by Hyde, Robin
‘Charged with being Starkie, sir; and God knows what else.’
Notes
THE MAIN sources quoted in the notes are:
Manuscripts
Typescript of Passport to Hell titled ‘Bronze Outlaw: A New Zealand Soldier’s Story’ by Robin Hyde. Held by the University of Auckland Library. MS B-10. Two handwritten exercise books containing notes made by Robin Hyde while Stark told his story. Titled ‘Bronze Outlaw’ and in the possession of Robin Hyde’s son, Mr Derek Challis. MS Notes.
Printed Sources
Alexander Aitken, Gallipoli to the Somme, Recollections of a New Zealand Infantryman, Oxford 1963.
O. E. Burton, The Silent Division, Angus & Robertson 1935.
A. E. Byrne, Official History of the Otago Regiment, N.Z.E.F. in the Great War 1914–18. 2nd ed. Dunedin 1921.
H. Stewart, The New Zealand Division 1916–1919 (Official War History), Whitcombe & Tombs 1921.
Fred Waite, The New Zealanders at Gallipoli, Whitcombe & Tombs 1919.
Denis Winter, Death’s Men: Soldiers of the Great War, Lane 1978.
As Robin Hyde observes, she kept a few names and invented the rest. Both MS B-10 and the MS Notes have the original names as given by Stark. His memory was not entirely reliable and Hyde occasionally had difficulty with his accent (she seems to have heard Hargest as Harcus for example). Identifications of the more frequently used names are: Captain Dombey (Captain W. Domigan), Captain Smythe (Captain D. White), Captain Hewitt (Captain J. P. Hewat), Colonel Percy (Lt. Col. A. H. Herbert), Colonel Chalmers (Colonel A. B. Charters), Captain Knowles (Captain W. D. Jolly), Lieutenant Bill Howard (Lieutenant Bill Howden), Captain Frere (Lieutenant E. V. Freed), Captain Dryer (Captain N. H. Pryor), Colonel Drury (Lt. Col. D. N. W. Murray), Dr Paget (Captain C. V. A. Baigent), Padre Spearman (Rev. R. S. Watson).
Page 1
‘I first heard of Stark’. Hyde seems to have first heard of Starkie from the Reverend George Moreton in 1932 prior to her article of 13 October in the New Zealand Observer: ‘Landlords Lock their Doors Against the Friend of Down and Outs’, where she retells Starkie stories related by Moreton—later repeated by him in the biography by Melville Harcourt, A Parson in Prison, 1942, pp.222–7.
‘his Colonel … remarked “Curtains, Starkie.”’ Dr Pryor examined him and simply said, ‘Good bye Starkie’ (MS Notes). Hyde, of course, preferred her phrase and also used it in her N.Z. Observer article on Stark, 4 April 1935. In the text (p.184) it is Captain Dryer [Pryor], not ‘Colonel’.
Page 2
pakapoo. A Chinese gambling game not unlike Bingo. Hyde wrote an article on the game in the N.Z. Observer, 5 May 1932.
Page 3
‘my childhood’. Hyde’s youth was spent in Wellington, not Auckland.
Page 4
Ronald Fraser. Sir Arthur Ronald Fraser (1888–1974), soldier, diplomat, novelist, and one of Hyde’s favourite writers. Her review of The Flying Draper, N.Z. Observer, 3 September 1931 notes, ‘Ronald Fraser and Stella Benson are the only two modern novelists whose books have a quaint delicious sense of having been written in the fourth dimension, where, more can be seen and experienced than in the ordinary world.’
Lionel Britton. Britton’s book, Hunger and Love (1931), is a powerful attack on ‘bourgeois’ manipulation of society. ‘Next to belly hunger sex hunger is the most imperious of all our needs. Unless these two are satisfied the race does not go on …’, p.55. On the book page of the N.Z. Observer, 28 January 1932, Hyde notes that Hunger and Love had been banned in Australia.
Page 5
‘his V.C. recommendation’. See note below for p.133. Starkie was not recommended for the V.C. according to other commentators.
impi. A group of armed men (Zulu).
Page 6
‘third Stark baby’. According to obituaries (Southland Times and Southland Daily News, 5 November 1910) Wyald Stark married twice and left a daughter by his first wife and three sons by his second. Starkie was the third son.
