Family History 1.124

Gaze History: NSG Memoir

War 

At Christmas time 1940 Noel and Mary took their young family on a long journey to the South Island to see Win and her family.  Win was expecting her first baby, but had already inherited three children.  While working as a Karitane nurse in Whangarei she had been sent to work for a secondary school teacher who had recently been widowed for the second time: Doug Bird. When she married him, Win took on also the care of Doug’s three children from his previous marriages: Don, Derry and Jennifer.  A few months later they shifted to Ashburton, where Doug got a new job.  So the Gazes were going to spend the Christmas with the Birds in Ashburton, and if their timing was right, perhaps see the new baby. 

To cross the Cook Strait in a slow old ferry, Rangitira, with the possibility of submarines about in wartime was a risky undertaking.  The family travelled down the North Island by overnight express train, and then crossed the next night on the ferry to Lyttelton.  From there another train took them to Ashburton where they enjoyed the usual Christmas festivities, and the children met their new cousins for the first time. 

After Christmas the Gazes spent a few days in Christchurch, until Win’s baby arrived, and Mary travelled back to Ashburton for a day or two with her sister and her new niece, Barbara, while the Gaze children were kept busy by Noel in Christchurch riding the double-decker Sumner tram with its trailer, rowing on the Avon River and climbing the stairs in the Cathedral bell-tower. 

1941 was an eventful year.  Early in the year, Franklin started learning the piano.  In June, Olwyn  started school.  After a shaky start she settled down.  Each day the two youngsters would walk along Ruarangi Road, up Mt Royal Avenue and down to the corner of Owairaka Avenue and from there along to New Windsor Road and their school. Now that there was a car, Noel would on very wet mornings run them to school before he left for work, on one occasion cramming seven little bodies in to the car besides himself. 

About this stage, Noel’s Aunt Kitty Crocombe and her husband George sold their farm and retired. They had nowhere to look after their farm dog, Joe, so Noel agreed to have him for the remaining years of his life. He became devoted to the children and would follow Franklin to his music lesson and wait to accompany him home, well over a kilometre in each direction. 

In November 1941 Mary again travelled to the Nursing Home, this time to await the arrival of Stuart.  Noel looked after the children at home and was delighted to wake Olwyn and Franklin with the news of their little brother’s arrival. Stuart was named after Noel’s friend, Stuart Valentine, and given the second name of Goodwin, which was Julia’s maiden name. 

Days later, the family was woken in the middle of a December night by the sound of ships’ sirens from the harbour, and the playing of searchlights all over the cloudy sky.  The verandah on the side of the house had recently been built and Franklin had been pestering his parents to be allowed to sleep out there. They had agreed on this night of all nights. Franklin was bundled back into his normal bed and the family settled down, to learn in the morning from sombre news broadcasts on the radio that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbour.  The fuss in the middle of the night had been to recall the American naval men from their shore leave to their ships; a flotilla of US ships was in Auckland Harbour at the time.