| Notes |
- Dorothy Annie was born in Hamua in 1916 but shortly afterwards moved with the family to Wanganui and then to Marton where she attended primary school. Dorothy never attended secondary school.
She became a domestic doing household work cleaning and cooking in people's homes for a while when still living in Marton.
Sidney, Dorothy's father bought a fruit & vegetable shop at 81 Shortland Street, Auckland city and the family lived above the shop.
Dorothy worked in the Nestles Chocolate factory in Parnel, then she moved to the Green Lane Sweets factory. She did cleaning for the land lady of the Princess Court Apartments. She baby sat for Mrs. Jennings for 10 shilling per week, then did housework for a Jewish couple. She later moved to Wakefield Street doing dressmaking, then she went to Newling & Wilson Tailoring, just off Karangahape Road.
Dorothy met Bill Ward through her older sister Edna & Jack Way. Bill Ward had moved to Auckland from Kakaramea in South Taranaki, soon after his mother Lillian died, about 1932. He bought a rural property at Kumeu and bought stock and equipment to establish a dairy farm. Jack & Edna stayed at the farm with Bill. Jack was doing "Transport/Carrier" work locally and helping on the farm. It was through this association that Dorothy Walkley met Bill Ward. On the 15 June 1940, Bill and Dorothy married at "St Mathews Anglican Church" in Auckland City.
The Second World War broke out in 1939 and as Bill was working in the primary, agricultural sector, he was exempted from conscription into the armed forces, but he was drafted into spending time in the Home Front Defence force. He went north to the 90 Mile Beach for a period of time manning some bunkers and dug outs when New Zealand was on high alert because of the perceived threats of a Japanese invasion of Australia and New Zealand. Luckily the invasion never happened.
Sally 1944, Jocelyn 1945 & Gail 1952 were born when Bill and Dorothy were still living at Kumeu.
Sally & Jocelyn attended the local Huapai Primary School from 1949 until 1955 which was about the time that Bill & Dorothy had decided to relocate to Orewa which is where Gail started her schooling.
Bill and Dorothy encouraged Sally and Jocelyn to help with chores on the farm such as hay making, milking and herding the dairy stock from time to time. Bill had a horse called "Snowy" and a dog called "Tip".
Auckland city adjacent to Kumeu was growing rapidly and Bill decided to capitalise on the burgeoning market changing from dairy farming to horticulture/market gardening. All the stock was sold and necessary horticultural equipment with plants were purchased. Cultivation, fertilizing, sowing, weeding, spraying, harvesting and packing vegetables such as potatoes, pumpkin, tomatoes, cauliflower, cabbages, cucumber and watermelon became the new regime of work routine at the Ward home. Sally remembers driving the tractor hauling a potato harvester through the rows of potato crops turning them over for harvesting. This was a relatively innocuous job as the tractor was in low gear and simply needed to be driven straight down the rows and rows of potato plants. Nevertheless the task was arduous, dirty and monotonous. Bill worked very hard from dawn to dusk some days to ensure all the seasonal needs of each vegetable/fruit crop was completed for successful harvesting.
Bill & Dorothy were one of the first to experiment and introduce the growing and harvesting of "Chinese gooseberries", feijoa or "kiwi fruit" in West Auckland. They were rewarded with immediate lucrative returns.
Aunty Maud [Dorothy's sister-in-law] & Roy Radford [brother-in-law] lived with Dorothy & Bill on the farm for a period of time. Sometimes aunty Marion & Stanley Roberts would also visit and stay at the farm.
For a few years on Guy Fawkes Day, Bill & Dorothy built huge bon fires out in the paddock to celebrate. Friends & neighbours Diane & Joan Hicks sometimes came with their parents.
Dorothy & Bill purchased a block of land in Orewa between Moffats Road and the shore line of the estuary in about 1954. They had the block subdivided and chose the section at 31 Moffats Road to build their home. Bill, Roy Radford and Mr Dakers built the house and the family moved in about 1955. A batch was also built on the property for Nana [Ethel Lowe Walkley], Dorothy's mother which was also accessed from Maori Hutt Road.
Sally and Jocelyn transferred to schooling in Orewa, the year the Orewa school became a District High School in 1957. Gail began her schooling there.
In the early 1960's Bill & Dorothy purchased "Motu Kauri" Island which was situated in the Whangaruru Harbour. Bill stocked the island with sheep and planted vegetables for the table. The island had a small house and the family went there for holidays.
Bill & Dorothy continued their horticultural business on their new property at Moffat Road, on sites around and below the house which sloped north facing down to Maori Hutt Road. They eventually sold all the other sections, but continued to grow a variety of crops such as beans, watermelons, pumpkin etc.
In 1970 Bill retired and he, Dorothy & Sally travelled to England and Europe for a holiday. Bill was keen to revisit the place of his birth Woodhill Spar, Lincolnshire, to make contact again if possible with his family. He had emigrated to NZ in 1914 on the "Ionic" ship when he was 3 years old with his parents, Frederick and Lillian and his sisters Betsy [4 yrs old] and Maud [5 yrs old].
Dorothy, Bill and Sally were joined in London by Pat & Jocelyn Heremaia who had travelled overland from Singapore and they went to Woodhall Spar in Lincolnshire where they met Bill's uncle George Ward. They also met Bill's aunty Maud [nee Scott] in Kirkstead,
After spending 6 months travelling throughout Britain and Europe Bill & Dorothy returned to NZ with Gail on the "Ellinis" and settled back in their home in Orewa.
In 1982 they sold their home in Orewa and relocated to Royal Road, Massey. They spent the next 4 years there until Dorothy died on the 8th March 1986. Bill eventually went to live in a unit in Crestwood Retirement Village in Green Bay. He died there on the13 October 1990.
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1916 - 1986 (69 years)
