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A River Rules My Life
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212 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1963
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104 people want to read
About the author
Mona Anderson
26 books7 followersThe Wilberforce River in all its moods governed Mona Anderson's life for 33 years, and was inspiration for her best-seller A River Rules My Life.
Her introduction to the river came in 1940 when she arrived as the bride of Ron Anderson, manager of Mt Algidus Station.
She had been looking after an aunt on the West Coast of the South Island, when an old swaggie nicknamed John the Baptist called in for his regular cup of tea. He was taken with the young woman and surprised that she wasn't married.
"I know of a man who needs a wife," he said, and gave her Ron Anderson's address.
She first wrote to him as a joke, but when he replied she was impressed and the correspondence flourished. They met, fell in love and married.
The 23,000ha Mt Algidus property lies in a fork between three rivers in the Canterbury high country. In the early 40s it was regarded as some of the wildest and roughest farming land in New Zealand.
Access to the homestead, at 550m above sea level, was by horse or dray across the river, when water levels would allow.
The young Mrs Anderson set about home-making with enthusiasm and energy and a good-sized sense of humour.
"Before I was married I knew nothing about station life," she said. "I could have distinguished between a cow and a sheep and I could sometimes tell the difference between a lamb chop and a pork chop, but that was the limit of my experience, and I was determined to keep my ignorance to myself."
Mona Anderson was awarded an MBE in 1979 for services to literature.
Her introduction to the river came in 1940 when she arrived as the bride of Ron Anderson, manager of Mt Algidus Station.
She had been looking after an aunt on the West Coast of the South Island, when an old swaggie nicknamed John the Baptist called in for his regular cup of tea. He was taken with the young woman and surprised that she wasn't married.
"I know of a man who needs a wife," he said, and gave her Ron Anderson's address.
She first wrote to him as a joke, but when he replied she was impressed and the correspondence flourished. They met, fell in love and married.
The 23,000ha Mt Algidus property lies in a fork between three rivers in the Canterbury high country. In the early 40s it was regarded as some of the wildest and roughest farming land in New Zealand.
Access to the homestead, at 550m above sea level, was by horse or dray across the river, when water levels would allow.
The young Mrs Anderson set about home-making with enthusiasm and energy and a good-sized sense of humour.
"Before I was married I knew nothing about station life," she said. "I could have distinguished between a cow and a sheep and I could sometimes tell the difference between a lamb chop and a pork chop, but that was the limit of my experience, and I was determined to keep my ignorance to myself."
Mona Anderson was awarded an MBE in 1979 for services to literature.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
April 8, 2022
* Floating my review because I have changed edition - having been gifted a signed first edition of this book today. I note in my review below I commented about the quality of the photos - I was surprised to find the photos in the first edition far superior - so much clearer. Not what I woudl have expected! *
Written in 1962, this is an autobiographical depiction of high-country station life in the wilderness that this part of New Zealand was in the 1940s and 50s.
Mona Anderson is a well known author, having written several follow up books to this, her first. A River Rules My Life is an accurate summary - the Wilberforce River, which separates the 23,000 hectare Mount Algidus Station from the road, is a dangerous, snow fed river, which controls access - mostly during the winter and the spring, but at all times.
Mona Anderson was not brought up in the high-country, but married into it - so she had a lot to learn, and in a relativity short time. Her husband Ron, who was perhaps not easily described as patient, threw her in the deep end, and expected her to swim, and for the most part she did.
The twenty years that the book covers saw many changes to the way of life on Mount Algidus Station, including the transition from horse and dray to motor vehicles, the introduction of the radio telephone, and eventually even electricity!
This book has a bit of everything from the high-country - animal husbandry, working dogs, man management, station life. The only (minor) quibbles with the book, are 1/. that she jumps around in the time sequence a bit at times - which means suddenly a story deviates from a time with the trucks, back to a story with the horses and dray; and suddenly Old Jim is back on the station, despite leaving a few chapters earlier - but it is still a very manageable narrative; and 2/. The photographs - there are lots of photos in the book, but (of course) due to the photographic technology of the time they are of terrible quality, and really hard to make out, which is a real shame as they would have been fascinating.
4 stars, probably more for content and appeal that actual writing.
Written in 1962, this is an autobiographical depiction of high-country station life in the wilderness that this part of New Zealand was in the 1940s and 50s.
Mona Anderson is a well known author, having written several follow up books to this, her first. A River Rules My Life is an accurate summary - the Wilberforce River, which separates the 23,000 hectare Mount Algidus Station from the road, is a dangerous, snow fed river, which controls access - mostly during the winter and the spring, but at all times.
