Welcome to the first “lets talk kiwi” post of the series, think of this series as a kind of glossary to the unique colloquialisms that you may or may not hear on Crafternoon Tea with grannyg!
Whilst rubber boots aren’t unique to New Zealand, the name “gumboots” is fairly unique to us as is the special place these beauties have in our landscape! According to legend the name gumboot derived from the early days of settlement in NZ, the rubber boot (or as known in the UK the Wellington) was synonymous with the Kauri-gum diggers of the time.
Memories of my childhood growing up on the farm centre fairly strongly around the back door. The first thing anyone did coming off the farm was to take off their “gummies” the unique sound of a gumboot de-suctioning itself from a thick woolly work sock announcing their arrival before anything else. Coming home from school I knew who was home before entering due to who’s boots were lined up neatly outside. Growth spurts were measured by either inheriting a hand me down pair of boots or getting a brand new pair at the next visit to the supply shop. The sound of gumboot glad feet clomping down the garden path will always be part of my memory, either the long slow morose clomp of my Dad or older brothers at the end of a long day dealing with cows or the quick brisk clop announcing the arrival of my sister-in-law even before her cheerful hoo-roo.
New Zealand has a strong farming identity, there are very few of us who aren’t more than a generation or two away from the land or don’t have relatives with ties to the land. Gumboots are kind of a symbol of this attachment. We even have a town who have declared themselves the “gumboot capital” and have annual gumboot throwing competitions. Sad but true.
In the 70′s a satirist comic even had a top selling song dedicated to the gumboot.
Best thing about gumboots? Plenty of room for big thick woolly handknit socks inside!
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I had to ask my sister what we called our rain boots growing up in Montreal because I couldn’t remember what it was and it was billy boots! I don’t know if this was just in Montreal (or the area where we lived) or across Canada.
Discovered you through a comment on Wittyknitter.
I’m in my sixties, Australian. Always called them gumboots from a very early age. I had a way to walk on dirt footpaths to school so wore gumboots often. That was fun at school as we were allowed to bring slippers to wear in the classroom. I remember a pair of ballet slippers which were the envy of classmates.
Hi Jan
Thanks for popping over to say hi! What a lovely thought being able to wear slippers at school, especially ballet slippers – I can understand the envy