Still water runs deep: A tribute to Ross West

Grant Whitehouse

First published in the Kawau Kookaburra Magazine in 2024

If you have ever ventured up Starboard Arm paddling as far east on the southern side as you can past the last wharf, eventually the water rapidly shallows and you are likely to turn back thinking there is nothing more up there to see. Those who have the tide in their favour and the curiosity to continue will eventually find one last bach, tucked in and just visible through the trees. It doesn’t look like much but something magical lies there - the bach of Ross West.

Ross has just sold this property after 23 years on the island and what he made of the ramshackle place and the friendships he forged here is something quite special.

Ross had visited Kawau while yachting and was on the lookout for a property. John Pryor, then local real-estate agent took him for a walk and they passed the old ‘Forest and Bird’ house, and he liked what he saw despite its rough state. A few weeks later Ross and then partner Martine purchased it.

The bach was as builder Trevor Horner had left it twenty years earlier when he abandoned the project. No electricity and the rudimentary water system was cold only. The main users of the property had been the Warkworth Boys Brigade as well as local “rascals” who forced their way in (not guilty Sir!).

For us up in Starboard Arm Ross and Martine’s arrival was somewhat understated. They kept to themselves and went about restoring the place and despite our best efforts he remained somewhat an enigma.

But we all know what Kawau people are like and eventually casual conversations led to cups of tea or cans of beer. The house was essentially a no-bedroom property. Downstairs a garage and shed space, above a single room with a covered deck looking through the gap out across the mudflats. There was only a long drop.

Ross lacked room for guests so when he noticed an old 1960s timber telephone exchange building sitting on a rusty barge in Moana Creek he was intrigued and learnt the owner wanted it sold. He secured it for $3,000 but needed to get it up to his place. This happened on a Good Friday on a big tide. My brother Mark got involved and “with a good brain shone out amongst the rabble of odds and sods Kevin had assembled to help.” Ross recalled. But Ross was very well organised with pulling gear and rigging. It was dragged off the barge and moved on rollers 200m up to the front of his place where it sat for some time.

Him and Martine parted ways and when he returned to Kawau months later he moved the building past his bach and further up the valley. This was no mean feat. Ross, his son Henry and a mate used a 1.5 tonne chain block to squeeze it past the bach with millimetres to spare.

Eventually he restored it with help from Marcus and local builder Tim. For those who have had the honour to view it the final product is stunning. The external design will seem familiar, they were designed and built by the Ministry of Works and erected all over NZ to house the first automatic telephone exchanges.

Ross is a lover of boating, and his two main vessels are a common sight. His beautiful rowing dory Eclaire is a Swampscott dory built by a friend in 1987. His 8-metre power dory, John Harrison, is a Frank Pelin design based on dories built in Northeast USA. With its shallow draft and large load capacity it has shipped literally tons of supplies to the island.

The quiet man that is Ross didn’t freely talk much about his life off the island. I knew he had worked in the film business, creating ‘grip’ gear, lighting rigs etc. There are ‘Ross West’ lighting rigs and stands in use throughout the industry. Further digging revealed an early career as a race car driver. He raced his Lotus Super 7 alongside one Bruce McLaren. That led to working on the McLaren team, travelling the world on the Formula 1 circuit.

He knows precision, and we know he knows because of how he tackled any project at his bach and how he looked at us as we worked on ours. His design and fabrication skills are next level. The ‘weekend warrior’ builders up the ‘arm, we will miss his sharp eye and sage advice.

Ross’ leaving do was recently held at Nikki Porteous’ where thirty locals gathered for high tea. The speeches were funny and poignant and filled with emotion. The new owners were present, a great addition to Starboard Arm, they know what a gift they have purchased. His gardens abound with produce, fruit trees laden, his native plantings busy with birds. Kiwi are regular visitors – they know it’s a special place too.

Nikki and neighbours Phil and Suzanne and Marcus will miss their mate as will our whanau and everyone on the island who has known him. He will be back though; he’s fabricating a travellator for one neighbour that needs installing. A recent health scare had somewhat forced his move. He is close to 80, which is very hard to believe, but as his doctor said, “As an engineer you would understand Ross, you can’t run a motor at top speed forever.”

One last quote surfaced during the party. He recounted a colleague talking about his way of working. He had said there are three ways to do things, “…there is the right way, the German way and the Ross West way.”

We have all loved being part of the Ross West Way and his legacy here will live on for a very long time.

Ross West (right) with McLaren Driver Peter Gethin and BBC Reporter Ann Nightingale in a BBC documentary about McLaren-Ford Formula One Racing Team filmed at Silverstone 1971.