Bill Crooks - Flock House

Flock House

In New Zealand, Edward Newman, Member of Parliament, encouraged the establishment of the "New Zealand Sheep Owners Acknowledgement of Debt to British Seamen Fund", to support relatives of British seamen that died during the war. The Crooks family was among the dependants of the Fund. The Fund bought Flock House, with the intention to bring sons of seamen to New Zealand, offer them the opportunity to learn farming skills, and place them on farms around New Zealand. Bill Crooks, then 16 years old, was among the first to apply. With his 15-year old sister Gertrude, he sailed aboard the SS Remuera to New Zealand. Their mother's parting instruction to Bill was “look after your sister!”. They disembarked on 22 May 1924. Gertie headed into domestic service, Bill to Flock House, “and that was the last they saw of each other for about the next thirty years”.

After a year at Flock House, Bill found a job at a station at Tahunga, in the headwaters of the Hangaroa River, west of Gisborne. Heworked there for a year. “It is also understood by his family that he spent some time working at Whakapunake Station, near Tiniroto.