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Even Even the dogs have forgotten to bark: The events and the people of Lepperton, Sentry Hill and Waiongona

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Synopsis

The Lepperton area was one of the early settlements of Taranaki. As the wars died down in the late 1860s civilians began to settle in the area that had been occupied by the Militia and the local Maori. The book “Even the Dogs Have Forgotten to Bark” tells of the early events of the area including some of the pre-European days, a story of murder, a dramatic kidnapping and the development of Taranaki’s first railway including a large railway workshop and an important refreshment stop on the main route between Auckland and Wellington (in Lepperton). Stories of the hardships of the early pioneers who had to strip off to cross rivers to get to New Plymouth, deal with forest fires, terrible roads, sickness and accidents are told. (Why did one of the early residents die from a seemingly insignificant sore toe?). The book tells of the development of the dairy industry’s three dairy factories in the area, the condensed milk industry that almost became an Australasian supplier, the growth of the local stores, the school, the community hall and the festivities held there, the churches, the butcher; the growth of a bullock wagon freighter to a nationwide carrying firm and the village in general. Sporting activities grew from the first challenge of the Militia to local and invited residents to a game of cricket, which became a two day event accompanied by a great feast, through to the array of fine sporting facilities in the village today. Colonel Lepper’s descendants are still in the area and the story of his and ninety other families who lived and worked in the district are all told in this comprehensive and very readable book which takes the story of the area from just before the first Pakeha settlement through to the present exciting growth of a large rural village that is happening today. While specific to this area it is also generic in that similar stories will have happened in rural areas all over New Zealand.

Cover of Even Even the dogs have forgotten to bark: The events and the people of Lepperton, Sentry Hill and Waiongona

About the Author

Born in 1940 and growing up in the post-war years the attributes of persistence, honesty and integrity and the importance of caring for those around you were the fundamental building blocks of life. ;After attending a country school and the small newly established High School at Waitara he was involved in a series of moves through a Government office, the office of a private company and farming before attending Palmerston North Teachers College in 1960. After just over five years in the teaching profession he married and changed career going dairy farming for the next forty years.; During this time both Peter and his wife spent many years leading Christian Youth work and were involved with the local school especially when it came to the school jubilees and writing of the school’s history. Poring over old family diaries in the evenings became an absorbing occupation, at times realising at some unearthly hour of the night that it was 1970 not 1870 and there were cows to milk in the morning.; Thus a fascination with the history of the early settlement and their ancestor’s lives began. This quickly widened to the whole district and all the families that he could trace. There are some significant pa sites in the districts that have been written about and some stories of the early Maori have been recorded. The first Europeans in the district were mostly soldiers discharged from the Military and in some cases were family members.; On retirement from active farming he spent about fifteen years as a First Responder for St John Ambulance service as well as pursuing his hobby that was almost becoming a full time occupation of gathering and writing the stories of the people in the districts in which he lived.; This culminated in the publishing of several small booklets for the school jubilees and the publication of a major work on the district he grew up and taught in Lepperton in 2012 which was reprinted as a 2nd edition in 2020; “Even the Dogs Have Forgotten to Bark”.

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