a Māori woman policies changed in Māori health, te reo nature: writing, this time early in the 20th Māori, and education. In 1989 Victoria Century, is Maewa Kaihau, who wrote University conferred on her an I have a passion here the words to the tune ‘Now is the Hour’ Honorary Doctorate in Law. For quiet waters brooding deep which began as a modified Swiss lullaby Coupled with these outward In the curve and sweep of a narrow for the singing of ‘Po Atarau’ to farewell achievements, Erihapeti Murchie also trough meandering Māori World War One soldiers. In 1920 composed and taught waiata to her Through willowed banks, Kaihau wrote a ‘This is the Hour’ verse, whānau to ensure they understood and and in 1935 she again adapted the ‘Po remembered their ancestral links to Kai And languid in its flow Atarau’ verse. This became the ‘Haere Tahu and Kati Mamoe. When she died The white dressed cress is haunt Ra’ waltz song, which was sung when in 1997 the Kai Tahu whakatauki To the water crabs and speckled trout steamships were departing New Zealand ‘Whaia ki te tei tei’ (reach for the That taunt the dragon flies

2 ...... Poetry Archive for overseas. English wartime singer Hokioi, Te Wananga, Te Orchestra. Most of her songs were set to Gracie Fields learnt ‘Haere Ra’ on a Pipiwharauroa, Toa Takitini, The popular tunes because, for Ngawai, their visit to New Zealand in 1945. Her Polynesian Journal, and so forth. vital message lay in the words rather than version of it, known as ‘Now is the Much of the best writing by Maoris the music, and the performers had to Hour’, became a world-wide hit in today is in English ... [however] the learn the songs by heart as quickly as 1948. The first and last verses became preservation of the Maori tongue possible for each new occasion. From extremely popular, and Kaihau claimed depends on its continued use for 1953 Ngawai entered her senior cultural that all the words and tune were her literary purposes, as in song and group from Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu in the own work. oratory. As there are only a limited Tamararo Māori cultural competitions Kaihau’s words were not copyrighted number of people who reach a high held in Gisborne. until 1928 and more recently Dick standard in literary Maori, they do a Ngawai trained and entered two youth Grace has claimed most of the words as great service by publishing their groups and most years these three groups the work of his family. In those days work so that their example can be represented Tokomaru Bay in the annual before radio and before locally-made more widely followed ... writing is a competitions. She wrote many songs for recordings, the lyrics of this song were very important activity and Maori these events, including ‘Piki mai kake probably being changed constantly writers do a great service to their mai’, to commemorate the ancestor for according to circumstance and memory, race. Most Maoris think a good deal whom the competitions were named. and Kaihau's genius was to mold a about their people and the things that Ngawai and Te Hokowhitu-a-Tu sang version whose words could be affect them. To a great extent, the her song ‘Te Tiriti o Waitangi’ before understood and appreciated by both the future of the people depends on how Queen Elizabeth II during her tour of Māori and Pākehā communities: good that thinking is … [they] may 1953-54. Another famous song of the describe how a meeting-house was 1950s was ‘Nau mai, haere mai’, written Perhaps the chief factor contributing built, or how the old people used to to welcome the 1956 South African to the success of Now is the Hour as live, or what it feels like to live in a rugby team to Gisborne. Anaru Takurua a representative New Zealand song town, or to own a taxi business ... writes of Tuini: is its reflection of the Māori/English The subjects need not be practical. amalgamation fundamental to the Family life, love and death, have She was a perfectionist with an national fabric (Annabell, been subjects for writers and poets unrelentingly high standard, folksong.org: 2007). from time immemorial.1 People like although she allowed for individual to tell stories and people like to style and did not insist on a rote- in much the same way that Te listen to them (Anon, Te Ao Hou No. learned unison in cultural Rauparaha’s haka ‘Ka mate ka ora’ is 14, April 1956: 1). performances. Although a Ringatū nowadays. she assisted other churches with Tuini Ngawai was descended from Te their choirs, in combined worship Tuini Ngawai Whānau-a-Ruataupare ō Ngāti Porou. and in Māori cultural activities. Her Her teaching career ended in 1946, when greatest contribution to other The following excerpt from an editorial she took on the leadership of shearing churches was in leading a Mihinare in the April 1956 issue of Te Ao Hou gangs. Ngawai expected strict standards (Anglican) culture group at the all- indicates how highly literary prowess from her workers, and won the women’s Aotearoa Hui Topu Māori held at was held in Māoridom, but also shows section of a shearing competition. Many Tūrangawaewae marae in 1962. For how little was known of the flourishing of her songs commemorating Māori this occasion she wrote ‘Matariki’, Māori literary scene in the wider literary shearing gangs are still sung on the East one of two songs she penned to world, and the fact that many writers Coast. From 1946 she also became acknowledge her King movement and poets were women, as demonstrated involved with the Kotahitanga hosts (Takurua, DNZB website: by this article about Tuini Ngawai: movement, which sought to restore 2007). Māori pride and identity through cultural The publication in this issue of the revival. She assisted the tohunga Hori In the Te Ao Hou No. 14 issue there was winners of our first successful Gage in his healing ministry, and she an article on her as a poet/songwriter literary competition is a landmark was involved with efforts to achieve Ngawai: for Te Ao Hou … There have been greater recognition for the Treaty of Maori writers since the alphabet was Waitangi. The first person I met on Makomako introduced. Many of the beautiful Ngawai voiced her deepest feelings station was the manager. He seemed stories published in Sir George through the words of songs such as ‘Te rather surprised to hear that to-day's Grey's Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna Kotahitanga ra e’ and from the mid leading Maori songwriter was at that were originally written by Maori 1940s to 1963 Tuini put to use her moment working in his shearing historians … Fine examples of versatility with a number of instruments, shed, but at the name ‘Tuini Maori writing are found in especially the saxophone, by leading a Ngawai’ he showed recognition. magazines like Te Waka Maori, Te six-piece band she named the ATU Yes, she was there. But, he added, to

