Be Our Guest entry: Letter, G H Bellamy
Maker
Bellamy, G H
Production date
15 Nov 2005
Object detail
Brief Description
Letter to the Be Our Guest competition from G H Bellamy about his memories of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
Mr G H Bellamy supplies a letter and a photocopy of an article in which he wrote an account of the earthquake. It was first published in the Tapanui Courier on 4 February 1981. His family lived in the the Seafield Valley and he was at Eskdale School at the time of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. The headmaster and teachers of the school told the children to stand on a seven wire fence after the quake so they would not fall in any fissures.
In the early afternoon fathers came to fetch their children. Mr Bellamy's father drove as far as he could in a Ford truck before getting stuck between two land slips. They could see dust and smoke over Napier. The family did not lose any possessions and were already living in tents awaiting the construction of a new house. They had a small farm and market garden so they also had plenty of food. About ten days after the quake they watched another large quake arrive, watching the land wave and sheep being knocked off their feet.
Mr Bellamy describes seeing cars and trucks laden with people passing in an endless stream, heading south to Palmerston North. He describes the rising of the land in the Inner Harbour, and the draining of the inland sea, leaving what he describes as a morass of mud and stagnant water, along with dead inhabitants. He tells of the terrible stench from the rotting material, which made life a misery.
Mr G H Bellamy supplies a letter and a photocopy of an article in which he wrote an account of the earthquake. It was first published in the Tapanui Courier on 4 February 1981. His family lived in the the Seafield Valley and he was at Eskdale School at the time of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. The headmaster and teachers of the school told the children to stand on a seven wire fence after the quake so they would not fall in any fissures.
In the early afternoon fathers came to fetch their children. Mr Bellamy's father drove as far as he could in a Ford truck before getting stuck between two land slips. They could see dust and smoke over Napier. The family did not lose any possessions and were already living in tents awaiting the construction of a new house. They had a small farm and market garden so they also had plenty of food. About ten days after the quake they watched another large quake arrive, watching the land wave and sheep being knocked off their feet.
Mr Bellamy describes seeing cars and trucks laden with people passing in an endless stream, heading south to Palmerston North. He describes the rising of the land in the Inner Harbour, and the draining of the inland sea, leaving what he describes as a morass of mud and stagnant water, along with dead inhabitants. He tells of the terrible stench from the rotting material, which made life a misery.
Maker
Production date
15 Nov 2005
Production place
Production period
Production technique
Media/Materials description
Handwritten on lined paper, photocopied.
Media/Materials
Measurements
In the Be Our Guest Folder No 2.: Height x Width: 298 x 210mm
Height x Width: 497 x 297mm
Height x Width: 497 x 297mm
Classification terms
Subject person
Subject period
Subject date
03 Feb 1931
Credit line
gifted by Mr G H Bellamy
Other number(s)
m2006/27/106, 35143
Public comments
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