A Timaru historian and author’s ‘‘work of heart’’ has secured her a prestigious literary award for the second time.
Cynthia McCaughan has been awarded the New Zealand Society of Genealogists (NZSG) 2024 Kevin McAnulty Award for her book Work of Heart — Jane Preshaw nee Norgate: 1839-1926.
The award is presented to a published family history work that has been donated to the NZSG library.
McCaughan was previously awarded the prize for her 2016 book To Live a Long and Prosperous Life.
She said she was honoured to have been recognised for her work once again.
‘‘It’s brilliant because sometimes when you’re working away on something, and it’s a big project, you get to the end, send it out into the world, and you’re never quite sure what the reaction will be.
‘‘To be acknowledged by the NZSG and also to sort of underline the fact that it is a local history for the Reefton area as well as a family history, it’s definitely made me happy.’’
Work of Heart tells the story of her great-great-great grandmother Jane Preshaw, who arrived in Reefton on foot with her young daughter in 1872 — before there was even a road.
There she became the first matron of Reefton Hospital, and along with her third husband David Preshaw spent 30 years dedicated to the health and wellbeing of the gold-town community.
The book chronicles the development of Reefton from its early beginnings into the 20th century, and like McCaughan’s previous book, the stories of families making a life on the West Coast goldfields.
She had always been interested in her genealogy, she said.
‘‘My family have always told stories. This is on my mother’s side, my mother’s side particularly has always told stories about family. She grew up on the coast and we used to go there and visit.
‘‘I can remember giving a talk when I was in third form about the origin of my surname. So I’ve always been really interested in that.
‘‘The sort of books I’ve written are the sort of books I wish I could have read myself back then.’’
The self-published, just over 400-page book was about six or seven years in the making, McCaughan said.
‘‘My research is such that I check, double-check, and triplecheck. To bring it to life, I try and put things in context. What was going on at the time? But also I add in little excerpts of my imagination of what might’ve happened, and what might’ve gone on in their minds.
‘‘Sometimes you have to sort of stop and think, ‘well, what do people really want to know?’. And quite often I’ve just got screeds that I’ve taken out because I’ve researched something and I think, ‘do people really want to know all that?’.
‘‘The real work of heart for me is the blood, sweat and tears once I’ve finished the actual fun bit of research and writing and got it into a sort of a state that was publishable.’’
It was very much a case of staying disciplined, she said.
‘‘It’s the sort of thing that can take a toll. You have to have the ability to just stick at it, give yourself deadlines and work to them. I’ve heard some people get to that stage and never publish because they keep tweaking, twiddling and adding stuff.
‘‘The first six months of last year, I just thought, ‘right, I’m just going to publish because otherwise I’m also just going to keep tweaking it’.
‘‘That’s the nuts and bolts of it but the self-publishing and getting it out there for people was something I didn’t really enjoy.’’
McCaughan said while she would continue to write smaller pieces for family, magazines and journals she was unsure if she would fully delve into another project of this size.
‘‘I’m an artist as well, and like spend time with grandchildren and whatnot. So I do want to have a bit of a life, but, it’s the sort of thing that’s only possible with the support of family, who will put up with you sort of banging away on the keyboard until the wee small hours.
‘‘It will be a matter of if something comes up but who knows? Never say never.
‘‘Once a writer, you’re always a writer.’’
Copies of Work of Heart are available in libraries around South Canterbury and more information on the book and Jane Preshaw’s life can be found on McCaughan’s WordPress blog, Written in Ink and Stone.
