A Step Back in Time- The 'Big House'; Part 2

Continued on from Part 1

The Hayes Homestead-

After exploring in and around the Hayes factory, we passed through the gate and into the house compound and first up is a visit to the dairy at the back of the homestead...

...where all the necessary equipment was kept including a very familiar Alfa Laval separator. I'm not so sure the one on my childhood farm was an Alfa Laval but it had the same spouts; one into the skim milk vat and one into the cream can.....or our mouth, if we were quick and weren't caught, or a fast wipe through the cream stream with our finger and into our mouth. I think it's the reason I hate (with a passion) pouring cream, especially warm cream!

Beside the homestead is a small garage, a Pedal Car Garage (1938) ...

... and inside the garage is the pedal car that was made for Ernest & Hannahs' first grandchild, Les Hayes, with suitable photo as provenance.

The 'Big House' (1920), as the Hayes family referred to the homestead, was built from sun-dried bricks which had been stored nearby and under tussock during the First World War. The 11-room mud-brick home was the first in the district to have a flushing toilet and electricity and comprises five bedrooms, a drawing room, laundry, kitchen, pantry, bathroom and large passageway.

The vegetable garden at the rear of the house is still in use and supplies Hannahs Cafe with fresh veges and herbs. 

Not far from the backdoor is the water tank tower. I'm sure the small room underneath it would have been used as a coolstore. Nowadays it'd make a great wine cellar.

The home had many innovations for the time, these included an indoor laundry, flush toilet, a shower over the bath and radio piped throughout the house- there are small pipes protruding through the ceiling in some rooms. 

The Drawing Room

Power was supplied to the house years before the national grid was switched on. It was generated by the pelton wheel at the factory. 

Dining Room

The only problem was that when the Hayes switched off the power for the night, it was 'lights off' for all the other homes connected to the system!

Kitchen

Laundry

Pantry

Ernest's bedroom- from the information board; Ernest was born in Warwickshire in 1851 and served a 5 year apprenticeship as a millwright, a highly skilled profession. He helped set up flour mills in the district, first the Vincent Flour Mill in Ophir then the Ida Valley Flour mill (500 metres from this site).

Ernest turned to engineering his engineering skills to produce equipment needed by farmers to succeed in the 'new world', tools for fencing, irrigation & pest control and the firm Ernest hayes & Sons was born. Ernest was keenly interested in education and was the first chairman of the local school committee.

He died in 1933, aged 82 years, and is buried in the Hills Creek Cemetery, Oturehua.

Hannah's Room- Hannah Pearson was born in Whittington, Norfolk, England in 1862. She married Ernest in 1881 and the following year, together with baby son Llewellyn, they arrived in Dunedin. Hannah brought up her family of nine children in the mud-brick cottage (now the cafe).

She helped establish the business by selling tools and equipment from farm to farm on bicycle, and was arguably New Zealand's first travelling saleswoman. Hannah was involved in local community activities and worked hard to raise money to build the Anglican Church, St Aidans, in Oturehua.

She died after a long illness in 1946, aged 84 years.

What isn't mentioned on the information board is the fact that when Hannah cycled off, in her full skirts, with catalogue and order book in hand, she travelled to far off  MacKenzie Country and was often away for days on end leaving her eldest daughter, aged 12, to look after her eight siblings.

Quirky design features befitting the engineer builders (Ernest & sons) were sash-opening cupboards, bookshelves secured by wire from the ceiling and as shown here in the bathroom, sheet-metal surfaces. The indoor flush toilet and overhead shower were well ahead of their time.

One of the childrens' rooms.

Some of the original furniture and linen pieces feature in the restored homestead which was known as the ‘‘the grand house" of the district. During restoration, a chattels list was obtained from the Hayes' oldest son to work from, and there were generous donations from daughters-in-law and grandsons who gave items back to the house. 

Side entrance and hallway

The gardens have been restored as close as possible to their original design...

The rock garden and water feature looks very familiar; I'm sure it was a regular feature in 1920s gardens.

I read somewhere that in 1975 the workshops and homestead were just $100 away from falling into the hands of a scrapmetal dealer. Thank goodness that didn't happen and this fascinating look into our past has been preserved for future generations.

There was one more place we wanted  to visit to complete the story- the Hills Creek Cemetery which  we visited later in the afternoon after a couple more stops on the circuit we were travelling.

The family plot includes Ernest's sister and two unmarried daughters. There are a number of other graves close by that hold more family members and it was with interest that I noted the name 'Pearson' making a regular appearance. My father's middle name is Pearson, which is not a usual middle name. 

It wasn't until I was working on the first blog that I realised the Hannah's maiden name was Pearson. The Hayes obviously gave many(if not all) of their children her maiden name as a middle name, which I thought would have been quite forward thinking for their time. 

If you'd like to see many more photos from our visit to Hayes Engineering Works, I've uploaded them to their own special Flickr folder- click on this link to view.

Footnote-

If you haven't already, a visit to E Hayes & Sons, a hardware store in Dee Street, Invercargill is also a must visit if you're in Southland. Irving Hayes, one of the Hayes' sons, opened the store in 1932 and it's still run by 4th & 5th generation family members today. 

