Dame returns to Waipu of `happy times'

It's been a while since Dame Fiona Kidman lived in Waipu - exactly 50 years.
And though she only lived there a short period, she has fond memories. It was a happy time.
Kidman is the author of 22 books and has written some 60 radio and television dramas.
In 1998, she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of merit for services to literature.
When she is not working, she keeps busy with family, voluntary work and speaking engagements throughout the world. But tomorrow she is coming home to Waipu.
She and her family were made welcome by their new neighbours, most of whom were descendants of the Reverend Norman McLeod and his followers.
But when they left ... "their stories haunted me for years".
So much so, she spent years seeking answers about the controversial man who took a group of Scottish Highlanders on not one, but two journeys across the world.
In 1817, McLeod, then an unordained minister, led his congregation from Scotland to a new life in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Some 40 years later, following a time of hardship and famine, he convinced his flock to follow him once again.
In 1853, the first of six ships carrying 900 immigrants arrived in Waipu.
One hundred years later, and long since dead, the McLeod presence could still be felt in Waipu.
"I heard conflicting versions of old stories," Kidman said.
She wanted to know more about the settlers and followed their route, from the Highlands to Cape Breton Island, on to Australia and finally back to New Zealand.
Along the way she visited public archives, universities and research libraries.
She studied Rev McLeod's sermons and read his letters. In the end, she drew her own conclusions.
And then she wrote a book. But The Book of Secrets, winner of the 1987 New Zealand Book Award for Fiction, generated much controversy.
"I got deeply involved with fictional characters who took on a life of their own, but some of them turned out to be too close to real people for comfort."
To this day, she worries that some in Waipu may have been offended.
She need not be concerned.
When the Waipu Heritage Centre decided to hold a fundraising dinner tomorrow towards the restoration an old historical home, it seemed only natural they call on Fiona Kidman as guest speaker.
The fundraiser, originally planned for 150 guests, has been enlarged in order to accommodate huge demand.
For Kidman, now living in Wellington with her husband Ian, it is an opportunity to see old friends.
Though she was here briefly last year and took a tour through the Waipu Museum as part of a literary group, visits backs have been few and far between.
She attended a high school reunion in the late 1980s and returned before that - in the early 1970s - for research on Fire of the North, a radio documentary drama which she says was the genesis of The Book of Secrets.
The Book of Secrets was her first historical novel, the tale of three strong women whose lives are shaped by McLeod.
McLeod's leadership meant that anyone who ran counter to him had to live a life of secrets, reads the synopsis.
Kidman swore she would not write historical fiction again but was last year granted funds to write a book about a South Island whaling family in the 1830s.