Out West Essay Competition 2011

Overall Essay Winner Franich Diamond Prize.
Although I have updated my personal profile to include the award, I'd like to mention it here in more detail.
The Out West Essay Competition is held every year for west Auckland writers to write on any subject pertaining to the region. Previously called the J.T. Diamond Essay Competition, after Jack Diamond,  the west Auckland historian and photographer, whose life's work is housed in the J.T. Diamond Room at the Waitakere Libraries, Henderson, Auckland.
With the Auckland supercity restructure there was a fear the competition could be discontinued, it has been saved from extinction and renamed by the West Auckland Historical Society. Thanks WAHS !

All winning essays from the various categories are conserved in the J. T. Diamond Room for future reference - to build on and preserve the diverse stories that are west Auckland.
On October 27th whilst resting from my ride up the Arawhata River, my good man Gazza, was at the awards on my behalf, where I was the recipient of the Overall Essay Winner Franich Diamond Prize and winner of the Adult Memories Category for the essay titled: Retrieval. 
For the essay I drew from interviews with my father and his sister Aunty Kathleen, both grew up in Henderson, they're wonderful story tellers and their memories from those times are told with incredible attention to detail. Kathleen is now 92 and dad 85. I juxtaposed their stories with my moving to west Auckland and what it means to be a second generation New Zealander of Dalmatian ancestry living in the Dally capital of NZ.
Dad and Kathleen remember all the orchards and vineyards and who owned what including precise locations. Of course a lot has changed now but some of those early emmigrant families are still in the area and I've  interviewed a few of them including Maria Yukich, previously married to Mate Yukich from Montana Wines.
The essay is essentially the story of reclamation of culture and identity, of growing up in Christchurch isolated from the wider Dally community and eventually finding this colourful vibrant culture still alive and thriving in and around west Auckland.
Both my parents are of Dalmatian ancestry. Frank was my mother's younger brother and their parents were born in Vrgorac a small town in the mountains bordering Croatia and Bosnia. I've been there, its a beautiful country and I have been told that somewhere back in the family was an ancestor who was a mountain ranger, when I think of Frank and his brothers and what they achieved - and their love of the mountains and wilderness - this makes sense. But hey, that's another story, or chapter in the book.

In 2009 I won the Adult Memories Category of the J.T. for an essay on Aunty Kathleen and her recollections of growing up in Henderson. I'm extremely proud - quite chuffed actually, that these stories have garnered awards. Adds a nice polish to the CV and thus getting Frank's book published.

Louise enjoying a Lake Hayes Pinot Noir at the Refreshment Room, West Auckland. Previous location of the great Montana Wines vineyard.

Cheers everyone for dropping by, stats show a good amount of traffic since I started the blog.  Better go it's venison casserole for dinner, thanks to Bill Henderson.