The old Forest Headquarters was Rodman's homestead and it stood on the corner of Rodman & Diamond Hill Road. It was a fine old house with two roof ridges parallel to each other; it was built of Matai, Rimu and Totara, presumably logged from the forest.
Surrounding the homestead was a paddock used for the house cow and probably horses. Around the homestead building were Ngiao trees - possibly natural, but maybe planted. The tradition surrounding these trees is that they only grow where they can 'see' the sea. They could.
There were large Eucalyptus trees, globulus and one housed a wild beehive in the trunk - Colin Bartrum robbed the honey from time to time by cutting a square into the trunk and covering it with a piece of ply that could be removed.
There was a large barn/shed that had a sliding door - this was an amazing pioneering building. Adzed boards/slabs of Rimu and Miro - about 30cm wide and 30mm thick, placed vertically. The frame, including the rafters was made from trimmed poles of what was then called Black Matipo and Red Matipo. The old guys misidentified the species. Black Matipo is Pittosporum tenuifolium while the Red is Myrsine australis, not that it matters particularly.
Of course there was no electricity there and I suspect there was a problem with water. Rodman harvested rainwater from the roof and had piped water from a spring up the road - I never saw it carry water. Down on the flat area at the start of Pa Road there had been a cattlestop erected and there was a well dug. Unthinkingly Albert and I from time to time filled it with rubbish!
Sadly all this has gone now. The house was used as the first Headquarters for many years until 1965 when the new Headquarters was set up on Breakneck Road near the sawmill. Now that's not quite right. The old cadastral maps reveal that the road is actually Middle Ridge Road, which continues up to Glencoe Run - somehow the road became known as Breakneck - which actually starts where Middle Ridge turns to climb the hill.
Then for many years the Old HQ became a wet weather shelter until a new one was built on what is now the camping ground.
Sadly I did not know Rodman or any of his kin nor have I heard of any of them - there will be many happy memories of that old house and no doubt challenges too.
I was responsible for removing almost everything there. First it was my job to establish trees in the 20 acre house cow paddock. This involved aerial spraying the gorse with 245T. We flew from McLean's Hill (North of Herbert Township). John McDonald was the pilot of the Fletcher aircraft and as it was a single-seater, I sat in the hopper and rattled around as he took off. Uncomfortable and probably illegal. But you have to show the pilot where to apply the chemical.
After the spray had dried the gorse, we burnt it. This was a challenge because part of the fenceline was too steep for the bulldozer to form a firebreak. So we cut one by hand. During the fire, Colin became hot so hung his woolen jersey on the fence - the fire became so intense that when he lifted it off, it fell to pieces! Beyond the fence was the young forest - small Radiata Pine growing in gorse, highly flammable! We were so lucky that it did not ignite because it surely would have burnt the whole catchment beyond!
One wet day some new Porter Pruners had arrived. These are long handled loppers. Old Russell began to annoy the rest of the forest workers by clacking the pruners in their faces. He clacked too close to Bert however and cut a nick in the join between his nostrils. Blood dripped slowly, drip, drip.
Bert stuck his pipe to the side of his mouth and sat in a chair so the blood dripped on the floor - not cool to show any pain. 'Silly old bastard.' he muttered.
On wet days there were always challenges - mental as well as physical. Not showing pain was part of the aim and bulldog clips would go on ears and noses. And there were wrestling matches. Colin managed to break one of Bert's fingers, but nobody knew until months later, when Bert's wife let the cat out of the bag.
It was comforting to those hard men though to go into the old HQ on a cold day, start the fire and smoke, talk and drink tea. Their tactic was the same even when they used the new shelter. They would take turns to come and annoy me until I told them they could go home!
The old building became a ruin and sometimes pig hunters and others took shelter there. It was dangerous because one day it was bound to burn down - so we demolished it and the workers took the good materials home - the rest was bulldozed and buried. Oh but I have a very old bottle from there.
Going back to Pa Road. We built a log bridge over Hoods Creek - that's gone now too - and while the road was new and the edge still not compacted, Old Russell driving 1140, the old K Bedford - full of men - drove too close to the soft edge. Slowly the truck began to tip over - slow? Bert had time to take his pipe from his mouth and place it safely in his pocket. The truck flopped over on its side rolling twice - nobody was seriously hurt except from hobnail boot marks as Albert wanted to be first out!
