Leaves From My Sketchbooks. 59. Old Longford Store, Murchison

Supermarkets, good roads and reliable cars killed old stores like this one on the Murchison to Nelson Highway. By the mid- to late 1960s they were either gone or falling into disrepair. Fortunately I got to the old Longford Store before it disappeared and I sketched, painted and photographed it.

Sqiggle, squiggle and you have a poplar tree, another set of squiggles is a pine and some more make the long grasses and the hill form beyond. It's all cheating until you get to the building, than you have to be more diligent.

© DON DONOVAN. donovan@ihug.co.nz 
www. don-donovan.blogspot.co.nz
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New Zealand Odyssey: The Old Longford Store, Murchison

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

The Old Longford Store, five kilometres north of Murchison, looked like this in 1988. It long ago closed down. Now worse for wear, rusty roof sagging, it's just a memory. I actually remember when it was a functioning shop in the 1960s!

The finger post points up the Mangles Valley, to a trout stream I much wanted to fish when I arrived in New Zealand from England in 1960. I was fortunate to meet a man whose farm straddled the river and we've been friends ever since. The original of this drawing hangs in his house. I can't think of a better place for it to be.

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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New Zealand Odyssey: Commercial Stables, Murchison

'New Zealand Odyssey', published in 1989 by Heinemann, was authored by me, Don Donovan (who did the text and illustrations) and Euan Sarginson, who did the photography and design. In this series of blog posts, I will publish some of my drawings.

I have no idea how old this building is but I reckon that when I drew it in 1988 it was well over 100 years old. Can't you just hear the hooves and the rumble of iron-rimmed wheels echoing through that archway to the forge beyond? 

Murchison was, is, not only an important farming area but also has a romantic gold history revolving round the powerful Buller River and its tributaries. I first went to 'Murch' in 1960 just after arrival in New Zealand and made lifelong friends who farmed on the Mangles River where brown trout haunted the stones like nuclear submarines!

© DON DONOVAN

donovan@ihug.co.nz

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Country Churches of NZ 139. St. George's, Motupiko, Tasman

I wrote and illustrated Country Churches of New Zealand. It was published in 2002 by New Holland, Publishers and is still on sale in bookshops. The publishers have kindly agreed to me re-publishing some of the book’s images and descriptions in this blog.

ST. GEORGE'S, MOTUPIKO

It would be easy to miss St. George's at Motupiko because it's concealed behind high trees on the road between Murchison and the sunny good lands of Tasman Bay.

I think it among the prettier of the churches I've painted, probably because the architect, Stead Ellis, incorporated some window, bargeboard and buttress detail that takes it beyond the ordinary.

It must have looked superb with its original shingle roof. It's Anglican despite the corbels of its window hood-mouldings bearing the St. Andrew's crosses more associated with Presbyterianism.

It was consecrated on 30 September 1892.

© DON DONOVAN
donovan@ihug.co.nz
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