Oct 9 Miss Innes, back in the 'hood
Sunday 9th October
There was a bit of wild wind and rain in the night, but the rain pretty much stayed away during the day. There are huge floods and problems in mainland NSW, so we are feeling rather lucky to be where we are.
After a leisurely breakfast, we headed off to church - the Anglican church on the island. We pretty much doubled the size of the congregation! Some of the older church members had stayed away because of the threatening weather. It was the minister of the church from Mum’s time on the island, Rev Brown, who came over to Mum and Dad’s wedding in Whangarei and he gave her away, so I think it was pretty special to return there. The welcomers were (unsurprisingly) very welcoming, and Mum got a special mention and introduction during the service. Several of the people in the congregation remembered Mum, or knew people that she knew. Mum recalled teaching Sunday School there in the tiny foyer at the entranceway. It’s difficult to imagine exactly how that worked, but perhaps the Sunday School children were small in number (or small in size)! After church was a morning tea in the church hall where Mum was able to chat with those who knew her. The minister of the church these days is on a rotation from the mainland. The current one is a super keen rugby league fan who, among other things, acts as chaplain to one of the main teams in the competition. There were two young people who led one of the songs on guitars, and two more “experienced” ladies who led the other songs on the organ and vocal cords.
From the church morning tea, we made our way to the Lord Howe Island museum, where an open invitation had been published in the LHI Signal newspaper for morning tea reminiscences with Miss Innes. Right on 11am a lovely, shy-looking woman came in, watched Mum for a while, then came over and quietly said “Miss Innes?” It was very sweet actually. She was a student who had started school in Mum’s class. Mum had particularly remembered and wondered about this student, as she’d had some health issues during her time in Mum’s class, so she was really happy to see her and catch up. Vicky’s mother (or grandmother?) had kept in touch with Mum for a while after she left the island, so Vicky knew some details of her home and family. Another visitor was Clive Wilson, who was a sprightly 89! He used to run the boats around the island and particularly remembered a rather exciting and rough trip that Mum had accompanied him on. Another woman who worked at the museum was an older sister of several of Mum’s students so Mum was able to hear of their lives beyond her classroom. We also met one of the teachers at LHI School, and she gave us a phone number for the principal. We’re hoping to be able to organise a visit to the school during the week if possible.
The museum is a wonderful collection of knowledge, history, flora and fauna of the island. The curator, Ian Hutton, is a keen naturalist, and has published several books about the island’s natural attractions, and the museum reflects his love of the island and eye for detail. We bought a little booklet that is a reprinted version of the Holiday Guide for Visitors originally published in 1960. It opens with these beautiful and poetic words: You, who have felt the call of the islands, and the lure of white sands and blue waters will, of course, want to explore and garner a more personal knowledge fo this jewel in the Pacific waters, “Lord Howe Island”.
We returned to the cottage, via “Joy’s Shop” (ironically named) where we purchased some supplies for lunch. We returned to the shop not too much later to purchase some supplies for dinner, once we established that pretty much all the restaurants on the island are closed for dinner on Sundays, except one which was fully booked. Prices of groceries seem to be pretty random, and mostly quite expensive, especially fresh food. A packet of sausages was $14, 2L of milk $12, jar of jam $4. But then a head of broccoli was a surprise bargain at $2.50. I had noticed that there didn’t seem to be any cats on the island, and a check in the shop showed absolutely no cat food for sale… mysterious!
In the afternoon, we were picked up by John again (our dinner host from last night) for a tour of the nooks and crannies of the islands, and a personalised narration which included things like, “ This used to be Aunty Sue’s place,”... “Aunty so-and-so’s house used to be just over there but it was demolished”, and updates of all the people Mum would have known or remembered. We visited the house that Mum used to board in when she was teaching. It is still standing and looks just the same as it did back then. The house now belongs to “Uncle Norm and Aunty Marg”’s grandson who resides on the island intermittently.
We had an interesting discussion about how people come to live on the island. The land on the island is all on perpetual lease, so people only own the buildings. You are only allowed to have one residential lease. If you own a property on the island and want to sell, it is valued by the official grand poobah property valuer guy (Valuer General?), and you then have to offer the property for sale at that price to islanders for 28 days minimum. If you are unable to find a buyer within that time, you are then able to offer the property for sale to anyone anywhere, at any price you can get. The rules have had a protective effect on island life, because people can’t just buy here when they want to. In order to be considered an ‘islander’, you have to reside on the island for 10 years, or marry an islander. I think this is why many islanders stay on the island for their whole lives, or return after a stint away, because the properties are owned by families and passed down.
John showed us the solar farm on the island. It is huge, spread out over several paddocks, and, at full power, generates 1.2MW. There is a battery bank (3.2MWh) for storing spare energy. At the museum there is a live display showing solar generation and total island consumption etc. Today was far from sunny, however the generation was about 550kW and consumption was sitting around 350kW, with the difference being used to charge up the batteries. There is also a backup diesel generator, and the display in the museum indicated that around just 30% of island’s energy consumption this year has come from diesel. John didn’t say what power on the island cost, but suggested it was pretty expensive.