Wylde Stark. Wyald Stark died on 3 November 1910 aged 78 years. As his obituary notices (see Introduction, page xiii) reveal, he seems to have been a more interesting figure than the one provided by Starkie for Hyde. His parents’ names were George and Amelia and his mother’s maiden name was Soldier. When his father died on active service he went from Florida, U.S.A., to England and joined the gold rush to Victoria; he followed gold to New Zealand and made his way to Invercargill. ‘He first built a wooden store in Avenal, and part of his business was to cart stores to Mataura to supply the gold diggers there. He next started in the hotel business, his house being the first of its kind in Avenal; it was subsequently known as the Governor Grey …. When in 1881 the wooden building was burnt down he erected the substantial brick premises which still bear the title of the Governor Grey buildings.’ He sold out and entered into private life in about 1890. (Information from obituaries and the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Invercargill.) Starkie could not have been born in the old Governor Grey Hotel then and this is consistent with the fact that Wyald Stark (Wyld in the Registrar’s information) is listed as a labourer in the birth registration. He was probably born in the house in Lowe St, Avenal, that Wyald Stark is noted as occupying in Stone’s Southland Directory of 1895.
‘Invercargill may be a dry district’. Invercargill did not become dry until 1906, following the election of 1905 (M. H. Holcroft, Old Invercargill, 1976, p.109) so that Starkie’s birth could certainly have been celebrated in a hotel.
James Douglas Stark. His birth registration lists him as John Douglas Stark.
Page 7
‘Delaware Indian from … Great Bear Lake’. The obituaries note his darkness but refer to him as of ‘Spanish blood’. ‘Delaware’ was the English name for the Leni or Lenape, a tribe of North American Indians of Algonquian stock settled on the banks of the Delaware; they were pushed west by Europeans and in 1789 were placed on a reservation in Ohio—a great distance both from Florida and from Great Bear Lake which is a large lake in Canada’s remote North West Territories.
‘shooting of Higgins the outlaw’. In the obituaries he is noted as capturing, not shooting Higgins: ‘Many would rather be inclined to boast of such an achievement, but Mr. Stark was not that way disposed and never mentioned it even to his nearest friends, who became acquainted with the fact from one who was in Victoria at the time.’ Southland Daily News, 5 November 1910.
Page 8
‘girl born in Madrid’. Hyde’s notes from Stark are unclear as to which of the parents was born in Madrid: ‘North America—had north American blood—great Bear Lake—Wylde Stark—Born in Madrid. Father 6 foot 4½—Mother 5/9—old man straight as a gun—came to Australia on a cattle boat …’, MS Notes.
‘white whiskers’. Wyald Stark must have been about sixty-two when his son was born.
Page 9
Green Mansions. One of the writer-naturalist W. H. Hudson’s accounts of his youth in South America, published in 1904.
Rose Stark. ‘Sister Rose—Beautiful girl—all dead’, MS Notes. Rose seems to have been Starkie’s invention, his step-sister (identified as ‘Mrs Adcock of North End’ in the obituaries) was presumably much older since Wyald Stark remarried in 1884 after the death of his first wife in 1881 and at his death left nine grand-children and eight great grand-children.
‘July 4th, 1898’. The Registry of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Invercargill gives his birth date as 17 July 1894. Hyde deliberately makes Starkie younger to emphasize the effect of environment on him and make his more brutal acts seem less his responsibility (see Introduction), though Starkie always insisted that he was born in 1898. Letter to Downie Stewart of 10/9/26, General Assembly Library.
Anita Stark. Her name was Florence and she must have re-married after Wyald’s death and gone to Australia. In the N.Z.E.F. Rolls she is listed as Starkie’s mother and next-of-kin: Mrs Florence King, Footscray, Melbourne.
Page 10
‘the racehorses’. ‘Mr Stark was
a keen follower of racing years ago, and was the owner of horses which captured many of the chief stakes in Southland, his better known winners including Kate Kelly, Lady Avenal, Selina, Island Lass, and Brunette.’ Southland Times, 5 November 1910.
‘Nothing was too good for the Stark game-cocks’. ‘He was a breeder of game birds, and to the last he treasured the remains of a champion bird, the hero of many fights, which after death was stuffed’ (Southland Times, 5 November 1910). I have not been able to trace Dunedin Museum’s ownership of the game-cock.
Page 11–12
Starkie’s truancy. In the first edition through to the sixth impression of July 1936 these lines were taken up with an incident which Hyde expanded from Starkie: ‘Father took him took chain and padlock and fastened round waist—In the Gladstone School—Fifteen lb chain padlocked nailed to stairs—McNeil was school master’ (MS Notes). For the New Edition of 1937 she rewrote the passage removing reference to Mr McNeil and the Gladstone School. She also wrote publicly retracting the passage, to the Southland Times, 17 October 1936 (Introduction, p.xiv).
