Trees That Sail
In the 1800s settlers arrived to a county that was covered in a great primeval forest. The forest was in the making since the last ice age here some 10,000 years ago. It took one lifetime for the forests to disappear. To the settlers the forests represented several things and all meant cutting them down. First, they were great impediments to farming - whether growing crops or raising livestock, second and equally important, they were one of the few ways to make money. And lastly, for many the dark forests overgrown with their thick vines and giant soaring pine trees were cathedrals of fear. Parents were terrified that their children might wander into the forest and get lost.
Murray Head's ancestors have farmed on the same land near Milford for over a century. He recalls their recollections of the grand forests that once covered the land which became the reason the ships of the world arrived on their doorsteps.
In this episode you heard the voices of: Murray Head, Quentin Minaker, Floral Minaker, Janet Lunn and Bill Cowan.
