One of Robin’s heroes made several inventions of major importance to rural New Zealand life at his workshops in tiny little village of Oturehau, in the Ida Valley of Central Otago.
Ernest Hayes, of Hayes Engineering, invented the Hayes Wire Strainer in 1905, and was widely exported overseas, and is still sold today. This handy device is still used by farmers when constructing a wire fence. His workshop appears just as he left it, and is now administered by the Historic Places Trust.
The oily engine type smell of a well used workshop seemed to be like nectar to the Gods to our men-folk as they fossicked around each and every corner, discovering one engineering delight after another. There was a forge, and huge pieces of machinery strung with belts in this place. Tools of every description hung on the wall, and lathes, drills, boxes full of bits and pieces, and even old cans were stacked here and there. Any man who aspires to work with his hands would be in heaven poking about this workshop from yesteryear.
In 1910 Ernest Hayes built his first windmill to produce power for his workshop. Using an ingenious system of overhead shafts, belts and pulleys drove the machinery in the workshop and still remains in working condition today. The windmill was replaced by a water-driven pelton wheel. These days it is hooked up to a tractor.
Behind every great man is a great woman and Ernest Hayes wife Hannah was the “Marketing Manager” and promoted her husband’s products. In the early 1900s she travelled by bicycle extensively throughout Central Otago, Lindis and the Mackenzie Country seeking orders for Hayes products.
We joined a dozen or so other caravans and motor-homes at the adjacent NZMCA camp. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon, which gave us plenty of time for a leisurely look around the historic Hayes Engineering Works.
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