'Re-Setting the Past': Small Press Publishing in the South Island During the 197Os: The Rise of Caveman Press and Hawk Press

Reproduced with kind permission, from JAAM magazine, March 2000. (JAAM subscriptions, 3 issues for $21, 26 Grant Road, Thorndon, Wellington, NZ).

Note: to access footnotes, click on ref. number.

I

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the New Zealand literary scene underwent a period of change. Many new authors brought a radicality to writing that had not been seen before in this country. This new culture had specifically American influences that offered an alternative to the mainstream ideals that were dominant here. Most written histories and accounts of this period are centred around the dynamic group of students in Auckland and Wellington, who held a desire to change things and acted on it. However the growth of this movement in the South island has been largely unrecorded, despite the large numbers of poets and artists who were living in Christchurch and Dunedin.

One literary area in which the South Island was particularly strong was in poetry publishing. While this alternative movement occurred throughout the New Zealand scene, it was the initiative of the South Island poetry publishers who were putting these ideas into book form. Caveman Press was one of the first presses to print many of the authors who were involved in the cultural revolution that was occurring throughout the country. This small, Dunedin based press was later followed by Hawk Press in Christchurch, as it set up a formidable opposition to the mainstream poetry publishers. Yet, this account of the alternative literary scene of the 1960s and 1970s has for the most part been left out of our official histories and has left a significant gap in what is now seen as an important and defining period.

II

Changes occurred in New Zealand society during the 1960s and 1970s, both politically and culturally. The National party, who dominated from 1949 to 1972 worked on rebuilding a nation that had been shattered by two wars and a depression. As our country departed from the colonial attitudes of the past, there was a considerable growth culturally, with most artists turning to 'Nationalism' as a way of ex-pressing themselves. Although there was a focus on New Zealand through the arts, it was strongly influenced by overseas cultures, mainly American. This was especially so in the 1960s, when media such as television started appearing in homes:

Those influences were reinforced in the sixties by the advent of television and the dependence of that medium on entertainment and information programmes produced in the United States, Britain and Australia, and reflecting the values, biases, preoccupations, outlooks, judgements, heritages and environments of those English-speaking but increasingly foreign societies (Sinclair 268).

This increasing international awareness via the media saw New Zealand's society move away from the restrictive Puritanism and nation-a] ism of the 1930s and 1940s, towards a more pluralistic society. The introduction of Hollywood films, Coca-Cola and Levi's leans are all examples of the increasing American presence in New Zealand. Other overseas events such as America's presence in the Pacific and the Vietnam War increased American involvement world wide during the 1960s, but also created a feeling of civil unrest, both here and in America. Many New Zealanders viewed this through the television and soon a local protest movement grew. This led to a general disruption of the quiet society that was evident in the 1950s and 1960s. Increasing numbers of people became dissatisfied with the way our society operated and began to revolt from established traditions. This saw an increase in dissident voices from such groups as students, environmentalists, women and Maori.

As these overseas (especially American) influences began to emerge in society, so too could they he seen in literature, especially within poetry. New Zealand literature had undergone many changes, from the colonial focus at the turn of the century, to the strongly nationalist period of the 1930s and 1940s, which was instigated by such figures as Allen Curnow, M. H Holcroft, Charles Brasch and Denis Glover. These authors and their ideals dominated the New Zealand scene throughout the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, where they established themselves as a formidable mainstream, which was emphasised through the universities, publishers and the authors themselves. However, during the 1950s and 1960s, the increasing international awareness led to a number of younger writers questioning this mainstream and expressing a desire to write outside it: 'On the powerful tide of the media came the popular culture of the 'youth revolution' with its songs of protest, lyric appeal to the natural and the simple, mockery of entrenched structures and institutions and its sense that poetry, politics and people might be brought together' (Sturm 477). The local interest in contemporary literary theory, movements such as Black Mountain open-form and other American styles, increased in the 1960s, and was aided by the 'counter-culture' that was developing around the youth of the nation. From this, many of the authors who were interested in these forms began to find their voice.

