Waiting for the start of the Mercury Bay Inaugural Music Festival at Whitianga Queens Birthday Weekend 2016 - photo courtesy Chris Ball |
Queen's Birthday
Weekend on the Coromandel Peninsula this
weekend , experienced an inaugural Mercury Bay Music Festival. A wonderful
medley of music, songs and musicians. With tunes from folk music, world music - acoustic, traditional, bluegrass, jazz,
flamenco. All kinds of music held in
Whitianga Venue's and music that was
good for the soul. Stewart Pedley, a local Whitianga musician, was the first
musician up and naturally, he sang the
ballad of the ship Buffalo. Buffalo Beach at Whitianga is named after the wreck of this ship, which lays
underwater out in the Bay.
Early Morning Mist Buffalo Beach, Whitianga Queens Birthday Weekend 2016 - photo courtesy Chris and Anne Ball |
Typical of any
ballad or folk song that remains with us over the decades and even centuries,
the words are often passed down orally and some have evolved and changed on
their way down the years. The weekend music festival got me to thinking about
the music that is a part of our New Zealand history as well as world history.
The ballad about the ship Buffalo started way back in 1840 - more than
175 years ago. The words of the first
ballad about Buffalo , were attached to a page of the diary of Thomas Frederick Cheeseman, second master
on the 1837 voyage of HM's Buffalo .
Come all you jolly seamen bold, and listen to my
song,
I'd have you
pay attention, and I'll not detain you long,
Concerning of
a voyage to New Zealand we did go,
For to cut
some lofty spars, to load the Buffalo.
When at New
Zealand we arrived, our hands were sent on shore,
Our tents were
then all pitch'd well, and provided with good stores;
At six o'clock
we all rouse out, then such a precious row,
Come quick and
get your grog, my boys, unto the woods you go.
With saws and
axes in our hands, then through the bush we steer,
And when we
saw a lofty tree, unto it we draw near,
With saws and
axes we begin to lay the tree quite low,
With cheerful
heart strikes every man to load the Buffalo.
Now eight
o'clock is drawing nigh, 'All Off! All off!' 's the sound,
All thro' the
trees it echoes loud, and makes the woods resound,
Then every man
lays down his axe, and thro' the bush we come,
To get their
jolly breakfast, every man does nimbly run.
Our breakfast
being over, then to work we do repair;
Our work is
all pointed out, for every man his share.
There's
roughters and refiners, and there's jolly sawyers too,
To lop and
trim those lofty spars, to load the Buffalo.
When twelve
o'clock is drawing nigh, 'All Off!' again's the cry,
Then every man
lays down his axe, and through the wood does hie;
Our cook had
got a dinner that will make all faces shine,
With pork and
murphies smoking hot on which we tars do dine.
'Grog ho!' is
the next cheerful cry, we drink it up with glee;
We light our
pipes when time is up and, smoking, go away
Unto the woods
to finish well the spars that we began,
And when the
afternoon's expired, then home comes every man.
And when we
have our supper got, our barter we prepare,
With shirts
and blankets in our hands, to the native's huts we steer;
For toki,
pigs and murphies we exchange our traps, you know,
For to suit
our rakish blades of the saucy Buffalo.
On Wednesdays
and Saturdays, at four o'clock we strike,
Each man to
wash and mend his clothes, whilst he has got daylight;
We've extra
grog on Saturdays, to cheer up every man;
There's happy
day on board the Buff ashore in New Zealand.
Our ship she
is well loaded, and for England we are bound;
Where plenty
of good rum, my lads, and pretty girls abound;
Farewell to
Tonga - Mowries and Wyenas also
They will oft
times wish to see again the happy Buffalo.
In Diary of T F Cheeseman, Alexander Turnbull Library NZ
Copy also on Rootsweb
The ballad Stewart Pedley sings about the ship Buffalo of course adds to her story. John Archer's web site, New Zealand Folk Songs has the words and music to this version of The Buffalo, sung by Stewart Pedley.
