Local History

The Men Who Balanced on Rocks

Balancing Rock has been a small but constant part of my life. But an old photo turned it into a mystery: who was the well-dressed man sitting above the gorge?

Intro

Let’s talk about a rock.

Now, I like rocks, but even I understand that’s not the strongest hook to open a story.

So how about we talk about this rock.

Mysterious Man on Balancing RockGeorge Chappell

Balancing Rock, sometimes called Pivot Rock, has been a small but constant part of my life. I think some places become part of your story before you realise it, and Balancing Rock was one of those places for me.

I have early memories of this place, and of the "Shield" below, with my dad.

Dad on the “Shield” below Balancing Rock.

Connection to the Rock

I’ve been going up there since I was just a wee lad, and I’ve gone back often, usually over the Christmas holidays, with one of my brothers for company.

It used to be so prominent but as the trees grow it is gradually lost more and more to the wandering eye of a day tripper up the Waitawheta gorge.

You can still find it, of course.

But it doesn’t announce itself the way it once did.

The rock, however, is only the most prominent natural element in the old photo.

One's eye is also drawn to the character in the image.

Neat clothes, neater hair, and a fancy hat casually resting beside him.

I’ve spent a bit of time wondering who on earth this man is. I’ve crawled through a decent amount of old photos and files to try and find this piece of detail as well.

Eventually, I had to leave the quest behind.

The man on the rock remained a mystery.

Railey's Battery

A few moons later I had the great privilege of heading out with local historian

Eric Lens, who runs the absolutely incredible Ohinemuri website.

We were there to collect GPS data for Railey’s Battery.

The Crown and Cassel plant under construction (estimated May 1889). The site of Railey's Battery.

This mission was already a good one. We found Railey’s Battery, the Railey-Crown incline, and the path of the Crown Windlass and trolley skids.

A very successful day.

During one of Eric’s legendary lunch breaks, I briefly mentioned my mission to find the man on Balancing Rock.

Eric said he would look into it.

The email

Then an email came through with a simple message:

“Hi Tom Herewith Billy Davidson.”

My eyes widened.

I couldn’t believe it.

Billy, or Billie, was a draper. We even now knew his profession. He seems to have had a few friends, and one of them was a photographer, which might explain why he shows up in more and more photos as time goes on.

Just like that, the mystery had a name.

Billy Davidson, identified by Eric Lens through the Ohinemuri archive.

Closing

Once again, it proved that it’s not the size of your brain that counts, but the size of the brains you know.

In this case, the brain belonged to Eric Lens.

Thank you, Eric.

So now I sit up on that old balancing rock from time to time, with a great view getting slowly obscured by pine, and less mysteries lost to time.

Credit / source

With thanks to Eric Lens and the Ohinemuri website for helping identify Billy / Billie Davidson.

Make sure to visit the incredible ohinemuri.org.nz