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Book Release
"75 Years on Cockayne"
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BOOK REVIEW
12th September, 2005
Check-out NZ Wilderness magazine's book review on our book "75 Years On Cockayne" Article written by Shaun Barnett.
‘A Wild Read’NZ Wilderness Magazine –September 2005
75 Years on Cockayne
Mt Cheeseman Ski Club
By Margaret Rich
Anyone with a basic knowledge of the New Zealand publishing will know that some of the most interesting books, particularly those on local history, simply would not get produced if it were not for the tenacity of their authors. Many mainstream commercial publishers aren’t willing to touch anything with a limited or specialised market, so forcing many authors into self-publishing. Margaret Rich has proved that self publishing is a valid option in her excellent history of the Mt Cheeseman Ski Club
The Canterbury Winter Sports Club (CWSC) was formed in Christchurch during 1929 to promote skiing, tobogganing and skating. It was the first such club in Canterbury, and part of a growing club movement that saw many New Zealanders become outdoor fanatics. Soon after its formation the CWSC began to develop facilities on the flanks of the Craigieburn Range, beneath Mts Cheeseman and Cockayne.
The club had strong links with the Canterbury Mountaineering Club, and indeed managed to siphon off members from the latter to help with projects such as hut building. Over the years, the club built a number of huts, from the Bottom Hut on the fringes of Craigieburn Forest Park to higher huts on the slopes above. There were no tows or road in the early decades, and together with poor equipment, skiing proved to be a much more demanding sport than it is now.
Accounts of these early days got me thinking about how soft we modern outdoors people are in comparison. Despite a working week that often lasted to Saturday lunchtime, CWSC member departed Christchurch with admirable enthusiasm, traversed bad roads in questionable vehicles, and often did not arrive at the Bottom Hut until midnight. On the Sunday, trudging up to the ski basins would take an hour or two, and then you might be lucky to get in three or four runs before the day was done and it was time to return to the city. Sometimes they spent more time shovelling snow off the road than they did skiing.
While the book concentrates on the club and its members, it contains interesting information on the development of skiing – and clubs - elsewhere in New Zealand too. Anyone with an interest in the outdoors in New Zealand will find joy reading about the camaraderie and commitment displayed by early members. There is a good balance of recording events and milestones while at the same time keeping readers interested with amusing anecdotes and incidents. An example is the kea ‘Harry’ which inhabited the ladies long-drop for several weeks one winter in 1975, terrorising attempts by the women skiers to bare their buttocks. ‘It was thought that Harry would succumb to lack of adequate sustenance and liquid intake, but there must have been something about the Cheeseman menu, or the constitution of the women of Cheeseman, that kept the bird alive.’
The text is graced with well-reproduced photographs, including a number of classic black and white ones from decades past.
75 Years on Cockayne proves that regional histories can be well produced, interesting, and highly readable. Those interested are well advised to purchase a copy before the limited number of 1000 copies sells out.
Shaun BarnettMore News...
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