Fyson Place (Hāwera)

Fyson Place is a short cul-de-sac on the right as you head south out of Hāwera, just past the McDonalds store. 

Albert Kemball (Kem) Fyson was born in Gisborne in 1893, the son of a local postman. Kem was working as a bank clerk when the First World War broke out and served with the New Zealand Engineers. He fought at Gallipoli and was badly wounded the following year while fighting in France. In June 1916 Fyson suffered severe wounds to his right arm and abdomen requiring urgent medical attention in Boulogne and then at Fulham Military Hospital in London. Only recently promoted to Sergeant, he was assessed as being unfit for service and returned to New Zealand where he was discharged from the army on 27 March 1917. 

Kem settled in Hāwera shortly after the war and began work with the Farmers’ Co-operative Society as an accountant. When he left the company in 1926, the well-respected employee was honoured with a large farewell gathering and the presentation of a silver entrée dish. 

His next role was in the booming dairy industry as the secretary of four dairy companies. As well as this ongoing connection with the farming sector, Fyson was a director of Egmont Tourist Motors and the Hāwera Star Publishing Company. 

He served on the Hāwera Borough Council and the Hāwera Hospital Board and helped establish the Hāwera Returned Services Association. In 1953 the RSA awarded Fyson a Gold Star Badge in recognition of 25 years’ service. As well as his public duties, he was Secretary of the Egmont Racing Club for 27 years. 

Kem Fyson died on 18 January 1960, survived by his wife Clarice, four daughters and one son. That same year Fyson Place was surveyed on land owned by the family since 1935, originally part of well-known Hāwera auctioneer Arthur Tonks’ Glenholm Estate. 

This story was originally published in the Taranaki Daily News.

Related document:

Mr A.K. Fyson Obituary (Daily News 19 January 1960)