Not only does the shop sell just about everything anybody ever wanted, it is full of memorabilia, vintage machinery and over 100 classic automobiles & motorcycles. The 'pièce de résistance' and main attraction is the original 1920 Indian Scout belonging to Burt Munro; that's Burt of  'The World's Fastest Indian' fame.

A Step Back in Time- Hayes Engineering; Part 1

Catch-up, late March 2016

Our next destination was not too far past the Idaburn Dam; the historic Hayes Engineering Works & Homestead, a family business dating from 1895, and one that has more significance than most to us.

It was closed for winter during our last visit back in July, 2015. The complex is managed by Heritage New Zealand and while we were there back then the manager arrived and offered to show us around, we declined and said we'd be back in the summer. So here we were and so were quite a few others; the carpark was busy with locals and tourists vehicles including a few campervans. The Hayes carpark is also a NZMCA CAP- an overnight fee includes entrance to the heritage site. There are also 'Operating Days' when some of the machinery is switched on, these are held one day a month over summer with guided tours. The rest of the time it's a self-guided tour. 

There were quite a number of cyclists that were riding this part of the Otago Rail Trail and a small group on an outing having a set lunch beside 'Hannahs Cafe'.  The cafe building is a re-creation of the original sun-dried brick cottage (1890) in which Ernest & Hannah Hayes first lived with their nine children.

We also ordered lunch and although there was a short delay, it was worth the wait. It was also lovely to sit outside watching the world go by and soaking up the warm sun.

Ernest Hayes Engineering holds a prominent position  in New Zealand’s agriculture history as a producer of a large range of innovative agricultural tools and equipment that were sold nation and world wide.

Our first stop was at the Company Office (1930) where products were displayed and sold. 

Many of those products and the history behind them are now on display inside. Ernest Hayes inventions include fence wire strainers, the Hayes Permanent Wire Strainer (2nd photo on the left) was once, and no doubt still is, a competitor of the Wirelok, a wire strainer that David developed and manufactured during the 1980-90s. 

David Evans Wirelok Ltd went on to sell over 1 million units before we sold the business. The Wirelok is still manufactured and sold in NZ and exported overseas. We quite often come across Wireloks holding fences together on our travels, although I bet we won't find any on fences around here.

Our next stop is the Hayes Factory (1902-14) and wow, what a thoroughly interesting building. 

This is a typical nineteenth century machine shop, complete with dirt floors, the smell of grease and looking like the workers had just stepped out for a smoko break.

Power to the 'machine shop' was transferred from a central drive shaft via a series of belts and pulleys to individual machines that included drills, lathes, punch & shear machines and grinders.  First powered by wind, then water and finally today, just a 3HP electric motor. 

You might not be able to see it in this photo but there's something unusual about the clock on the far wall. The number 7 must have gone missing at some stage and has been replaced with an upside down number 2.

Up to eight men worked in the machine shop and at the start of each day they would stand by their machines waiting for the signal to start work. There's a bell cord beside the forge here (I couldn't find it) and when it was rung it signalled 'start work' everyone.

Ernest was a trained millwright and engineer, he was skilled at the lathe, the anvil and the carpenter's bench. He was also an astute business man.

Battery Charging Stand- the sign reads; Power comes through resistors which break down the current from 230 volts. It is then controlled by switchers at the bottom. 

We climb through a small backdoor in the building to see the base of what was one of the largest windmills in New Zealand (1910). It stood 12m (40ft) tall, with a 6.7m (20ft) span and was used to power the factory which actually wasn't such a good idea as there was hardly any wind in Central Otago. In 1927 a water-driven Pelton Wheel was installed and fed from a reservoir at the top of the hill behind.

We head back through the door into the workshop and step through to the newest part of the old factory (1914). 

Sun dried brick moulds sit on a workbench. Earth, tussock and cow dung were mixed and packed into the moulds and then removed to bake in the blistering heat of a 'Central' summer.

The surrounding shelves contain dozens of boxes and other receptacles holding thousands (3500 plus) wooden patterns (moulds) from which steel parts were cast from. 

Another bench is covered in Hayes stencils with brand names and patent numbers.

There was so much to see inside the workshop, it was hard to take it all in. If you're intending to visit allow a good amount of time to explore the many different work rooms, benches and shelves; it's a fascinating look into our pioneering history and a good example of Kiwi's well known 'No. 8 Wire' tradition & philosophy. 

The steel rack with garage behind. There's no access to the garage but I wonder what machinery, or even farm vehicles are in there.

Nearby are the stables, loft and men's quarters. The Hayes also ran a 150 acre (60ha) farm which required bullocks and manpower.

On a fence separating the factory from the house is the original Hayes wire tensioner and strainers. The 1924 Hayes Smooth Grip Wire Strainer model is still being made, unchanged, today. 

Beside the strainers is the first model of windmill to be sold by Hayes Engineering. It was purchased by W. Becker (that familiar name from the cemetery, in the previous blog post) and has now been returned to the Hayes site. Hayes sold more than 400 windmills between the 1920s and 1950s.

To be continued.....Part 2- The 'Big House', the Hayes Homestead