A Journey Back : An Informal History Of The Matakitaki River Valley

Local Description

Not outgoing, a touch reclusive, born in Motueka on 4 June 1932, Cecil Wills attended school at Upper Matakitaki, leaving at 15 to work on the family farm at the mouth of the Glenroy Valley. A territorial soldier at 18, Cecil left home three years later to work at the Murchison Dairy Factory and as a farm-hand and shearer in the Maruia and Tutaki Valley's, moving to Wakefield to work progressively as a bushman, forest foreman and rural fire officer. Accepting the position of Reserves Caretaker on Rabbit Island in 1972, the Wills family lived on that island for 15 years. Retirement looming, moving to Richmond to complete 20 years of Local Body Service as parks foreman with the Waimea County, later Tasman District Council. An avid reader and book lover with a lifetime interest in local history, early New Zealand, genealogy and family legends Cecil Wills has cherished a long time dream to record the family histories and to write in depth some of the story of the settlement of the Matakitaki Valley. Since retirement, after teaching himself to use a computer, in limited editions as gifts for the family, including Grandma's Story and Thornton's of the Glenroy, several family "books" have seen the light of day. My journey Back, is "the big one" he has dreamed of writing for more than 65 years.

Some shelf wear to cover.  Signed by author.

Description

Not outgoing, a touch reclusive, born in Motueka on 4 June 1932, Cecil Wills attended school at Upper Matakitaki, leaving at 15 to work on the family farm at the mouth of the Glenroy Valley. A territorial soldier at 18, Cecil left home three years later to work at the Murchison Dairy Factory and as a farm-hand and shearer in the Maruia and Tutaki Valley's, moving to Wakefield to work progressively as a bushman, forest foreman and rural fire officer. Accepting the position of Reserves Caretaker on Rabbit Island in 1972, the Wills family lived on that island for 15 years. Retirement looming, moving to Richmond to complete 20 years of Local Body Service as parks foreman with the Waimea County, later Tasman District Council. An avid reader and book lover with a lifetime interest in local history, early New Zealand, genealogy and family legends Cecil Wills has cherished a long time dream to record the family histories and to write in depth some of the story of the settlement of the Matakitaki Valley. Since retirement, after teaching himself to use a computer, in limited editions as gifts for the family, including Grandma's Story and Thornton's of the Glenroy, several family "books" have seen the light of day. My journey Back, is "the big one" he has dreamed of writing for more than 65 years.