The Wakatipu’s second eldest born and bred local – Taylor Reed
A lifelong love of serving
An Arrowtown original, (John) Taylor Reed was just six when Arrowtown School headmistress Rose Douglas came into the classroom to tell the handful of kids that World War II had just broken out.
“She said we were at war with Germany and I remember wondering if I could go when I was a big boy, thinking it sounded like fun,” says Taylor. As he discovered, it wasn’t, with a number of casualties from the large Arrowtown contingent.
He vividly recalls the big town celebrations both days – VE and VJ day, aged 12, when the war ended in Europe, then Japan. “We had gymkhanas. There was so much relief. It was amazing. Arrowtown had made a big contribution and we knew a lot would be coming back.”
Born in the Alexandra Maternity Hospital, Taylor was back home in Arrowtown at 1-week old. His father John Reed, a World War I Gallipoli veteran, fighting there at just 18, had drawn Eastbourne Station on Crown Terrace in a farm ballot for returned servicemen. The family had moved to Arrowtown in 1922 where they ran the pictures, until purchasing the butcher’s shop and bakery in 1939. “The shop was opposite the Post Office and they sold bread off one side and meat off the other, working very hard for little reward.”
Taylor later delivered meat and bread orders all over Arrowtown on his bike.
His father bought local cattle and, with Alec Hamilton, drove them on horseback to John Reed’s local slaughter yard.
A small farming town, the Catholic and public schools were in the same street. “They had to change the Catholic School bell time to let those kids get away before Arrowtown School came out because they’d have a scrap,” grins Taylor.
His father owned the first crawler tractor, contracting ploughing on farms during the difficult Depression years.
“Dad, too old to go to war again, was seconded to Burnham Military Camp to instruct soldiers in 1939.
Saturday night pictures were a big occasion, the only entertainment - costing 1 and 6, and sixpence for children.
“During the war Mum ran dances for the patriotic afterwards to fundraise for the war effort. Eventually Mum appealed for Dad to come home and help with the businesses.” Taylor, who had a photographic memory, served his projectionist’s apprenticeship under his dad and ran the pictures until the 1960s, his first memorable movie, Casablanca, aged five.
Two years at Queenstown District High School was considered adequate then. Taylor had three, travelling to Dunedin to do his electrician’s apprenticeship. “I lasted nine months, just two shillings a week left after my board.”
Back in Arrowtown Bob Jenkins and Wakatipu Rabbit Board chairman Joe Bagrie snapped him up for rabbit eradication. Taylor then drove trucks for Shaw’s Motors for 14 years, some of that as foreman. He met wife Marie – a Southland Girls High teacher, at a Shotover Hall Dance in 1958.
Transporting fat lambs to Makarewa Freezing Works, the only tarseal was through the townships. “Then gravel, the Kingston Road was being done up and invariably I’d get stuck there and have to be towed out with a bulldozer.”
Taylor also managed the Arrowtown Camping Ground for 18 years.
He broke into local politics at 23, out of necessity really. “Three of us young boys were volunteer firefighters and Chief Fire Officer Alec Hamilton said they were desperate for hoses with no government help. Places had had to be left to burn. He suggested we stand for the Arrowtown Borough Council.” Taylor, Jim Wilcox and Bert Jackways all got on – dubbed ‘The Kiddie Council’, and Taylor wasted no time. Right after his swearing in he brought up the hoses under urgency and convinced the council, earning two 70-foot (21.3m) lengths of hose and a happy brigade.
Taylor served there for 15 years, his last six as deputy mayor, fighting amalgamation with Queenstown Lakes vehemently in the 1980s. He also strongly opposed the forestation of Coronet Peak because it would spread wilding pines, but failed in that bid.
Taylor served three terms on the newly-amalgamated Queenstown Lakes District Council, becoming chairman of the Resource Management Hearings Panel in 1993, overseeing hearings across the district. “Gee, I enjoyed that work,” he says. “One year our district processed more resource consents than any other council in NZ.”
He’s earned a wad of 14 community awards, among them his most prized QSM in 2020 for service to the community, including chair of the local museum committee for 10 years and treasurer for 13. Taylor’s been secretary of the Arrowtown Fire Brigade, Masonic Lodge, Bowling Club and Curling Club, with treasurer roles too. “I believe it’s why I’ve been put on this earth, to serve my community. My father, an ex-deputy mayor, did it too.”
He’s even written two books – one for the museum’s 50th anniversary, extended for its 75th, and a Bowling Club Centenary history in 2008.
Arrowtown’s Reed Park was named in honour of Taylor and his father.
*Taylor celebrates his 90th birthday with a gathering in Arrowtown on Sunday, April 30.
