Chasing the Ancestors

While we were in Invercargill, we spent a day, with David, Catherine and Margaret, looking for a few family members, on the Collinson side of the family, long gone.   Of course this involved visiting a couple of old cemeteries.

At St John's cemetery in Waikiwi, we found the simple headstone of our grandfather, Thomas Collinson, who came from Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom.   Our grandparents separated after the first World War, and there was no headstone for our grandfather until a collection was taken up by his grandchildren in order to buy one.  I think that Thomas Collinson was a bit of a wanderer.  Definitely quite a character.

St John's Cemetery, Waikiwi.  

The weather was absolutely glorious, sunny and warm.   We headed off to Orepuki, on the south coast, and west of Invercargill, Riverton and Colac Bay to look for Thomas Collinson's brother and nephews.

We passed beautiful coastlines, rivers, lush bushland, green paddocks, and large groups of stock, either sheep or cattle.

We stopped at a picturesque little bay, called Cosy Nook, with its little cluster of rustic shacks.

The breakers on the outer edge of the bay were huge,

and relentless.  Surfers beware.  The likelyhood of being dashed against rocks was very strong.

Walter taking a photograph of us.

The intrepid four, Margaret, David, Catherine and me.

An interesting sculpture.  In the middle of the fields, a pole with a table and chair attached to it.  No description as to why!

A most important stop, before our search at the local cemetery.  Lunch at the Orepuke Beach Cafe.  A first class cafe, in a most unlikely location. And very popular with tourists passing through on the Southern Tourist Trail, and people who travel from Invercargill and surrounding areas.

All food on the menu, is made with fresh local produce, be it seafood, vegetables or meat.  Bread and cakes are made on the premises.  The menu is very innovative and cooked to perfection.

I ordered crumbed squid, accompanied by a horseradish and wasabi sauce, the heat pleasantly reduced with a creamy sauce.   It was delicious.

Orepuki was once a thriving gold mining town of about 3000 people.  Now it is a ghost town, with an assortment of abandoned stores, goldmining relics and sluicing scars.

It was sad to see all the old deserted and weatherbeaten houses.

But there is the beginning of a bit of life, with the successful Orepuki Beach Cafe, a hotel, rugby ground and bowls club.

And a well kept war memorial, although the park behind it is now used as a firewood storage area. On the memorial we found the names of my father's cousins, Albert Collinson, who died in Egypt, in 1915, aged 23 years, and Clifford Collinson, who died in Belgium, in 1917, aged 22 years.  Both casualties of World War I.

We drove to Orepuki Cemetery, a rather bleak place, even in the sunshine, to see if we could find any other relatives.  After walking along every row, we did not see any graves with the name of Collinson on them.  However we found the grave of the father of an aunt.  So much history in that cemetery.

There was a beautiful view from the cemetery of the next bay and Monkey Island, with the Longwood Range in the background.

We do not know what happened to the parents of Albert and Clifford Collinson, the nephews of our grandfather, Thomas Collinson.

However their sons went off to fight in World War I.  Albert died was buried in Cairo, and Clifford was buried in Buttes New British Cemetery, West-Vlaanderen, Belguim.

Orepuki lost many men during WW1, with some families losing two or three sons.

I think it is important for people living in Great Britain, to understand that WW1 had a trememdous affect on people living in New Zealand too.  And other Commonwealth countries. Sometimes they are forgotten.