As this new impulse began to felt in local writing, it quickly developed outlets in a literary scene that was becoming increasingly appositional. The development of a course in American poetry run by Roger Horrocks at Auckland University is often cited as being one of the sources of the interest in this revolution, as was another Auckland University initiative: the literary magazine, Freed. Many up-and-coming poets in New Zealand attended the course during that period such as Alan Brunton, Murray Edmond, Ian Wedde, lan Kemp, Russell Haley, and Wystan Curnow (who taught the course in the 1970s)1. Edmond attributes this to the increased interest in American poetry and to the instigation of the magazine The Word is Freed, which provided a voice for the young poetry scene:

I was personally aware of some of the changes in American poetry which had happened during the 1950s and 60s before I took the English Special paper, but the course (as I remember it) gave me the chance to write imitations of Whitman and Dickinson, to do an extended essay on Creeley, to see films of Olson and Levertov reading and talking and to hear Pound and others on record. There can be no doubt about the importance of this course as a gathering place for the association of people who contributed to Freed.' 2.

From the ideas that were put forward at this class, a new literary alternative began to develop and one of the first places this was seen was through literary magazines, which were started up in an effort to give the new generation of poets a place where they could be heard.

While literary journals such as Landfall were still publishing poetry, they had little interest in publishing the new, radical poetry that was beginning to appear in the I960s. Magazines such as Argot and The New Zealand Universities Literary Yearbook were among the first to start publishing the new generation of poets; however, many histories of this time attribute the strongest challenge to the main-stream as coming from Freed. This small magazine was dedicated to the ideals of the 'counter-culture' that was developing. Although it was only short-lived (July 1969-july 1972), it left a legacy that is in-grained in literary history: '[It] began an alternative and appositional tradition in the local scene, which has not only survived but increased its readership and membership over the years' (Loney/Hamilton, in Robinson 191). It was edited by Alan Brunton for the first two issues, Murray Edmond for the third and fourth and Russell Haley for the fifth, all of whom were passionately involved in placing their voices in a scene that was frequently against them. Freed provided an outlet for their work in a time when Landfall was turning its back on the newer styles they were developing.

This period in New Zealand literature has been subject to many written histories and essays, all of which differ according to the position of the author. Notable essays include Alistair Paterson's 'Poetry in Transition' (Landfall, 1976), his introduction to 15 Contemporary New Zealand Poets (Pilgrims South Press, 1980; Grove Press, USA, I982), and his follow-up polemic The New Poetry (1981) as well as C. K Stead's essay 'From Wystan to Carlos' (1979). Stead's essay (similar to Paterson's introduction) attempts to place this new group of poets in a Modernist context and aligns them with Modernist writers, which is used as a broad term to include what is seen as postmodern writing: 'A new wave of young New Zealand poets discovered what I'm calling the Modernist tradition. They found it partly in Pound and Carlos Williams; they found it even more in the post-war American poets who, as I said earlier, constitute a broad development out of Modernism' (Stead 147). But by doing this Stead effectively aligns poets such as Wedde and Brunton with older, more mainstream poets such as Allen Curnow and James K Baxter, thus destroying the sense of the 'alternative' Edmond argues against this history in his essay 'Creating a Potent Image - Notes on the magazine The Word is Freed'. By directly challenging Stead's history, Edmond is writing his own version of events during that period, which could be seen to be a more accurate history due to his agenda of get(ting) the record straight' (Edmond 57). By showing Freed to be a group of people rather than a movement in history, Edmond is writing his own history, which he himself played an active part in: 'For what is going on, apart from "record-straightening", is for me a rediscovery of the ground Freed covered; I am working myself back towards my writing/ publishing origins to find out the source and nature of the power there, the relationships that existed then and how they affect me now' (Edmond 62). He acknowledges that this is only his version of events and that others do exist, yet he still has the desire to set Stead straight in his views, to show that this group were not part of the mainstream; rather they deliberately set themselves apart from it.

