My Three Rivers

Name: My Three Rivers
Brand: Unknown
SKU: 9781988595856
Price: 38.0 NZD
Availability: InStock

The jottings of a rural woman, 1884–1968

By Shirley Bagnall Metcalfe

Brief Description

My Three Rivers is a vivid account of the challenges and satisfactions of rural life in the first part of twentieth-century New Zealand, on land defined by unpredictable rivers, few reliable roads, and no bridges. With a sharp and often humorous eye, Shirley Bagnall Metcalfe captures... Read More

Format: Paperback / softback

$38⁰⁰

AVAILABLE WITH SUPPLIER Ships from our Auckland warehouse within 2-3 weeks

Found a better price? Request a price match

My Three Rivers

$38⁰⁰

My Three Rivers

The life of a rural woman in the Bay of Plenty in the first half of the twentieth century. Powerful observations written with humour of rural communities.

Description

My Three Rivers is a vivid account of the challenges and satisfactions of rural life in the first part of twentieth-century New Zealand, on land defined by unpredictable rivers, few reliable roads, and no bridges. With a sharp and often humorous eye, Shirley Bagnall Metcalfe captures the community at Thames, beside the mouth of the Waihou, where the Bagnall family owned a sawmill.

The narrative continues at an isolated farm on the East Coast beside the Kopuapounamu River, where she farmed with her husband until they retired by the great Waikato. Shirley wrote with a fountain pen in Warwick Jotters, and her grandson, Andrew Wright, has transcribed her words for publication. The book is enriched with photographs from family and museum archives, offering a fascinating glimpse into this bygone era.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781988595856

Publisher: The Cuba Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 01 May 2025

Country: New Zealand

Imprint: The Cuba Press

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 150.0mm

Height: 205.0mm

Weight: 0g

Pages: 286

Collections

Biography & Memoir New Zealand and Australia Published New Zealand Biographies New Zealand Non-Fiction New Zealand Published Non-Fiction Shirley Bagnall Metcalfe

About the Author

Shirley Bagnall Metcalfe (1884-1968) was born on 10 February 1884, at Turua, near Thames, in the Waikato. Her father was Richard Wellington Bagnall and her mother Lydia Chadwick Lamb. She had three siblings, Ella, Edith and Stanley. She lived at Turua until her marriage in 1913 to Wallace Fletcher Metcalfe, a descendant of Fletcher Christian who led the mutiny on the Bounty. They moved to their farm, Kiritahi, which was near Te Araroa on the East Coast of the North Island. They had three children: Richard (Dick), Muriel (Wendy) and Beverly (Bev). In her retirement, Shirley wrote the story of her life in three Warwick Jotters. Shirley died in 1968 and is buried, with Wallace, in the Alexander Redoubt Cemetery, near Tuakau.