Annie Shaw delivered mail to
the settlers in the hills
of the upper Mangamahu district in the early 1900s.
(spoken) Ladies and gentlemen,
Here's to the girl who delivers our mail.
Here's to BARB-WIRE ANNIE.
G D7
There was mud on your oilskins and battered felt hat
G
As you rode by at dawn on your way down Hale's Track
C
Forty miles there and forty miles back.
D7 G
Hard ride for Bill and for Annie
D7 G
You've brought us our letters, newspapers, and such
A7 D7
With a yarn at the gate you have kept us in touch
G C
When you rode by today on your way to the church
D7 G
We all sung out "Good on yer, Annie."
CHORUS
D7 C G
So here's to the girl who delivers our mail,
D7 G
Here's to Barb-wire Annie.
D7
Though the track's deep in mud,
Though the river's in flood
D7 G
You can't stop our Barb-wire Annie
Now the Ridge Road in winter is wet greasy clay
There's mud three feet deep where young Bert bogged the dray
And at the Blue Cliff the whole road slips away
But you can't stop our Barb-wire Annie.
When that new barb-wire fencing they've put up all round
Stops you from reaching the high harder ground
You just pull out your pliers and 'wang!' go the wires.
You can't stop our Barb-wire Annie
Chorus
And your saddle-bag is marked proudly, 'Royal Mail'
But today it protected your lace bridal veil
That graced you in style as you walked up the aisle.
God bless you, Barb-wire Annie.
Chorus (instrumental or 'la-la la')
And I must thank the cooks, we've had more than enough
Of your wild pork and pumpkin, your trifle, plum duff.
But now put the sponge cakes and cream puffs aside
And all charge your glasses, a toast to the bride.
To our dear Annie Gibson, you'd not be denied
Good health to Barb-wire Annie.
Mrs Annie Gibson
Annie's father James Tidwell Shaw came from the
South Island to the Mangamahu valley in 1895. He
took up 50 acres of steep land near Mount View sheep
station. It was covered in heavy forest, and 20
miles along a muddy track (Hales' Track) north of
Mangamahu village. He lived in a tent and started
clearing the land, earning a living by road-building
and by carrying mail twice-weekly on a packhorse
from Mangamahu. He felled rimu trees and started
pit-sawing them for timber to build himself a hut.
He was joined by his daughter Annie in 1902. She
lived in the tent with him for 6 weeks until the hut
- four bare walls, totara-shingle roof and a rammed
earth floor - was ready. Her luggage followed her to
Mangamahu by wagon and stayed there for 10 months.
Then it was brought 12 miles up Hales Track and lay
by the side of the track for 2 months until the
track was re-opened and her father sledged it in the
remaining 8 miles for her. Eventually the hut was
extended to four rooms, with a big open fireplace
for cooking and winter heat in one room.
Every three months, if the track was passable,
supplies (mostly flour, sugar, tea, and sewing
material) were brought in by pack-horse from the
Mangamahu store. They baked their own bread, grew
their own vegetables, picked and bottled their own
fruit, got milk and butter from their own cow,
killed their own meat (sheep and wild pigs) and
sewed or knitted their own clothes. In mid summer,
when the clay tracks had dried out, a shopping
expedition was made to Wanganui by horse and dray,
50 miles away, a journey of 3 days each way, plus
one day for shopping.
James Shaw died in Dec 1909, and was buried near the
Matarawa Church, 3 miles east of Wanganui. Annie
then took over his mail contract. Her dad sometimes
was late in delivering the mail, due to mud, floods,
snow, slips, or a few drinks at the Mangamahu hotel.
Annie rode side-saddle, but she built up a fierce
reputation for always getting the mail through on
schedule. She carried wire clippers with her, and if
a track was impassible, she would cut through a
fence to make a detour, so earning the title of
"Barbed Wire Annie."
Bill Gibson was a bushman and fencer working on
farms in the district. In 1909 he moved in with
Annie, and by mid-winter 1911 she discovered she was
pregnant. The proper thing to do was to get married,
and all they knew was that you went to a church to
do this.
The nearest church was St John's at Matarawa, so
when the tracks dried out at the end of winter, Bill
and Annie rode there, 46 miles. They knocked on the
parson's door ("What? No, we haven't. What's a
marriage licence? What are banns?") He
married them "In the sight of God," in view of her
circumstances, and baby Guy Gibson was born in
January 1912. The Matarawa church register shows
they were married officially a couple of months
later.
Mrs Annie Gibson (known as "Mother Gibson" in later
years) was never seen without her apron, her badge
domestic industry. She was famous for her
hospitality and kindness, and especially remembered
by bushmen for her apple pies. She was independent
and resourceful; if she was out of firewood for
cooking except for long logs, she would put one end
of a log into her firebox and balance the other end
on a chair, then gradually feed it into the stove.
Her husband died in December 1936, and Annie died in
October 1955; both of them are buried beside the
Matarawa Church.
Summarised from "The Road to
Mangamahu" (1988) and from information given to me
Guy Gibson
Annie's son Guy Gibson was educated at Wanganui
Technical College, and later married Margery Eades.
They lived in Wanganui until the death of his father
Bill Gibson in 1937, and then they moved to
Mangamau. Guy worked on their small farm and did
shearing and fencing for neighbouring farmers. (A
financially viable Mangamahu sheep farm was 20 to 60
times as big as Guy's 50 acres)
Guy and Margery had one son Royce, who went to live
in Australia. Margery suffered poor health and died
in October 1947. I can remember Guy Gibson
organising and competing in wood-chopping
competitions at the Mangamahu Sports in this era.
By 1950 Guy was president of the Wanganui Tech Old
Boys' Asociation, and Phyllis Ryan held the same
position for the Old Girls' Association. After the
1950 Labour Day Reunion they decided to get married.
Guy and Phyllis had two sons, Michael and Colin. In
1961, Guy sold the farm and they moved to Aramoho,
Wanganui. Guy was on the Wanganui Tech board of
managers for 14 years. He was made a Justice of the
Peace in 1965.
