Any info about William Perry known as The Hermit Of the Barrier(Great Barrier Island NZ),Died 11th December 1933, in Auckland Public Hospital.Born Australia, Lived 58 years in NZ.. :: FamilyTreeCircles.com Genealogy
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Any info about William Perry known as The Hermit Of the Barrier(Great Barrier Island NZ),Died 11th December 1933, in Auckland Public Hospital.Born Australia, Lived 58 years in NZ..

Query by Stephenie

He was a prolific writer of letters to newspapers, and wrote many poems

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by Stephenie Profile | Research | Contact | Subscribe | Block this user
on 2019-01-17 22:33:41

Stephenie has been a Family Tree Circles member since Dec 2018.

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by ngairedith on 2019-01-17 22:46:30

I will have a look around for you Stephenie, as others will I'm sure.

one hi poems ..
Great Barrier Island
You have bound me to you strongly and I do
not wonder why
For I’ve loved you since I’ve known you and
will love you till I die
For your beauty of the present and
your beauty of the past
You lovely, lovely charming queen of islands
unsurpassed

By William Perry

by ngairedith on 2019-01-17 23:16:25

NZ Herald, 15 Dec 1933
Obituary of the BARRIER HERMIT

A SECLUDED LIFE - HUMBLE HOME IN BUSH
The Hermit of the Barrier is dead. William Perry, who lived for over a quarter of a century a secluded life in a remote retreat in the wild interior of the Great Barrier Island, left his humble hermitage last week, on what proved to be his last journey, for the mainland to seek medical advice in Auckland. The news of his death came five days later as a sudden shock to those who knew the "Forest Ranger."
In these modern times a hermit is rather a unique individual, because nowadays it is not always easy to find a spot sufficiently remote wherein to live and avoid intercourse with one's fellow-creatures. Few visitors to the Barrier penetrated to the fastnesses on the eastern slopes of rugged Mount Hobson to seek out the fastidious and whimsical character who lived there from choice - far removed from the hurly-burly of this troubled world.
The old man (he was 70) who so long rusticated on the fringe of a kauri forest was certainly not imbued with the gregarious habits usually ascribed to most humans and passed his days in comparative seclusion, a care-free bush dweller. He apparently found contentment in his isolated retreat where he lived so long. Indeed, it was his boast that he had not been more than a few miles from his island home for over 27 years, until he visited the mainland about six months ago and returned to express to the writer his utter abhorrence of modern devices science had brought to the aid of civilisation. Most of all did he detest those terrible juggernauts - the motor-cars. He even averred that "Scientists were making fools of mankind and their contraptions mincemeat of many."

Contempt for Parochialism
This recluse was by no means a pariah who had turned his back upon society. He retained his rights as a "citizen of the world" and had a profound contempt for parochialism in any shape or form. He voluntarily sought seclusion as an avowed misanthrope, while still in the prime of life.
The hermit of the Barrier was quite an intriguing character, who was intellectually at once a philosopher, a dreamer, a prophet and a poet. Although he voluntarily denounced all shades of politicians as humbugs, he was yet a keen student of politics. He used to expound his dogmatic theories upon capitalism, socialism and a number of other 'isms with such garrulity that possibly his mind became lost in such a maze of confused thoughts that he even forgot he was alone. Indeed, he used to confess that he communed with the spirits of the bush and never felt any emotions of loneliness or depression.

A Quaint Abode
The abode of the hermit was one of the quaintest sights among the many interesting things to be seen on the Great Barrier. It was assuredly a very ramshackle old bush whare, in a most dilapidated condition, shored-up from all angles, riddled with holes and gaping rents, while the means of ingress would puzzle any city dweller and be fraught with considerable danger of bringing down the whole structure by dislodging some protruding support. How it so long withstood the elements is a mystery. Yet withing this quaint home in the wilderness the wayfarer was proffered friendly hospitality, while many who knew the interesting old man will long remember the kindly disposition and cordiality of the "Hermit of the Barrier." His love for the bush and its trees is reflected in the final verse he recently wrote to a lengthy poem, entitled "Under a Kauri Tree." It ran thus:-
How I would rejoice to hear a sentence passed on me
To roam this paradise of peace through all eternity
I often wish my lonely soul had stayed here roving free,
And had left my body lying underneath this kauri tree.

by Stephenie on 2019-01-21 05:08:04

Thanks so much for your info. I would dearly like to know where he was born, Australia or Ireland as I believe he was the brother of my granddfather, Richard Baker Perry from Ireland. According to his death date and the 58 years he was in NZ his birth would have been 1863.If he is related his father would have been Henry Perry. Thanks again, Stephenie.

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