Following Didymo Dave’s blog about the last resting places of famous Taupo anglers, we added the comment below about Aunt Daisy, the only woman who, after 100 years, still has a special Tongariro River pool named after her. This blog generated more traffic from Tongariro fishos, so the previous blogs of interest are repeated below.
Thank you Dave – This is not about cleaning old graves but keeping precious old memories alive…
Previous TRM blogs below:
Tongariro River Pools history
The school holidays always result in the easy-to-access pools on the Tongariro River being hammered. The most consistent pool for the last year or so, since the decline of the Bridge Pool, has been the Daisy Pool immediately upriver of the SH1 road bridge. The holidays also attract the usual complaints about the complete lack of any interesting historical information signs along the Tongariro River. All other bike trails in NZ have a wealth of local knowledge – except the Tongariro River Trail. It is time this was corrected. Below is our last report on this same issue…
Tongariro River Pools Signage?
For the most popular pool on the Tongariro River, on the new map – the Tongariro Bucket List, “Fifty Pools to Fish Before you Die’,TRM has adopted the original name, now over one hundred years old. Many anglers scoffed at the name for the new pool and thought SWMBO had just invented a new flowery girly name for the map. But the historic connections are almost 100 years old.
There is so much interesting fishy history surrounding the names of the pools on the Tongariro River. With the increased growth in tourism, mainly from bikers, now increased by a new generation of ebikers, the history of these more famous Tongariro River pools deserves attractive tourist panels to explain their history. As indicated with the Daisy Pool, some of these are over one hundred years old and lack any information notices.
Who was the Admiral of Admirals Pool? Who was the Judge of Judges Pool? Who was the Duchess of Duchess Pool? Who was Major Jones? Why was it called “Cattle Rustlers Pool” below “The Sly Grog Pool”? etc…..
A couple of years ago we asked DOC for permission to provide tourist panels but sadly they declined and advised they considered there is adequate signage on the Tongariro River Trail. DOC – Department of Conservation manage the Taupo fishery and the Tongariro River Trail. We suggested that when the Tongariro directional signage is compared to other more successful tracks like the Timber Trail, it lacks signage information, particularly on the historic names of pools. Distance markers are normal on other tracks as well. Anglers were hoping DOC must have many signs in storage to describe the fauna and flora and native birds seen along the trail. We were hoping the local fishing club TALTAC (Tongariro and Lake Taupo Anglers Club) or the Advocates for the Tongariro River might have followed up TRM’s original request. But they need DOC’s support as well. The only way anglers and bikers and trampers and tourists can improve their historic knowledge of the Tongariro River pools is from these motel blogs. Desperate stuff!
The Daisy Pool
TRM’s top vote for the most successful productive pool of the winter (2023) season was the DAISY POOL. It has completely replaced the old Bridge Pool as a wonderful holding pool for the trout on their spawning run to rest up and wait for their leader to decide which fork they will take on their spawning run upriver. Despite being thrashed every day, one Taranaki angler reported his best result in twenty years of fishing the Tongariro River when he landed over twenty in one day last week – and that was after everyone else had given it a hiding. OK?
As indicated in the photos below, the most populated fishy spot on the TRB was what we call the ‘Daisy Pool’ just above the road bridge, about 50 m above the original Bridge Pool and below the confluence of the main flow from Judges Pool and the side channel around under the cliff from the old Lonely Pool. Most important to TRM inmates, it is less than 5 minutes level walk (in waders).
The Daisy Pool can be fished off the bank – casting without wading – on the TRB or by wading out from the TLB – more popular for lefties. Beware of BIG snags below where the anglers are casting – they can be spotted from the road bridge.
Meantime anglers continue to ask ‘who was Daisy?’ Where did the “Daisy Pool” name come from? To explain, the following has been hacked from a previous TRM report.
This spot has been known by several other names in the past. Many pools and parts of the river were dramatically changed or moved during the Tongariro Power Development in the 1970’s.
It is so close to the Bridge Pool that some have referred to it as the ‘Upper” Bridge Pool. TRM’s usual main reference for pool names history is the booklet by Allan & Barbara Cooper, “Pools of the Tongariro”, which refers to it as the “Groin”. Before their 1975 publication, it was referred to as the “Weir Pool” described by R L Begg in the NZ Fishing and Shooting Gazette in June 1936. But on Whitney’s map of 1932 and the earlier 1928 map it is called the ‘Daisy’ Pool. OK? So TRM has adopted the original name, now over one hundred years old.
Where did the “Daisy” name come from?
The name must be very old as SWMBO knows all the words to the song. Her basic home schooling and enthusiasm for learning to read came out of Aunt Daisy’s cookbook!
It is said to have been inspired by Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick, one of the many mistresses of King Edward VII. It was one of the earliest songs sung in music halls in 1892, by which time the bicycle had become an everyday sight in Victorian life. Henry Dacre composed the song that became immensely popular, both in the London music halls, and also in America.
Later when the rest of the world had forgotten the tune, it was kept alive daily in NZ for 27 years (1936-1963) by a famous radio host who called herself Aunt Daisy. She was an icon as NZ’s most popular radio host for the 9 am to midday state-owned ZB channel. She was early radio’s most famous name, along with the afternoon programme by Uncle Scrim. Her popular show was always introduced with the “Daisy Bell” (see all the words below) song from the show above.
SWMBO listened religiously to her every day when She was supposed to be doing correspondence lessons on their remote farm. She insists you need to know the full story below.
TRM inmates are such curious inquisitive fishos with an insatiable appetite for all these little hardly known historic local details. So now you know!
The story goes that when Dacre, an English popular composer, first came to the United States, he brought with him a bicycle, for which he was charged import duty. His friend William Jerome, another songwriter, remarked lightly: “It’s lucky you didn’t bring a bicycle built for two, otherwise you’d have to pay double duty.” Dacre was so taken with the phrase “bicycle built for two” that he soon used it in a song. That song, Daisy Bell, first became successful in a London music hall, in a performance by Katie Lawrence.
Aunt Daisy’s grave in Wellington.
Daisy, Daisy, Give me your answer, do! I’m half crazy, All for the love of you! It won’t be a stylish marriage, I can’t afford a carriage, But you’ll look sweet upon the seat Of a bicycle built for two!
