Be Our Guest entry: Letter and Manuscript, Ruth Kay
Maker
Kay, Ruth
Object detail
Brief Description
Letter to the Be Our Guest competition written by Ruth Kay about her memories of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
Ruth's family home was Highgrove in Eskdale, opposite the Eskdale railway station. The home was eight years old, and home to eleven people. It was brick, with a slate roof, and was totally destroyed by the earthquake. No one was injured. After the earthquake the family went to stay with Ruth's aunt at Hedgeley further down the valley. Sixteen people slept in a tent on the lawn. They later went to stay in the Rangitikei for four months before returning to stay in her aunt's house, Herepoho.
Ruth's recollections have been printed in a publication and she sent a photocopy of the relevant part. She also sent a photograph of the destroyed house to Hawke's Bay Museum and her story was printed in the Hawke's Bay Today. In a telephone conversation on 1 February 2006 with Carolyn Nixon, Mrs Kay stated that the house was just above where the lavender farm is now located and that the site of the lavender farm was her father's cricket pitch. She said Eskdale was badly damaged in the earthquake because it was on the fault line. The boys orphanage, France House, was a two-storey building which collapsed but the boys had just left for school.
Ruth's family home was Highgrove in Eskdale, opposite the Eskdale railway station. The home was eight years old, and home to eleven people. It was brick, with a slate roof, and was totally destroyed by the earthquake. No one was injured. After the earthquake the family went to stay with Ruth's aunt at Hedgeley further down the valley. Sixteen people slept in a tent on the lawn. They later went to stay in the Rangitikei for four months before returning to stay in her aunt's house, Herepoho.
Ruth's recollections have been printed in a publication and she sent a photocopy of the relevant part. She also sent a photograph of the destroyed house to Hawke's Bay Museum and her story was printed in the Hawke's Bay Today. In a telephone conversation on 1 February 2006 with Carolyn Nixon, Mrs Kay stated that the house was just above where the lavender farm is now located and that the site of the lavender farm was her father's cricket pitch. She said Eskdale was badly damaged in the earthquake because it was on the fault line. The boys orphanage, France House, was a two-storey building which collapsed but the boys had just left for school.
Maker
Production place
Production period
Production technique
Media/Materials description
A4 photocopied sheets, typed. Signature handwritten in blue ink.
Media/Materials
Measurements
In the Be Our Guest Folder No 2.: Height x Width: 298 x 210mm
Signature/Inscription
Ruth Kay, Signature
Classification terms
Subject person
Subject period
Subject date
03 Feb 1931
Credit line
gifted by Ruth Kay
Other number(s)
m2006/27/162, 36234
Public comments
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