Page 13
‘a new sort of harpoon’. In Starkie’s account, Gladstone School: ‘Rubber harpoon fired pen at Gladstone School teachers’, MS Notes.
Pages 14–15
‘an arrogant Irishman’. Starkie simply mentions a priest. ‘Went fishing down Waipoi [sic] in Thompson’s Bush—eels and circuses—In the bush—went with Chris McCarthy and Pete McCarthy—a priest caught him with cane across two hands—Chris McCarthy serious—Ran away’ (MS Notes). The Marist Brothers’ School opened in 1897. Peter and Christopher McCarthy are listed as entering the school in 1901 which would coincide with Starkie’s brief attendance. The masters in 1901 were Br. Dunstan, Br. Walstan and Br. David. See J. O. P. Watt, Invercargill Marist 75th Jubilee 1897–1972, 1972.
Page 16
Sentry. ‘hauled up before Mr. Cruickshank—white beavers and side whiskers’ (MS Notes). Mr G. Cruickshank S.M.
Pages 17–18
Victimization by ‘first mate’ incident. ‘Mate appointed from A.B. dirty work frowned on—smudging brass—next day getting into port—Starkie washing shirts and hanging them on Derrick—mate chipped him—Hit and fell on deck—sent to dock—Pennington warns him of police—Swings off by rope—got lost in Port Hills’, MS Notes.
Pages 19–20
Canterbury sheep-station incident. ‘followed fence down to Station—met dark little girl called Rita—daughter of Station owner—got out with horses—finished up by putting his name in Rita’s birthday book—walked back to Christchurch’, MS Notes.
Page 21
‘Dalgety’s wool store …. George Lord’. Forty-four lines omitted from the typescript MS B-10 concern a brief stint in the wool store. New characters are brought in and there are a couple of incidents involving ‘tickets in Tatts’ and one of Starkie’s fights. The section adds nothing to Starkie’s character and little to the novel, unless the mention of Dalgety’s, ‘Tatts’, Sir Joseph Ward’s Arawarua Estate, and domestic violence are necessary to the New Zealand background.
George Lord. George Law, MS Notes.
Pages 22–23
May and Fanny Simms. May and Fanny Gibbs, MS Notes.
Page 24
‘“Come back to Erin”’. The third line of the version that I have (Grandad’s Songs, Allan, Melbourne N.D.) reads ‘Come with the shamrocks and springtime, Mavourneen’. In MS B-10 the song is ‘The Bells of Saint Mary’s’.
Page 25
Tom Finnegan. Finnety, MS Notes.
Page 26
Olaf. Andy. MS Notes.
Page 27
‘one more sin on his conscience’. ‘Bought ready tailormade suit—arrived in dungarees, and shirt—Bought shirt, sox, shoes—went to little pub and tried it on—Jumped the express’ (MS Notes). Hyde’s vision of the growing Starkie required that he steal it.
‘his fifteenth year’. Starkie was in his nineteenth year. In MS B-10 it is ‘fourteenth’. See note for p.12.
Page 28
‘the Bealey Tunnel’. Bealey is the early name for Arthur’s Pass, eighty-eight miles from Christchurch. The reference is presumably to the eastern entrance to the Otira tunnel.
Page 29
‘lemonade and sarsaparilla’. ‘sarsaparilla and raspberry’, MS Notes.
‘They were all about him.’ Not police, but: ‘Hemmed in with drunken miners’, MS Notes.
‘“Red Indian” … “A savage.”’ Not in MS Notes.
Page 30 ff.
Starkie in Invercargill gaol. Hyde follows Starkie in the account of prison but she already knew most of the details from her investigation for the N.Z. Observer article of 5 March 1931. The detail of the latrine tin is from the article, not Starkie.
Page 31
‘Jimmy Pearson, Dan Paul the murderer, … Archie Sayegh’. ‘Jimmy Dee, Archie Taylor, Dan Swan the murderer, Dan grey old badger for battering his wife—Archie Taylor American black. Bob Cunningham International black’, MS Notes.
‘Bluey’ Jameson; Dave Lester. Bluey Dickenson; Dave Dunlop, MS Notes.
‘old Sampson’. Bob Cunningham, MS Notes.
Page 32
‘Arney, the warder’. Romrey, MS Notes.
Hawley. Hawkins, MS Notes.
Page 33
Jim Frenton. Percy Challis, MS Notes.
‘taken in front of the Governor’. ‘Taken up in front of Cruickshank the magistrate’, MS Notes.
Page 34
‘Hastings by name’. Hazel, MS Notes.
‘Wylde Stark had asked the prison authorities’. Not in MS Notes; Wyald Stark had been dead some three years.