Stewart Pedley at opening of inaugural Mercury Bay Music Festival Queens Birthday Weekend 2016 singing another version of the song The Buffalo - photo courtesy Chris Ball |
Travelling up to
Whitianga for the Music Festival bought to mind another song said to be written in 1900 , by H A Cobbledick, Otautau.
However the song could have been a sawmill anywhere in New Zealand for they
were all very similar in people, community
and process. Tairua ( on Coromandel's Eastern Seaboard ) from 1864, saw a sawmill of some size milling Kauri.
Whitianga where the inaugural music festival was held, saw a sawmill
established in 1863, also milling kauri.
Date taken from note accompanying H2011.16/17. Coastal view
of Tairua township and mills. Blakeley
family collection. Webb & Webb / Photographers Courtesy State Library
Victoria, Australia http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/129299
|
Both places were close communities ,
bound by the fact that back then, travel to the mills were by sea, there being
no roads. Mercury Bay sawmill was the headline topic of newspapers when
electric light was introduced in the mill in 1883. Also in this year George
Fraser of Fraser & Tinne bought invited guests aboard ss Rotomahana to Whitianga for the opening of
a new upgraded mill and new machinery. Both Tairua and Whitianga mills were in
full production into the 1900's.
SAWMILLING SONG.
The traffickers in
Maori pine
Are a hardy lot of
boys,
Who laugh and sing
in rain or shine,
And make their share of noise.
They are a right
good sort, from bosses
Way down to cheeky
Hoys and hosses
They work with a
will from day to clay,
Content to sweat and
pay their way.
Then work, boys,
work, with right good cheer,
With muscle and
brains the wood craft steer
Squirl, saw, squirl!
Buzz, planer, buzz
Gee lip! Gee whaoo!
The business does.
Crosscuts and axes
merrily ring
To the bushmen's
gladsome lay,
Thro' the bush on-
the "shoe" the logs they bring
To the skids by the
trolley-way '
Midst flowers and
blossom,
'mongst fern and
creepers,
'Neath th' fragrant
shade, the forest,
reapers Garner
Zealandia's giant grain,
For their daily
bread and a modest gain. (Refrain.)
The trolleyman
guides th' spoil to the mill,
And th' benchmen
eager spring
Upon the veteran
slain with a will,
Their cantliooks hurrying,
And wedges and
pinchbars, till all is in readiness
For the
breaking-down saw.
Here is no laziness
Full steam a-head,
and th' log lies in twain,
For the breast saw
to rip thro' again and again (Refrain.)
The sawyer guides
unerringly His gauge with glittering eyes
Cuts the best and the most from the forest
tree,
No matter what its
size! His tailer out" with prompt revision
Discreetly classes
each division He gives the slahby the dross to clear,
And loads the
trolley waiting near. (Refrain.)
Away to th' yard the
trolleyman hies
With his all-sorts
load from the mill!
No reins upon his
horses wise,
But a brake to slow
down hill;
And the yardman, in
no mood to dally,
Docks, classes, and
stacks, and --keeps the tally
Day in, day out, with a very good grace
Contentment's smile upon his face! (Refrain.)
And so it is that red pine boards,
And white and black
pine, too,
Are shipped in truck
and waggon loads,
For to build a city
new!
And kourai, miro,
rata, totara.
With birch and other
Zealandia flora
Some dressed by
steam and some in the rough,
But all, like our
men, straight, square, and tough!
Then work, boys,
work, with right good cheer,
With muscle and brains the wood craft steer.
Squirl, saw, squirl!
Buzz, planer, buzz!
Gee up Gee whaoo I
The business does.
—H. A. COBBLEDICK.
Otautau, October, 1900.
Otago Witness, 7 November 1900, Page 59
In Kirk, T. F.L.S. The Forest Flora of New
Zealand. Wellington: Government Printers, 1889.
|
Before the
sawmilling at Whitianga, it was the
felling of kauri for ship spars. In 1840 when HMs
Buffalo was wrecked at Mercury
Bay, one Captain William Stewart was visiting his friend and business
acquaintance Gordon Browne, at the time. Captain Stewart had just returned from
piloting the Ship HMS Herald
down South as far as Stewart Island/ Rakiura and helped rescue the crew
and provisions of HMS Buffalo. Stewart was to pilot Bolina with the captain and crew
survivors from HMS Buffalo out of the local waters on its way to Auckland.
