Russian Jack
“Years ago swaggers were a common sight on the roads of Wairarapa. Men of all ages, all sizes and nearly all races, walked the dusty roads with all their worldly possessions tied in a swag held over their shoulder, usually balanced with a stick. Originally they were a mobile work force, moving from station to station, hoping to pick up seasonal work. Later they came to be men who were looking for a life of freedom on the road.
Wairarapa pronounced /ˌwaɪrəˈrɑːpə/, WYE-rə-RAH-pə; often known as “The Wairarapa” is a geographical region of New Zealand. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke’s Bay region. It’s a spritely two hour drive from my hometown of Waipukurau.
The 1880’s were called ‘the hungry years’ here in New Zealand and there were many men on the swag. It’s been recorded that sometimes there would be up to twenty swaggers on any one Station. Country etiquette demanded that they be fed, and required that the swaggers, in return, move on in the morning.
Among the mix of men on the road were those who claimed they had once been ennobled, those who had been famous but had fallen on hard times and those who were yet to make their mark in life. Those who tramped the roads of Wairarapa included ‘Baron’ Fred de Lacey, a monocled man of aristocratic bearing who was recalled for reciting Shakespeare and Burns.
Henry Lawson, later to become known as Australia’s great bush poet spent time tramping through northern Wairarapa. Even more surprisingly Thomas Bracken, journalist and composer of the New Zealand National Anthem, ‘God Defend New Zealand’ also took up the swag. In the 1890’s he travelled the country, trying to sell copies of his poems and giving badly attended lectures. Arthur Viles, a Masterton newspaper editor recalled taking up a collection among his staff to allow Bracken to buy a rail ticket to his next stop. He said he’d seen “nothing sadder than Tom Bracken weary and footsore, trudging from village to village.”
Russian Jack
Among the most famous of all the Wairarapa swaggers was a man they came to call ‘Russian Jack’. He wasn’t in New Zealand during the hungry years or even for the first years of this century. He arrived, rather abruptly, in New Zealand on 23 June, 1912. The man officially known as Barrett Crumen but known to all as ‘Russian Jack’ was born in Latvia on 26 March 1878, in a small village called Alexandra.
The term “Russian Jack” had been used to describe many different people. The term “Jack” itself which sometimes simply meant ‘man’ was applied to many swaggers, for instance Jack the Bear, Canterbury Jack, Spring-heeled Jack, Dublin Jack, Fistie Jack and Hellfire Jack and more than one Russian Jack. One woman said in an interview, “there were Russian Jacks all over the place. They called most of the swaggers Russian Jack.” Another said, “our Russian Jack died on the roadside at Ponatahi.” Yet another said that the term was used to describe anyone on the road, probably Russian, who was difficult to understand. There was even a “Russian Jack” who worked the gum fields of Northland.
The term was not confined to New Zealand either. So who was ‘our’ Russian Jack? Firstly, his name was not ‘Jack,’ and secondly he was not Russian! Some writers have said that surname “Crumen” could have been derived from his rank in the merchant navy – crewman. Recent research however tends to support it being his actual name. Peter Burins, an Auckland based Latvian migrant, says that Krumen is a Latvian surname, a name meaning literally “little bush.” He said that Barrett” is an English name and unlikely to be Russian Jack’s real name. As Russian Jack was also known as Russian Barney he thought his name was more likely to be “Barnis” which is pronounced as if it is a French word. Used as a Christian name it means “team leader.” Whoever he was, Russian Jack or Latvian Barnis Krumen, the last of the swaggers would be remembered for a long time.
It’s been written that Russian Jack said that he had received a small amount of schooling in his village before being sent out to work in the forestry camps around his home town. He decided it wasn’t quite his cuppa of tea so he joined the merchant marines and set off to see the world. After ten years of working the oceans of the world he was on the British ship Star of Canada when she was caught in a southerly storm off the coast of Gisborne. She quickly drew water and the crew was rescued from the ship.
