The war memorial beside the Alton Coronation Hall is one of Jacq Dwyer's favourite spots. Photo / Bevan Conley
The war memorial beside the Alton Coronation Hall is one of Jacq Dwyer's favourite spots. Photo / Bevan Conley
After 18 years as an interior decorator Jacq Dwyer is ensconced in rural South Taranaki shoring up the foundations of community - the rural halls, the public events and the stories that need to be remembered.
She speaks to Laurel Stowell.
Jacq Dwyer lives 3km from Alton and 3km fromKakaramea and divides her time and energy between both.
There are forays to Pātea and Hāwera and she's the chairwoman of the Pātea Community Board.
"We are the voice for the people to the council. People with issues come to us," she said.
In her primary years at Kakaramea School, Dwyer was never told about the nearby Battle of Te Ngaio that happened in 1865 in which 30 to 50 Māori were killed.
She thinks it needs some kind of memorial in Kakaramea.
"This is what we need to do, as a country, learn these stories," she said.
Jacq Dwyer's book Pātea RSA: 100 years 1919-2019 was published this year. Photo / Bevan Conley
The society has published two books about the area, Heartland of Aotea and Salutary Punishment, both by former teacher Ian Church. Darren Ngārewa is writing another, a book about local pā, which the society will also publish.
Dwyer is very involved with Aotea Utanganui, the Museum of South Taranaki, and has written a history of her own - about 100 years of the Pātea RSA. She's working on another, a history of Alton.
She was delighted to recently find out who broke into Alton School in 1906, stole the teacher's strap, cut it into pieces and buried it in the horse paddock.
The town used to have a population of about 400. It's down to about 150 now and its school, dairy factory and bowling club have all closed.
When the Alton Hotel closed in 2011, resident Harvey Gibbs enlisted younger people to keep the place alive. The hall was "the last bastion".
Dwyer is now its secretary/treasurer and $400,000 has been spent on renovations in the past 18 months. It's used at least twice a week, by Scouts and by the Alton Wrestling Club of 33 members.
The committee bought the church next door and restored that too. Dwyer's parents bought the school, demolished it and built a house on the former rugby field. While Dwyer turns her attention to the Alton Hall her mother Marie and sister Michelle are on the enthusiastic committee that keeps the Kakaramea Hall ticking over.
"[The halls] are really such a hub of our entertainment around here," she said.
Every two years the Taranaki Arts Festival holds a Heartland Tour and brings well-known bands to five rural halls. Halls like Kakaramea get to host Troy Kingi, Milly & The Miltones and the Slacks.
"Kakaramea has always been successful in selling all the tickets."
Dwyer was brought up on her parents' dairy farm in Spence Rd. She spent her secondary years at Sacred Heart College in Whanganui, where she loved art and teacher Jane Maxey was a role model.
She spent three years at Wellington Polytechnic, got a diploma in textile design and went to England, where she worked as an interior decorator in Jane Churchill's Sloane St store for two and a half years.
"I had a ball there. I met a lot of people and had a great time."
Returning to South Taranaki in 1998, she worked in the Kiwi Dairy call centre for three years, before returning to interior design.
She's a keen gardener, and the Italian wallpaper and Crown Lynn ceramics in her house attest to a continued interest in interior decoration.
