John Griffiths, New Zealand Free Lance, 24 February 1932
Esther James was the first person to walk the length of the country, which is remarkable in itself, but she did so in 1932 during the Great Depression, wearing only New Zealand-made clothes and eating only New Zealand-produced food, to encourage people to ‘buy local’. She then walked from Melbourne to Brisbane. Her walking feats are the subject of author Ian Dougherty’s latest book, from which the following edited extract is taken of the King Country part of her New Zealand walk.
James was welcomed on the boundary of Te Awamutu by the town clerk, Dudley Bockett, and waiting townsfolk.
Esther James is welcomed with a bunch of flowers at the Te Kui-ti boundary by townsfolk including, from left, town clerk C.H. Tate, deputy mayor T. Carroll and James’ cousin, Rupert Robin-son – and, next to Esther, Mrs Carroll.
She spoke about her trip and New Zealand goods at the Empire Theatre, where she was introduced by the deputy mayor, George Spinley, and a collection was taken ‘to assist her enterprise’.
The next day, she was shown over the local dairy and casein factories in the flourishing dairy town, and walked to Kio Kio, where she spent the night at the Mount Pleasant farmhouse of John Budge. She continued on the next day to Ōtorohanga, where she was welcomed by the town clerk and gave a lecture in the Town Hall. She also fitted in a visit to the Waitomo Caves, describing the glow-worm caves as ‘the most wonderful sight I have ever seen.’
On to Te Kūiti, she visited the historic Te Tokanganui-ā-Noho marae and gathered the signatures or marks of prominent Māori. She later delivered an address at the Empress Theatre.
The summer weather had continued to been kind to James: she still had experienced only the one wet walking day through the Mangamuka Gorge. Bush fires were the downside of the fine weather. On leaving Te Kuiti, James recounted that she had to traverse country through which bush fires were raging.
‘The bush fires sent up a very thick smoke, and all day a bluish haze hung over the sky, and for miles ahead I could see the reflections of some huge fire in the sky at eventide. As I trudged on, the smoke became more and more annoying until when I reached Piopio, 15 miles away, I could hardly see, and the tears were in my eyes.’
She walked to Paearuhe the following evening, and then on to Mahoenui the next afternoon, which she described as the hardest walk of her trip so far.
‘The bush fires were right around me and the smoke so dense I was forced to wet my handkerchief and keep it at my eyes to enable me to see at all. The hills were all ablaze with a continual falling of trees, and pieces of burnt fern dropped in the paddocks. At one bend in the road, I was forced to run through a cutting for both banks were aflame, and such a sad sight met my gaze. About a dozen sheep were trapped in a corner of a paddock, all huddled together, and the fire was rapidly approaching them. I could see that very shortly the sheep would be roasted mutton, so I took up a stone and hit the staples out of the wires, and how eagerly those poor sheep ran down the road into the creek nearby!
Newspapers reported serious bush fires raging in the King Country at the time, fanned by strong winds and causing extensive damage. There was some consolation: just past Piopio she clocked up 500 miles of her 1600-mile journey.
Ian Dougherty’s book New Zealand Maid: Esther James And Her Campaigning New Zealand And Australian Walks During The Great Depression is available from bookshops and directly from the publisher.
John Griffiths, New Zealand Free Lance, 24 February 1932