Just as Edmond is writing his own history of the 1960s and 70s and setting both himself and the record straight, Alan Brunton's book Years Ago Today can be seen to be doing a similar thing. Brunton was part of the group of students who were interested in contemporary poetry, theory and the 'counter-culture' of the time, and was one of the leading instigators behind Freed, editing issues one and two. Years Ago Today details Brunton's experiences of the cultural revolution that occurred in New Zealand, combining important changes in New Zealand society, with his involvement in the Auckland literary scene. Although he attempts to discuss the changes throughout New Zealand, he predominantly concentrates on the events in Auckland and Wellington when he resided there. Brunton's life is combined with a cultural studies view of New Zealand culture; events that occur within the text are linked to his own involvement in the 'counter-culture' of that time. The text moves from his experiences as an undergraduate student in Auckland, to the Wellington jazz scene and then back to the events in Auckland that occurred from about I968 to 1975. During this time Brunton and others established 'The Cultural Liberation Front', a group of people who aimed to infiltrate New Zealand society and 'resituate New Zealand in an alternative universe' 3. This was planned to be done through mass media and it was from this that Freed was developed. By freeing up language and making it more exciting, they believed they could change society. His lively account of the Auckland alternative literary scene in the 1970s shows a group of people who were dedicated to the revolution of poetry and society, which helped to provoke a new movement in New Zealand literature.

Many of the histories of this period are generally centred on Auckland and Wellington, and the alternative literary and cultural scenes that were developing there. The South Island was traditionally seen as more conservative, with Brunton only briefly touching on it in Years Ago Today:

Other cities had their unique attractions ... Christchurch had the American Antarctic base, Operation Deep Freeze. From it diffused various strings of naughtiness and, from its Bird Dog Club, the black music that changed the life of Ray Columbus. Ray took it to The Plainsman which was where the beatniks met. But Christchurch lost its counter-culture after a 'purge' of the art scene following a Gothic drug scandal ... As Christchurch increased pressure on strangeness, there was a general exodus. Wellington became a 'city of refuge' (Brunton 15-16).

Brunton tends to dismiss the cultural and literary scene of the South Island and proceeds to write his history from a North Island viewpoint. However, those whom he associates with the Freed generation are not representative of the numbers of poets who were influenced by the new American poetics. Although those in Auckland were form-ing a formidable force with their ideas, authors in other parts of the country were discovering this counter-culture through their own readings, in the desire to break with tradition and establish their own voices:

Those voices were necessarily, urgently American: the first person to take out Robert Creeley's Poems 1950-65 (1966) from the university of Canterbury library was Gary Langford (1947).... in Dunedin Alan Loney discovered the American Charles Olson's poetry in the University bookshop and was transfixed; in the same city Manhire found his voice, initially through Donald M. Allen's The New American Poetry (1960) and more especially through Donald Hall's Penguin Contemporary American Poetry (1962), whose introduction speaks of the need to break established orthodoxies (Evans 210).

Although most histories associate Auckland and Freed with this new movement, each of the main cities in New Zealand had a number of writers who were attempting to create their own voice, rather than imitating Brunton and his peers in Auckland. They were all working as separate groups, yet all were on the same mission.

One such group was located in Dunedin, where many writers who are associated with the Freed generation lived. Poets such as Trevor Reeves, Stephen Oliver, Bill Manhire, Alan Loney and Peter Olds all showed an interest in the new styles and forms; even though they were not directly involved with Freed, they are still considered a vital part of this generation of poets. Many of these poets such as Reeves and Olds, had contributed to Freed while it was running; however they were also interested in the context behind it. This interest had been growing independently of the events and groups in Auckland, but Freed gave them a chance to place their voices in a growing alter-native chorus. Alan Loney also became part of this scene, especially after his discovery of Charles Olson's Maximus Poems in the University Bookshop, which held him transfixed for over two hours 4. Others such as Bill Manhire were actively reading such poets as Robert Creeley in an attempt to find a way of creating their own voice. Peter Olds was considered one of the central figures of this movement, with his raw poetry that showed definite influences from the American Beat poets among others:

He was, however, considered a central figure by many of the younger poets of the 1970s because of his ability to incorporate rebellious detail of contemporary experience with music, drugs and the con-cerns and language of the street .... Early influences included lack London, Allen Ginsberg and jack Kerouac and, as a result, the poems often display an uneasy and sometimes ironic nostalgia for the adopted language of the rock'n'roll of the American 1950s (Waite, in Robinson 413).

