It’s possibly not so much in vogue now, but the saying, “a chip off the old block” was given a real life example in a recent talk to the Hawke’s Bay branch of the New Zealand Founders Society.
At a recent luncheon at the Havelock North Community Centre, some 80 members of the society heard Tessa Tylee describe how two of her great aunts had inherited a fierce ‘can do’ attitude from their mother.
They applied their determined character to restoring the iconic Hawke’s Bay station, ‘Kereru,’ in the Maraekakaho district, shortly after World War II.
Guest speaker, Tessa Tylee, explained to her audience that after a long career in producing and directing for New Zealand television assignments, she was delighted to take on a different project which resonated with her farm upbringing in the TukiTuki valley and with her family roots.
Project-managing the passage of the acclaimed book, ‘Kereru Station: Two Sisters’ Legacy,” opened a window for her on the most interesting lives of two of her great aunts, Ruth Nelson and Gwen Malden.
Browsers of Hawke’s Bay bookshops will be well familiar with this title as it was released in mid 2015. Local writer, Mary Shanahan, penned the words and Grant Sheehan produced the photographs.
Kereru Station is steeped in Hawke’s Bay’s early settlement history as it was founded by James Nelson Williams, a son of Bishop William Williams, the first Anglican Bishop of Waiapu.
The station passed into the hands of Robert Turnbull and his family in 1915 but had become severely run down by the end of World War II.
Ms Tylee said Ruth’s and Gwen’s mother, Winifred Nelson, had instilled a strong streak of determination and independence in her daughters and no doubt these qualities urged them to take the opportunity to ‘bring the station back into the family.’
As described in the book, they overcame many obstacles in achieving their dream to see the station restored to good working order.
The farm is owned by two charitable trusts (A R Nelson and Gwen Malden) trusts) set up under one title.
When the sisters took it over in 1946, many of the paddocks had reverted to rabbit-infested scrub, fences had fallen down and the once grand old homestead was being used to store hay and shelter calves.
In the pre-war years both sisters studied at the Canterbury School of Art; Ruth becoming an acclaimed wood carver and Gwen, an accomplished artist in watercolour.
The wooden altar in the chapel at Woodford House was carved by Ruth Nelson.
Another abiding passion for Ruth was to promote the work of Rudolf Steiner schooling in Hawke’s Bay.
She met personally with Steiner in Germany in the 1920s and on returning, established the Rudolf Steiner school in Nelson Street, Hastings, (now called the Taikura Rudolf Steiner School).
In another legacy, Ruth and her lifelong friend, Edna Burbury, established a centre for anthroposophy in the 1920s, in Te Mata Peak Road, which has evolved into the present day Taruna college for holistic education.