Motueka's war the subject of museum exhibition

September 30th, 2014

The Motueka Museum has opened its doors to its latest exhibition - Motueka's War, and WWI 100-year (WW100) commemorations.

The exhibition tells the story of how the war affected those living in Motueka and surrounding district - those who went off to fight, those who didn't return and those left behind to carry on with life as best they could.

This part of the exhibition goes up until Gallipoli. It explains
- what was behind the outbreak of war;
- which countries were allies and those that were part of the Central Powers;
- the various roles in the army;
- Motueka's response to the war effort, both men who joined up and fund raising;
- training the men, carried out mainly in Trentham;
- then embarkation and the arrival in Egypt.

There are also stories about our nurses, though not all were from Motueka but do have connections. There are a number of exhibits from families whose father, grandfather or other relatives went to war, but not all returned.

After Gallipoli, the main exhibition will come out, but there will be an ongoing display of the war battle by battle and the role of honour, sadly, will grow. The WW100 exhibition is on until 1st May 2015.

Harry Hart, baker

Also a permanent can be viewed setting out the history of Hart's Bakery (now the Sprig & Fern) and its founder Harry Hart.

Born in 1889 at Heath and Reach, Bedfordshire, England, Harry did his Baker's apprenticeship with Lyons of London before coming to New Zealand in the early 1900s. He joined the New Expeditionary Force and served in both Gallipoli and France. He was wounded while fighting in Gallipoli (a gunshot wound through the elbow).

Recuperation in England enabled Harry to marry his school mate and sweetheart Bertha Clarke, in Worcestershire, 1919, before returning to New Zealand aboard the troop carrier, Oriana.

Harry was de-mobbed in Wellington, 1919. He and Bertha lived with Harry's brother, in Wellington, where Harry did odd jobs such as opening oysters for a cafÃ©.

They heard of land for sale in Motueka and bought 191 High Street (along with other property in town) and by 1923 had built 'Bedford House' (on left in the photo below). This consisted of two ground floor shops, which were used as a tea shop and a retail bakery and cake shop. Their home was on the second floor.

Harry worked at Trewavas's bakery in Whakarewa Street while their new bakery was being built by Messrs Stilwell and Co and was situated directly behind 'Bedford House'. After opening in late 1925 it operated as a bakery until 1970. This building, made of concrete, is now being used as the 'Sprig and Fern' Pub.

The new bakery was a modern and ergonomic building which used the latest mechanical engineering, including the continuous moving chain which took the flour up to the top floor and dropped down to the main mixing floor. It took 10,000 bricks to construct the framework for the two huge steam heated ovens (one pictured below).

Harry used the moving assembly line process to streamline all facets of the baking process including transporting the finished bakery items to the shops in High Street.

Delivery of the bread around town and surrounding countryside was by horse and trap until 1936. In the 1920s the company bought their first motorised delivery van - a Model T Ford. This was replaced by a Morris van and finally a Bedford Truck took on the job.

(Harry and Bertha were from Bedfordshire, called their new home Bedford House and, finally, bought a Bedford Truck.)

Besides running the bakery, Harry was on the Motueka District School committee and was responsible for setting up the school dental clinic. He was also a Mason.

The culmination of a hard working life as well as serving in World War I, took its toll on Harry. He died in 1936 aged 47 years.

Bertha ran the business until her son Ken was old enough to take over. Ken was 14 and Dora 11 when Harry died. Ken did his apprenticeship with Blacks in Nelson and Dora trained as a primary school teacher.

The Motueka Museum were fortunate to receive the original bakery ovens and bricks from Hart's Bakery, reassembled here. They thank their sponsor, Peter Assaf who enabled this piece of Motueka history to be shown.

(This article written with thanks to the Motueka and District Historical Association.)

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