However Brunton effectively ignores Olds and the other Dunedin poets in Years Ago Today, despite its obvious similarity to what was being produced in Auckland.

Each written account of this period appears to present an ac-curate and valuable view of our changing literary and cultural history, yet none seems to have covered the whole scene in New Zealand. it has been said that although the context behind Freed was important, it did not fully represent the diversity of authors who were involved in the alternative scene. Arthur Baysting's anthology The Young New Zealand Poets (1973) was in fact a better representation of those who were associated with this movement: 'the anthology underlined the way in which the magazine represented something much larger that its literal self, a generation of people who had not literally been connected with it at the start' (Evans 212). This makes Brunton's history of the period appear inaccurate in that he is writing from an Auckland viewpoint, ignoring the fact that it was actually part of a much wider context.

III

The production of Freed was seen as one of the first places where this alternative literary scene was able to have a voice; however, one of the first publishers to begin producing books by these poets was based in Dunedin. Although many small magazines began to appear after Freed, the poetry-publishing scene was still dominated by presses such as Caxton, AUP and Oxford. This meant the new generation of poets found it difficult to publish collections of poems. Caveman Press was begun as a response to this in 1971, by Trevor Reeves, and continued well into the 1980s. Reeves, an up-and-coming poet, was working as a branch accountant for a wool store, when he made the decision to start publishing some of his own work due to the lack of interest from the mainstream publishers at the time. Caveman Press grew out of this, and with the help of his brother, Graeme, and various other people, it developed rapidly.

They acquired a disk ink platen printer from Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd, which was hand fed; later on they also acquired a typeset machine which made the process a little easier. As the business grew, they moved to an office in the Trustee Bank building in downtown Dunedin during the 1970s, which provided space for the rapidly growing press. Even though Reeves ran the press with the help of Graeme, they also had assistance from others such as Alan Loney and Helen Sawyer, who both went on to have successful publishing careers of their own. Throughout the 1970s they produced on average six books a year until about 1978, when sales started to decline. At this time they also began to import books from American poets and publishers such as Black Sparrow and City Lights. This was reasonably successful until the early 1980s, when the exchange rates changed and they suddenly found they were left with a lot of stock; they then decided to close it down. At the same time Reeves was involved with other projects such as design work and editing a newspaper in Alexandra 5. After a while they decided to close Caveman Press and start again. Reeves then started up Square One Press in the mid I980s, using the same philosophies that were behind Caveman. Today he is still continuing with his publishing interests, printing short run books, writing, and editing and publishing New Zealand's first on-line journal, Southern Ocean Review.

Caveman Press was one of the most influential alternative presses in the 1970s in New Zealand and had considerable success. In the first year, they published collections of poetry by Alan Loney, Tony Beyer, Don Long and Lindsay Smith, all of who have gone on to achieve some success as poets and writers. The most productive year was in 1972, with eleven books published including collections of poetry from Peter Olds, Hone Tuwhare, Reeves, William Fox, William Wantling, Louis Johnson and James K Baxter 6. Most of the books that the press produced were poetry collections, and a number of young writers were able to get a start in a literary scene that was increasingly against them and what they wrote. Although most authors were young New Zealanders, Caveman Press also published some overseas writers, especially William Fox and William Wantling from America. This was indicative of the international impulses that were behind much of the counter-culture of the 1960s and 70s in New Zealand.

