My Pop was a keen fisherman. I'm posting this very special picture of him fishing at the mouth of the Kaiapoi River where it feeds into the Waimakariri River, Canterbury, New Zealand. His name was Grant but everyone called him Jack instead for some strange reason. He was a watersider, so took loads off ships. He did his back in hooking great big loads and carrying them on his poor back. He was also a Kiwi joker - pranks, nicknames for people and general craziness.
On the day of this photo in 1947, he was trying to catch salmon whilst standing on a Waimak Flattie, a kind of flat boat which was commonly used on this large braided river to get around. He is using an old fashioned cane fishing rod. Did he have success that day? No, not according to my Grandma.
My Grandma was sitting on the bank embroidering. She was with her parents. Grant was her boyfriend. I'm guessing my photographic great grandfather Arthur Cyril Pearce took this photo. My Grandma carried this photo around with her, showing everyone her new boyfriend. The photo became creased and worn out. We found it in one of her old albums and she was surprised to find it. I had never seen it before and instantly loved it. I took it home and took out the creases with photoshop.
As I was doing the repair work on the photo, I noticed how young my Pop was. He still had the lankiness of youth, but quite muscley arms from all the labouring type work he did. He also had a baby face. His tongue is hanging out in concentration as he casts out.
In the distance you can see other boats, other anglers trying their luck in the Waimakariri. Grant is casting towards Stewart's Gully which is a little bunch of cottages and holiday homes where my Grandma used to go for holidays and where she first met Grant.
My grandparents fished all their lives, catching many fish and having many adventures and lovely experiences in nature. My Pop died very young, in his 50s. I knew him until I was about five years old, so can't remember him very well. At his funeral everyone laughed when they saw a sticker on the back of his car which read, "Old fishermen don't die, they just smell bad."
That's a nice photo of your father, and you did a good job repairing it.
ReplyDeleteThe Waimakariri river is so HUGE. A cousin took me to see it when I visited NZ in 2001 and I couldn't get over the size of it. He was born in the area but lives here in Australia. When we got out of the car and stepped into the long grass he said "watch out for snakes!" duh .. it took me a few minutes to wake up!
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty huge I guess. I'm just used to it as I grew up with it! It is a braided river with many different channels which feed into one very large channel at the river mouth! It is fed by rain on the mountains and floods in a NW wind.
DeleteBel I just found that Gould has a sale on the books at the moment. Available in paperback or ebook. http://www.gould.com.au/Articles.asp?ID=334
ReplyDeleteOh thanks Kerryn for all that info on your blog. I'll check it out that book. Genealogists with gold chasing relations need to stick together as we need help from each other! Did you notice that there were many goldmining licenses for Thomas Kelly in Tuapeka and other places such as Thames and Central Otago. I wonder if it is your Thomas Kelly, but I guess his name was fairly common! http://www.kaelewis.com/database/prospector.php?database=gold&query=kelly&exactmatch=No I'm guessing you already have all this. Have you checked papers past also?
DeleteGreat photo of your grandfather fishing...and you did it a respectful service by taking out the wrinkles.
ReplyDeleteThat is one heckuva big river! Your Pop does look rather young - in his teens, maybe? How sweet your Grandma kept that picture all those years & yes, you did a nice job repairing it. I was only 2 when my maternal grandfather died, & only 6 when my Dad's father passed away, so like you I never really knew either one of my grandfathers which is too bad. My mother's father's name was Ira, but when my grandmother met him, she said he looked like a "Jim" & so she called him, and that was the name everyone used thereafter & their son, my uncle, followed suit having been named Ira, Jr. Funny they just didn't name him James?
ReplyDeleteYes the whole name thing is very confusing! Jim is a nice reliable name! Jack is similar too.
DeleteA fisherman in action, who could ask for a better shot?
ReplyDeleteThat's a wonderful photo of your grandfather and you did a good job with Photoshop.
ReplyDeleteMy first thought was how young he looks. But the the word boyfriend appeared so all was explained. A photo to treasure.
ReplyDeleteNo wonder your grandmother carried that picture to show off her boyfriend. He was cute and full of personality.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a beautiful post. So interesting to see the difference between the original photo and the "repaired" photo. Thank you for pointing out the other boats on the river which I wouldn't have seen unless you had pointed them out. Laughed at the end with the sticker story.
ReplyDeleteGreat action shot of your grandfather! My Young and Forbes ancestors lived around that way, and for all I know they might have fished there too, but if so there are no photos to prove it.
ReplyDeleteThat's such a special photo of your grandfather, especially as it meant so much to your grandmother...she must have been so proud of him. Just as well her dad was more internet on snapping a camera rather than a fish.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your post and the wonderful photo of your young grandfather. He looks determined.
ReplyDeleteIt's so wonderful having photos of our loved ones like this. You did a wonderful job making it better!
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