{"id":23492,"date":"2023-03-02T09:40:24","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T14:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23492"},"modified":"2023-03-02T09:42:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T14:42:37","slug":"episode-755-the-kauri-forests-of-new-zealand-almost-all-gone-now-1000-year-old-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=23492","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 755 THE KAURI FORESTS OF NEW ZEALAND…ALMOST ALL GONE NOW….1,000 YEAR OLD TREES."},"content":{"rendered":"
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  EPISODE 755     THE KAURI FORESTS OF NEW ZEALAND…ALMOST ALL GONE NOW….1,000 YEAR OLD TREES.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 1, 2023<\/div>\n

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\"Kauri<\/div>\n

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Even veteran loggers had never seen trees like the Kauri trees of New Zealand.  Ancient\u2026some had been growing for <\/div>\n
a thousand years and were so huge that it took 6 men with special extended cross cut saws to cut them down.  The trees<\/div>\n
were sacred to the Maori people who made canoes from Kauri trees.   Europeans marvelled at the clean grain of these behemoths<\/div>\n
from which they built their houses and cities. <\/div>\n

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Today there are only 500 Kauri trees surviving  in protected reserves.   And they are all threatened by an insidious monster.<\/div>\n

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It is not human beings that threaten those few surviving trees.  The incurable and fatal ‘kauri dieback disease’ has been detected as a<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
slow killer of the giants.   No cure yet.  In an attempt to give scientists time to find a cure, human beings are no longer allowed to<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
visit the protected forest.   \u201cWe can but hope that good will be the final goal of ill<\/span><\/font><\/span>\u201d, as Tennyson wrote and I quote lest you have forgotten.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

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Oh, yet we trust that somehow good 
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         Will be the final end of ill, 
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         To pangs of nature, sins of will, 
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Defects of doubt, and taints of blood; 
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That nothing walks with aimless feet; 
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         That not one life shall be destroy’d, 
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         Or cast as rubbish to the void, 
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When God hath made the pile complete; 
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That not a worm is cloven in vain; 
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         That not a moth with vain desire 
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         Is shrivell’d in a fruitless fire, 
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Or but subserves another’s gain. 
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Behold, we know not anything; 
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         I can but trust that good shall fall 
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         At last\u2014far off\u2014at last, to all, 
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And every winter change to spring. 
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So runs my dream: but what am I? 
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         An infant crying in the night: 
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         An infant crying for the light: 
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And with no language but a cry. 
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    (TENNYSON)<\/div>\n

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On our visit to New Zealand we made a short visit to the the outskirt forest. (I think beckon 1980\u2019s) Taken there by distant relatives\u2026.very distant.  The Freemans<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
and he Edwards families.  Sadly We have lost contact with them due to the distractions of daily life.  The only link that remains is this picture<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
and my middle name which is Edwards.  They lived (or lived ) in Whangarei, North Island.  relatives on my mothers side of the<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n
family who migrated from Kington, Herefordshire at some time in the mid 19th century.<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

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Mr. Edwards gave me a tiny block of a Kauri tree about the size of a small box of matches.  It\u2019s still around here ..somewhere.”<\/span><\/font><\/div>\n

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read on\u2026the pictures will take your breath away.  Perhaps make you cry.<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

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alan<\/span><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

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MY FAILURE:  These are distant relatives of the Freemans and Edwards families. English on my mothers side of the family.  They live or lived in Whangarie, North Island, Nw Zeldand.<\/div>\n
The city with a hundred beaches.   We visited then in mid 1980\u2019s but lost contact.  Like all Kiwis we met they were great hosts<\/div>\n
and I regret we lost contact.   It was this family that took us to the edge of a Kauri forest.  My middle name is Edward which I Think is<\/div>\n
a connection to the Edwards of New Zealand.  But not sure.  <\/div>\n

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Our Maori connection was much closer and so remembered more.  Cousin Roy Skeoch did so much to be remembered as all family reading this Episode know so well.<\/div>\n
His grave in Rotarura is so memorable.  Perhaps Roberta Skeoch has a picture of her dad\u2019s grave that I can share\u2026so ornate.<\/div>\n

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Both our European and Maori relatives must lament the fate of the magnificent Kauri forests.  Perhaps the next episode will feature the survivors.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
March 1, 2023<\/div>\n

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\"Historical\"Two\"Kauri<\/div>\n

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Unique collections and resources from Auckland Libraries research centres and heritage collections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n