Heart of clay

Twenty years on from a fire that spelt the end for the historic McSkimming factory, there is no doubt the town of Benhar, a few kilometres north of Balclutha, has seen better days. But some things still stand, such as pride and that enormous chimney. Shane Gilchrist reports.

People call John Posthumus the "Mayor of Benhar", not because he represents any constituency but because he has a pride for the place.

Actually, it's more than pride.

"I love Benhar," the 46-year roading contractor says.

"I collect pottery.

"Anything about Benhar.

"I've got the 'Benhar Bible' in front of me, a scrapbook."

Yet despite his passion, Mr Posthumus is a realist.

He knows the township just north of Balclutha has had its better days, like when his parents first moved there in the 1950s, a time when Benhar was dubbed "little Amsterdam" in reference to the many Dutch migrants who came to work at the McSkimming factory, making sanitary ware.

"Benhar was the capital of the toilet manufacturers," boasts Mr Posthumus, who in 2005 returned to the town he first lived in back in the 1960s.

"People used to ask Dad what he did for a living.

"He'd always reply: 'I make s ... houses'."

There have been times when the proverbial has hit the fan.

In the 1980s, Benhar was called "blood city", reflecting a time when cheap rents brought a few "undesirables", Mr Posthumus says.

"There were a lot of rental properties, you see.

"Now people are starting to own their own homes.

"And they are good homes; they are double brick, warm.

"There are not many empty houses.

"There are no abandoned houses.

"There are a few people wanting to move.

"It's lying stagnant.

"People over the hill, in Balclutha, keep saying, 'it's going to have its day'.

"Well, I'm sorry - it has had its day," Mr Posthumus says.

"The community feeling has gone.

"People have lost interest and shifted away.

"But it is still a beautiful place.

"People like it because it is quiet. It is rural, very different.

"My parents told me that family life in the 1950s was great.

"There was the old barter system and it was thriving.

"Now, society has changed.

"People don't want to know their neighbours. But we are always friendly to everyone.

"I'll say 'gidday, how's it going'.

"You might not see them again for two months.

"If anyone rang up and said there was a problem, we'd shoot down and still help our neighbours."

Gary Ross, curator of the South Otago Museum, also lived at Benhar for a time as a small child.

The house in which he played was humble, like many in the town.

He recalls one of the reasons his parents moved was because of a rodent problem.

Yet rats and mice aren't the worst thing to befall Benhar.

In the small hours of February 18, 1990, a fire began in a brick building that had stood for more than a century.

When firefighters arrived they initially couldn't see the blaze for the night's fog.

By morning, the future was equally gloomy for the 50-odd people employed in the Fowler Bathroom Products factory.

Fowler's general manager, Stephen Antunovich, told workers the company had three options: to rebuild at Benhar, to rebuild on a different site or to close.

At the time, it was evident that the importing of cheap Asian bathroom products would work against rebuilding the factory on the site.

Thus on April 26, 1990, the company announced the factory would not be rebuilt at Benhar but would be relocated to Auckland (and eventually Australia), ending the town's long association with the ceramic industry.

Benhar was an industrial village for 126 years and an essential part of the economy of South Otago.

Though it is better known as the home of the McSkimming Pottery Works, it initially was the base for the Benhar Coal Company, set up in 1864 by John Nelson.

The company sold lignite coal to local industries requiring steam power.

After 12 years of coal production, Nelson decided to exploit the abundance of quality clay in the district and opened a pipe factory in 1876.

By the early 1890s, the factory had diversified into bricks, tiles and even garden vases.

Among the workers at Nelson's factory were brickmakers Peter McSkimming and his son, also Peter.