Surrounding the homestead was a paddock used for the house cow and probably horses. Around the homestead building were Ngiao trees - possibly natural, but maybe planted. The tradition surrounding these trees is that they only grow where they can 'see' the sea. They could.
There were large Eucalyptus trees, globulus and one housed a wild beehive in the trunk - Colin Bartrum robbed the honey from time to time by cutting a square into the trunk and covering it with a piece of ply that could be removed.
There was a large barn/shed that had a sliding door - this was an amazing pioneering building. Adzed boards/slabs of Rimu and Miro - about 30cm wide and 30mm thick, placed vertically. The frame, including the rafters was made from trimmed poles of what was then called Black Matipo and Red Matipo. The old guys misidentified the species. Black Matipo is Pittosporum tenuifolium while the Red is Myrsine australis, not that it matters particularly.
Of course there was no electricity there and I suspect there was a problem with water. Rodman harvested rainwater from the roof and had piped water from a spring up the road - I never saw it carry water. Down on the flat area at the start of Pa Road there had been a cattlestop erected and there was a well dug. Unthinkingly Albert and I from time to time filled it with rubbish!
Sadly all this has gone now. The house was used as the first Headquarters for many years until 1965 when the new Headquarters was set up on Breakneck Road near the sawmill. Now that's not quite right. The old cadastral maps reveal that the road is actually Middle Ridge Road, which continues up to Glencoe Run - somehow the road became known as Breakneck - which actually starts where Middle Ridge turns to climb the hill.
Then for many years the Old HQ became a wet weather shelter until a new one was built on what is now the camping ground.
Sadly I did not know Rodman or any of his kin nor have I heard of any of them - there will be many happy memories of that old house and no doubt challenges too.
I was responsible for removing almost everything there. First it was my job to establish trees in the 20 acre house cow paddock. This involved aerial spraying the gorse with 245T. We flew from McLean's Hill (North of Herbert Township). John McDonald was the pilot of the Fletcher aircraft and as it was a single-seater, I sat in the hopper and rattled around as he took off. Uncomfortable and probably illegal. But you have to show the pilot where to apply the chemical.
After the spray had dried the gorse, we burnt it. This was a challenge because part of the fenceline was too steep for the bulldozer to form a firebreak. So we cut one by hand. During the fire, Colin became hot so hung his woolen jersey on the fence - the fire became so intense that when he lifted it off, it fell to pieces! Beyond the fence was the young forest - small Radiata Pine growing in gorse, highly flammable! We were so lucky that it did not ignite because it surely would have burnt the whole catchment beyond!
One wet day some new Porter Pruners had arrived. These are long handled loppers. Old Russell began to annoy the rest of the forest workers by clacking the pruners in their faces. He clacked too close to Bert however and cut a nick in the join between his nostrils. Blood dripped slowly, drip, drip.
Bert stuck his pipe to the side of his mouth and sat in a chair so the blood dripped on the floor - not cool to show any pain. 'Silly old bastard.' he muttered.
On wet days there were always challenges - mental as well as physical. Not showing pain was part of the aim and bulldog clips would go on ears and noses. And there were wrestling matches. Colin managed to break one of Bert's fingers, but nobody knew until months later, when Bert's wife let the cat out of the bag.
It was comforting to those hard men though to go into the old HQ on a cold day, start the fire and smoke, talk and drink tea. Their tactic was the same even when they used the new shelter. They would take turns to come and annoy me until I told them they could go home!
The old building became a ruin and sometimes pig hunters and others took shelter there. It was dangerous because one day it was bound to burn down - so we demolished it and the workers took the good materials home - the rest was bulldozed and buried. Oh but I have a very old bottle from there.
Going back to Pa Road. We built a log bridge over Hoods Creek - that's gone now too - and while the road was new and the edge still not compacted, Old Russell driving 1140, the old K Bedford - full of men - drove too close to the soft edge. Slowly the truck began to tip over - slow? Bert had time to take his pipe from his mouth and place it safely in his pocket. The truck flopped over on its side rolling twice - nobody was seriously hurt except from hobnail boot marks as Albert wanted to be first out!
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