PHOTO: ORIGIN COFFEE
MANY visitors to Ōtorohanga have stumbled into conversations with Bill Millar in the past half a century – and they’ve been grateful for the experience.
Their letters of gratitude have been printed for decades in this paper, sent in by people from all over the world who had the fortune of meeting the man.
Bill was born in 1938 in Te Kūiti and shifted to Ōtorohanga as a young adult.
He has been described as “a true gentleman in every sense of the word”, full of pride for his town and a true ambassador for the region.
Many first meet Bill at the railway station, fresh off the Northern Explorer or its predecessors, while sitting down for a cuppa at Origin Coffee.
Even while walking around the coffee shop looking for a seat to be interviewed, Bill approached people who appeared to be from out of town to offer advice and share interesting titbits about the region.
He was a taxi driver for 55 years, retiring in 2017, and said the railways created a lot of work for him in the early days.
Rail arrived in Ōtorohanga in 1887 – a history Bill knows well and shares often.
Ōtorohanga has been removed as a stop on the main trunk line several times in Bill’s lifetime, and each time he has campaigned to have it returned.
He succeeded in 1993 when he gathered the support of then National MP Katherine O’Regan, then mayor of Ōtorohanga Jim Earwacker and then Minister of Māori Affairs Koro Wetere.
Then in 2012 he delivered a 3000-strong petition to Parliament. The story goes that he would have sent the petition by train, but there wasn’t one running that day.
Just last year, Bill participated in a national campaign to save New Zealand’s railway amid major changes to KiwiRail’s scenic tours which were likely to see the train stop less frequently in Ōtorohanga.
Bill saw the railway as a gateway to the King Country, and strongly objected to any suggestion the Ōtorohanga and Waitomo districts were part of the Waikato region.
But while the region’s beauty spoke for itself, Bill knew people were key to providing a good experience for tourists.
When previously he and other taxi drivers were getting overload work from tour buses, Bill went direct to the Auckland travel agents to suggest they work together.
“I visited Auckland travel agents many times and they said they were happy with what they had.
“I said give us a couple passengers to test us out.”
The result: happy customers who learned the history of the town, Waitomo Caves, and how people used to travel.
And for Bill, a letter commending how well he treated customers.
“I’ve had bouquets from many people,” he said.
In 2012, Bill and his wife, Irene, were presented with a certificate of appreciation for their services to Ōtorohanga by then-mayor Dale Williams.
In 2017, he was given a symbolic key to the town as the Freedom of Ōtorohanga award.
Speaking at the ceremony, mayor Max Baxter called Bill an ardent supporter of the community and district, whose reach went beyond New Zealand’s shores (Waitomo News, February 23, 2017).
“There would be very few countries that have not had their visiting citizens educated and entertained on the beauty, history and folklore of our district and our nation by Bill.”
Bill’s commitment to tourists extended further than the confines of his taxi – he also opened his home to them.
He and Irene were one of four homes participating in the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) homestay scheme, dreamt up by Bill.
It came after the local YHA shut down, but Bill continued to see backpackers looking for accommodation.
“I said to the YHA people, why don’t we have homestay?
“They had the bigwig from Wellington come up to discuss it and we had four houses doing homestay.
“We did it for seven years. We had about 500 people of all nationalities from all over the world. They’d come and stay in your house, cook their own meals and associate with you.”
The Ōtorohanga ambassador was also a founding volunteer of the local public relations organisation, which promoted the town, fundraised for events, and entertained visitors with quintessentially King Country displays like having lambs in the town centre.
Bill made a career out of promoting and advocating for both Ōtorohanga and the broader King Country.
And in the six years of his retirement, he has made it his lifestyle.
