Bone carver sails into town

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 4, Issue 48, 19 May 1987, Page 3

Bone carver sails into town

If you have spotted a motorised caravan that looks vaguely like a trailer-sailer in the Waimarino recently then you may have been looking at the mobile home belonging to bone carver Richard Hartley. Mr Hartley travels about the North Island every three to four weeks to sell his bone carvings, which he fashions in his workshop in Takapuna, Auckland. Among his regular buyers are Bea and Dot Barnes of Kunikraft in Ohakune, who stock his traditional Maori design pieces. Among his most favoured designs include the matau- the basket of knowledge, the miha- the unfolding fern frond, ika matau- the traditional Maori fish hook and the taniwha. Cow bone is the medium for most of his work. He collects this bone from an Auckland meat works. He also works with jade, fashioning the same designs. Working with jade is a much slower process and the material is harder to come by so he produces less jade work. He was taught to carve by Doug James of Coromandel, who still supplies him with jade.

He uses a modern jeweler's type drill, much like a dentistry instrument to carve the ancient designs. For the bone carving the drill is fitted with a steel bit while for the jade figures a diamond drill bit is used.

Mr Hartley built his motorised caravan to his own design and that helps to explain the unusual shape of the caravan. Richard Hartley served his time for his earlier career as a boat builder and set up a business designing trailer-sailers.small power boats and other pleasure craft. These famous 'Hartley' designs were sold worldwide He bought the 1981 Daihatsu light truck as a wreck a few years ago, removed the existing tray and cut and lengthened the chassis by three feet. The caravan that Mr Hartley built on the back of the Daihatsu incorporates many boat building techniques. There are curved horizontal as well as vertical lines on the outside. Inside the style of woodwork could easily lead you to believe you were on a large motor launch or yacht. It is hard to overlook the bow of the caravan. It features what Mr Hartley calls a Jarrandah, a wooden platform jutting out from bumper level. The platform, about five to six feet wide and Teaching out about four feet resembles the swimming platforms seen on large motor launches. It is in fact used to transport the recreation vehicle for Mr Hartley's trips- a three wheel motorbike. He and his wife, who usually travels with him, use the bike for exploring off-road places including South Island

beaches when they visit that part of the country, usually just touring and not selling handcrafts. The feature that draws most comment though, is the stainless steel ladder on the stern of tne caravan. Mr Hartley uses it to get to a storage area on the top deck, but says he usually explains it to people by saying that every boat has to have a ladder at the stern. Mr Hartley was off to Whakapapa after the photo was taken to visit his daughter Linriette, who works for the Department of Conservation as an artist. He plans to return to Ohakune regularly on his rounds visiting the outlets for his bone carvings. Why does he call his bowsprit a jarrandah? He doesn't really know - a friend from Europe used to call it that so that's what it is.