Besides poetry, they also published an anthology, Private Gardens. This was the first substantial collection of women's poetry published in New Zealand, and was edited by Riemke Ensing and Helen Sawyer 7. The publishing of books by, and for, women was an area in which Caveman Press was strong, with many of the books selling well. This was indicative of the time, with a growth in women's liberation movements around the middle of the 1970s. Another significant feature of the books that Caveman produced was the interest in combining text with graphics. Many of the early poetry collections had a poet and an artist who would be chosen to team up and produce a book that had poetry combined with paintings or drawings such as Lindsay Smith's Skyhook, which contained graphics by Barry Cleavin.

Reeves also capitalised on the growing interest in literary magazines in New Zealand. He made the decision to begin an international literary magazine not long after Caveman Press was started, one which would cater for both the alternative literary scene in New Zealand, as well as an international audience. Cave was begun in 1972, and Reeves published the first four issues from Dunedin until he found he no longer had the time and handed the editorship to Norman Simms in Hamilton, who continued it for many years thereafter 8. One of the main aims of the magazine was to introduce overseas writers to New Zealand audiences. Contributors to Cave included American poets such as Charles Bukowski and William Fox, whose work appeared alongside New Zealand writers such as Brunton and Manhire. As well, many young New Zealand poets such as Russell Haley, Rhys Pasley and Stephen Chan had work published in various issues. The same philosophies that were behind Caveman Press could be seen in Cave, especially in the editorial of the first issue: "[We] feel that it is important to encourage an infusion of the better quality overseas writing in an attempt to break down the rather insular attitude our own writers possess, and which has been evident for perhaps too many years 9" Although Cave was only one of a number of small magazines that appeared in the early 1970s, it played an important part in developing the alternative voice in New Zealand literature.

IV

Although Reeves and his brother were the principal force behind Caveman Press, there were others who began their printing career with them, then moved on. One such person was Alan Loney, who moved to Dunedin in 1970 and met Reeves soon after. From this he became passionately involved in the alternative literary scene in Dunedin and began writing his first book The Bare Remembrance (1971). His association with the press began when Reeves approached him and asked to print it; he then got involved in the actual printing process. Although Reeves did most of the actual printing, Loney did the typesetting, which was all done by hand. This sparked off Loney's interest in publishing, and when Loney moved to Christchurch, he combined his interest in publishing with his interest in fine printing and art, to form Hawk Press. This began in 1975, with Loney publishing out of a small garage at Taylor's Mistake, near Christchurch. Although the output was not as prolific as Caveman Press, Loney had more interest in producing finely printed books, in the same tradition as Caxton Press, but at the same time, giving the alternative literary scene a voice. He later moved to Wellington in 1977, where he continued publishing until I983. After a brief break from publishing, Loney began Black Light Press, in Wellington, where he continued with his tradition of finely produced, limited edition books. This again was discontinued in 1991, when he moved to Auckland and took over the management of the Holloway Press at the University of Auckland. In between these periods of printing, Loney was also writing, with various collections of poetry being published by himself and other publishers over the years. In Noel Waite's doctoral thesis 'Adventure and Art: Literature Publishing in Christchurch 1934-95', he looks at the links that Caveman and Hawk Presses had in the alternative literary scene:

In terms of the broader poetry scene, Caveman was itself part of a reaction against a conservative and seemingly moribund literature institution ... Hawk Press was to form another, very distinctive, part of these 'alternative publishing structures' (Personal) that began to spring up during this period. 10

The work that Caveman Press did in terms of developing an alternative voice in the New Zealand literary scene was vital for the development of Hawk Press; however, Hawk Press continued the tradition that Caveman had begun, in a way that was seen as the natural progression of the period. Although Hawk Press was printing later in the I970s, Loney still capitalised on the internationalism and energy of the movement that had been started in the 1960s, with Freed. While Caveman Press was concerned with publishing new authors who were just beginning to find their voice in the alternative literary scene, Hawk Press had a slightly different agenda. Many of the authors who published with Loney had already made a name for themselves as poets, and were interested in finding a publisher who produced fine print books and at the same time had an interest in what they wrote. Loney's attention to detail and interest in the placing of the text on the page meant that poets such as Ian Wedde and Brunton chose to publish their first or subsequent works with Hawk. Both worked together to create a vital part of the 1970s literary scene in New Zealand; however this connection, along with their link to the various other small presses that appeared in this period, is often ignored.