In an interview with Radio New Zealand’s Jim Henderson, Russian Jack recalled that he spent time on small coastal ships in New Zealand. He then took to working on land, perhaps moving with his swag from job to job. Many old timers interviewed by Jim Henderson for his ‘Open Country’ programme remembered working with him on the back country stations of Wairarapa. He was remembered as an immensely strong man who worked as a scrubcutter and shed hand at Awhea Station for many years in the period around World War One.
He was well known for his prodigious appetite. “The cook would carve two helpings from a shoulder of mutton and hand Jack the rest,” one workmate recalled. He was also fond of tobacco. One lady recalled that her father the Mayor of Masterton, Bill Kemp, grew and cured his own tobacco and that Russian Jack always called in to see him when he passed through the town. Another recalled that their neighbour had saved all the cigarette butts from her husband and sons and when Russian Jack passed through she gave the jar of butts to him. Russian Jack was famous for smoking his pipe, usually in short bursts of a few puffs which he ended by jamming a cork in the bowl.
Explorations
As the years moved on so did Russian Jack, predominantly through the roads of Manawatu and Wairarapa, but also exploring much of the North Island. In later life he said he had been everywhere except New Plymouth. He was in Napier for the 1931 earthquake and he never went back. He also disliked the Manawatu Gorge and always took the Pahiatua Track to move from Wairarapa to Manawatu. He always carried the biggest swag of any of the ‘gentlemen of the road.’
He did not confine himself to the countryside. In an interview carried out in the 1960s he recalled with some relish that he had been arrested a dozen times for drunkenness in Wellington. He had 10 shillings stolen off him when he was asleep in Auckland, so he never went back to the city. Instead he stayed on the country roads and over the years became an icon to those living in the lower half of the North Island. Many farmers got to know ‘Russian Jack’ as he walked his beat and almost without exception they remember him fondly.
They recall that he was particular about his toilet habits, and that although he wore old and much-repaired clothing, he was meticulous about cleaning up any whare he was allowed to sleep in. His clothing was lined with layers of newspaper, and he stuffed his ears with brown paper wads soaked in mutton fat to “keep the bugs out” and to keep the cold out. He rubbed dripping onto his chest as a protection against infection.
Although not averse to sleeping in a whare or outbuilding, Russian Jack also had a number of bivouacs along the roads he journeyed. These shelters were constructed out of old branches and whatever cladding he could find. He was also known for sleeping in culverts and under bridges. Many recall that as time moved on Russian Jack’s visits became fewer and fewer, and the time between them increased. As the roads became sealed and traffic built up, it became dangerous for the increasingly older man to be on the road. Many country people who had come to know Russian Jack worried about his health.
Originally very tall and strong, Russian Jack seemed to shrink. He became bow-legged and his feet were obviously giving him trouble. One foot seemed to be permanently bent over. In mid 1965 he was admitted to Pahiatua Hospital suffering from frost bitten feet. He was transferred to the Buchanan Ward of Greytown Hospital where he died on 19 September, 1968. Somehow the legend of Russian Jack continued past his lifetime. A Taueru man Bert Ihaka, carved a small statue of the swagger, and he came to represent a time in our history that has passed.
Barrett Crumen Last of the Real Swaggers
The Masterton Licensing Trust proposal to erect a statue to Russian Jack was not universally approved. Some thought it inappropriate to commemorate swaggers while others thought Russian Jack or Barrett Crumen did not deserve the honour. There is no doubt though, that Russian Jackwas the last of the real swaggers, and is remembered with great affection in the Wairarapa countryside. He is remembered as a man of honour, one whose ‘innocence shone through his bright blue eyes; he is recalled as being good-natured and courteous. “He was a tailor-made man – only one of his kind ever made.”
So why did this Latvian-born sailor leave the sea and take to the roads of the North Island of New Zealand? Perhaps like his memory I ought to allow him the last word, “Man oh man I vos FREE! Free to have a beer, have a smoke, happy what you can call all the time, you know. They was free days.” Now there’s a free heart if ever there were one!