...... 3 Autumn 2013 see her in the shed, you wouldn't song she had changed her mind, she editorial staff. But as she said in the film believe she had composed any songs now wanted the guitar and took it. ‘Broken Journey’ in the 1950s and (Anon, Te Ao Hou No. 14, April Strumming this guitar, she was 1960s she felt she was ‘not a poet’ as 1956: 46). completely part of her people; as she thought she was not in the same they were singing her songs she league as her famous husband and his The author of this piece in Te Ao Hou is could see how they experienced literary friends. As Gregory O’Brien an unnamed Pākehā writer who wanted them, what feelings were stirred. notes in A Nest of Singing Birds: to translate her songs and is After thousands of years of overwhelmed by this Māori song-writer civilization European poets are still While the 1948 series Life in the Pā whom he finds has ‘a consciousness of dreaming of rediscovering this lost and the 1960 Māori Issue of the the hidden depths of the mind that is in unity with the people (Anon, Te Ao [School] Journal had been largely general more typical of writers than Hou No. 14, April 1956: 48). produced by Pākehā [like Margaret shearers (Anon, Te Ao Hou No. 14, April Orbell],2 the significant shift during 1956: 46).’ Ngawai died on August 20 1965. At her the 1960s and early 70s was the This did not surprise me, however, as I unveiling hui in 1966 the dominant upsurge in Māori contributors. have worked on many labouring jobs. theme of the sentiments expressed was During that period, Witi Ihimaera Whether it was laying tracks on the that she was a genius, unique, and that and Patricia Grace became railway or digging drains I often found her like would never be seen again. Her prominent names in the School more kindred ‘poetic spirits’ among great contribution as a composer of Journal, their writing deliberately labourers, particularly Māori and around 300 songs would live on: setting out to fill the void they had Polynesian and those of Irish descent, personally felt as young Māori than I encountered in the ‘career many of which had become classics, reading the Journal. Both conscious’ atmosphere of university or and the stories behind them were contributed first-hand accounts of intellectual circles. The Te Ao Hou retold and relived during the hui. Māori experience in the article noted that like many poets, Her compositions comprise action contemporary world (O’Brien, 2007: Ngawai has had words dictated to her by songs and songs of lament, love, war 71). something outside her consciousness, ‘in and comedy (Anon, Te Ao Hou No. a dream,’ she says. 55 June, 1966: 38). Notes For example, ‘Arohaina Mai’ which she 1 It is interesting to note that ‘family life, regards as her best song, took only a few In The Oxford love and death’ are not considered by the minutes to compose but like many Literature in English Jane McRae, editor to be ‘practical’ subjects. It is writers the words come from writing on Ngawai, says that: highly likely that this particular editor is subconscious thinking over many years a man rather than a woman for in the and experiences; like the English an account of her life and texts of Māori world, and many other worlds, Romantic poet William Wordsworth’s many of her waiata are to be found these three things are definitely definition of poetry, ‘experience in Ngoi Pewhairangi’s Tuini. Her ‘practical’ things to be taken care of by reflected in tranquillity’. And the politics Life and Her Songs (Te Rau Press, the women in that particular society. behind much of Ngawai’s works are Gisborne, 1985), a book compiled 2 Margaret Orbell contributed many clear. The Māori people, she said, were and published by her tribe who retellings of Māori legends to the School still wonderful singers, but actions for wished to preserve her work for Journal during the 1960s. She was also the songs were often poor due to the future generations (McRae, 1998: editor of Te Ao Hou from 1961 to 1965, words not being understood fully or even 19). and in 1978 she edited a book Māori at all. She thought that teaching action Poetry: An Introductory Anthology. songs in schools would be unrewarding Apart from Patricia Grace and J.C. Another Pākehā writer, Barry Mitcalfe, unless the language was also taught. Sturm, both of whom contributed to Te had preceded Orbell by producing a book Ngawai said that she liked the shearing Ao Hou during the 1960s, there was not of translations, Poetry of the Māori, in routine and liked to live for a while with much evidence to suggest that Māori 1961. young people and to keep in touch with women made any impact on the New how they felt. The author finished his Te Zealand mainstream ‘literary’ scene Michael O’Leary is a Paekākāriki-based Ao Hou article in a pertinent fashion: during the period of this study. bookseller, writer and performer. This However, Grace had work published in article is an extract from his PhD thesis After my visit to Makomako we the 1960s in the School Journal and on NZ women’s writing from 1945-1970 travelled back together on the along with Ihimaera signalled a shift in at Victoria University of Wellington’s shearer's truck. In the middle sat the way Māori were to be seen in the Women Studies Department. Part of the Tuini singing. Twenty voices joined literary world. It may seem odd that thesis appeared in book form as in with gusto. Someone offered her a Sturm was not among the regular Wednesday’s Women (Silver Owl Press, guitar but she turned it down. She writers for the School Journal, as her Paekākāriki, 2012). Michael is also the just continued singing. With the next husband, James K. Baxter, was on the co-founder of PANZA.

