In his areas of diverse interest, keen as mustard collector , Gary Davies ,
of Magnetic
Island , outsmarts Sherlock Holmes when it comes to research and deductions , resulting in
great finds from
far and wide . Among his
latest outstanding acquisitions , from New Zealand , is
the above superb postcard
dated 1905 of Maori boys playing
billiards using
a twisted manuka stick as a cue
on an upturned
packing case . This has particular
significance for me
because about half a
century ago I wrote
a piece
for the Rotorua Post newspaper using the
self same photo .
It had been provided by local historian , Don Stafford , who ran a menswear
store and
was connected with nearby Tikitere - Hell’s Gate –a
volcanic tourist attraction . Don supplied the information that the photograph
had been taken by a retired
schoolteacher , Mr Phillips, called Piripi by the
Maoris , who lived near the
Whakarewarewa Maori village and spent much time helping Maori children . It was said he also taught a number of Maori girls
to cook a Sunday dinner in the European style and some of them obtained
work as a result.
When the photograph was run in the newspaper
, I asked readers for any
information they could provide . A Maori in the printing section of the newspaperer , who had served in the Army , identified his
father as having been one of the billiard players . Subsequent correspondence revealed
that copies of the photograph had been displayed in many
billiard saloons throughout New Zealand
.
Due to the response to the article , I began
to write a regular feature called Yesteryear which often contained
an old photograph from Stafford’s collection.
Stafford went on to write Te Arawa: A History of the Arawa
People, published by Reed in 1967 , awarded the Elsdon
Best Memorial Medal in 1970 by the
Polynesian Society. He presented me with a copy which sustained water damage during Darwin's Cyclone Tracy in 1974 and is now in my Kiwi reference section .The book sold more than 40,000 copies and Don wrote 22 books about the Rotorua area he knew so well .
In 1982 he was awarded an MBE and in 1993, a CBE. His book, Wild Wind from the North,
published by Reed in 2007, addressed the controversial story of Hongi Hika , who fought many
bloody battles , making use of muskets , visited Sydney in 1814
and later sailed to London where he was introduced to King George lV . Don Stafford was 82 when he died on April 5, 2010 ; the Rotorua Library has a room named after him which
contains his vast collection of photographs
and books . - ( By Peter Simon .)
