Tall Totara Deep Gorges (by Ina Hair (signed))

• Undated (1970s?)
• Self published, printer unknown
• Format: Stapled glossy paper, card covers, 32 pages, monochrome photos
• Condition: Good, Some age wear, soiling to covers. Name on front cover. Staples intact although rusted.
• SIGNED by author. Rare publication

 

A Story of Early Taoroa - In the Upper Rangitikei

In 1896 a young man walked over many miles of broken bush country in search of his newly balloted section, on the cliffs of the upper Rangikitei River. His last 5 pounds in his purse, and all he owned was in a pack on his back. Three years later he led his young wife to her new pit-sawn house, across a deep river gorge, bridged only by a massive tree trunk.

This is the story of their venture, and of the isolated community they helped to establish.The couple were my father and mother, John and Minnie Law, and the settlement, known then as Lower Moawhango, today as Taoroa, lies about 14 miles east of Taihape.

The story is told on the insistence of my family, and of friends whose parents were also involved.

A brief introduction tells of the family origins in Scotland and the reason for their emigration to New Zealand. A second chapter tells of their successful establishment in Otago over a couple of generations, finally, how one of them , young John Law, moved north in 1896 to set the Taoroa sequel in motion.