4 ...... Poetry Archive I saw nae mair the snaw-clouds, THE AWKWARD MAN Classic New Zealand The sky seem’d bonnie blue, poetry Refleckit frae my lad’s e’en, Ye soft and sympathising hearts, That thrill’d me thro’ and thro’. wherever you may be, That nippin’ blast nae langer That deign to feel for trifling ills and This issue’s classic New Zealand poetry Could do me ony skaith, petty misery – is by Marie R Randle (1856-1947). For luve was in my laddie’s clasp (Compassion of the “tuneful Nine” I Last year Rowan Gibbs produced an Eneuch to warm us baith! shall not dare invite; excellent bio-bibliography of this early My pinions are too feeble far to scar New Zealand and Otago songstress aka Frae aff my lips sae blae-like Olympus’ height), – “Wych Elm”. Randle is not very well He kiss’d the cauld awa, I pray you listen to my lay, and pity, if known, seemingly missed by I’ faith, that bleak grey hillside you can, anthologists, but proves to be a Semm’d sunny to us twa! The sorrows of that wretched being fascinating source for biography and for Why, then, should winter fash me, styl’d an “awkward man!” understanding the lives of our early 19th Hail, rain, an’ snaw thegither? century poets and settlers. As lang’s my laddie lo’es me, From earliest infancy my limbs were Her most known poem remains ‘Herdin’ ’Twill aye be Simmer weather! always in the way, the Kye’ in Scots dialect, which And how I ever learn’d to walk I know appeared in Alexander and Currie’s not to this day; anthology New Zealand Verse (1906). SONG OF THE FROSTFISHER For sundry scars, the sight of which Rowan’s booklet enticed PANZA to would wring a tender heart, feature some of her poems from her When Luna bright, on frosty night, Still testify my sufferings in practising only published collection, Lilts and Illumes the air so still, the art. Lyrics of New Zealand (1893), And Vesper, high in cloudless sky, My nurse, in tears and trembling, would introduced by Canterbury cricketer, poet Peeps smiling o’er the hill; my clumsy movements scan, and politician William Pember Reeves. With footstep free, beside the sea, And say. “The awkward child is father The Poetry Archive of NZ Aotearoa has Till break of day I roam, of the awkward Man!” a copy of it. To catch the frostfish, lightly toss’d For those interested in finding out more By sportive breakers home! My boyhood was a hideous dream – a on Randle and her publication history, nightmare of disaster; Rowan has produced a first edition of The story goes, that Venus rose At school I always was in scrapes, alike 50 copies for sale titled “A Bird of Our From out the sea one day, with boys and master. Clime”: Otago’s Songstress: Marie R With rosy grace, her lovely face I smash’d the windows with my ball, I Randle (“Wych Elm”): A Bio- Veil’d in a cloud of spray. bruis’d my shins at cricket, bibliography. Cultural and Political It may not be our fate to see The football bounc’d into my face Booklets, Wellington, New Zealand, A goddess in the foam; whene’er I tried to kick it. published the 72-page booklet in A5 But, faith! will we contented be An evil fate pursu’d me from the time format. You can purchase copies direct To take a frostfish home! my life began; from Rowan at It haunts me still. I’m doom’d to live [email protected] What sight so rare, as can compare, and die an awkward man! More of Randle’s poems not in Lilts and On such a night as this, Lyrics can be found on Papers Past. With Luna’s ray upon the bay, My books were always dog-ear’d, and That quivers ’neath her kiss? fam’d for soil and smutch – Poems by Marie R Randle And it doth seem that every gleam, The jugs and basins chipp’d and crack’d Sharp-glancing thro’ the foam, beneath my magic touch; HERDIN’ THE KYE Must be a fish, to bless our wish – The boys, in racing, tripp’d me up and Borne by the breakers home. left me in the lurch; The wild snaw-clouds were driftin’ I’d choking fits at dinner-time and Athart the wintry sky, I’ve join’d in sport of many a sort, sneezing fits in church, As thro’ the gusty gloamin’ Upon both sea and land; I trod upon my master’s corn with I went to herd the kye, But give to me the ramble free, weight of Pickford’s van; I row’d my plaidie roun’ me, Upon the moonlit strand! He had no mercy on me; he was not an An’ shiver’d in the blast; Let Somnus steep, in slumbers deep, awkward man! When o’er the knowe cam’ Jamie, The drones who hate to roam; An’ clasp’d me close an’ fast! I’d watch all night to earn that sight – My riper years have brought me even A frostfish struggling home! greater ills than these: My clumsiness gives dire offence whene’er I try to please;

...... 5 Autumn 2013 The cats and dogs of maiden aunts view A comic guidebook, an almost ‘an excellent marksman with the rifle’2 my approach with dread, antiquated text, highlighting cricket so signed on for the New Zealand Wars For on their inoffensive tails I’m pretty watching to women (which is somewhat as a teenager at 15 (under the appointed sure to tread, patronizing now) was written by a age of 16) but did not see action. ’Tis perfect martyrdom to me to hold a Lover of Both – a fine and witty He received a BA, Oxon, and was back lady’s fan; pseudonym. It features a fictional match in according to the English Its fate is seal’d when in the hands of between “Shooting Stars” and Census of 1871 aged 24. He returned to such an awkward man! “Paragons” (told in the form of a play New Zealand after he became a script) and encouraged women to take Barrister-at-Law of the Inner Temple, I went last Winter to a ball in pumps an