Corippo- Village of the Scettrini family

I have made a couple of visits to Corippo, the mountain village in Ticino, southern Switzerland, from whence my Scettrini ancestors hail. Here are three photos taken there in a springtime visit, in April 2006 (scanned from pre-digital film photos...)

To get there I joined a regular "Postbus" service headed up the steep, winding road into Val Verzasca. After thirty minutes you get a breath-taking sight of the village of Corippo, with its stone houses perched steeply against a mountainside. Corippo lies at an altitude of 560m, with mountains 2500m high around it. It was founded in the fourteenth century. I approached, very conscious of the link that I was making with my family's past. 

  

All the houses in Corippo are made of mountain granite, with slate roofs, in a design that is specific to Ticino. The house fronts all look out across the valley, built to face the prevailing rain direction. The buildings tend to have two or three floors with small rooms, plus an attic. Because of the steepness of the terrain, hay and wood were often placed in the attic at the top, from the upper side of the house. 

Locals in the village have always had a hard life with the rough alpine climate, poor soil quality, and steep terrain of the pastures.  In the nineteenth century, the goldfields lured many men away. Hence, the arrival of Giuseppe Scettrini on the goldfields in Victoria, and later on the West Coast...

Eight great-grandparents

Patrick RIORDAN was born in Curraheen, Co Limerick, Ireland, sometime in the late 1840s, the child of John Riordan and Bridget QUANE. He seems to have arrived in New Zealand aged about 21, c1868.

Mary BURKE was born in the Parish of Inchture, Perth, Scotland, on 21 August 1862. She was the first child for her Irish father, Martin Burke, who left Co Mayo around the time of the Famine as a child, and her Scottish mother, Ann PHILP. She emigrated with her parents to New Zealand aboard the "Mermaid" when she was still only a toddler, arriving in Lyttelton on 16 February 1864.

 Patrick Riordan married Mary Burke on 11 April 1882 at the Catholic Church in Lincoln. 

  

Jeremiah MALONE and Margaret RIORDAN (no photo) were the parents of my grandmother, Margaret MALONE, who was born in Ballinadrideen, Ballyhea Parish, near Charleville, close to the border of Co. Cork and Co. Limerick. Another of their daughters, Bridget,  also emigrated to New Zealand.

  

James LALOR was born in Co. Kilkenny Ireland, c 1840, to John and Mary Lalor. He seems to have reached New Zealand c 1866, becoming a goldminer at South Beach. 

Catherine ROWLAND was born 26 August 1845 in Heidelberg, Melbourne, to Christopher Rowland (who was probably a convict from Cork) and Margaret ARBUCKLE. Her younger sister Margaret also later came to New Zealand.

James and Catherine married in 1871 in the Catholic Chapel in Greymouth.

  

Francis Davis PAYN was born 1854 in "Les Ruettes", St Martin's parish, Jersey, Channel Islands. He was the son of Thomas Payn and Elizabeth MOURANT. He arrived in Canterbury in 1874 on the "Dilharee" with Philip Payn, and was one of three "Larrikins" who discovered the Larrikins lead in 1878 in Kumara. 

Johanna SCETTRINI was born in Sandhurst (Bendigo) in 1865, the eldest daughter of Giuseppe Scettrini (from Corippo, Ticino, Switzerland) and Catherine HENEBERRY (from Ballyporeen, Co Tipperary, Ireland.) The family moved to the West Coast and after living in Waimea (Goldsborough) for a time, settled in Kumara. 

Johanna and Frank were married in 1886 in Kumara.  

Water Birds

The other day I posted about some 'urban birds'- but now it is time for the 'real thing'!

This morning I went up Kahuterawa Rd for a walk with my friend Sue. It was my first time up there since breaking my arm: you needed to walk close to/on the road and I seemed to lack confidence about that, so it was great to have company. Down in some of the gullies we saw a few pukeko, which are rather shy birds, and tend to disappear when humans appear. Here is one hiding in the rushes- and we know it had a chick not far away.

When I left Sue's I was keen to return to the Lagoon to see how the various springtime young ones had been growing. I guess all the Lagoon birds get used to humans wandering quite close by: I found another 'nest' with some coots in it, only a few metres from the water's edge.

I think these young ones might be the same ones I saw two weeks ago, swimming with their parents who were actively feeding them. But they now seem to have lost the curious red/yellow markings on their heads, and seem to be foraging a little for themselves.

Last time I was here, I was almost falling over the many small cute ducklings. There weren't quite so many small ones this time, but I have to include at least one photo with some cute little ducklings!

Down at the Lagoon today I also saw these Canadian Geese, and for the first time I saw them with some goslings. They look very elegant here- but they are 'introduced' and have been causing some ecological 'issues', largely for farmers.

Well, time to go, and it does indeed seem like I have been posting at a record rate lately - making up for sparse posting during broken-arm-recovery then exam-swotting! I am sure it will all settle down soon....

The Infamous Palmy

Crazy Vet students do us proud. They deserve their 'ain't famous' tag!

Opera Company of Philadelphia "Hallelujah!" Random Act of Culture

H/T to Ironic Catholic, but I gather it is all over the blogosphere. I would love to sing in a massed choir version like this!!!

Square Edge- repainting

Recently Jayne, a fellow blogger from Oz, suggested I might like to visit the blog of Timespanner (from Auckland- but we won't hold that against her!) Timespanner had a recent post up about repainting old buildings, and in particular drew attention to how the Victoria Picture Palace Theatre in Devonport had been repainted, from a 'lolly-pastel' to a plain boring white, that allows none of the interesting details on the historical facade to be easily viewed. I am never a minimalist at heart, and on this building it appears to have been carried to its bland extreme.

