Birdlings Flat: A Most Peculiar Place

Birdlings Flat, on the southern side of Banks Peninsula, is a place where taonga of all kinds end up. Nestled in the crook of the peninsula’s arm, it sits at the northern end of the Kaitorete spit, where longshore currents carry riverstones up the coast, along with all sorts of flotsam and jetsam – fishing gear, driftwood; the bones of sea creatures. These bits and pieces find their way into collections in the yards and living rooms of the baches and houses that congregate along the narrow “L” of civilisation that is Birdling’s Flat. The village sits under the gaze of an old pā site, where Māori warriors once watched for incursions as cold mists rolled across the peninsula. It remains a deeply special place to the people of Ngāti Irakehu and Ngāti Makō, manawhenua of this area. Each autumn, they gather here to harvest tuna/eels from the Wairewa/Lake Forsyth, which nudges up against the northern side of the village. Exposed and remote, Birdlings Flat attracts a certain type of inhabitant– self-resilient, nature-loving, free-spirited. “The elemental nature of the place was a huge draw card, I think, for everybody,” resident Steve Lowndes tells Frank Film. “It's a really tight-knit community. Everybody knows about everybody else, but aren’t too intrusive. People like their privacy.” Patsy Gibson found her way here, alongside her husband, in 2014. “I think there's a very strong spiritual sense, and you get this quietness,” she says. “Birdlings Flat doesn't want any shops, they don't want a pub, they don't want coffee culture. The climate is our best friend for not becoming a popular retail tourist stop.” Vince Burke first came to Birdlings Flat as a child. While his father fished for hapuku off the beach (the huge fish could be caught on a handline here back then), young Vince scoured the beach for agates. These semi-precious stones are formed in volcanic rock in the hills of mid-Canterbury. They get eroded out and carried to the sea by rivers, where the currents drive them north, finally depositing them on Birdlings Flat’s enormous gravel beach. After a storm, the beach is crawling with stone-collectors seeking them–agate-hunting has surged in popularity in recent decades. When we first came here,” Vince says, “there were just huts sitting on vacant land, and the cows and the sheep used to wander through, because the farmer still owned it all.” The residents lobbied the government to get their sections surveyed and titled, and the village became permanent – at least, as permanent as anything on this wild coast. After 50 years of collecting agates here, Burke has amassed a huge collection, which is proudly displayed in a museum on his property. It's one of the finest agate collections in New Zealand. But Vince is getting older now, and it’s time to move on. His property is for sale, including the museum. “It goes with the house, but the collection's up for sale separately if someone wishes to buy it,” he says. It’s taken a lifetime to amass this haul, and one day it’ll most likely be split up; sold or given away. But perhaps, that’s all part of the ephemeral nature of this wild place, where sea meets land along the ever-shifting stones of Canterbury’s longest shore. By Bill Morris for Frank Film Participants thanks: Steve Lowndes Patsy Gibson Neil 'Muncher' Morrison Mullet Man Vince Burke Sue Morrow Meremere Hapuku Marlin Robertson William Brent Ruru Thanks to: The community of Birdlings Flat Birdlings Flat Gemstone and Fossil Museum Director, Producer and Camera: Gerard Smyth Researcher & Second Camera: Bill Morris Line Producers: Kirsty Cooper & Antony Miller Editor: Sarah Grohnert Colour & Online: Mike Kelland Audio Post: Chris Sinclair Funded by NZ On Air