History: Riwaka, the community that breeds leaders

The Holyoake name harks back to the early days of settlement in Nelson when Richard Holyoake emigrated from England, settling in Riwaka in 1843.

Holyoake’s parents, Henry Victor and Esther lived for some time in Mangamutu where they ran a general store, and it was there that Keith Jacka was born on 11 February 1904. When Henry’s father died in 1913, the family relocated back to Riwaka to take over the family’s farm.

Young Holyoake received an education until the age of 12, and while at school gained the nickname ‘Kiwi’, the reason being that there were two Keith Holyoakes at the school and to differentiate the two the teachers called him ‘Kiwi’ and the other child Keith.

His youth was spent on the farm and in 1927 his father took him into partnership with the business name changed to V. Holyoake and Son.

Being an active young man, he played rugby, was president of the Golden Bay-Motueka Rugby Union, became a referee, played representative tennis and engaged in cycle racing.

With a growing interest in politics, he put himself forward as a candidate for the Motueka Electorate as a Reform Party member in June 1931 running against George Black.

When Black died in 1932, Keith contested in a three-way race for the seat and won becoming Parliament’s youngest member.

He lost the seat to Labour in 1938, and with few prospects in Nelson, he and wife Norma moved to Pahiatua where he won the seat for National in 1943. Keith was named as successor to Sidney Holland following his retirement in 1957 and led the country for 84 days with Labour winning the next election.

After three years of opposition the National Party successfully won the 1960 election with Keith becoming Prime Minister again, a position he held until February 1972.

Wallace Edward Rowling was born in 1927 in Motueka to Arthur and Agnes. Like Keith, his heritage went back to the early days of the settlement with his great grandfather, Thomas arriving in Nelson on one of the expedition ships in 1841.

Thomas settled in the Riwaka district where he farmed the land.

Wallace’s father Arthur was a strong Labour supporter and was at one time the Chairman of the Motueka Labour Representation Committee. Arthur was also on friendly terms with high-ranking Labour members, including Michael Joseph Savage and Peter Fraser who would at times visit the family home.

Wallace attended Lower Moutere school and then Nelson College where he was a boarder, after which he attended university, obtaining a master’s degree in economics and also qualifing as a teacher at Christchurch College of Education.

Following his father’s love for politics Wallace became a member of the Labour Party, and in 1960 won the Buller seat at 35 years of age. He suffered a heavy blow in November 1963 when he lost both of his parents within a few days of each other.

Forging ahead with his career, he quickly moved up the ranks and became the president of the Labour Party and won the Tasman seat in 1972.

Following the death of Norman Kirk in 1974, Wallace became Prime Minister at just 46 years of age.

His tenure as PM was short-lived after Labour lost the next election.  He remained as Leader for the opposition until 1981 and in 1984 retired from politics.

The similarities are striking – both men came from old settler stock, both raised in the Riwaka/Motueka community and both rising to the highest position in the country.