interest in the sport as well as and in Auckland became a barrister of and palpitation, challenging male preconceptions of the Courts of New Zealand (admitted in And by my clumsy antics there created their interest in the game. 1890). a sensation. The author is presumably William His painful rheumatism developing after By supper-time I had become so Eugene Outhwaite, an Auckland an accident as a young man before nervous and so fluster’d, barrister, whose father Thomas heading for Oxford eventually I sat upon a pigeon pie and overturn’d Outhwaite (1805-1879) the first prevented him from playing sport and the mustard Registrar of the Supreme Court of New athletics. An unsuccessful operation Into a lady’s satin lap. Imagine, if you Zealand was ‘probably a father of music produced further stillness. He travelled can, in New Zealand’.1 Bibliographers Rob to hot baths in New Zealand like Te The with’ring look of wrath she turn’d Franks and A G Bagnall give William Aroha’s waters in the mid 1880s as upon the awkward man! Outhwaite as a Lover of Both. Bagnall’s further restorative care and appeared National Bibliography entry says: either on crutches or in a wheelchair at My friends are few and far between, and ‘Possibly by William Eugene some stages of his middle life. seem to be in fear Outhwaite, d. 1900’. The book also There are in fact references to him in Of some explosion taking place includes two cricket poems, which I New Zealand newspapers playing whenever I appear. included in A Tingling Catch (2010) and cricket as a batsman and catcher in the I’m getting quite a human owl; but stay introductory dialogue verses. Adrienne mid-1860s for United Cricket Club at – ’twill not avail Simpson first used one of these poems the Domain (alongside C Outhwaite and To tire your patience any more with this ‘Ten Ways to Get Out’ (in a misprinted future first class Auckland cricketers lugubrious tale – or edited form) in her anthology Cricket Frank Buckland and Will Lankham) So let me make my shuffling bow, and (1996). prior to England. Outhwaite also end, as I began, Recently, I started digging around for appeared for the Civilian XI v Auckland By asking you to pity – not condemn – more information on Outhwaite. 19th Garrison XI, one of the most interesting the awkward man! century names are hard to find in matches of the 1865/66 season; his histories as they come from a neglected brother C Outhwaite excelling as a (Poems from Lilts and Lyrics of New era of the Kiwi literary psyche. Perhaps bowler. At Oxford, he was in the Zealand (1893)) post Colonial guilt and political Oxford First XI as a student. correctness shies away from discovering An obituary from the Observer gives an more on our early European poets and account of his life, some brief facts and The Ladies’ Guide to writers. A fair amount of derision has notes his paralysis after a break (a light- met them in the past for their alleged carriage) accident that lead to his Cricket by A Lover of inauthentic ‘New Zealandness’; they are eventual, untimely death, his body the archaic pioneers who came out from unable to recover from the shock: Both c1883 European countries in search of God’s Own Country; their verses have looked We regret to chronicle the death of AN ACCOUNT OF ITS PRESUMED silly to baby boomers and others Mr. W. E. Outhwaite on Monday AUTHOR W E OUTHWAITE compared to recent constructions of last. His figure was for very many (1847-1900), A 19TH CENTURY Kiwi identity. Search tools, however, years a familiar one at the Choral AUCKLAND THEATRE CRITIC, now bring up surprising results. It’s a Hall and Opera House, and also at POET AND BARRISTER researcher’s paradise for those still athletic sports, and his many friends interested who continue to find early in both the journalistic and New Zealand cricket literature can seem writers. dramatic profession, will mourn his like rare pickings at times. Yet A number of details are traceable on demise. Mr. Outhwaite, although occasionally it turns out curious and Outhwaite’s life. His official death is trained as a barrister, had, for a unusual gems. One such book is The 10 April 1900 aged 53. He was born in number of years, devoted his Ladies’ Guide to Cricket printed in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1847. Some principal attention to literature, his 1883 in Auckland. of his early child life was in Paris and unfortunate infirmity precluding his London, and when he returned he was practising in court. As a writer, he

6 ...... Poetry Archive was best known under the nom de sonnet below is an example of his work and inexhaustible store of plume of ‘Orpheus’, and his kindly suggesting Outhwaite wrote a good deal information, made him an ever criticisms will long be remembered more: agreeable companion. by theatrical people. He took his degree at Lincoln College, Oxford, AUCKLAND: A Sonnet A reference is made to his early cricket and while there, contracted playing days: rheumatism, which eventually Queen of the Ocean, Valley, Hill and developed into ossification of the Wold! As a young cricketer, picked to joints. Although a great sufferer, he Thou sit’st enthroned, in Nature’s garb play in the best matches, he was invariably cheerful. He was a arrayed, carefully practised and cherished great lover of sport of all kinds, and A verdure-robed, clematis-girdled maid; the noble game, and would carry would watch a cricket match or a Thy bosom nursing blossom-gems, to home his bat only to take up his horse race with as keen an interest braid cello, his special instrument, for