Hamilton Logan is 92 next month, and this "old grizzly" has been attending Hawke's Bay A&P Show for 70 years. Far from getting sick of it, he says the show is a 'must-see'. Made with funding from NZ On Air.
A beloved Hawke’s Bay earthquake survivor who became the region’s very own captain Tom has died close to his goal of walking 100km for charity.
Hamilton Logan, 99, will be remembered by his family and the community around him for his friendship, perceptive nature, and reflections on the past to better the future.
Hamilton was born on November 21, 1924. He died on August 8, 2024, at Hawke’s Bay Hospital. His son Tim Logan said Hamilton “was clear, lucid and strong right to the end”.
Tim, 64, said his father loved and considered all people and wasn’t one to make a fuss throughout his life.
Hawke’s Bay Foundation, the organisation Hamilton had partnered with for the walk, said he had walked 87 of the 100km.
“He was under-reporting the distance he was travelling, because when I walked with him once a friend had a pedometer on and Dad was probably reporting less than two-thirds of the kilometres he was walking,” Tim said.
Tim said his father was someone who made friends everywhere he went, his love for people stemming from a lesson learnt from his father during the depression when they farmed at Kereru.
Hamilton Logan pictured in 2019. Photo / Paul Taylor
“One day a farming friend of his fathers arrived in a very smart car - and this was during the depression years so most people were struggling and Dad was saying wow what a beautiful car.”
“When this gentleman left his father said to him ‘Boy that’s only a possession, the greatest thing in life is to be able to communicate with people and to enjoy and be interested in them.’”
Tim said his father kept a notebook and could remember names and faces extremely well, which he used to write his biography Fear Not Change with Ewan McGregor.
“He didn’t enjoy conflict and he didn’t want to burn others.”
Hastings-Havelock North Ward councillor Michael Fowler said Hamilton would be remembered for his contributions to the Hawke’s Bay farming industry.
He said they had bonded over a shared interest in Hawke’s Bay’s history as Hamilton’s “mind was sharp as it was when he was a young man”.
“If it was worth remembering and he was told it, no matter what age he was, he would remember it.”
Fowler described Hamilton as a gentleman who didn’t rest on his laurels and would always tip his hat and shake his hand.
“He became a good friend despite the nearly 40-year age difference and I treasured my time with him.”
When Hamilton was 6, he was in the pantry getting a biscuit when his life changed dramatically.
There was a rumbling sound and everything around him was upended. Jams, preserves and linen ended up in a pile on the floor around him.
It was 10.47am, February 3, 1931, and the Napier earthquake had just struck.
Logan told Hawke’s Bay Today a few years ago he could still vividly recall that day.
“The first thing that I remember, after being completely bewildered, was a big arm going around my waist, and my sister Marjorie carrying me into the nursery and waiting there until the shaking had subsided.”
“The earthquake in 1931 brought a whole different scale of thought, fear, imagination and anticipation to all of our lives, not only the juvenile ones but the older ones too.”
Hamilton laughed at the analogy of being a “Provincial Pied Piper” but admitted he had a few pearls of wisdom to share.
“When I was 6, Hawke’s Bay endured a trifecta of disasters: A world depression, the worst drought in a century and a devastating earthquake. A bit like Cyclone Gabrielle, these things were an enormous leveller. The days of luxury and over-indulgence disappeared overnight.”
Not content with just the act of farming, Hamilton contributed to the wider farming industry in New Zealand including being a champion competition fleece winner with his Coopworth breed, and his chairmanship of meat and processing company Richmond Limited.
Hamilton Logan was invited to share his wisdom with Matt Holden and the Mates of Mates for Mates event last year.
Captivated by the legacy of late retired British army officer Captain Tom Moore, who in his 100th year, amid the first British Covid lockdown in 2020 set out to walk 100 fundraising lengths of his garden.
The oldest living Hawke’s Bay Magpies rugby representative – with two games at centre in 1944 – was widely known for his continued agility, awareness and alertness, and said:
“New Zealand is a small place and I thought ‘If I can still walk and think at 99, I can do that too”.
The 99-year-old Hamilton Logan strides-out with Havelock North mum Rebecca Truesdale and 10-month-old son Ted at Havelock North Village Green. Photo / Warren Buckland
An attitude of “always concentrating on the positives, not the negatives” had helped him through, along with what he calls a “pause button”.
“If I’m blindsided or feeling lost I pause, and I think, and I reason the answer instead of walking around in circles.
“I encourage people to pause when they feel overwhelmed and to discard anything that doesn’t serve them well. It may even save your life or prompt a different direction.”
“It’s been a privilege to have known Hamilton Logan and share many farming adventures with him in recent years.”
Holden said a shared passion for sheep breeding and working with farmers was often the start of many conversation.
Holden invited Hamilton to be a guest speaker at the inaugural “Mates of Mates for Mates” event at the Hawke’s Bay Showgrounds in November in 2023.
“He shared what he had experienced in his lifetime, with so much compassion and humanity. He finished his talk by saying the most precious thing we have been blessed with is life, and life is for living.”
A service to celebrate Hamilton’s life will be held at Functions on Hastings (Toitoi), 101 Hastings St South, Hastings, on Thursday, August 15, at 1pm.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