However, here in Palmerston North, we have had a building- Square Edge- where the repainting job seems to have gone to quite the other extreme.

The bright colour scheme was clearly chosen to be bright, and to stand out. I have no problem with that per se, but I am not convinced the colours chosen are in harmony with either this building, or with its context in the urban surroundings.

The 'gray' bits you see on this building are not paint: they are stone. And I am not convinced that the bright blue and red paint colours harmonise well with this gracious gray. Perhaps on the clocktower part of the building they suit it well, but at ground level, they seem to have done it a disservice.

But the biggest 'sin' of this repainting job seems to me that the local 'context' has not been considered. The bright red paint on Square Edge now appears to clash with the red brick of the adjacent All Saints Church.

And here is a slightly wider 'context'. Nothing fits, and the buildings all look incredibly 'separate'.

But still, all that said and done, I appreciate seeing colours that do indeed celebrate the facade details, rather than wash them out in white, as on the Devonport theatre building Timespanner has shown....

St Paul's, Wesley

As I walked home, I was at first just looking at the Methodist Church to add another photo to my churches post (below).

But as I got closer, I noticed the magnificent doorway in the old building- and this doorway deserves a post of its very own!

 

I will let a few of the details just speak for themselves...

Religious Buildings

Sometimes when I set out on a walk with my camera, I am never quite sure what might end up taking my interest. Today the bright red sign about 'special evangelical meetings' at the Gospel Hall took my eye, and it made me think about those citizens of the city who attend services in one of these smaller, plainer, simpler church buildings.

Next I walked past the Emmanuel church, where quite often you see Pacific Islanders all dressed up on a Sunday. With its paler bricks, it tends to 'blend in' and be easily missed as you pass by. But when I looked more closely I noticed the interesting archways above the porches, and the glass cross in the tower.

The Catholic Cathedral is never easily missed: its tall spire draws attention from many directions in this flat town.

 Last church in today's collection is All Saints, the distinctive brick Anglican church on the edge of the Square.

Porangahau

Today I took a wee post-exam 'tiki tour' over Tararua way, exploring a few places I had never been before- like Porangahau, Herbertville and Pongaroa. I have a few(!) photos I'd like to share: I'll split them into five posts, that will appear in 'chronological order'. Hope you enjoy the tiki tour!

I travelled all the way north to Waipukurau first, before heading off the main road to drive south-east on Route 52. I was quite surprised to see how much wetland was in the area, and I guess I was seeing it at its wettest after all the spring rains we had.

I arrived at Porangahau and chose to see the beach first, a few kilometres past the village. The weather couldn't quite decide on its mood, and the easterly winds had whipped the sea up, making the northern hills look very misty in the distance.

 Fortunately the drizzle decided to finish its playtime, and the sun came out, bringing out all the colours in the southern headland.

 After some dawdling along the beach, I drove back to the village, and decided to have a look at the pioneer church, St Michael and All Angel's Anglican Church, built in 1880.

And in a far corner of the church cemetery was this very rural memorial to soldiers in WW2.

Route 52- Genealogy

The route I had chosen for my tiki-tour- down Route 52 in the Hawke's Bay/ Tararua region- is still quite isolated, and must certainly have posed challenges for the first European settlers. I passed several places where modern descendants have paid homage to their pioneer ancestors.

This plaque on the church at Porangahau acknowledges Mary Ann Barratt-Foote.

And in the Porangahau church graveyard is this headstone for the Green family ancestors, hailing from Tollard Royal Wiltshire and Fontmell Magna Dorset in England.

 On the gate of the Porangahau church, is this plaque acknowledging the Lambert ancestors.

When I moved down to Herbertville, it became obvious how the village got its name, with this beachside plaque to the family ancestors.

From Porangahau to Herbertville

Next on the agenda was the journey from Porangahau to Herbertville. Navigating the rural roads was easy: I am now getting some use out of the GPS I bought for that trip to Hamilton I never made because of my broken arm in July.

Route 52 would seem to be an appealing route to take if you are a tourist- off the beaten track and away from busier roads, it lets you explore some more rural gems. It is still pretty 'laid back' but there are some signs that tourists are being catered for. I remember taking a 'tiki tour' many years back- quite a 'random' one without any real plan, and quite by chance I passed the place with the 'longest name'. I remember a basic yellow AA signpost that would have been easily missed. Now there is a much more obvious one!

Not much further along the road, I stopped to look at some cabbage trees - Cordyline australis- which were quite prolific in this area. And then these horses appeared and paid me some attention- not quite so easily able to ignore passing humans as their cousins in paddocks closer to cities can.

Here are a few more of the cabbage trees. The hills here look quite gentle and rolling: don't be fooled! This is prime 'earthquake' area, with the ground being regularly scrunched up as the Pacific and Australian plates do their 'meeting' nearby. Here are some recent ones reported in Geonet. And in 1990 there was a 6.2 quake centred near here that was one of the worst I have felt, strong enough even in Palmerston North to make holding onto the doorframe difficult as the floor bucked beneath me.

One final photo: I am a great fan of taking photos of some of the old rural buildings that you pass.

Herbertville

Second beach for the day was Herbertville, and here is the first view I had of it from the township, with yet another 'rural' building. I wouldn't mind a house in this spot myself......

And now I will just share three 'log' views along this beach.

 I loved the colours in the sky, threatening rain that never quite arrived.

And this branch frames another headland of the erosion-prone sedimentary rock on this coast.

And finally, it allows a different view of the ocean.

Both these beaches might see me back for another visit in the summertime....