Chapter 9 - William

William (Bill) Beazley

The youngest son of Alf and Ani attended Pakotai School where he received his education.

Like the others, his duties mainly consisted of milking the family's cows at 4.00 am across the river at Puhihi before going to school.

Although his father was stern, he passed on good advice which Bill will - never forget - "Willy, never get yourself into debt as you will never be able to get out of it", and it was for that reason Alfred William never owed anyone a cent.

Bill recalls the home brew that Bob made, powerful stuff that it was. Because of the things Bob used to feed his homebrew, it had to settle for a period of time. Solomon Monday died because he never gave the homebrew time to settle.

When the Second World War broke out, Bob joined the Maori Battalion, Fred was in the Air Force, Sam and Joe were living in Dargaville, Norman was living on his farm in Opoukeno, while Bill and George decided to explore the country, first starting work at the Maunu Army Gardens then later at the Karapiro Dam. It was after that time when Bill and George parted company, George joined the Army and Bill went to work in Auckland for a year.

It was during the time Bill was working at the Karapiro Dam that he met up with Mavis. Mavis recalls how Bill was dating a cousin of hers. Bill used to chuck stones at Mavis' legs to get her attention but she kept brushing him aside, till one morning around 10 o'clock Bill turned up at her home with a scarf for his mother that he wanted Mavis to look after and he asked her to go to the pictures the next night and it was then they went steady. Because of that her cousin Lucy would beat her up until Bill came to the rescue and told Lucy to leave Mavis alone, but she still got a hiding. Not long after Bill returned to Auckland Bill wrote a letter to Mavis with a proposal of marriage. Mavis replied no because she had a boyfriend known by the name of Sid Kaiawe. Bill got on well with Mavis' father and asked her father if he could see Mavis.

Mavis remembers Alfred William as a nice man although when they first met he nearly shook her hand off. Also the time when Jenny was three years old and they took her up to meet her grandparents, Mavis had to pinch her behind because she stuck her nose up at the Maori porridge. One of the times she was up there she met Billy Rika who she disliked because he used to call her "Waikato Barefoot".

Also recalled is when George would visit them in Hamilton he told Bill off because he wouldn't help Mavis with the children.

When Manuel was small he spent two weeks with Alf and Ani then Bob was supposed to have him for two weeks but instead had him for eighteen months.They had to go and get him otherwise they would never have got him back. Bob had made Manuel a wooden rocking horse and gave it to Bill and Mavis to take back to Hamilton but because the car they had was full with the sheep they were taking back, Bill got down the road and threw the rocking horse out.

Bill also remembers the time when his father made up a cough medicine for him to take and instead of curing him it nearly killed him.

Also recalled is one holiday time Fred, Sam, Pat and family came visiting and while there Bill Baker also turned up. After having a few beers Sam decided he would go to the pub on Fred's car and while he was driving out he hit a Fire Plug. He swore black and blue the next day that Fred had done it.

Back to Top

Editorial Notes

• Although no accreditation is given to the author(s) of this panui in the Reunion Book, it would appear that it was written as part of interviewing both George and Mavis.

• None of the pictures attached to the Reunion Book had captions so any assistance with describing these would be appreciated (see contacts)

• Any corrections, additional information or pictures relevant to this whanau chapter or whakapapa can also be submitted

Back to Top

Back to Top

William Chapter Attachments

(click images to enlarge)

Back to Top