The Dream: Journey: Despair: Survival: Hardwork: Togetherness:
HARDWORK

Their arrival had been so full of bitter disappointments and worries but as there was simply no going back, the families moved onto their allocated land as soon as they could and with great determination set about establishing themselves and carving out a future. Although natural instincts were to ‘break in’ their very own land first, much of what needed doing called for collective effort. Even for those who had previously worked on the land, tremendous adjustments were required as their new situation was a far cry from what they had left behind in developed Bohemia. They were poorly equipped so obtaining tools was a high priority as was the acquisition of appropriate skills and local knowledge. This was far from easy as they had virtually no contact with the outside world except for boats coming up the river at infrequent intervals and, as they were non English speaking, there were major language problems. Helpfully Captain Martin KRIPPNER, who had been the trigger for them coming out to Puhoi in the first place, did quite a lot as a go between in this regard (His wife Emily later set up schooling for the children). Anything that needed moving had to be carried or dragged so horses and working bullocks were desperately needed.

On arrival, the very dense bush (forest) seemed more of an enemy and a handicap which needed clearing, followed by burning, as quickly as possible to prepare the limited area of flatter ground for vegetables and crops and for grassing slopes in readiness for the introduction of a house cow, horses and bullocks plus goats and sheep on the steep hills. Bush clearance and tracks were also necessary to give access between the properties and handy trees were felled for the wood for the modest slab shanty needed to replace the original nikau whare. Even after there was sufficient grass to support expanding herds and flocks, spare animals were either traded locally or consumed so livestock in itself did not contribute much in the way of external income for the Puhoi community.

There were few early opportunities for paid employment until the Vogel Government in the early 1870s began a bold and extensive program of Public Works. Puhoi men were soon taken on for roading construction and the long planned Great North Road between Auckland and the North, which passed right through Puhoi, was transformed after much effort from just a dry weather bush track into a narrow winding road that could at least be used by wagons and later by coaches. As well as the importance of the extra employment, Puhoi became somewhat less isolated but steamers coming up the river remained the main mode of transport.

Timber Extraction
Kauri (Agathis australis) is an impressive tree which only grows in northern New Zealand, and was the predominant tree in the bush on many Puhoi properties. As Auckland was expanding rapidly, there was a steady demand for this timber for housing, barrels, shipbuilding, bridges and other structures. Kauri was also exported to Sydney, Australia. Mature trees which are many centuries old, had long straight columnar trunks. With the lowest branches very high off the ground and being of considerable diameter, a kauri yielded long lengths of easily worked, clean grained, completely knot free, wide planks. Other native trees such as puriri, kahikatea, matai, miro and totara were also a valuable resource that could be felled and sold so timber increasingly became an extremely important asset for the community.

It is not surprising therefore that the men of Puhoi set about felling the trees with renewed vigour, and then dragging or carting the logs to the village for stockpiling by the side of the river. Here they could be launched periodically, lashed together to form 'fishtail' rafts which could be poled and floated down the Puhoi River to meet up with the boats to tow them the 63 kms by sea to sawmills on Auckland’s waterfront. With just axes, long double-handled saws and wedges, a father and his sons often took a full week of long hours to cut down a single tree. However as time went by many of the men became more skilled and they combined forces to a greater extent.


Fred BAYER felling a large kauri

Logs waiting on river bank

(It has been estimated that close to 7 million super feet of timber went down the river in this way. Once milled this would be equivalent to over 2 million linear metres of 300mm x 25mm planks. Sadly only remnants of the once widespread kauri forests remain today and these are largely protected in reserves and parks. If that quantity of kauri timber were available today it would be worth a small fortune.
Note the bare feet -footware was an undreamed luxury and as there was no call on Vincent PLESCHER, the shoemaker, he left and moved down to Cambridge in the Waikato. It is said that had they had horses during those the very early stages (which they did not) those horses would have been shod before the settlers).
Joseph (Joe) RAUNER rafting logs

Short lengths cross-sawn by hand from the kauri logs could be split into roofing shingles which likewise found a ready market in Auckland and were a further much needed source of income. Some of the women assisted the men in this work and altogether more than a million were prepared and sent down to Auckland. The manifests of the small steamers show that as many as 30,000 shingles were leaving in each consignment.


