Up The Mokau River

These days a fine new two-lane bridge sweeps across the Mokau River and travellers can cross it as quick as a wink. When Keith Sutton began his farming life, there was no bridge. There was no electricity or a telephone and the highway was the river. Mokau was primitive then," says Keith. Let's find out why.

Trolley Transport: Crossing the upper Mokau River by flying fox are, from left, Irene Sutton, Dick Philpott, Don Sutton (Irene's husband). Jill and Frances Sutton (Keith's daughters), plus Diane (Irene and Don's daughter).

Rewind to 1929 

Keith shifted to Mokau near the start of the Great Depression. It was a time when workers lost their jobs because firms didn't want them to work their machines. Firms didn't want them because there wasn't a market for their goods. There wasn't a market because the workers didn't have any money to spend. It was all a bit of a mess and it happened all over the world.

True or false then?

In the depression:

1. New Zealanders lose their jobs and there is no dole.

2. New Zealanders line up for food at soup kitchens.

3. Work on essential things like roads, parks and drainage just stops.

4. Farmers are better off in some ways than city dwellers.

5. Unemployed New Zealanders march in protest but things remain peaceful.

Thumbs up?

Do this in pairs. Decide whether you would give these things the thumbs up or the thumbs down if they happened to you now.

1. You can catch stacks of whitebait
2. At 16 you are living and farming in a remote spot.
3. It's difficult to get to town so you just don't bother. 
4. You cook all your own meals.
5. You phone for your groceries and they are delivered the next day.
6. You live on one side of a river and there is no bridge
7. There are very few machines. Most farm work is done by hand.
8. There is no electricity.

A positive

For every thumbs down above, work out a positive - something good that would come from living like that.

Shutterbug

Click on this photo

Look for clues and decide:

1.Where it was in Mokau.

2.What it is built out of.

3.Whether it is still there.

4.Where the milk was collected from.

5.Why it was built so close to the river.

6.How many loading areas it had. 

7.Why one outside part juts out with a sort of roof.

8.What problems might strike the factory in the winter.

9.Whether the land you can see opposite, is good dairy country.

Pack your bags

It's 1929 and you are off up the Mokau to go farming. You now have some idea of what it's going to be like so decide what you need to take. Make a list that gives details, e.g. the type of clothes you'll need and the tools. 

Word wise?

You'll find these words when you read this story. Decide what they are most likely to mean.

1.  Idyllic (a) perfect or  (b) unpleasant

2.  Primitive (a) original or (b) unsophisticated

3.  Baching (a) living as a bachelor or (b) being on holiday

4.  Restless (a) unsettled or (b) relaxed

5.  Poached (a) cooked or (b) stole

Where is Mokau?

You decide on this map.

Read this story with purpose. Find out this information as you read.

If there was more whitebait around then than there is now.

Whether they knew much about farming before they began

What a party telephone line was.

How the boys got their groceries.

The one thing the boys would most liked to have had right from the start.

Time capsule

People put items in time capsules now that will give people in the future an idea of what life was like in 2003. List some things Keith could have put in a time capsule in 1930 to give us a picture of his life then.

In their shoes

Check out the photo and caption at the start of this TreasureLink. There was no bridge across the Awakino so that's how this family crossed.

Talk this over in pairs:

Decide how it worked.

Which parts would you check closely on its monthly safety check?

These days OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) would put a few safety rules and items on a flying fox like this. Decide what they would be.

Print out the picture and draw and write thought bubbles for each person showing what each one might be thinking.

Then and now

Keith says they were very isolated and big machinery couldn't be transported up the river. He says a lot of things had to be done by hand.

Draw up a T chart and head up one column NOW and the other column THEN.

Pick three pieces of new farm machinery from this website and jot down the job of each piece in the NOW column.

Jot down how Keith would have done the same job, in the THEN column.

Bridge headlines

Write three headlines that might have appeared in the Taranaki newspapers the day after the bridge was opened in 1957.

Headline 1. This one will show what a Mokau farmer thinks of the new bridge.

Headline 2.  This one is from an upset local person after a stranger was the first to cross.

Headline 3.   This one is from the ferry owner who up to now has carried vehicles and people across.

Who's the cook?

Sutton Brothers: From left, are Roy, Donald, Keith, Alton and Frank.

These bachelor brothers were great cooks. Here are the ingredients for whitebait fritters. 125g whitebait, 1 cup of flour, half a teaspoon of salt, 1 egg, half a teaspoon of baking powder, half a cup of milk, lemon,  cooking oil for shallow frying.

Have a go at writing the method. In other words show what to do with the ingredients so you have the full recipe.

Love and dancing

Keith met Gwen at a calf day and they probably danced at a woolshed dance. Design a poster for an old time dance in a Mokau woolshed in 1940. Include the date, start and finish time, the name of the band, supper highlights, drinks available, dress code and entry price. Make the title stand out and you need a picture to catch the eye.

Fast forward to 2003

Whitebait rules

It's pretty amazing that there was once a time when there was so much whitebait that people caught kerosene tins full of them and fed the leftovers to the chooks. Some whitebaiters these days are happy if they can bring home a cupful of the tiny fish.

Think pair and share. List some whitebait rules DOC could put in place to help keep whitebait on the menu for future generations. Some rules are already in place and to help you think of some more, check out these websites - whitebait and more whitebait.

Share your ideas in class when you have your list.

In the hotseat 

Mokau whitebaiters hit the news this year. The government wanted to tax their whitebait catch and they thought this was unfair. You can read the whole story here but here are the key points.

• The IRD wants retailers (shopkeepers) to collect 25% tax from everyone who supplies them with fresh whitebait to sell.
• Whitebaiters say the IRD is just being greedy and whitebaiters will just take the catch elsewhere. "We only fish for fun and we only sell if there is a surplus."
• The IRD says ignoring the tax laws could cost offenders $50 000 and 3 months in jail (IRD stands for Inland Revenue Department- The tax department).

Decide on this in a group of four then one stay and three stray to three other groups to share ideas.

What if you were whitebaiting on the Mokau and had a big catch? (It can still happen.) What do you do?

(a) Keep enough for a good feed but let most of them go.
(b) Keep them and sell them to a shopkeeper who won't charge you any tax.
(c) Keep them, sell them and happily pay your tax.
(d) Something else (work this out).