Henry Chaffey and Annie Fox and the story of Asbestos Cottage.
Henry Chaffey and Annie Fox lived in the remote mountains of north-west Nelson for almost 40 years. They started out in a wooden hut near Arthur Creek, then after a couple of years moved to Asbestos Cottage on the eastern side of the Peel Range, between the Takaka and Cobb valleys.
Their home in the mountains was a 25ft by 12ft wooden shack which stood at an altitude of 2700ft, snow, cold and rain were commonplace. One end was partitioned off to form a private bedroom, and at the other was a huge fireplace. All cooking and water heating was done on the fire as there was no electricity. They had a camp oven for baking.
Annie left the mountains once in the next 39 years, she was treated for colitis in Nelson hospital. When Annie broke her leg she refused to leave to get treatment. In public, Annie was always a lady, and retained her pride and dignity. She was never seen working, discouraged questions of a personal nature and disdained any form of patronizing.
Chaffey tried to make a living from asbestos, he blasted, picked, sieved and graded at least 50 tons of longer fibres. He also spent much time roaming the mountains in search of other mineral deposits and gold. These trips could last up to two weeks at a time.
The couple were largely self-sufficient; Henry would hunt deer and goat, and Annie's well tended garden supplied all kinds of fruit and vegetables. She kept her garden thriving despite the frost and snow, goats, deer, hares and other animals.
The little money they needed was earned by taking weekly rainfall readings for the Meteorological Service and Henry’s gold prospecting. Annie also preserved large amounts of jam with berry, peach and plum all on the menu. She kept it in cut-down whisky bottles when she ran out of jars. Which she stored under their double bed when her shelves were full. Annie lost 80 pots of it in the Murchison earthquake. Butter was infrequent, although at times Annie kept a milking goat to make cheese and butter.
With Henry's frequent trips Annie spent a lot of time on her own. She learned to deal with the stags attacking the hut during the roar, and the regular earthquakes. She was home alone when the great Murchison quake of June 17 1929, struck. In Asbestos Cottage everything was thrown down from the shelves. She described watching the surrounding rock falls which “caused an uncomfortable feeling to Mrs Chaffey.” The aftershocks continued for a year.
Within the hut Annie made things as comfortable as she could. The walls were papered with photos taken from magazines, her favorites were of the royal family. Deerskin mats covered the rough wooden floor. She was a keen needlewoman and made all her own clothes. Never was she seen unless properly attired in a floor-length dress of restrained colour, a prim hat, high collar and self-made lace. Her dress style was staunchly Victorian and her deportment always ramrod straight.
In 1932 after 19 years together in the bush, Annie and Henry were married. He was 63, she 54. Annie prepared a wedding tea bread, potatoes, roast goat and whisky.
Chaffey continued to make extended prospecting trips into the backcountry and regular hikes to fetch stores. On one of these supply runs his heart stopped, in the winter snow of August 1951 at the age of 83.
In her grief Annie tried to burn the cottage and herself down. After which she was sent to live with her sister in Timaru “very much against her will”, but she never adjusted, ultimately killing herself with an overdose of sleeping pills in 1953.
Asbestos Cottage passed to the Forest Service and is now a category four trampers’ hut in Kahurangi National Park administered by the Department of Conservation.