Mona Anderson was not brought up in the high-country, but married into it - so she had a lot to learn, and in a relativity short time. Her husband Ron, who was perhaps not easily described as patient, threw her in the deep end, and expected her to swim, and for the most part she did.
The twenty years that the book covers saw many changes to the way of life on Mount Algidus Station, including the transition from horse and dray to motor vehicles, the introduction of the radio telephone, and eventually even electricity!
This book has a bit of everything from the high-country - animal husbandry, working dogs, man management, station life. The only (minor) quibbles with the book, are 1/. that she jumps around in the time sequence a bit at times - which means suddenly a story deviates from a time with the trucks, back to a story with the horses and dray; and suddenly Old Jim is back on the station, despite leaving a few chapters earlier - but it is still a very manageable narrative; and 2/. The photographs - there are lots of photos in the book, but (of course) due to the photographic technology of the time they are of terrible quality, and really hard to make out, which is a real shame as they would have been fascinating.
4 stars, probably more for content and appeal that actual writing.
June 5, 2024
This is not, as Tom Croskery might say, a ‘revolution in prose’ but it’s filled with all kinds of charming recollections. An intoxicating world of Rabitters camps, swarthy old Southland fellas, insect hunts with visiting entomologists, wild storms and much silliness and revelry in the old mountain huts.
The mythos that swirls around high country stations and cattle mustering is some of the coolest lore we have in in the post colonial section of New Zealand’s history. Essentially we had a frontier up there where the pause button had been hit on time and history well into the 1970’s before they started doing that shiiii with helicopters. Closest thing we have to an old west or the Steppes. A grand, romantic setting. The way these guys speak reminds me so much of stories my mum and grandma have told me. Captures a vanishing New Zealand vernacular full of “flamin’ Noras” and “My Giddy Aunts”.
The mythos that swirls around high country stations and cattle mustering is some of the coolest lore we have in in the post colonial section of New Zealand’s history. Essentially we had a frontier up there where the pause button had been hit on time and history well into the 1970’s before they started doing that shiiii with helicopters. Closest thing we have to an old west or the Steppes. A grand, romantic setting. The way these guys speak reminds me so much of stories my mum and grandma have told me. Captures a vanishing New Zealand vernacular full of “flamin’ Noras” and “My Giddy Aunts”.
October 7, 2024
The book is not just a memoir but a tribute to the land and its history, narrated with warmth and a deep love for the rugged environment she called home. Mona's vivid descriptions of the valley, the river, and the surrounding landscape allowed me to picture each scene with incredible clarity, as I'd witnessed some of these places with my own eyes during my hike. It was an amazing experience to read about the same mountains, rivers, and tramping tracks that I had recently explored, knowing that Mona walked and lived in these places many years before.
Mona's ability to capture the spirit of the land and the challenges of living in such a remote place made the history feel alive and personal. My own connection to the Wilberforce Valley added another layer to the experience and I could almost feel the same wind she described, smell the damp earth after rain, and see the river's twists and turns in my mind's eye. This blend of history and personal memory made reading "A River Rules My Life" a truly special experience, as if Mona's words were guiding me back through my own footsteps in that beautiful, untamed corner of New Zealand.
Mona's ability to capture the spirit of the land and the challenges of living in such a remote place made the history feel alive and personal. My own connection to the Wilberforce Valley added another layer to the experience and I could almost feel the same wind she described, smell the damp earth after rain, and see the river's twists and turns in my mind's eye. This blend of history and personal memory made reading "A River Rules My Life" a truly special experience, as if Mona's words were guiding me back through my own footsteps in that beautiful, untamed corner of New Zealand.
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January 8, 2026From the Alexandra book fair a few years ago.
May 20, 2023
Read this book years ago. Like maybe when first published. Never dreamed I would live just over the hill. Loved the book back then (60s) and enjoyed reading again.
July 20, 2019
I think this book is considered a bit of a classic. It covers 23 years of Mona Anderson's life on the remote Canterbury high-country run of Mount Algidus Station. Mona first moved there in about 1939 as a newly-wed bride from the city. She had no experience of country life let alone living in such a remote and inaccessible place.
To get to Mount Algidus Station required a long drive, followed by a long ride on horseback or horse and waggon with the treacherous Wilberforce River needing to be crossed. Sometimes this was not possible and there are a number of accounts in the book of people almost losing their lives attempting to cross in dangerous conditions.
This book gives a very good glimpse back into the past to a way of life that has been irrevocably changed by modern technology. The old high-country stations were very much a man's world, and the musterers, shearers, farmhands, and cooks seemed to be either the strong, silent type or absolute characters. Life was hard in these mountains and the work was extremely demanding. Whenever I read a book like this I am reminded of how soft and easy modern-day life is.
