By Catherine Field-Dodgson and Michele Leggott

We are in sunny New Plymouth to give a talk about Groundwork at Puke Ariki and to retrace the Harris family’s footsteps in the region. Catherine has travelled from Wellington with Simon and Poppy, and Michele and Mark from Auckland, accompanied by a very special new addition: Ohana the black labrador guide dog.

Catherine and family take Groundwork to Lake Mangamahoe and photograph the book in front of a snow-capped Taranaki Mounga and brilliant blue sky. Later that afternoon they walk through the cool bush in Pukekura Park and come across an ancient pūriri tree, thought to be around two thousand years old. The descriptive panel features Emily’s hand-coloured lithograph from her book New Zealand Berries, with pink flowers and deep red berries. Catherine gazes up at the giant 22 metre tall tree and wonders if Emily was ever aware of its presence.

Groundwork then travels to Frankley Road, where the Harris family home and farm once stood. Catherine and Michele visit the top of Pūkākā Marsland Hill, and find the place where Edwin sat and sketched a panorama of the town after his son Corbyn’s death in 1860. We also find the grave of Charles Armitage Brown (1787-1842), friend of the English poet John Keats and father of Charles Brown jnr, whose life intersected with the Harris family during their time in New Plymouth.

On Wednesday morning we visit the Taranaki Research Centre and are greeted in the reading room by Community Libraries and Programming Lead Rebecca Beyer, Research Librarian Kathryn Mercer and Pictorial Curator Natasha McKinney. We have brought along our own hand-coloured copies of Emily’s three books New Zealand Flowers, Berries and Ferns to compare with the editions at Puke Ariki. Emily’s books are spread across the table, and Ohana reclines at Michele’s feet.

Kathryn Mercer then brings out Harris family records from the archives for us to examine. This is the first time that Catherine has seen the original items in person and she is especially delighted to see the diaries and poems written in Emily’s distinctive cursive handwriting. Emily’s 1903 At Home book is included amongst the archival material and we enjoy leafing through it. Nothing compares to holding the only surviving copy of this pukapuka in our hands.

At 11.00am we move to Puke Ariki’s offsite storage facility and are joined by Emily’s great-great nieces Roseanne Cranstone and Philippa Brooking, and their friends Jill, Reverend John Vickers, his daughter Kathryn and Team Emily member Libby Baker. Natasha winds the big wheels to move the shelving racks so that she can show us several paintings in the collection, beginning with Edwin Harris’s 1866 Waiwahakaiho River Scene, affectionately referred to as the ‘big picture’ by his daughters. Our eyes are drawn to the male figure wrapped in the red blanket and his vivid reflection in the silvery water. We also view Emily’s 1906 clematis panel, her oil painting of astelia and admire many other works of art on the wall, including a long lithograph based on a sketch of New Plymouth by Emma Wicksteed.

Later in the afternoon our group reconvenes at the Taranaki Cathedral cemetery. We have come to remember Emily’s siblings Corbyn and Frances who are buried together in the same grave next to St Mary’s Church. Catherine has gathered together a small scented posey from her garden in Lower Hutt and lays kawakawa leaves, rose geranium and yellow and pink aquilegia flowers on the grave.

Reverend John Vickers recites a beautiful prayer of remembrance for the Harris family. Michele reads the poem ‘Lines Written on Visiting Glenavon during the war 1860’, which Emily composed not long after her brother’s death. She also recites ‘Ample make this Bed’ by Emily Dickinson, dedicating it to Emily’s sister Frances who died in 1892.

It is a poignant moment standing in the cemetery on Parihaka Day, and the significance of kawakawa leaves is further brought into focus after a conversation with Erin Morales-Ruka, the Kaiwhakaako (educator) at the cathedral. Erin explains how the cathedral has added some information about the wording on some of the headstones to a plinth and their website:

Bitter inscriptions mark the graves of British soldiers killed in the Taranaki Wars (1860-81). The language of that era still has power to shock. However, in 1956, Te Ātiawa laid pare kawakawa wreaths on these graves, laying down grief in a sign of reconciliation. Another powerful act occurred in 2018 when the Cathedral’s first kaumatua, Reverend Tikitūterangi Raumati, chose to be buried near the men who shot his people. As the dead lay in peace may we live in peace.

At 6pm a crowd gathers in the Research Centre for our talk. Natasha has assembled a fantastic display of Emily’s paintings, diaries and books and we are pleased to have Emily’s 1906 oil panel Flowers from the Antarctic Islands on an easel to the side of where we are presenting. Roger Middleton’s genealogical book The Power of Two is also on display, alongside a copy of Groundwork and poetry books by Michele.

Kathryn introduces us warmly and we begin our presentation, concentrating on some of our favourite research moments from the last 9 years, starting with the Harris family story in Taranaki. Christina from Poppies Bookshop sells copies of Groundwork afterwards and Michele and Catherine sign a number of books for enthusiastic audience members.

We bid farewell to New Plymouth and Taranaki Mounga the following day, grateful for many new connections and several days of glorious sunshine.