as anyone present. Some few Bright tresses, spun from out the heart some rehearsal or concert. months back, he met with an of gold accident, a bus wheel running over Thou bear’st within; the while thine Outhwaite on his return to Auckland his leg and fracturing the bone. He eyes behold was associated with meetings in the late never recovered from the shock, An everlasting Spring in plain and 1880s till late 1890s of the Gordon which was finally succeeded by glade, Cricket Club, the Grafton Football Club paralysis [from bronchitis], the Yielding health, plenty, peace, and joys and the Auckland Cricket Association immediate cause of his death. untold! (as a Vice-President). Professor Carl (From The Observer, Volume XX, Schmitt (who wrote the music for the Issue 1111, 14 April 1900, Page 5) Who once hath clasp’d thy gentle, cantata ‘Heart and Mind’ to which loving hand, Outhwaite contributed his libretto) was A member of a prominent Auckland May view the wonders of an older also involved with the Gordon Cricket settler family, Outhwaite’s sister, Isa, world; Club as a Vice-President. The Gordon was a well-known artist. She exhibited May linger long in many a distant land: club was ‘evergreen’ and a senior in Auckland from 1875 until 1900 and But aye his spirit, wheresoe’er he roam, championship winner in Auckland the family appears on Wikipedia with a Will restless burn to see those sails cricket (The Press, 6 October 1894). note about William from the 1902 unfurl’d As to the Ladies’ Guide itself, I would Cyclopedia of New Zealand: That quick shall waft him back to Thee call it a mixture of non-fiction, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outhwaite_ and Home! reference material and play script. Most Family,_Auckland of the references in it are English. The It is also stated on Wikipedia that This text given here (found by Niel main story of the match between William with other members of his Wright with more accurate punctuation) “Shooting Stars” and “Paragons” on a family was interred in the Catholic is in fact from The Observer (8 July Saturday at the Green Acre cricket section of Waikaraka Cemetery, 1882, p. 265) where the poem was ground is in the form of a play with the Onehunga. unsuccessfully entered in an Auckland following cast: Besides Outhwaite’s presumed poems competition. authorship of A Ladies’ Guide to There is also in the New Zealand - Mr Stanley, captain of Shooting Cricket and his work as a theatre critic Illustrated Magazine obituary a lively Stars Cricket Club; under the name of ‘Orpheus’ in New description of his affinity for sports like - Mrs Chester, a widower of Captain J Zealand Illustrated Sporting & cricket: E Chester; Dramatic Review, Outhwaite wrote - Miss Linton, younger niece of Mrs poetry and a libretto for the cantata ‘Art Heroic in his manliness and Chester; and and Mind’ (at the opening of the Free patience, he took all his trials as - Mr Lover, a gentleman spectator. Library and Art Gallery in Auckland, God-sent. As a keen lover and Auckland Star, 19 October 1888). patron of all sport, he extended a The story unwinds with Mr Stanley A poem, a sonnet by Outhwaite ‘To wide and popular influence; no outlining the start of play to the two Auckland’, appears in his considerable more familiar figure than that of women. The next two chapters feature obituary in New Zealand Illustrated Willie Outhwaite with his dog Mr Lover commentating on the match, Magazine (1 June 1900) along with a “Koko” was known on the cricket describing the finer details to the two photo of Outhwaite and his dog “Koko”. ground, while often to his room women as well as striking up a love The obituary states: ‘as a poet and would throng young athletes for connection with the beautiful Miss ardent lover of art — the beautiful and friendly chat or advice. Delighting Linton. A scorecard for the “Shooting good, the witty and piquante in women, in whist or billiards, ready always Stars” innings follows and a postscript the innocence of childhood — drew with guitar, song or story, his notes the eventual marriage of Mrs many a sonnet from his pen.’ The wonderful spirits, flow of language, Chester and Miss Linton to Mr Stanley

...... 7 Autumn 2013 and Mr Lover respectively – duly his mother Louise Outhwaite’, entitled “The Ladies’ Guide to married by a Rev. Canon Blessom no suggesting it was Outhwaite’s personal Cricket; by a Lover of Both”. This less. copy and the strongest evidence so far little work is evidently a labour of Preceding the play is a short for Outhwaite as creator). love, and is written by one well ‘preliminary canter’ outlining the I take it, from the recent sale price at conversant with the subject. It is necessity for the book to impart useful auction at Christie’s in 2006, that it is simplicity itself, and might well be knowledge for women’s understanding indeed a very rare item: called the ABC of the best of old of the game, particularly those with no English pastimes. The description of previous knowledge of cricket. Despite Price Realized £2,160 the match “Shooting Stars” v. their eagerness to learn, the ‘average Sales totals are hammer price plus “Paragons” is most naturally drawn, lady spectator views the finest cricket buyer’s premium and do not reflect and any “lover of both” will no pretty much as Peter Bell costs, financing fees or application doubt have answered most of the [Wordsworth’s creation] regarded the of buyer’s or seller’s credits. questions himself more than once. beauties of nature: “A primrose [by a] Estimate The chapter