Huia Derham McAven, 3rd child of Joseph and Beatrice McAven, was born in Napier, 8th November 1908. His parents emigrated from England in 1907. The family went back to England in 1909 but returned to NZ permanently in 1914.
You can see the full Family Tree details from a downloadable spreadsheet on McAven Chart page.
People often asked why Huia was given that name. It was in honour of arriving and acknowledging the Tangata Whenua, they gave Huia a Maori name. Huia resided in Napier with his parents and 5 other siblings, Estelle, Stanleigh, John, Maureen and Barbara.
Huia started his life travelling to and from England on ships with his parents. As soon as he was old enough, he yearned to travel again to see the world, in his own right.
In September 1925, Huia went to sea at 17 years old, signing on to train as an Able Seaman on the schooner “H K Hall” that was heading to Peru. From there, he signed on the “Dharma” that unfortunately had a collision, so he was paid off in Tocopilla Chile, with no onward travel or work plans. In Valparaiso he had all his clothes and money and passport stolen. He was left standing in his swimsuit, nothing else.
He had to apply for a new passport and earn money to survive, as it took two years for the passport to arrive. He found labouring work in the Tocopilla Salt Mines while he waited. There he learnt to speak Spanish.
Huia had cousins living in Southampton – the Bennetts Family. Upon discharging from the William Mitchell, he went to stay with them, and got a job at Pirelli’s the Tyre Factory. Huia got to know his cousin Eunice (Ena) Bennett, and in January 1929 they married in Southampton. They moved to NZ together. Huia and Ena had two girls, Heather and Betty. Huia wanted a boy too, so they adopted Derham. (Betty died some years ago, but Heather and Derham each passed recently – in 2023 and 2025 respectively.
A side Story: This photo is of the brick wall that still stands on the perimeter of the Bennett’s house in Bittern Park. Huia carved his name into one of the bricks in 1929. Then, at the end of World War 2, John (also known as Jack) McAven, Huia’s younger brother, a newly freed POW, was shipped to Southampton with all the released prisoners of war, from Italy. He also went to stay with his Bennett cousins, and carved his name on the very same brick in the wall too. Then strangely enough, on 75th Celebration of VE day, 2020, the current owners of the very same house in Bittern Park, emailed me to ask me if this McAven etched on their wall was my relative, and was he a hero from WW2? I was able to establish a contact with them and relate his story. We are still friends on facebook.
Jack McAven would have had quite a tale to tell of his 3 years in a POW camp. I have no information about that chapter of Jack’s life, except one letter to his mother Beatrice, that he wrote while incarcerated: you can view it in the McAven Ancestors photo gallery, along with some Ancestry UK documents relating to Huia, that came to light when interacting on the Southampton Heritage FB page. This person very kindly supplied these documents relating to Huia.
Huia served in the NZ Navy during the 2nd world war and was stationed at Devonport Naval Base. “Older” Draftees: While the maximum age was often over 40, armies preferred to draft younger men (18–30) and often exempted older, married men with children until late in the war. Thus it was, that Huia was kept busy working in NZ rather than being sent overseas. When 35, (in 1943) he took a position working on a Sand Dredger for the Auckland Harbour Board, it was to ensure any large Allied war ships could enter the harbour and not get stuck. He worked on tug boats too.
He wanted his family to move up from Napier to Auckland to join him, but Ena did not want such a major upheaval. Eventually they became estranged.
Huia was 36 when he met Mavis Willetts, then 17, on Narrow Neck beach, and fell in love. It was 1944. He decided he wanted to start a new life and get married again. After a two year wait for his divorce papers to come through, he married Mavis on 26th October 1946. For a short time they stayed at the Willetts villa, in Narrow Neck, Auckland. Then they lived in a tent at Milford Motor Camp. Not long after that, the State gave them a house “rent to own” in Pupuke Rd, then Killarney Street as their family expanded.
Their children born: Lynne 1947, Claire 1950, Peter 1951 and Gillian 1953. They remained living in Killarney Street until 1966.
Huia was a good man, well respected in the community. He was a teetotaller, on the Board of his local Church, and performed duties as a registered Justice of the Peace. Huia was well known as a good debater. When he was younger in Napier, he tried a stint at Labour party campaigning. When the war came, of course things changed. In 1958 Huia was appointed a part-time government position as Port Conciliation Committee Chairman to settle disputes as they arose, between the waterfront workers and port employers. However he needed to supplement his work income, so he worked in other various jobs self employed.
This following rare 1950’s photo taken at Stanleigh’s Bucklands Beach residence shows all Huia’s siblings, from the left: Stanleigh, Huia, Jack, Estelle, Maureen and Barbara (Beau). They all lived in the wider Auckland area so were able to easily keep in touch their whole lives.
In 1968 Huia bought a Dairy in Milford to fulfill a desire to have his own business; so that he and Mavis could both work together and earn good money. They successfully saved money and when the time was right, they sold the dairy and bought a nice house in Stratford Ave Milford.
Huia retained his Committee Chairman’s position for over 20 years until he died.
Huia died at home suddenly, of heart attack at 72 years of age, on 20th November 1980.
Mavis never remarried. She passed away at 97 years of age, on 22nd July 2024.
Buque Escuela Esmeralda visits Auckland in 1966
In 1966 while Huia was working at the Waterfront, he saw the Chilean Navy Training Ship – “Buque Escuela Esmeralda” arrive at Princes Wharf. He was very happy to have someone to speak to in Spanish, after all the time he spent in Chile. He invited a few of the ordinary seamen home for dinner at Killarney St, much to the sailors’ delight.