John confirmed that there are no cats on the island, they are not permitted. Some people do have dogs, but these are highly controlled in terms of breeds etc. There used to be cats on the island (Mum had a cat called Black Peter haha) but they were ‘outlawed’ quite a few years back to prioritise the birdlife. At that time all the feral cats were trapped, and pet cats were allowed to live out their natural life once they had been desexed. Then no more cats. The (flightless) woodhens are unique to Lord Howe Island and were in danger of becoming extinct about 40 years ago. It was thought the population was down to about 30 and a huge programme to save them was put in place. They now seem to be pretty much everywhere, and wander about with little awareness of predators - such is the life of a ‘saved’ and protected species. The woodhens are still under careful surveillance, and most of them have bands on their legs to show that they are officially part of The Matrix.
In the 1980s, Lord Howe Island was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site. It was quite interesting to hear that this quite divided the population - some thought it was a great move while others felt it would just introduce controls over what could and couldn’t be done on the island. This is what has happened to some extent - you can’t cut down a tree or own a pet or various other ‘choices’ you would have previously had, and the control is mostly from the mainland and not local anymore.
Today the supply ship, the MV Island Trader, arrived at the wharf. “Ship Week” happens once a fortnight and is a source of great excitement on the island. Supplies of gas, diesel, food, equipment etc are all loaded off the boat and the return cargo is loaded on. The boat has a flat bottom so when the tide goes out, it just sits on the sand. When everything has been unloaded and reloaded, and the tide has come in, the boat returns to Port Macquarie. Travel time is around 36 hours. One thing the boat brings is the mail. As we drove past the Post Office (5pm on Sunday afternoon), there was quite a crowd gathered. The Post Office is small and unable to store two weeks’ worth of mail, so locals are encouraged to come down and collect their mail as soon as it arrives and can be sorted. The mail is unsorted when it arrives - and I have to say that sorting mail while people clamber all around and watch does NOT sound like fun to me!
John drove us all around the island, pointing out what was here 60 years ago and what wasn’t. We drove into the schoolyard and saw Mum’s old classroom, as well as the principal’s house just over the back. The school (or education department at least) provides housing for the teaching staff just off the back of the school, and across the driveway from the principal’s house. You’d never have an excuse for being late, and would also struggle to pull off a non-genuine sickie! The school has about the same number of students as it did when Mum was here, at which time there was teaching principal and only one other teacher - now there are two teachers, two support staff, a non-teaching principal and an administrator.
There is one policeman on the island, on a two-year rotation from the mainland. The hospital has a doctor and two nurses, and can accommodate you overnight, however the island is not staffed enough for longer stays. If you fall ill of an evening, you can stay in hospital until morning, then they will call out the Air Ambulance from Sydney to come and get you (and then the doctor/nurses can knock off and go home).
We also visited the dump, just for fun. All food scraps are composted and remain on the island, while rubbish and recyclables are shipped back to the mainland. Each household/accommodation is responsible for sorting their rubbish and taking it to the dump (no rubbish collections). Dumping rubbish is quite expensive, since you have to pay the removal fees, so the instructions at our accommodation are very clear about separating food scraps etc. All water on the island is from rain water, and each property owner has to sort their own system and tank etc. I forgot to ask but I would guess everyone has their own septic tank. Our loo has a sign reminding us not to flush pads, puppies, kittens, prosthetic limbs, hopes or dreams.
It appears that the accommodation places on the island all provide a drop-off service to shops and restaurants, and many of the restaurants have a drop-home van as well. Because there are not many cars on the island (and only six hire cars!) this seems like a good solution that keeps everyone where they want to be for minimum disruption. Fuel can only be purchased from one place on the island, and it is only open 1 hour a day. Many people bring their own fuel in on the boat, 500L at a time, which brings the cost down under $4/L. Bargain.
The airport was built in 1974 and the flying boats were able to hold on long enough to get through until it was ready. Islanders had mixed feelings about this development too, some people thought having an airport would change the character of the island and make it too commercial. However it has been carefully placed to minimise its impact on the environment. At one end of the runway sits a beach and the sanddunes were covered with zigzagging bunting. The purpose of the bunting is to discourage the sooty terns from nesting there because at nesting time when a plane goes over it disturbs the birds and they all rise up in a big cloud which is dangerous for the planes - however it has not been effective!
The rain has set in this evening, quite heavily. We cooked our dinner on the bbq mostly, since we couldn’t get the gas oven operating, unless its job is to fill up the house with half-burned gas. There is internet here but it is centred in the main complex and only just reaches the edge of our ‘property’. If we sit outside at the picnic table, or stand just inside the ranch slider right next to the glass, we can get enough reception to eventually receive an email or message.
Evening passed pleasantly, and we have started to make more specific plans for the next couple of days, now that Mum has refamiliarised herself with the island and thought about what she wants to see and do.
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