ISLAND OUTPOSTS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 20, Issue 501, 28 January 1949, Page 15

ISLAND OUTPOSTS

NEW series of twelve tenminute talks, intended to give listeners some idea of the history of the islands around about New Zealand, has been prepared by Frank A. Simpson, a New Zealand journalist, and will be a feature of Sunday evening broadcasts during the next few weeks from the ZB stations and 2ZA. The opening talk will be on the Auckland Islands, 200 miles south of Stewart Island, which were, for ‘the sealers and whalers of the early 19th Century, a landmark, and a danger signal. Stories of fortitude in the face of Starvation and exposure make up the theme of Auckland Islands history, with that: of Captain Musgrave and his companions of the sealer Grafton as an outstanding example. After an unsuccessful foray to Campbell Island, the Grafton proceeded to the Auckland Islands in January, 1864. Working its way

inside the southern. Carnley Harbour at the height of a vicious gale, the ship was driven broadside on to a rocky ledge and the crew had to abandon her. The mainsail was used as a tent and planks were removed to build a hut. ‘Six long and dreary months have now passed since I left Sydney," Captain Musgrave wrote in his journal on May 15. "The idea of the ‘sad lot which may and must have fallen on those 1 love so much wrings my soul with agony, and a remorse which I fear is crushing me fast to the ground." The trials of the men increased as the months passed. Seals, which had been the chief food supply, began to migrate; birds caught easily in the first days fled from the guns, and clothes were in tatters. Eventually the ship’s dinghy was converted into a stagoing craft and set sail for Stewart Island, leaving the other members of the party safely housed in winter quarters. Public subscriptions were raised in Invercargill and a boat chartered to rescue the remaining castaways. This gives a brief indication of the nature of the talks, which will go on to describe the fate of the 1100-ton ship Invercauld, bound from Melbourne to England in May, 1864, on the Auckland Islands rocks; and the story of the French whaler, Jean Bart, which used Waitangi, Chatham Islands, as its base. Other talks will be about the eo national race to exploit the soutifern islands of New Zealand at the opening of the last century, and some will touch on Disappointment Island, the exploits of Te Kooti, the Campbell Islands (now an important weather-observing depot manned by New Zealand scientists), the Enderby Colony, early days in the Chathams, Solander Island and the Snares, and numerous incidents of maritime disaster in the last hundred years. Island Outposts of New Zealand, as these talks are called, will start at 1ZB on February 6, at 2.45 p.m., 2ZB on February 13, at 3.0 p.m., 3ZB on February 20, at 4.15 p.m., 2ZA on March 6, at 2.15 p.m., and 4ZB on March 27, at 3.0 p.m. ? -------