(published July 2004)

 

“You know, we have some talented people on this island here. If we could get some of these people to share practical skills with younger people, then this could be a real investment,” said John Cran.

An investment that can reach into the hundreds of thousands, according to Bob Lawson, if you calculate the years of benefits that are saved over ten years if just one person less is left sitting on the dole.

To do just that, Bob approached WINZ two years ago to get help with an ambitious project that was just taking shape then, and in the course of that he wanted to equip at least four unemployed islanders with some useful job skills. There were several women and men that joined the work gang in Kaitoke and between them the mostly young unemployed completed the work planned for a 6-month period.

The homestead the unemployed were helping to restore was a landmark building that marks a key event in island history (and probably more than one, if you would ask anybody that grew up in the grand old home). When nearly a hundred years ago the Wiltshire ran ashore on the island’s rocky coasts, it was a concerted effort by islanders - that was applauded internationally at the time - to save every single crew and passenger on the stricken vessel by slinging a rope across to the wreck before it was washed away.

Like the proud owner of a thoroughbred home, Bob is ready to point out the different materials washed ashore from the shipwreck that make up the entire building: deck-planking, crate lids and even the masts that were milled into ceiling sarking here on the island. Already stacked in the corners of the yet unfinished building are piles of historic household and farm equipment from the previous century that have been donated from different parts of the island. Old horse tackle, metal biscuit tins and a wooden rat trap form the start for an Island Heritage museum that will open in the old Gray homestead one day.

“The project really caught the imagination of the young people working with me. We could only pay them the legal minimum wage and that only because I used the administrative allowance to supplement the inadequate wages they received directly from the WINZ community employment scheme. But still, we would often have one or the other come out on a Saturday to complete some task that had been left unfinished at the end of the week. There was always laughter on the work site. I think we succeeded in showing that work can be enjoyable and rewarding at the same time.”

Restoring a house involves many skills, simply starting with nailing a straight nail. “I still have the woodblock that one guy had to practice on before we let him near the house.” Bob laughed. But now, that youth has the self-confidence to go out himself to, for example, measure, cut and fit the glazing in a custom made window.

“There is a gap after formal education before young people are fully launched into their careers, whichever direction they eventually take up.” And any support that can be given in these crucial years would really pay back much later. In any case, these days you don’t just go out and train to do one job ever after, but you have to take control of your own life and manage your career. That means to be ready to go out and get the job skills that will make you employable. Just sending adolescents off to the mainland to fend on their own is not bridging the gap. That is wasting good opportunities we have here on the island to help them on their way and to get them out of that aimless rut which adolescents can so easily slide into. ”

But offering that help is not restricted to developing the employability of island youth. The old Gray homestead, which was donated by Alan and June Mitchell, is only one address in a heritage village that is taking shape on Gray Road on land which in turn was provided by Alan and Sue Gray. Hectic preparations are under way to keep to the schedule and still grow the “village” before summer. During July an old building that once hosted the Claris social club bar will be moved across. That will not be the first move for a building that already has a distinguished career as Tryphena schoolteacher’s home, as doctor’s surgery, and as yoga and then boxing club.

Many islanders - old and young - have already volunteered help and material to get the old club rooms ready as a community art gallery for the next summer.

For Bob and his colleagues from the Aotea Community ArtZ group (ACA), this will be a vital facility for sustaining the island’s own art identity. Like 3 or 4 other groupings of artists on the island, ACA seeks to provide mutual support and opportunities to develop and promote local artists that are gaining more and more recognition for local island art. But especially those with latent abilities that need motivation and support need to have the necessary resources and organisation behind them. 

Creating the Aotea Community ArtZ Gallery overcame a big hurdle just in June, when the Great Barrier Island Community Board recognised the potential benefits to all islanders, and released a substantial part of discretionary funding so that the project can progress. That money will allow crucial work to be finished in time for the coming season. “I don’t think that Auckland City really knows how much their money contribution is appreciated by the local islanders involved.” Bob added.

And to make time for that and other projects, Bob and Di have been happy to hand over the New Zealand Post Rural Delivery service. That there is still much work to be done can easily be seen looking around the cluster of unfinished buildings that is accumulating on the work site that has become their home. The house they are living in themselves, had to be cut up and put back together again with the help of Graham Winslow when it was saved from demolition on the Mabey farm by moving it down to Kaitoke a couple of years ago. And across the clearing in the Kaitoke “forest”, a space is already reserved for the Honey House from Medland’s road in Tryphena.

Those projects are by now involving many other people on the island. “If we don’t salvage what is left of the settler’s history now, it will all be gone. And there are many people, especially the older residents, which are very excited about that.” And to be sure, just like the WINZ funded work with the unemployed, many will walk away with more than they brought in - skills, motivation or just inspiration.

There are people on this island that know “how”, and they can share that with others, as John Cran had said at the outset.

By Rendt Gorter