Recognition for a giant chalk kiwi, but some of the history is a bit awry
The full story behind the iconic kiwi carved into an English hillside has finally come to light.
A giant kiwi carved into a hillside in southern England has been recognised for its historic significance, but the official version of the monument's history is far from the full story.
It is agreed that the kiwi was made in 1919 by New Zealand soldiers who were waiting at Sling Camp, Bulford, on Wiltshire's Salisbury Plain go home after World War I.
Historic England's version of events has the monument - widely known as the Bulford Kiwi - being created in February and March. But Colleen Brown, who has nearly finished a book on the kiwi, believes that is several months too early.
Colleen Brown argues that the kiwi was created at a different time than previously thought.
The kiwi has just been listed as a monument in the UK, and the accompanying details note there was a riot in the camp around the same time as the shape of the kiwi was dug out of the hillside.
READ MORE:
* Giant chalk kiwi near Stonehenge given protection status
* New Zealanders gather at Messines, in Belgium, to mark Anzac Day
* WWI Victoria Cross winner a 'modest man'
What that official history doesn't do is directly attribute the creation of the kiwi to the riot, but that's what Brown thinks happened.
Sergeant Major Victor Low is believed to have conducted the surveying for the iconic chalk kiwi.
According to the NZ History website, the rioting happened in mid-March. It was caused by the waiting men's anger at repeated delays in scheduled sailings of troopships because of a British shipwrights' strike. Some men also had a perception there was a bias against South Islanders in decisions about sending men home.
Brown said another factor was the impact of influenza, with men dying in the camp, and news from New Zealand that family members were being affected by the pandemic.
They were a citizen army stuck in bleak, cold circumstances, and the camp was overcrowded. Designed for 4000 men, by March 1919 it held 6000.
Sergeant Major Percy Blenkarne is credited with drawing the kiwi, possibly from a stuffed kiwi and from pictures in a book at the British National History Museum.
Also, Canadian troops had rioted a few days before, and some newspapers had reported incorrectly their boats had sailed as soon as the riots were over. "These guys really did think if they kicked up a bit of a shindig boats would become ready," Brown said.
Her interest in the kiwi was sparked by the experience of her adopted great uncle Bertie Jarrett, who volunteered for the war - even though he was under regulation height around 156cm. He made it through the hostilities but died of influenza in the camp while waiting to return to New Zealand.
"It absolutely devastated my great grandfather," Brown said.
Brown writes that Captain Harry Clark got the men up the hill every day to dig the kiwi out of the fields.
She is in the final stages of preparing her book The Kiwi We Left Behind for publication, and is concerned about the information from Historic England about the creation of the kiwi.
"I am a bit concerned about the inaccuracies, but in some ways I can understand them as well, mainly because the information is here in New Zealand," Brown said.
In the past there was lots of speculation about the details of the kiwi's history. In recent years more information had become available as more families made records such as letters, diaries and photographs available to places such as the National Library. The internet was also making it easier to track down information.
Brown said no precise details were available about the creation of the kiwi, but piecing together information from different sources showed work would have started in April or early May, with the job finished on June 28. That was the day Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles, officially ending its involvement in the war.
As a result of the March 1919 rioting, the men in Sling Camp gained many concessions, including a reduction in education programmes that were well-intentioned by poorly received, Brown said.
"So they had to find something else for them to do." That's when it was decided to create the kiwi, an idea which was suggested earlier in 1919 but at that time the people needed to do the work weren't available.
Brown does not think a start early in the year would have been possible. "Men in their diaries kept on saying, 'it's cold, sleety, icy'," she said.
The image of the bird could not just be drawn on the ground. At the site itself it had an elongated look to it.
"It's an image that pops back into shape when you're standing 800 metres away from it. It's supposed to be seen from a particular viewpoint," Brown said. "You would have had to survey that to get the accuracy."
The surveying was done by Sergeant Major Victor Low, from the Lo Keong family, considered to be the first Chinese family in New Zealand.
Brown said information Low had had done the survey work from around 800m away was included in a letter from one of the men saying he saw the surveyor doing the work from a particular point.
It would have been painstaking, and the surveyor's instructions had to be communicated to workers on the hill. "It had to be vary particular, so it would have taken some time to do that and get that right," Brown said.
Historic England's measurements put the height of the kiwi from head to toe at 127m, with a 45m bill.
Low is one of three men Brown credits with being key to the creation of the kiwi. The others are Sergeant Major Percy Blenkarne and Captain Harry Clark.
Blenkarne drew the kiwi, possibly from a stuffed kiwi and from pictures in a book at the British National History Museum. Clark, who kept a diary, got the men up the hill every day to dig the kiwi out of the fields. He wanted 400 men each day, and got 250 if he was lucky, Brown said.
A memo from Clark in early June showed he was worried the job wouldn't be finished. "By that stage boats were leaving and they were all moving again." So senior officers stepped in and ordered various groups to get themselves organised.
Clark's diary showed the job was finished on June 28.
Documentation at Archives NZ showed the work was done by the Wellington, Otago and Canterbury battalions, Brown said.
"It's quite sacred to me and I think to a lot of the military people. It's a monument built by soldiers for soldiers, probably to remember those who weren't going home."
After the New Zealanders left, the kiwi was maintained from 1919 to 1950 by the Kiwi Polish Co. which employed a man to regularly attend to the weeding and spraying.
The emblem was covered over in WW2, then uncovered by local Boy Scouts in 1948.
The New Zealand government looked after it from 1950 until about the early 1970s. It then became infested with weeds and was almost lost, Brown said.
In 1980 the government declined a request to contribute to the kiwi's upkeep from the British Army, which had taken on the job of doing intermittent work on the emblem.
In 1980 Major Danny Fisher, the officer commanding the British Army's 249 Signal Squadron, had just brought his men back from the Arctic Circle. He saw a historic emblem desperately in need of rescuing.
"So for a few beers and a few extra days off – he and his men cleaned up the kiwi," Brown said.
A report from the time shows men carried about 20 tonnes of chalk up the hill in sandbags - about 10,000 altogether. They also quarried some of the chalk themselves from a site about 400m below the kiwi.
"If it hadn't been for Danny Fisher and those men that kiwi would have disappeared," Brown said.
She has approached Historic England, offering to help sort out some of the information about the kiwi. She also has other ideas about how the monument could be enhanced and is hopeful those with an interest will be able to get together to discuss ideas for the site.
- Stuff
Comments