Straka Pioneer Family

I came across this interesting family story in the RODNEY times on the Staka family Gatherings at PUHOI nz, one of which was held just recently.

When Puhoi's elderly Bohemians get together, be it for a funeral, village anniversary or family reunion, it inevitably turns into another opportunity for sharing stories.

The 150th anniversary of the settlement's foundation this year will be a welcome excuse for a number of private family gatherings.

The Wechs of Pohuehue have already held theirs in Puhoi and the descendants of Charles and Theresia Straka are planning one for February, while the many descendants of original settlers John and Eizabeth Schollum will be meeting in Auckland in March.

They would make great fly-on-the-wall occasions for an historian or collector of folklore. However, the best public opportunity for old time story-telling will be in the Puhoi Hall on January 20 when people of all strands of Puhoi Bohemian ancestry will be treated to a talkfest hosted by the settlement's historical society.

Starting at 11am to give time for the seniors and their drivers from Waikato to Whangarei to travel, the day will carry on "as long as there is anyone left to talk to", publicist Jenny Schollum says.

The session begins with morning tea, and refreshments will be ongoing during the day.

ADVERTISEMENT

The funeral last year of former Tahekeroa farmer Victor Straka saw a good gathering of representatives of descendants of Puhoi's founding families scattered around Rodney.

Stories of the farm's "green shed", access to which was denied to females, but where the men loved to gather with their beer, obviously formed an important part of Victor's family folklore.

There will be plenty of such stories circulating on January 20 and Mrs Schollum suggests people bring photographs.

A rough tally shows that there are still quite a few "full-blooded" Bohemians, aged from their 60s to 90s, living around New Zealand. The list shows clearly how closely interrelated were the founding families, and how close-knit the earlier community.

The Puhoians have always loved to celebrate their anniversaries and their ancestry.

One annual occasion is the June honouring-of-age dinner hosted by Puhoi publican Gillian Seymour. The tradition will be repeated on a larger scale this year at the June 28-30 core sesquicentennial celebrations weekend, for which the January 20 chat and reminiscences session will be a warmup.

Once the chatter would have been in the German-related dialect still spoken fluently by a handful of pioneer descendants into the 1980s. Today, probably, the only truly fluent surviving speaker would be Puhoi's Mavis Rauner.

Despite the work of Gerard Straka of Orewa and his Puhoi dialect website, the talk on January 20 is likely all to be in English. Sadly, even those who have at least some understanding of the dialect from their parents are reluctant to practise it these days.

But at least that fly on the wall will have a better chance of understanding them.

Rodney Times