dedicated to cricket in river’s brim / A yellow primrose was to £700 - £1,000 ladies’ schools carries out what from him, / And it was nothing more.”’ 3 Sale Information Sale 5073 my own experience I have found to Giving reasons for women’s continued The Guy Curry Cricket Library be the case, viz., that with certain involvement in the sport, it also notes 4 May 2006 modifications in the game ladies can that the controversial introduction of London, South Kensington indulge in this pastime as they do in ‘round-arm bowling’ came about from Lot Description FREEMAN'S tennis and other recreations. the actions of a woman. ‘A Miss Willes JOURNAL, publisher I remember well when a boy playing ... found her flowing skirts very much in The Ladies' Guide to Cricket by a with a golden-haired fairy on a the way when delivering the ball in Lover of Both garden lawn, and though I was a under-hand fashion’. After the play Auckland: Freeman's Journal left-handed bowler of some promise ends, there is a chapter on ‘Cricket at Office, 1883. 12mo., 35, [5]p., with to the third eleven of a large public Ladies’ Schools’ and a full glossary of errata slip at end and advertising school, still the little lady, now a cricket terms and slang. slip before title (title browned at clergyman’s wife, could always hold On evidence although we can’t be sure margins), original printed wrappers her own against me. But I take it that that a Lover of Both is Outhwaite, it (rebacked and repaired with losses the author’s principal aim is to make does seem plausible for Bagnall to see to extremities), green cloth the game understood by the fair sex Outhwaite as the possible author of A portfolio. Provenance: W.W. generally, so that instead of going to Ladies’ Guide for the following reasons: Robinson (pencil signature at head a match and coming away wearied, of text; extensive pencil notes in his because possibly Stannie or Charlie - Outhwaite was a distinguished and hand; another half-erased pencil has had to field all day, instead of witty theatre critic knowledgeable of signature on front wrapper) -- basking in the sunlight of her eyes written drama; Henry Edward Platt, beneath the shade of her pretty - Outhwaite was a poet publishing in Wellingborough (bookplate on title parasol, as with half-closed eyes he Auckland in 1882 anonymously as verso). VERY RARE, inscribed watches the game, and whispers soft seen by his poem ‘Auckland’ above; “only known copy”. Padwick 447. nothings into her shell-like ear --- - Outhwaite was a well-known Hold on “Argus,” you’re getting out follower of cricket in Auckland and Rowan Gibbs, who recently republished of your depth. But, seriously, I mean England where he had lived for a W W Robinson’s Rugby Football in New ladies by thoroughly knowing the number of years as a young man. Zealand (1905) with an introductory beauties and technicalities of the biography on Robinson, sent me these game, can enjoy it for itself alone; The Alexander Turnbull Library copy, auction details and also notes that ‘Platt therefore I think many Auckland which I have read (a red hardback first was headmaster of Wellingborough ladies will often thank “The Lover edition of 1883), came from ‘Goodson’s School (where Robinson coached sport of Both” for his thoughtfulness in London Arcade … the great emporium after his return to England) from 1879 to placing before them his glossary of in Auckland for watches, jewellery, and 1906.’ technical terms, cricket slang, and fancy goods’. W W Robinson, the A review by “Argus” of The Ladies’ laws of cricket contained in this Auckland and UK poet and sportsman, Guide to Cricket (the title perhaps a nod handy little volume. possibly sold it on at the time. There are to popular books like Sylvia’s Ladies’ two more copies in New Zealand at Guide to Home-Dressing and Millinery) Here are Outhwaite’s presumed two Auckland Libraries (donated by Sir appeared in the New Zealand Herald, 22 poems from A Ladies’ Guide to Cricket George Grey) and Auckland War December 1883: included in A Tingling Catch, a lasting Memorial Museum Library (‘obituary legacy to the game he obviously loved and signed photograph of W.E. I have to thank the author of a very and played as a young man: Outhwaite tipped in; also an obituary of interesting and useful little book

8 ...... Poetry Archive William Outhwaite (c1883) Library catalogue; Auckland Libraries There are others who e’er seek Catalogue; The Observer; and The To reach Everest’s tall peak; TEN WAYS TO GET OUT Ladies’ Guide to Cricket by A Lover of Toiling through each dreary day, Both, printed at The Freeman’s Journal Cutting out a narrow way, “Careful and clever that batsman must Office, Auckland, c1883) Climbing higher in the air, be Finding when they get up there, Who wishes to tot up a century.’ Mark Pirie, author of this article, is a Nothing on the topmost crag Ten different dangers hedge him about New Zealand poet, editor, publisher and But to run their country’s flag By any of which he may be put out, archivist for PANZA. Up the Pole. First ‘bowled’, second ‘caught’, and third ‘leg before’, Yet we calmly dub as cranks A fate that most batsmen dislike and Comment on George Others who play foolish pranks: deplore, Just because they have a fad, The fourth is ‘run out’, deemed very Clarke We assert that they are mad. bad cricket; These we ever try to calm The fifth if he clumsily ‘hit his own Lest they do themselves some harm, wicket’. PANZA member Mark Pirie recently For their peril is most dire. Stumped is the sixth, the seventh we’ll came across the following poems by Are these people really higher George Clarke, an article writer for the Up the Pole? call New Zealand Engineer 1924-1937? Foolishly touching or handling the ball. EPITAPH ON BAD PATHS Eighth is the striker ‘should hit the ball Clarke lived in Auckland, where he was twice’ presumably an engineer and contributed They took a little gravel, With malice prepense – a pestilent vice, to this monthly engineering periodical And took a little tar, Ninth if he purposely spoils a fair catch published by Pitts Pub. Co. also based in With various ingredients While running – and tenth, the last of Auckland. Imported from afar; the batch, Clarke was at other times a fiction writer They hammered it and relied it, When jacket or hat, propelled by the who won an Auckland Star short story And when they went away gale, competition for his story ‘The Dancer’ in They said they had a good path Touches the wicket displacing a bail!” March 1924. More of his fiction To last for many a day. appeared in the Auckland Star in 1925. They came with picks and smote it, He has no record of book publication yet To lay the water main, Clarke had the habit of appending poems ‘FAIR LADIES AT A CRICKET And they called the workmen to his articles for the New Zealand MATCH’ To put it back again; Engineer, such as the two poems To lay the city drains reproduced below. Fair ladies at a cricket match They took it up once more, The discovery of Clarke’s poems widens Your gentle presence bliss is; And then they put it back again For even though we miss a catch, the scope for poetry publication in New Just where it was before. We yet may catch a missis! Zealand periodicals. Other specialist trade publications may be places worth They took it up for conduits, Whilst in your sunny smiles we bask. checking for New Zealand poetry in the To run the telephone, Our form goes all to pieces: future. And then they put it back again You draw us out, then sweetly ask, As hard as any stone; Where are the popping creases? George Clarke They tore it up for wires, To feed the ’lectric lights; Notes UP THE POLE And then they put it back again 1 New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, And were within their rights. 1 October 1899. There are men who go in bands 2 New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, To the frozen northern lands; Oh, the path’s full of furrows, 1 June 1900. Having no place for their goal There are patches everywhere; 3 Misquoted as “on the river’s brim”. Save the e’er elusive Pole; You’d like to walk upon it, Seeking ever there to find But it’s seldom that you dare. (Sources: Emails from Rowan Gibbs Something useless to mankind. It’s a very handsome path, and Niel Wright; National Library of If they should get there some time A credit to the town; New Zealand catalogue; Papers Past; Will they be amused to climb They’re always digging of it up, New Zealand Herald; New Zealand Up the Pole? Or putting of it down. Illustrated Magazine; Wikipedia; Auckland War Memorial Museum (Poems from The New Zealand Engineer, 1927)

...... 9 Autumn 2013 It has caused more bitter curses Defeated monarch of the fiery zone, Comment on the Than anything on earth, In solitary grandeur situate, Stratford Evening Post It has caused more grief and sorrow, Undaunted rearing still aloft thy crown It has done away with mirth. Bedecked with snowy gems perpetuate. It has caused some cruel vendettas, Not all New Zealand papers are available It has caused eternal hate, For Ruapehu’s love in ages past, online at Papers Past. One very This old bit of wire and staples With envious Tongariro thou did’st wage interesting paper is the Stratford Evening That’s called a Cocky’s Gate! Prodigious war, while nature stood Post in Stratford, which started life as the aghast, Egmont Settler in 1890 until around 1903 When you get up in the morning, In trembling terror at thy frightful rage. when it changed its name to Stratford Find the cows are in your Swedes! By thy dread foe’s artillery o’ercome, Evening Post. It became the Taranaki You want to keep some pedigrees— Defeated, baffled, bowed to his decree, Central Press from 1936-37. Some old bull has mixed your breeds! Thy thunderous voice eternal stricken The Stratford Evening Post was an Your pigs are in your neighbour’s dumb, occasional publisher of local poetry. place— An exile thou for all futurity. PANZA member Mark Pirie was reading Your neighbour is irate through the paper 1913-17 and found And he threatens law and lawyers Vanquished but not o’erthrown, thy some poems of interest by local Taranaki All through that Blooming Gate! power imbound, writers. Thy fiery heart subdued, thy wrath laid During the First World War, the paper When you get up before daylight low, published occasional overseas poems by And bustle on the fire, Thy yawning caverns, where did’st once poets like Robert Service along with When your milk is ready on the cart— resound local verse. Local authors wrote on Find your horse is in the wire! Such direful thunders—all are silent subjects such as Mount Taranaki and When at last you reach the factory, now. offered portraits of country-life as well And find out you are too late, Adown thy scarred sides where once did writing patriotic war satire. Then you call down bitter curses roar Some of the poems found are reproduced On that Blanky, Blanky Gate! The ruddy cataracts of writhen fire, below. Bright purling springs of limpid crystal If your paddocks are divided pour THE COCKY’S GATE Into areas fairly small, Their grateful tears