A pioneering spirit at rest

By Leon Gray-Lockhart
THE long battle to have the final resting place of Alice King acknowledged has finally come to a happy end for her grandson, Sid.
The story of the final resting place of Whangamomona pioneer Alice King had its own tragedies.
As one of a group of seven families who settled around Whangamomona in 1884, Alice's contribution to the early character of the district was significant.
After Alice's untimely death from an appendix infection, her body was placed in a grave about a kilometre from the village itself and two macrocarpa trees were planted on her grave, one at her head and one at her feet.
The railway was put through the village in 1914 and eventually the King family left the region, leaving the grave and the trees to the will of Mother Nature.
Many years later, in 1975, Alice's family were approached by New Zealand Railways and asked if they could cut the trees down as they were expanding the track past her grave.
"I never really minded them cutting the trees themselves down," recalled Alice's grandson, Sid King, "I just expected them to mark the grave and keep the area tidy."
However, on a trip through the area in 1976, Sid was angered and disgusted by the appalling state that his grandmother's grave had been left in, with the two trees simply left to rot where they'd fallen on the ground and the entire area an overgrown mess.
"I wrote a letter to the Minister for Railways, Mr McLaughlin expressing my feelings and two days after sending it, I received a letter from his secretary saying that they were looking into the matter. Ten days later, I received a formal letter of apology from Mr McLaughlin himself."
With the Minister's assurance that the grave would be properly marked and fenced off with posts and wire, Sid was not only satisfied, but also impressed with the attention that Mr McLaughlin had paid to the matter.
"I thought he would just brush it off, but he didn't and that was wonderful."
Sid had every reason to expect his grandmother's grave would be looked after from then on, so was again shocked to find that only a few years later, the site had fallen into disarray again.
"I passed Granny's grave again during a trip in the 1980s and found it extremely difficult to see and without the fence that I thought would be there."
Asking the owner of the garage at Whangamomona, Sid found out that there had been a grave there but, much to the family's outrage and disappointment, the wire from around the posts had been stolen.
As tourism began to become more important to the district through the late 1990s, the State Highway 43 Heritage Trail was developed and sites of special pioneering significance were marked along the way.
Discovering this, the King family lobbied to have Alice's contribution to the district acknowledged through their own Heritage Trail sign and in February of this year the King family finally got to see a sign all about her erected along the trail.
At the unveiling of the new sign, when Sid talked to Peter Mischefski of the Central Taranaki Tourist Network, it was discovered that the sign, while accurate, was actually a little bit far away from the actual gravesite.
Also at the time of the unveiling, Stratford's Merv Bland, having read about the King's story, realised that it was him who had cut down the macrocarpa trees on Alice's grave in 1975, not knowing their significance.
"When I read the story," said Merv, "I felt responsible for what had happened and felt I should make it up to the family somehow. I took it quite personally"
With help from the Stratford District Council, Peter helped organise the relocation of the sign closer to the grave's site and had a stainless steel cross erected on the remains of one of the tree stumps.
While Peter did that, Merv organised the collection of wood from the original macrocarpa trees still laying where they fell and asked his son, Maurice to make some things for the King family out of the wood.
At an emotional ceremony on Monday, November 17, at the Whangamomona Hotel, Peter, Merv, Maurice and council representatives had the honour of unveiling to members of the King family three framed pictures and a turned bowl made with wood from Alice's graveside macrocarpa trees, the newly relocated Heritage Trail sign and the new stainless steel cross clearly marking her final resting place.
"The King family's fortitude in trying to preserve the memory of Alice must be recognised and praised," said Stratford District Councillor John Rowe, "and the council is honoured to be able to do what it has for them. These things are a real testament to the difficult life and pioneering spirit of Alice."
"It's been a long haul, but what has been done now has been wonderful and we are extremely grateful to all those who took the time to help us," said Sid.