Wenzl TURNWALD tying up shingles

Without a local mill and lacking money to buy sawn timber back from Auckland, planks for local use had to be pit sawn. This was yet another back breaking task with a man standing on top of the log working the upper end of a two handled saw and another underneath crouching in a pit scooped out in the ground making the downward cut. It was always open to argument as to who had the harder job
Pit sawing at Puhoi

Bullocks
Arthur DENNIS gave the following insight :-

“A bullock team is just that - a number of broken in and properly trained animals working together as an efficient unit. Each animal is yoked with its mate, and has its special place for its special job. Intelligent, obedient and experienced animals are the leaders, and heavy, steady pullers, called polers are last in line. Between the leaders and polers newly-broken or lighter animals can be placed and controlled. When bullocks were yoked for the first time, two methods were used to prevent them from turning the yoke upside down.

1. Their tails could be plaited together with string in the plait so that they could not fall apart

2. A small piece of rope could be used to tie their horns to the yoke thus preventing the free movement of their heads.

The young bullock being yoked for the first time with a broken in or experienced animal was usually placed in the team the first day. When unyoking, the newcomers to the team are let go first, and during the process are held in place by the bullocks before and behind them.


Pair of yoked bullocks

Twelve bullocks made up the usual team. However the number was sometimes increased to whatever was required for the power needed, but the composition of the team never varied. The front pair, called leaders, were most important because, as their name suggests, they had to lead the team and had to be dependable, so were given extra training. The back pair, really heavy animals, were called chainers when working on chains in the bush, and polers when pulling a wagon, and their special function was to 'hold', that is to keep the log or wagon from slipping. In difficult country they were the hardest worked pair in the team. Between the leaders and the polers/chainers came the steady plodders who followed the leaders.
Pulling a log from BAYER's bush
Looking from the chainers to the leaders on the left side is called the near side, and on the right side is the off side. A driver always drove his team from the near side and placed a bad-tempered or lively bullock on the off side so that he would not be passing and re-passing it as he walked up and down beside the team. All working bullocks are named, and respond to their names which are always short and easy to say. names often refer to colour or habit, for example , Roaney, Star, Spot, Baldy, Leopard, Lion, Dancer, Diamond, Dandy, Lively, Piper, Nelson, Sandy, Tiger, Toby, Barney, etc . Properly handled, bullocks become very biddable, and will make an extra effort if directed individually by the calling their names in a stern manner. Although the driver always carried a whip, it very, very seldom touched an animal, rather the whip would be cracked at or close to a bullock. Bad language is something attributed to a driver but generally speaking this was reserved until such times as was necessary to get the last ounce possible from the team (it has been said however that some bullock drivers could swear for ten minutes without repeating a phase).

Bullocks were linked into teams by means of yokes and coupling chains. Most yokes in the North were made of kauri. Each yoke was shaped to fit over the necks of two bullocks. One inch galvanised iron piping was used to make the U shaped bows, the two straight sides being pushed upwards through the holes bored in the yoke, bringing the curved part under the neck. The bows were held in place by a key being inserted through a hole above the yoke. Each yoke had a centre hole bored in it to take the start. The top of the start was fitted with two large links to which the coupling chains were hooked. Coupling chains were usually nine feet in length. If this proved to be too long, a knot was tied in the chain to give a shortening effect.

The axe, maul and timber jacks were used for getting the logs into position and for easing them on and off drays (wagons).”

 

(One such dray is now on display opposite the Puhoi Hotel. There are photos and an account of its return to Puhoi and restoration under ‘EVENTS - Newsletters’ on this website.)


Manoeuvring a log using timberjacks
   

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