‘Anthony, the drill instructor’. Mr Douglas, MS Notes.
Page 35
John Cunningham. Bob, MS Notes.
‘A fellow-prisoner had given the alarm.’ ‘Fellow prisoner Schuter rang the bell out in the corridor—He was cleaner’, MS Notes.
‘Goodwin, the warder’. Balwin, MS Notes; Baldwin, MS B-10.
Page 36
‘twelve loaves were piled up’. ‘About 14 loaves in the corner couldn’t eat. Dr Fullerton ordered him out. “I’ll never give in” Put back on rations that morning …’, MS Notes.
Page 37
James Rannock. Tannick, MS Notes.
Page 38
‘little fish-shop’. ‘Joe Bascoe’s fish shop’, MS Notes.
‘rock oysters from Stewart Island’. The Stewart Island oyster is not a rock oyster.
Page 39
‘the Captain’. Capt. Black, MS Notes.
Dr Bevan. Dr Crawford, MS Notes.
Captain Grey. Black, MS Notes.
Page 40
David Kidson. Kidd, MS Notes.
‘Bluff … the wettest little tavern’. The closest pub was in Bluff, Invercargill being ‘dry’.
‘Mrs Wooten’s’. Walker’s, MS Notes.
‘Six o’clock closing’. Six o’clock closing was not introduced until 1917.
‘into town’. ‘took victim to Invercargill’, MS Notes.
Page 41
‘old relative … Dick Harris’. Uncle, MS Notes.
Page 42
‘young woman in grey tweeds’. Starkie simply noted that a hold-all was pushed into his hand ‘by old lady’, MS Notes.
Page 43
Sergeant Taine. Bain, MS Notes.
Page 44
‘he hadn’t a girl friend’, ‘went to Wellington—stopped all night at a girl friend’s place’, MS Notes.
‘a major’. Major Cattow, MS Notes.
Page 45
sleevers. A sleever of beer: about three-quarters of a pint. (O.E.D.) Six o’clock closing had not been introduced.
Page 46
‘dreadful expression’. ‘The dreadful expression on the faces down on the wharf—The sobs could be heard a hundred yards from wharf’, MS Notes.
Page 47
‘Fifth Regiment’. Fifth Reinforcements.
Page 48
‘Invercargill st
oker’. Dan Brewer, MS Notes.
Page 49
The conjurer incident. An embellishment conveying, evidently, Hyde’s view of Egypt.
Page 50
‘A captain’. Captain Domigan.
Page 51
‘nautch girls’. Professional dancing girls.
‘not always …. There were’. Thirteen lines cut from MS B-10, concern prostitution in New Zealand.
‘“Very nice! Very sweet!”’ ‘Girls come along—Houses with little balconies—“Come on New Zealand, very nice, very sweet, very clean’”, MS Notes.
Page 52
‘One of the mates’. Frew, MS Notes.
Page 53
‘one of the hotels’. ‘Shepherds’—international nest of spies—one part burned down—An officers’ brothel—Same as the Waaza—Army rendezvous’, MS Notes.
Pages 54–55
‘the battle of the Wazza’. Wazza—a street of brothels and bars. As John Tait pointed out (see Introduction), the first ‘battle of the Wazza’ took place on Good Friday 1915 when Starkie was in New Zealand. ‘On Good Friday of 1915, immediately after hearing their orders to leave for the front, a few Australian and New Zealand soldiers determined to exact some sort of punishment for certain injuries which they believed themselves to have incurred at some of the brothels in the street known to them as “The Wozzer”—the Haret el Wasser, near Shepheard’s Hotel in Cairo. While they were ransacking the house, a story started, no-one knew where, that a Maori had been stabbed there. The bad drink sold in the neighbourhood led this demonstration to greater lengths than were intended—beds, mattresses and clothing from several houses were thrown out of the windows and piled in a bonfire in the street. Accounts vary as to whether Australians or New Zealanders predominated—both were involved. The British military police, always a red rag to the Australian soldier, were summoned. A number came on their horses and found the Haret el Wasser crowded with Australians and New Zealanders, nine-tenths of whom were spectators. The native Egyptian fire brigade which was rather pluckily trying to put out the bonfire was being roughly handled …. A Greek drinking shop was accidentally burnt in the mêlée.’ There was, however, a second battle of the Wazza which Starkie may well have been part of. ‘Men of the 2nd Australian Division some months later tried to emulate this scene in the “Second Battle of the Wozzer”.’ (Both quotations from C. E. W. Bean, The Story of Anzac, 1933, p.130, n.12.) Starkie gives the date of his skirmish as ‘About August 4th 1915’, MS Notes.
