By Sorrel Hoskin

People like to tell Arthur Fryer stories. Instead of a museum stuffed with artefacts the Hāwera historian has books stuffed full of words, all stories on the town's past.

Arthur finds people telling him stories in all sorts of places and on many fascinating topics. "One day I was at the Hāwera Park Bowling Club. I sat down in the shelter and Sid Brown said to me, 'You know Arthur I fired the first shot in World War II.' I listened to his story and I think it was true!"

It turns out the story is all to do with time differences between Wellington and London. "He was in a gun emplacement above one of the approaches to Wellington Harbour. The balloon went up and the gun crews were told to get down to their gun because the wireless chap had radioed that the ship City of Delhi that was coming through the heads and it had not answered."

Again they radioed for it to pull up, but the ship steamed on. The gun was loaded and they fired a shot that slammed into the cliff on the other side of the harbour entrance. "The ship hauled up and stopped! Technically he is quite correct. Considering the time difference he probably did fire the first shot!"

Sitting in his Hāwera home clasping a cup of tea and munching on muffins made by his wife Anne, Arthur explains it's the family stories told

Like the story of his great grandfather who drove trains on the Wellington Manuwatu Railway. One night he and the fireman saw 'beings' walking along the track. "He pulled up the locomotive, got down and walked along the rails, and suddenly all these beings jumped out of the light into the sea. They were penguins!"

It's personalised history that fascinates Arthur. "It's all part of the fun of it. This is social history it's not to do with the wheeling and dealing that went on. It seeks to explain what life was like in a different time."

Another story comes from Guy Livingstone, grandson of Hāwera founding settler James Livingstone. "One afternoon he was sitting alongside me with his cup and saucer on his knee and he said 'Did I ever tell you of the time I worked in the stoke hold of a ship that was going to Britain?' I was all ready to hear the story but he got as far as 'It was the hardest job I ever did…' when his wife said it was time to go!"

Some 20 years later Arthur came across an article in the Hawera Star of 1924, about two local boys who were stoking ships from New Zealand to Britain - Guy was one of them.

"In his letters home he tells of the time he went abroad on this passenger cargo ship docked at New Plymouth to take on cheese. Guy was there because his Dad was a farmer and dairy company director at Inaha. There was a seamens strike and local farmers were facing ruin. The farmers promised their sons and employees to work on the ships. Forty or 50 of them volunteered to work the boats back to Britain. The owners took on scab labour  to work the boats with the promise of a free passage home.

"Guy joined the Dorset here and set off to Glasgow via the Panama Canal." Unfortunately the Hawera Star only covered the early days of the trip, from New Zealand to Panama. "I value coming across things like that."

It was a statue that put Arthur on the pathway to becoming Hāwera's historian. Born in Paihiatua, Arthur trained as a teacher. He arrived in Hāwera in 1960 to teach at Hāwera Intermediate. As a newcomer to the town he discovered C.J Robert's book History of Hāwera and the Waimate Plains.

"There was no way of understanding what had gone on. I sort of bumbled along with the social studies history topic doing my best until one day our third son William came home from high school and asked 'What's that statue in the park?' I said 'Well that's AA Fantham', then realised I knew nothing about him." Arthur took a trip to the local cemetery and found Fantham's grave with the inscription 'Gone but not forgotten.' "But I asked around and he was entirely forgotten!"

His curiosity piqued, Arthur joined the local historical society. He ended up putting his hand up to write an article for the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography on AA Fantham. "I looked in all the books I could, looked up newspapers from the time, and put it together." AA Fantham didn't make the cut for the new DNZB but the author wasn't put off.

Arthur couldn't stop there, and he soon found himself being asked to write a column for a monthly South Taranaki newspaper. When the paper folded Arthur was approached by the Hawera Star to continue his column. A little bit of history is now a popular fortnightly snippet of Hāwera's past.

But the historian doesn't claim to know everything. Sometimes he can't find the whole story and must publish it to encourage people to come forward and fill in the gaps. 

Arthur also produces a weekly column on gardening. "That keeps me worried. I was writing about cranberries this week, except could I find enough information on them? With about 12 hours to go before deadline I found it - awful!"  

It was another Hāwera statue that saw Arthur part of a campaign to track down the original Wendy, namesake of the girl in the story of Peter Pan by J.M Barrie. In 2001 50th birthday celebrations were held for the Wendy sculpture in King Edward Park. Arthur researched the sculpture's history, discovering it was unique, made by British sculptor F.Blundstone and on his death, completed by Gilbert Hayes.

The statue was gifted to the children of Hāwera by Marion Campbell, in 1940, in memory of her husband mayor James Campbell. Despite an international appeal, the search for Wendy was fruitless, but countless other Wendy's took part in the festival.

In between teaching and writing his columns Arthur found time to research and write about the Hāwera water tower, profiles on several local identities and other snippets of history. In his retirement he's written five books and numerous articles for newspapers and magazines. He taught himself how to research and write up articles. "I don't have any writing qualifications, but I've read heaps. I read a fair bit of New Zealand history and try to make sense of it all and put Hāwera into context of what was happening in the country at large."

He speaks to community groups, has led numerous cemetery and town walks, been interviewed by radio and television and is currently assisting Russell Standing with his book on the Farmers Co-op.

Belonging to local groups and clubs Arthur has tapped into an endless seam of stories. "I belong to a bowling club and a Probus club and most of the members are 50-plus, some into their 90s. I enjoy their conversation. There are men who get into their 80s and they want to tell me things - to pass on their stories. They trust me I think. I get to know quite a lot of people this way. Anne is also in lots of groups who themselves have stories, or their husbands."

Nowadays if anyone wants to know about Hāwera's past Arthur is the man they call. "Somebody comes to Hāwera and they'll be looking for an ancestor's house or shop or whatever, and they'll go to the Information Centre, the library or wherever and they'll say 'You had better talk to Arthur Fryer.'"

He's put in countless hours of research and writing, and, like most local historians intent on preserving their areas past he's done it for free. "People ring up and discuss things. I regard that as my civic duty in a way. I've got a certain amount of knowledge but I also know where things are to be found. It's over to me to share that information. I find it all good fun - I thoroughly enjoy it."