THE NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS MAGAZINE, VOLUME 5, ISSUE 4 (AUGUST 1, 1930), THE BUSH EXPLORERS — STORY OF THE STRATFORD MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY ROUTE,The Bush Explorers, STORY OF THE STRATFORD MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY ROUTE .
(Written for the “New Zealand Railways Magazine” by JAMES COWAN.)
And “Wirihana!” I see him now, with the eye of memory—big, straight-backed, bearded “Wirihana,” squatting by the fire blanketed like a Maori, pipe in the corner of his mouth, a shrewdly humorous twinkle in the tail of his eye, though his face retains the gravity of a Maori tohunga. What a store of bush lore and war adventure he had crammed into his fifty-odd years of life! Like the immortal Jim Bludso, “a keerless man in his talk” was “Wirihana” when he relaxed, but there was always sound wisdom in his most whimsical mood. He was a captain in the line of stout fellows who blazed the way and made this land fit for peaceful settlement.
Well, that was thirty-six years ago. All the old hands are gone; “Wirihana” and Cadman, Surveyor Munro Wilson, and the rest of them have carried their last pikaus, crossed the last range. Nearly all; out of the eight pakehas, Julian and myself are left; I haven't heard of faithful swagman Puhi for many a year, but I hope he is still above ground.
“Wirihana” predicted, as we climbed the steep papa ridges between the various valleys, that the railway builders of the future would find the job a slow one, because of the numerous long tunnels required. He was right; but the back of the job has been broken, and before long we shall see the triumphant finish of the line for which Auckland and Taranaki fought so strenuously with voice and pen in the young ‘Nineties
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