V

Caveman and hawk Presses were part of a much wider context; yet, they have often been forgotten when this period has been summarised in our official histories. The main impetus behind Caveman Press was to give the new generation a voice at a time when mainstream poetry publishers closed their doors to innovation. The groundwork that Caveman laid in Dunedin later paved the way for a number of other small presses in the South Island, such as Stephen Higginson's Pilgrims South Press, all of which were intended to provide an alter-native to the mainstream poetry publishers like Caxton, Oxford and AUP. The number of successful writers who were first published by Caveman shows its important contribution to our literature. Poets such as I,oney, Paterson, Morrissey, McAlpine, Murray Edmond, Dennis List, Don Long, Peter Olds and Tony Beyer, all got their first or early works published by Caveman. This was a similar situation with Loney's Hawk Press, although he was operating a few years later. Poets such as Graham Lindsay, Stephen Oliver, Michael Harlow, L E Scott, Rhys Pasley and Ian Wedde had their first or at least one of their earlier collections published by Loney. These authors all moved on to other, larger publishers in later years, as the publishing scene opened up and the mainstream poetry publishers began to become more aware of the new culture. However, these small South Island presses were vital to the development of what is now seen as a major shift in New Zealand literary and cultural history, and neglecting their contributions 11" leaves a significant gap in an otherwise full context.

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Notes

(1) Murray Edmond, 'Creating a Potent Image - Notes on the Magazine The Word is Freed, SPAN 16/I7, April/December 1983, 56-70.

(2) ibid., 59.

(3) Alan Brunton, Years Ago Today (Wellington: Bumper Books, I997), p. 26.

(4) Conversation with Alan Loney, 24/9/99.

(5) Conversation with Trevor Reeves, 16/7/99.

(6) Reeves was close to Baxter when he was residing in Dunedin and was privileged enough to be able to print his last poem, Ode to Auckland, which Baxter requested that he publish: 'It was actually, Dave Mitchell who sent it down to me. He said that Baxter, on the day he died, had given him this poem and said 'send it to Trev"' (Conversation with Trevor Reeves, 16/7/ 99).

(7) On the final copy it is only Ensing's name that appears, despite Reeves' claim that Helen Sawyer was the main person behind its production. 'Conversation with Trevor Reeves, 16/7/99.

(8) Conversation with Trevor Reeves.

(9) Cave One. April 1972.

(10) Noel Waite, 'Adventure and Art: Literature Publishing in Christchurch 1934-95', Ph.D. Thesis, university of Canterbury, 1996, p. 273.

(11) Caveman Press, for example, is absent from the recent Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature (1998) and The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English (1998).

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Bibliography

Baysting, Arthur. The Young New Zealand Poets. Auckland: Heinemann, 1973.
Brunton, Alan. Years Ago Today. Wellington: Bumper Books, 1997.
Edmond, Murray. 'Creating a Potent Image'. SPAN, nos. 16/I7, April/ October, 1983, 56-70.
Ensing, Riemke ed. Private Gardens: An Anthology of New Zealand Women Poets. Dunedin: Caveman Press, 1977.
Evans, Patrick. The Penguin History of New Zealand Literature. Auckland: Penguin Books Ltd, 1990.
Paterson, Alistair ed. 15 Contemporary New Zealand Poets. Dunedin: Pilgrims South Press, 1980; New York: Crove Press, 1983.
Robinson, Roger and Nelson, Wattie eds. The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature.
Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1998. Sinclair, Keith. ed. The Oxford Illustrated History of New Zealand. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 2nd Edition, 1996.
Stead, C.K. 'From Wystan to Carlos: Modern and Modernism in New Zealand Poetry' In the Class Case: Essays on New Zealand Literature. Auckland: Auckland [Iniversity Press/ Oxford [Iniversity Press, 1981.
Sturm, Terry ed. The Oxford History of New Zealand Literature in English. Auckland: Oxford University Press, 1998.

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