From: Brian
To:  Jan
Subject: Kenney enquiry

Hi Jan
 
We've never met, I found your contact whilst carrying out a google search.
I'm trying to trace someone and wondered if you could help/give me guidance?
 
I have "inherited" an old school exercise book containing a traveller's description of his emigration via boat to New Zealand from England and I am trying to find a way to reunite the book with the traveller's descendents.
 
Jim Kenney, his wife Rose and baby Sidney left Anstey, Leicestershire on 5 February 1914. In Anstey they had lived in the same street as my Great Aunt and I had been brought up to believe that "most" of the street emigrated to Dannevirke (I was given a penfriend there).
 
However, he has written:
 "When we arrived at Waipaparawa (he refers to Waipawa elsewhere) a young lady came to the carriage window and said "Hello there" how are you. I looked at Rose, she looked at me, and I was just going to tell the young lady that she had made a mistake, when I tumbled to who she was. It was Phyllis Bott, and she works there. When we got to Waipawa we found nearly all our old friends tehre to give us welcome."
 
Can you find the time to give me some help?
 
Thank you
 
Brian Murphy 

From: Jan
To:  Brian
Subject: Kenney enquiry

Hi Brian,
 
It sounds really interesting - and a neat story of someone's experiences in a totally new place. It does sound as if it is Waipawa if it is written that way for the rest of the book. The earlier spelling could be just a confusion as to how Maori names are written or said - for someone newly from England it is even today still very confusing as the vowel sounds are so different.
 
I have fairly limited resources but I will see what I can find out - and maybe if I put it on the website too it might connect with someone with some connection?
Off-hand I have not heard of the Kenney's -but let’s wait and see what happens.
 
I'd love to hear a bit more about their first impressions of Waipawa. Is it possible for you to share some?
 
:-) Jan

From: Brian
To:  Jan
Subject: Kenney enquiry

Thank you Jan, and such a quick reply.
 
I'm sorry to disappoint you but the story is only about the trip and ends with his being met at Waipawa.  He describes Waipawa as "a nice little place surrounded by many big hills" - not much but I am afraid that’s all.
 
Any help, guidance or suggestions you can give me would be much appreciated. It is difficult to know the right way to unlock the puzzle from here.
 
I am still wondering about the link with Dannevirke - do you happen to know anyone there I could ask?
 
I am booking a few days in January to visit my god daughter in Auckland when she gets married so if we can find anyone I will bring the book then.
 
Thanks Jan
 
Best wishes
Brian 

From: Jan
To:  Brian
Subject: Kenney enquiry

Hi Brian,
 
I've been pondering on this question the last couple of days as I've been driving up and down the country picking up my kids from uni.
 
I checked the Hawkes Bay phone book - and found no one with that name... and I don't really know anyone in Dannevirke to ask (even though its only 40 minutes drive from here)
Soooo... one idea I came up with was to forward you letter to our local freebee paper (CHB Mail), and to the Dannevirke/Tararua paper (the Bush Telegraph) and see if anyone replies.
 It’s worth a try anyway - as you say it is a bit of a puzzle.
 
It is a pity the journal you have finishes with the arrival in Waipawa as it would have been interesting to find out more first impression and how a new immigrant fitted into our little town (or Dannevirke)back then.
 
Our town is surrounded by big hills which gives it a lot of character.
I actually live on 'the hill' in Waipawa - which obviously isn't the only hill - but is the only one really settled with houses on it - the other hills are farmland. 
One thing I discovered recently when I was researching another enquiry and talking to one of our older residents in town, was that there was in the past a bit of social distinction between those who lived on 'the hill' and those who lived in 'the bush' (flat area of town which was the last place to be cleared of all the native bush - 'bush' being the term we NZers use for forest).
People up on 'the hill' were more upper class, and people from 'the bush' - well, you can probably guess - were the opposite.
 
The elderly gentleman I was talking to was from 'the bush' and he told me as a child he never went up on 'the hill', or played with kids from there. He was more likely to go down and play down by the river catching freshwater crayfish and cooking them in a billy, or making huge big tunnels in big piles of sawdust at the timber yards and crawling in there and smoking cigarettes with his friends from the bush (its amazing he survived his childhood risking being buried in sawdust, or catching it alight.)
 
Fortunately that social distinction has not kept going through Waipawa's history... and we don't distinguish between the people on 'the hill' or in 'the bush' anymore and we don't say they can't socialize or play together. - (Although I do like living on the hill - it has lots of old houses and pretty deciduous trees that turn gorgeous colours in the autumn.)
 
Anyway I was going through some photos the other day and found this one of the train about to leave Waipawa in about 1900.

The lady waving in the right foreground is my great grandmother.
As you can see, a train arriving or leaving town looked like it was a big event back then.
 
I will look into sending your enquiry off to those newspapers I mentioned earlier - and maybe get it posted on the website too, and see if anything comes to light.
Fingers crossed someone will know something... and we'll be able to solve this puzzle.
 
I'll let you know what I find out
:-) Jan