Non-fiction.Puhoi Pioneers

Puhoi Pioneers.
It was a cold winters evening on the 27th June 1863 when the sailing ship “War Spirit” arrived at Auckland, New Zealand with 83 passengers on board from Bohemia, Czechoslovakia who had travelled from the other side of the world to settle is this new country.
They were transferred to smaller boats, which took them north to the entrance of the Puhoi river arriving two days later, then they were taken in rafts and canoes up the tidal river to the new settlement called Puhoi.
The new settlers had been allotted 40 acres of land for each adult and 20 for every child, granted free from the New Zealand government. There were two large huts already built to shelter everyone. They soon discovered the land was heavily bushed and very hilly, many women just wept with despair after travelling from the other side of the world to what they thought was going to be an easier lifestyle.
The local Maori people helped them to find food in the bush; otherwise they would have starved, as they had no room to bring supplies from the homeland, the Maoris also taught them how to catch wild pigs and pigeons, cook the centres of palm trees and roots. There was also an abundance of eels, fish and crabs in the river, plus wild tree honey. The friendly Maori brought canoe loads of melons, kumara, (sweet potatoes) and meat. They also helped to build them lean too style dwellings on their allotted land which gave them shelter over the cold winter months.
The hard work started with clearing the land of trees and preparing ground for food crops. The timber was shaped with axes and saws into roof shingles, fence posts and railway sleepers and sent to Auckland by boat to the markets for sale and they were able to buy some essentials like flour, yeast and sugar, any money left went into buying animals, especially cows for fresh milk and butter. After many tiresome years of hardship the land was starting to show a little return for their hard labour.
Music played a big part for the early settlers, they had brought some musical instruments from the homeland, the Dudelsack bagpipes, fiddles and button accordions, and these helped them create traditional music, dancing and songs of the Bohemian people.
Religion also played a large part of the lives of these early pioneers, in 1881 the beautiful timber church of St. Peter & Paul was dedicated, this gave them increased strength to their faith.
The new settlers were living in a remote part of the country and having only a slight grasp of the English language their families were joined together in weddings. They spoke only their dialect and it was only after a school and teachers were added to the community that the younger people learned English and were able go to other villages and towns for their partners.
As money was earned lovely villa homesteads replaced the shacks but it was still many years till electricity and phones replaced kerosene lamps for light and horses for communication.
Over the next decade the tiny village started to expand, the pioneers built a general store, three hotels, community hall and a blacksmith.
Firstly the Maori wars in the central north island, then the First World War saw most of the young men go to support their new country.
It was a struggle for the early pioneers but being very determined people, they moulded their new life around the will to succeed. At least it was a very peaceful country with no fears of persecution, always managing to keep their customs, singing and music.