By Sorrel Hoskin
The Andrews and Messenger families have a friendship that goes back over 140 years. It was during the Battle of Waireka that John Andrews fought alongside William Messenger. John was in the Taranaki Rifle Volunteers and William was an ensign with the militia. The friendship passed on from father to son, grandson and great grandson.
John's great grandson Russell Andrews can remember his first meeting with his Grandpop Messenger, William's grandson. The Andrews farm at Pukearuhe was where Arthur had spent his early years. "It was in 1947 not long after my family moved out to Pukearuhe. It was my very earliest memory. Grandpop and Granny had come up to some function at Urenui."
Russell's father Ted Andrews - a keen historian, had been corresponding with the Messengers for some time regarding the Pukearuhe farm's history. He invited the couple out to Pukearuhe to walk the land and meet his family.
Ted Andrews and Arthur Messenger. Photo Andrews family.
Even though he was only 11 months old, it's a time Russell can still vividly remember. "They both came up and straight away they were like grandparents, both him and Granny, although they were no blood relation. From that moment we kids never knew them as anything but Granny and Grandpop."
The Messengers immediately built a natural rapport with the Andrews children. "They both loved kids. They were absolutely genuine people and they were really lovely."
Russell describes Arthur as a tall thin man with a moustache. "When ever he went out he always wore a suit, and when he was ratching around home he just had an old pullover, an old jacket and trousers, that sort of thing."
A special correspondence
The Messengers and Andrews struck up a regular correspondence. Arthur was retired and spent a lot of time sketching and painting. He sent letters illustrated with humorous pictures of elves and Christmas cards with little sketches of his younger days at Pukearuhe. The Andrews children – Marie, Russell and Bruce - replied with letters and illustrations of their own.
Arthur Messenger illustrated letters and envelopes he sent to the Andrews children. Image: Andrews family.
Storyteller extraordinare
On their visits north Arthur would tell the children stories of his time at Pukearuhe, and the adventures he and his friends got up to.
"Grandpop had the gift of being able to tell a story and make it so interesting, giving all the information, the facts, but he sort of had you in the palm of his hand from the word go."
Children of the forest
Arthur wrote a series of stories for the School Journal - remembering his time at Pukearuhe - and illustrated them. The young Andrews children would sit in class reading the adventures of their Grandpop.
"That was pretty cool. The other kids were envious!" The stories were later complied and turned into a book The Children of the Forest (1963).
Arthur also wrote and illustrated a booklet especially for Russell, Marie and Bruce - The Children of Old Pukearuhe. The stories had a profound affect on the Andrews children, who would spend hours tracing their Grandpop's footsteps over the farm.
"All the adventures they had as kids was on our farm. It was fascinating for us to go back around and say 'they were here because there's the top of Mt O'Carroll and Ngaruahoe in the distance'. Suddenly it brought the whole place alive for us."
One of the stories was about Arthur's brothers Frank and Charlie who had gone up nearby Mt O'Carroll on a hunting expedition and got lost in the dark. "I traced the only place they could have gone - over the mountain and along the ridge into the Uruti Valley, along the Gilbert Track and down into the Waipingau Valley."