Editorial 2023
It is with a tinge of sadness that I introduce myself as the new Editor of the ‘Whanganui River Annual’ to those who may not know who I am. I have been a member of the society for a number of years and served on the committee as Treasurer in 2015/2016, and in the process got to know the previous editor Jim Parnell very well.
I assisted Jim with the production of the ‘Annual’ as I was employed as a typesetter by an Upper Hutt printing company for around seven years, and part of my job was editing publications such as this one. I became involved with the Friends of the Mangapurua along with Alan Donald and Robert Baldwin, both committee members of this society and a number of other members who were residents of the Raetihi area.
I became interested in making a documentary about the abandoned farming settlement, established for returned soldiers from the First World War in the Mangapurua Valley, and submitted at least one article for publication to Jim in this context. I travelled by Robert “Baldy” Baldwin’s riverboat Adventurer II to Koroniti, on his first longer distance trip after recovering from his debilitating stroke, and then accompanied him twice up to Whakahoro filming both trips and turning the first one into a documentary titled “River Rats’, which premiered in Whanganui’s Embassy Cinema on Victoria Avenue.
I am very keen to see the society continue to flourish, as unlike many organisations that eventually fade away when their usefulness ends, the river was here long before any of us were and will be here long we have all gone. On this basis the ‘Friends of the Whanganui River’ will always have a place as more stories get told by newer generations, especially those fond of the river as a place of recreation and enjoyment, in an unspoiled wilderness area unique in New Zealand. – Graeme Moffatt.
