Tales of Banks Peninsula/Chapter 21

Among the more remarkable men who from time to time have led isolated lives on the Peninsula, one called Harry Head may be mentioned, who, some fifteen years ago, took up his residence in Waikerakikari. Previous to his arrival this Bay had been quite untenanted, as it was covered by dense bush, and almost inaccessible both from land and sea. It appears that it was for these very reasons that Head selected it for his abiding place. He chose a Government section in the valley near the beach, and put up a shanty, which he roofed with tree ferns. Here he lived all by himself, and friends who visited him on rare occasions used to find him industriously occupied in the bush or his garden, in a very primitive garment, consisting of a sack in which holes had been cut for his head and arms. At certain intervals he used to tire of this Robinson Crusoe kind of existence, and visit the residents of the neighbouring Bays in very scanty clothing. In his habits he was almost a wild man, and it is said he had lived long amongst the North American Indians. Instead of riding with an ordinary bridle, he preferred the Indian fashion of a string turned round the horse’s lower jaw. This string used to be composed of coloured strands, Indian fashion. He was credited with the power of long abstinence from food. He has been known several times to start to walk from Akaroa to Christchurch with nothing but a little sugar in his pockets, his only clothing being some home-made trousers and a blanket, which on grand occasions he used to encircle at the waist with a gaudy parti-coloured cord and tassels.

Harry Head was a great lover of music, and used to play simple melodies by ear on the piano, when occasion offered. Strange to say, however, the instrument he loved most was the drum, which he ​used to aver was capable of great expression, as well as power. He was also an excellent performer on the banjo. Once on a time he had almost resolved to abjure his solitary and wandering existence for domestic felicity, but the mother and friends of the young lady on whom he had placed his affections strongly objected to him, and he had to return to his solitary wharê in Waikerakikari. He appeared to be a man who had read and throught much, and was considered of a genial temperament by those who knew him intimately.

He was the first man who took stock into Waikerakikari. He purchased a number of calves, and got a gentleman to assist him in driving them there, a difficult task indeed in those times, when there was no track and a dense bush all the way. A start was effected at six one morning, and his companion had to go about two miles out of the road to satisfy Head, by seeing a group of Nikau palms. At last, after a lot of trouble, they arrived at their destination, and it being most sultry weather, the dwelling-house was found to be a very suitable one, and fit for the Astronomer Royal, being open to the stars of heaven. The wharê in which his visitors slept was composed of weather-boards, was about eight feet square, and was a regular old curiosity shop, being filled with all sorts of nicknacks and curios he used to pick up on his visits to Christchurch and other places.

One of his strangest notions was, that with properly manufactured appliances human beings would be able to fly. He gave much attention to this hobby, and even ventilated the subject in public in the old country, after leaving the Peninsula. He once paid a visit to the West Coast, and on his return walked back over the ranges at the rate of some fifty miles a day. This, however, seemed to entirely cure him of any desire for future rambles on ​foot, for it was his last pedestrian feat. He eventually returned to England, and astonished his friends there by his remarkable costume and strange style, and no doubt they were heartily glad when he announced his intention of proceeding to his old home in America. He is now, to the best of our informant’s belief, located at Dacotah, where his primitive habits appear to have enabled him to withstand the effects of the terrible seasons, which have been so fatal to other Europeans. Before leaving he sold his property to the Messrs. Masefield, and his old clearing is now the site of the sawmills erected at Waikerakikari by the energetic Mr. John Smith.

From Mr. W. Masefield we further learn that Head’s real name was Alexander, and that he was the son of a bookseller, who had him well educated. He was an excellent mathematician, and a fair Greek scholar, besides understanding a good deal of botany. The latter was much cultivated by him during his sojourn on the Peninsula, and he was constantly in correspondence with Dr. Haast. From his youth he had strange fancies, and, when young, slept a night at Stonehenge, on what is known as the vertical monument, in the hope that mysterious dreams would come to him from the forgotten past. The dead Druids, however, made no sign, and a cold was the only result.

He was born at Chippenham, in Wiltshire, and, on leaving England, went to America, and joined a party to the Rocky Mountains. He had a great admiration for the North American Indians. He afterwards went to Vancouver Island, and thence worked his passage Home in a lumber ship, which made the longest passage on record. After a brief spell at Home he came out to Australia, and was at the diggings for some time. He walked over a great part of Australia, and applied to join the Burke and Willis expedition, but was too late. He there formed ​an acquaintance with Baron Von Muller, with whom he used to correspond upon botanical subjects After a time he came across to New Zealand, and walked over the North Island, and then came across to Nelson, and from there continued his pedestrian expedition to Christchurch. He was one of the first men to cross the range. He afterwards came to the Peninsula, to Le Bon’s Bay, and saw Mr. Cuff there, and wanted to get some land; but Mr. Cuff told him it was all his. He then went Home again, and after a short stay came again to New Zealand, and was at the Otago diggings, being one of the first at Gabriel’s Gully, and did well there. He had, however, been so charmed with the Peninsula, that it was not long before he came back to it to get some land and settle.

He bought a piece of land where Mr. Lelievre’s house now stands, at Fisherman’s Bay. He sold it after some time to Mr. Lelievre, and bought a place in Paua Bay. He had a wharê there, and locked it up one day to go to Christchurch. When he got to Christchurch, however, he made up his mind to go to England, and when he came back to his wharê, long after, he found the place was broken open, and his things gone. He then sold the land to Mr. Narbey, and went on to Mr. Townsend’s survey party, and helped to cut the present line from Barry’s Bay to Little River. He then bought land in Waikerakikari.

He was a splendid hand in the bush. Unlike an ordinary mortal, it was his practice to go in a beeline from one place to another, utterly regardless of tracks. He never lost his way, and used to accomplish long distances in a wonderfully brief period. He once started to carry a tub from Barry’s Bay to Waikerakikari, through the bush. He had it on his head, and it struck against the branches of a tree, hitting him so smartly on the head that he ​remained unconscious for many hours. When he left the Peninsula he had fully £500 in his possession, and when he reached England he increased his capital by lecturing on philosophical subjects. With a very powerful and acute mind, but of exceedingly erratic temperament, Harry Head narrowly missed being a great man.