As well as a ship's pilot Stewart was known as a Sealer and Trader in the Southern Waters of Stewart / Rakiura Island and the western bottom corner of the South Island in the Sounds of New Zealand.
So too was Captain John Grono of the Governor Bligh. His rescue of marooned sealers from the brigantine Active in the Sounds that led to one of the first Australasian Folk Songs. Ten men left behind and rescued from their ordeal by Captain Grono on 27 November 1813 were:
As well as a ship's pilot Stewart was known as a Sealer and Trader in the Southern Waters of Stewart / Rakiura Island and the western bottom corner of the South Island in the Sounds of New Zealand.
Small Bay Stewart Island Rakiura in 2012 - photo Chris Ball |
So too was Captain John Grono of the Governor Bligh. His rescue of marooned sealers from the brigantine Active in the Sounds that led to one of the first Australasian Folk Songs. Ten men left behind and rescued from their ordeal by Captain Grono on 27 November 1813 were:
David Loweriston
Alexander Book
(Books)
Robert Robison
(later known as Robert McKenzie)
James Anderson
John Waid (Ward)
William Jones
Frances Ferara
(Francis Farrero)
John Cames
(Camel/Campbell)
William Jackson
Bartholomew Vincent
One of the Sounds of the Western Corner of the South Island - Dusky Sound with Resolution in Centre Back - Photo JM Stewart 1985 |
Captain John Bader, Active , after dropping off the men in
about 1810, with David Loweriston in
charge. Captain Bader never returned for
them. Bader had taken the Active to Port
Jackson, Sydney for further supplies and never been heard of again since that
date. Alexander Books and Robert
McKenzie who were amongst the rescued men, became sons-in-law of Captain John
Grono.
David Lowston
My name is David
Lowston, I did seal, I did seal,
My name is David Lowston, I did seal.
Though my men and I were lost,
Though our very lives 'twould cost,
We did seal, we did seal, we did seal.
'Twas in eighteen
hundred and ten, we set sail, we set sail.
'Twas in eighteen hundred and ten we set sail.
We were left we gallant men,
Never more to sail again,
For to seal, for to seal, for to seal,
We were set down in
Open Bay, were set down, were set down.
We were set down in Open Bay, were set down.
Upon the sixteenth day,
Of Februar-aye-ay,
For to seal, for to seal, for to seal.
Our Captain John
Bedar, he set sail, he set sail.
Yes, for Port Jackson he set sail.
I'll return men without fail,
But she foundered in a gale,
And went down, and went down, and went down.
We cured ten
thousand skins, for the fur, for the fur,
Yes we cured ten thousand skins for the fur.
Brackish water, putrid seal,
We did all of us fall ill,
For to die, for to die, for to die.
Now come all you
lads who venture far from home, far from home
Come all you lads who venture far from home
Though the schooner Governor Bligh took on
those who didn't die
Never seal, never seal, never seal.
So remember those who sail on the sea, on the
sea
Remember those who sail on the sea
Where the icebergs tower high that's a pitiful
place to die
Never seal, never seal, never seal.
Anon.
There are a number of whaler and sealer songs. Along with many Sea shanties written in the days of those sailing ships. Songs and shanties helped seaman while they worked for life aboard was hard. For sealers and whalers often they were months in isolated places such as the Sounds of the South Island, New Zealand.
Serenity in Dusky Sound, South Island NZ 1985 - photo J M Stewart |
Reference Source:
- The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser , Sat 18 Dec 1813, Page 2
- MERCURY BAY TIMBER COMPANY. New Zealand Herald, 3 April 1883, Page 6
- A SAWMILL LIGHTED WITH ELECTRICITY. Daily Telegraph ,14 September 1883, Page 3
- SAWMILLING SONG. Otago Witness, 7 November 1900, Page 59
- Ebenezer Church (1809) Newsletter No. 14: April 2013 http://www.ebenezerchurch.org.au/documents/newsletter14.pdf