How history came to life!

by John Greenwood, April 2008

In the late 1970s, when I was Senior Reserves Ranger for the Department of Lands and Survey here in Hamilton, I received an intriguing assignment, to have a look at the railway line from Paeroa to Waihi through the Karangahake Gorge, as it was soon to become surplus to the requirements of the Railways Department which later became NZ Rail.  This followed the completion of the Kaimai tunnel and the growing difficulties of maintaining the railway line through a gorge that was slowly crumbling and subject to extensive flooding.

I joined a train ride through the Gorge, one of the last trains through as it happened, to suss it out with a colleague and see if there was any conservation or recreational value in this old rail line.  Well, what an eye opener – gorse, ragwort, little if any lovely native forest.  What was there?  Well, a kilometre long tunnel, and bridges for access which Rail later removed, much to our consternation.  Then we discovered there was a rich history of the Gorge in the form of the gold mining that had taken place there years before.

So, let’s at it.  With much enthusiasm, little money (yes, Government was very parsimonious in those days) but a magnificent vision, we decided to have a go and make a walkway along the old railway line.  We started out using Labour Department “special employment scheme” staff.   Well, what a mission.  Nothing came easily.  Rail had taken the bridges out and we needed to get into that tunnel.  I was told of a giant Meccano set bridge at Turangi Power Station and after some fun, acquired it and transported it to Karangahake.  We did get into the tunnel, as you saw on our field trip.  I employed a young woman via Labour Department who was a History graduate.  Her role was to research the history of the Gorge and the mining industry.  Actually, the history became the prime driver for this project which gave us much satisfaction and was exciting to work on.

Then in 1987, when Department of Lands and Survey was absorbed into the newly established Department of Conservation, I had to yield control of the project to the Thames Field Centre.  They have not let me down.  John Gaukrodger, who took over as Field Centre Manager and who is a good friend of mine, caught the vision we had started out with and has expanded it into some interesting areas (e.g. the Windows) that I knew about and had explored, but was not allowed to work in as it was under the control of NZ Forest Service.

Many of you will have heard this as we talked on the field trip.  So what is the point of this missive?  It is this.  And I want to quote a verse from the Bible.  “Without a vision the people perish.” (Proverbs 29:18).   I and my colleagues got a vision for what this scruffy old gorge could become.  We struggled for several years before we got modest funding allocated.  We used the term – “Beg, buy, borrow, steal or otherwise obtain” whatever we needed.  (No we really didn’t steal much, except from other departments).  “Creative accounting” it is called.  We succeeded magnificently.

We, as modern photographers also need a vision.  Have you considered what your vision in your photography is?  Or have you thought what WPS could be with a strong vision?  Perhaps it is time you/we sat down and thought carefully about what our visions for life and particularly our photography might be.  What about a personal brain storming session?

I am convinced that if I and my colleagues had taken a look at the Karangahake Gorge railway line and said something like, “what a major problem”, and elected to let the land be sold by the Department, there would have been no Walkway today.  The first year after it was opened 30,000 people walked that track, and the numbers have grown continually since.

So my challenge to you is to consider what is your vision for your life and “go get it”.  Don’t forget to keep your camera working in the process.