2019 Whanganui River Annual

We have an interesting array of stories in this Annual and first up is To Awa Tupua, the story of our river, now enshrined in law as a legal entity.

An email from Graham Segger in Canada about Henry De Forest’s Whanganui river paintings arrived by redirection from Mark Dawson, the past Editor of the Whanganui Chronicle. Graham had sent it to him, asking fit could be passed on to someone who could make good use of it. We certainly could, and have!

Hut wardens always seem to have most interesting times during their stints at the DoC huts on the river. Mark Ebery committed his experiences to paper (The Taumarunui Gazette) back in 1986 and a copy of it found its way onto my desk. Flooded rivers are not a new thing, and Mark raised the question about liability if a canoe operator were to hire out a canoe to someone who could not handle the river conditions and finished up dead or injured.

The question has also been asked by Richard Steele in his article about the Tarepokiore whirlpool. With the recent White Island tragedy, some answers may be forthcoming and we shall see.

Sixty-five years ago, I led a Scout cruise down the River from Taumarunui to Wanganui, finishing to a civic reception when we arrived. The widow of one of its participants asked if we would be interested in a copy of her late husband’s log of the trip. Of course we would, and so you will be able to vicariously enjoy some of our antics on the river.