Philippa Stevenson column: Homegrown names deserve the praise

Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3552704&thesection=news&thesubsection=dialogue

4 March 2004
By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

If all you need to qualify for a memorial in Hamilton is a name change, some acclaimed writing, an out-of-the-ordinary sexual bent and a brief tarriance in the city, Norris Davey qualifies in spades.

Davey, son of a Hamilton town clerk, was born in Hamilton, educated at Hamilton West and Hamilton High Schools, and worked in the town for around four years - all in all a residence of around 23 years.

After he was prosecuted for committing homosexual acts while living in Wellington, he changed his name to Frank Sargeson.

Under this name, he is regarded as the father of New Zealand literature, for his own writing achievements - principally introducing the rhythms and idiom of everyday New Zealand speech to literature - and his mentoring of other writers such as Janet Frame.

He may have been a familiar figure in Takapuna where he lived the bulk of his life, but he began it in Hamilton - the city that last week chose to build a $125,000 memorial to Rocky Horror Show playwright Richard "Riff Raff" O'Brien.

O'Brien was born in England, began life as Richard Smith, migrated to Tauranga with his family as a 10-year-old and spent less than five years in Hamilton working as a barber.

His huge success as writer of the Rocky Horror Show, in which he played butler Riff Raff, came after he returned to England when he was 22.

Historian Michael King is appalled at the Hamilton City Council and the Perry Foundation's selection of O'Brien for commemoration in Hamilton's main street.

Sargeson, whose biography King wrote in 1995, was far more worthy a candidate for a piece of public sculpture in the city, he said.

The author who contributed entries for The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography could not nominate any other Hamilton "greats" who deserved "to be done in stone or bronze".

"Sargeson, in my mind, remains the pre-eminent one."

It's a pity that, before they made their decision, Hamilton leaders seem to have consulted few other than the proposer of the O'Brien/Riff Raff statue, former Hamilton actor and McGillicuddy Mark Servian.

So, next time the council and foundation get a rush of money to the chequebook, perhaps the least they could do is quickly surf the online Dictionary of NZ Biography (www.dnzb.govt.nz) for distinguished Hamilton and Waikato people.

A quick trawl turns up a bunch of folk who would deserve a statue in any town or, as in Cambridge's new walk of honour, at least an enduring mention on the footpath.

In no particular order they are: * Hilda Ross, the first woman to serve on the Hamilton Borough Council, a deputy mayor and later MP for Hamilton whose interest was the welfare of children, women, the needy and disadvantaged.

* Dr Campbell (C. P.) McMeekan, the internationally renowned scientist whose leadership of the Ruakura Animal Research Station put it and Hamilton on a world map of science excellence where it has remained ever since. (There is already a bust of him at Ruakura.)

* Ida Carey, an artist best known for portraits of Maori women with moko, who helped establish the Waikato Society of Arts on which she served for almost 50 years.

* William Goodfellow, businessman and philanthropist who founded the Waikato Co-operative Dairy Company, which later merged with the New Zealand co-op to form the country's biggest dairy company, forerunner of today's Fonterra.

* Mary Innes, who with husband Charles, and after his death, ran breweries in Te Awamutu and Hamilton, including the Waikato Brewery.

* Wynn Abel, who with son Len built Hamilton's first, and one of New Zealand's earliest, supermarkets. He also owned 1976 Melbourne Cup winner Van der Hum.

* Potatau Te Wherowhero, the first Maori King, a warrior who didn't sign the Treaty of Waitangi but was kindly disposed towards the European government and provided military protection for Auckland.

* Tawhiao, Potatau's son and successor who left his Tainui people a legacy of religious principles still drawn on today.

* Te Puea Herangi, granddaughter of Tawhiao, who rebuilt the Kingitangi centre on the Turangawaewae marae at Ngaruawahia and whose leadership and cross-cultural communication led to her being named "the greatest Maori woman of our time".

And there's electric fence pioneer Bill Gallagher, and former mayor Charles Barton, and even wonder thoroughbred sire Sir Tristram.

A memorial to any of these would preserve a bit of our real history and give us all something to look up to.