Stag Spooner: Wild Men of the Bush

Overview

The Wairarapa-born Neville 'Stag' Spooner (1917-1946) was an ordinary game-loving outdoorsman who loved spending weekends hunting in the bush - earning the nickname 'Stag' for his exceptional hunting skills. He also loved to draw, pictorially documenting all of his life's adventures - from kissing girls under the starlight, to hunting deer, to his adventures while outposed in the Middle East during World War II.

His drawings, decorated envelopes, comics and diary - all on display in Kapiti's Mahara Gallery - show Stag's warm sense of humour, his quirky style of drawing (a pre-Wes Anderson Wes Anderson) and his genuine love of life. His work has been heralded as "a real life Boys Own Annual . . . a fabulous blending of art and history."

Perhaps the most touching part of exploring one charming ordinary man's life paraphernalia, which formed part of his household's 'Spooner Gallery', are his last few journal entries before his death. After returning home from the war, Neville returned to the bush, and caught pneumonia while out camping in the wild alone. As the entries grow fainter and fainter, and one can't help feeling heartbroken - for his early untimely death, and for never having known him.