o’er thine Just say you’ve got from eight to ten extinguished pyre. There’s a plague in Taranaki, And barbed wire gates on all; It’s a curse upon the land, If you calculate the wasted time, No more the solid plain which bears thy It’s a horrible monstrosity, You would find it pay the rates. base And should everywhere be banned. For you waste about a week a year Shall quake and shudder at thy mighty It’s a snare for the unwary, In fiddling with Those Gates! will, And it’s right now out of date. The lichened ridges which thy sides This piece of old barbarity You find your stock has strayed away— embrace, Is called the Cocky’s Gate! It’s nowhere to be found— Thy mossy clefts and ravines now are It costs you half a dozen gates still,— The design is complicated, To get them from the Pound! What though thy soul terrific now has It’s old barbed wire and stabs, You poor short-sighted Cocky, flown, Filled in with bits of rotten log, I must leave you to your fate, And Tongariro’s vengeance pacified, Of broken posts and slabs. My last prayer and benediction Thy wondrous beauty still remains thine The fastener will be rusty barb, Is “Get Strangled in Your Gate!” own, Your hands will be the bait, Majestic mountain! Taranaki’s pride. You’ll find you’ve lost a bit of flesh NEUCHAMP, Stratford, 2-8-1915 When you’ve finished with that Gate! J. W. K., Wellington, September 1888 (Stratford Evening Post, 6 August 1915) It’s an ancient wire entanglement (Stratford Evening Post, 20 March 1915) That’s used by now the Huns, It dates from pre-historic days, MOUNT EGMONT DER STAIN It bars the way to duns; (By a Stratford Girl) It has caused more litigation The following poem first published Than the celebrated Thaw. nearly twenty-seven years ago, is As Kaiser Bill sits on his throne It has made some handsome fortunes forwarded by a contributor. It is well And says, “Drink to the Day, For the members of the law! worthy of reproduction: I want the world for all my own And I shall get it, Ay!”

10 ...... Poetry Archive Not while our men are able; • Books on NZ poetry and literary Nor while our hearts are true Recently received history, and CD-ROMs of NZ poetry For the dear old Mother Country, donations and literature There is work for us to do! • CDs of NZ poets reading their work

• Inspirational talks on NZ poets John Quilter – 6 titles. Now listen to my query, Bill: • Video/DVD/film screenings of

You’ve slain brave Britain’s men; documentaries on NZ poets Michael O’Leary – Spires in the Needle Was it only just for glory, Bill? • Readings/book launches by NZ poets Hay by Peter Trewern. And to enlarge your German den? • Educational visits for primary schools,

intermediates, colleges, universities and PANZA kindly thanks these donators to Ah, no! He does not want to kill! creative writing schools/classes. the archive. Though the sight of heroes slain • The Northland Writers’ Walk (in Will not disturb his mind one bit— planning) If it be but for his gain. About the Poetry You can assist the preservation of NZ “It is mein rightful cause,” he said, poetry by becoming one of the “And it I must not shirk— Archive Friends of the Poetry Archive of New As I am God and Man and Might: Zealand Aotearoa (PANZA ). Those Britons are but dirt!” If you’d like to become a friend or Poetry Archive of New Zealand business sponsor of PANZA, please And as you’ll read, O, Kaiser, Aotearoa (PANZA) contact us. Of your German soldiers’ zeal, Their hearts may ring of metal, PANZA contains Contact Details But ours ring true as steel. Poetry Archive of NZ Aotearoa A unique Archive of NZ published (PANZA) I’ll say no more, Herr Kaiser, poetry, with around five thousand titles 1 Woburn Road, Northland, Wellington Tho’ the fight’s by no means o’er, from the 19th century to the present PO Box 6637, Marion Square, I know who’ll come out top, sir; day. Wellington So what need is there for more? The Archive also contains photos and Dr Niel Wright - Archivist paintings of NZ poets, publisher’s (04) 475 8042 England’s the grand old Empire, catalogues, poetry ephemera, posters, Dr Michael O’Leary - Archivist Generous and free from blame; reproductions of book covers and other (04) 905 7978 Who started shedding blood, sir? memorabilia related to NZ poetry and email: [email protected] On you shall rest the stain! poetry performance. Visits by appointment only (Stratford Evening Post, 21 December Wanted 1914) NZ poetry books (old & new) Current PANZA Members: Other NZ poetry items i.e. critical books Mark Pirie (HeadworX), Roger Steele on NZ poetry, anthologies of NZ poetry, (Steele Roberts Ltd), Michael O’Leary poetry periodicals and broadsheets, (Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop) and poetry event programmes, posters Niel Wright (Original Books). Donate to PANZA and/or prints of NZ poets or their poetry books. Current Friends of PANZA: Paul through PayPal Thompson, Gerrard O’Leary, Vaughan DONT THROW OUT OLD NZ Rapatahana and the New Zealand POETRY! SEND IT TO PANZA Poetry Society.

You can now become a friend of PANZA will offer: PANZA or donate cash to help us PANZA is a registered charitable trust • Copies of NZ poetry books for private continue our work by going to research and reading purposes. http://pukapukabooks.blogspot.com and • Historical information for poets, accessing the donate button – any writers, journalists, academics, donation will be acknowledged. researchers and independent scholars of NZ poetry. • Photocopying for private research purposes.

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