"MUSIC IN THE WAKATIPU"

Lake County Mail, Issue 1, 29 May 1947, Page 6

"MUSIC IN THE WAKATIPU"

Contributed by Mrs. John MacKenzie of Walter Peak Station “And thou stern dusky Maori, Sturdy as their own Kauri,” sang the Maoris as they paddled up and down the Lake Wakatipu in their canoes, which had been hollowed out from totara trees felled in the vicinity of the Head of the Lake. ' “Kamate, Kamate,” shrieked the two Maoris who were in the first shearing gang of eight, late in the year of--1861, on the banks of the Buckleburn Stream, Glenorchy. Their plaintive notes and realistic hakas echoed and re-echoed, around the lonely but stately Wakatipian mountain tops. » What must have been most uncanny was the death song chanted by Maori Jack. It was in the year 1862, when William Rogers—a London merchant — who then owned “Glenquoich” run, Athol. Mr. Mitchell and Maori Jack were rowing en route to Kingston. A squall struck their craft, which overturned. Mr. Rogers was drowned, but Mitchell and Maori Jack clasped hands over the upturned boat, and by diving underneath and cutting the halyards the boat turned over. Maori Jack climbed in, dragging the now senseless Mitchell after him. The sturdy Maori then sculled to shore, still chanting his dismal death song. The waggoners and gold miners travelling up and down to Kingston generally made their overnight halt at the “Jolly Waggoner’s” Hotel. This was the merriest place on the road. Singing and music continued long into the night. Nothing now remains of this memorable place, but the broken crockeryware lying in the cultivated field. During the gold rush days, a fiddler from Queenstown went to Arrowtown three times a week. Immediately all work ceased, and the miners danced with each other, and sang themselves tired. Thatcher, the comedian-singer, spent many months in Queenstown during those hectic days. He entertained the

large and ever increasing population. He was clever at improvising, and composed parodies of the great and funny folk and happenings of the day. The first conductor of the Wellington Harmonic Society was one Gilbert Pickett. On November 15, 1854, in the St. Paul’s Cathedral, Wellington, Pickett married Elise Yon Tunzelman and, at her request, Pickett (who was a wealthy draper in the capital city) sold up all his assets, and with £30,000 settled on Fernhill run —now part of the Walter Peak-Mt. Nicholas estate — as partner to Nicholas Von Tunzelman. The latter being the first squatter to settle on the western shores of the lake. Queenstown has always had a band, but when Alex. Fraser took jver the baton the band went in" for contest work. They were well rewarded with great and continuous success. When the steamer “Jane Williama” was built by Sparrow Bros, for Messrs. Archer and Williams, Sparrow’s employees formed their own band, and as the ship was launched, these visiting bandsmen played “Life on the Ocean Wave!” This steamer is now the “Ben Lomond,” and is still “doing time” on the Lake Wakatipu, John Fraser' was conductor of the Presbyterian Choir for forty years off and on. Once nnder bis condnctorsbip the choir of 22 voices rendered the Cantata, “Under the Palms,” and at 6 the next morning, the choir members, the organist, minister and leader were in their places in the choir stall, to have their photographs taken. John Fraser was a self-taught violinist, and he made his own violin, as did his father before him, John has that valuable instrument, which is dated “1861, Edinburgh.” Its value to-day is £3OO. The Wakatipian musician of our day is J. J. Stroude, once of Queenstown, but now of Christchurch. As a member of the British Song Society he wrote many songs, but one of his best, and certainly none lovlier is the one entitled “Wakatipu.”