To get to Mount Algidus Station required a long drive, followed by a long ride on horseback or horse and waggon with the treacherous Wilberforce River needing to be crossed. Sometimes this was not possible and there are a number of accounts in the book of people almost losing their lives attempting to cross in dangerous conditions.
This book gives a very good glimpse back into the past to a way of life that has been irrevocably changed by modern technology. The old high-country stations were very much a man's world, and the musterers, shearers, farmhands, and cooks seemed to be either the strong, silent type or absolute characters. Life was hard in these mountains and the work was extremely demanding. Whenever I read a book like this I am reminded of how soft and easy modern-day life is.
October 21, 2017
This is a memoir of Mona Anderson's daily life as the wife of the manager of Mt Algidus, a high country station, between the early 1940s and the early 1960s. It's a fascinating book, more for the details of life in that time and place than the story or the writing. Mona's voice reminds me very much of the hardy, no nonsense generation of our grandparents, and you can't help but wonder at how different life must have been when it was a day long round trip on a horse over a raging river twice a week just to get the mail, and when you had to face winters at the base of the Southern Alps with no electricity and almost complete isolation from the outside world. A good read if you're interested in NZ history.
August 6, 2023
Rated 8/10 An interesting read insofar as it deals with the life a woman marrying into the rural life of an extremely isolated station in the south island of NZ. Unfortunately it doesn’t give a running time frame so you are left guessing just how far they are behind the rest of the country for those things taken for granted i.e. power phones road access etc. There is reference to the war so one presumes she moved onto the station in the 1930s. Life was hard in the high country as is told by the number of employees that come and go, from cooks to shearers and musterers, some returning for years and many not lasting the season. Worth the read if you think your life in this day and age is hard.
June 18, 2020
A superb read
Recommended by a friend as one of favourite books, I loved this. Life on Mount Algidus station on the New Zealand South Island was obviously extremely hard but Mona Anderson described it all beautifully. Blunt and to the point, probably not to the taste of sappy modern readers, it is a great historical document.
If you want to know about Mount Algidus Station today, Google the name and you’ll get an article from House and Garden. There is a new and terribly glamorous farmhouse there now!
Recommended by a friend as one of favourite books, I loved this. Life on Mount Algidus station on the New Zealand South Island was obviously extremely hard but Mona Anderson described it all beautifully. Blunt and to the point, probably not to the taste of sappy modern readers, it is a great historical document.
If you want to know about Mount Algidus Station today, Google the name and you’ll get an article from House and Garden. There is a new and terribly glamorous farmhouse there now!
April 18, 2018
This book was basically a series of yarns. Life on the farm. But very informative about what life on a remote Hill Country Station was like before the advent of all the things we take for granted, eg electricity.
I've drive around some of the area of Lake Coleridge and the scenery is so beautiful.
Mona lived right not so far away but was so isolated by the Wilberforce river.
I've drive around some of the area of Lake Coleridge and the scenery is so beautiful.
Mona lived right not so far away but was so isolated by the Wilberforce river.
May 16, 2021
For someone that hates cleaning & most forms of manual labour, I’m very much drawn to stories about pioneering and shepherding in remote areas 😂. I enjoyed this book, but thought the memories and stories could have been reorganised a bit to make the narrative flow easier to track. All in all, an interesting read.
August 16, 2018
I first read this book about 50 years ago and was so entralled by it I wanted to live the life of a back-coutry sheep-farmer's wife. Re-reading it now (not that said wife) I enjoyed it but, not surprisingly, it certainly didn't "grab"me in the same way.
January 14, 2022
Quite an interesting read of life in a rural mountain setting in New Zealand in the mid 20th century. The author shifts her use of timescales: sometimes a paragraph will describe a single incident, and sometimes it can describe a pattern or events that occurred over many years.
August 2, 2017
This lovely book reminded me of my grandmother who, in her early twenties, went with my grandfather to establish a home in Val D'Or in the Abitibi region of northern Quebec.
December 16, 2017
A truly great perspective of a woman's life on a New Zealand High Country Farm, during the early twentieth century.
May 12, 2022
A light hearted look at the challenging life of high country farmers last century.
July 19, 2023
Interesting read about high sheep farm in South Island set in 1930s to 1960s. Useful too for research for my novel.
November 26, 2025
Honest story about the day to day life, trials, tribulations and hardships of living on an isolated station (Australasian name for an expansive sheep or cattle property, usually in an isolated area). As a New Zealander I thoroughly enjoyed this book which truly does give insight to the challenges of living in an isolated place and the necessary resourcefulness required to endure such a lifestyle.
March 22, 2016
I read this while traveling to NZ. I thought it would be fitting to help give a setting and history to the country. It certainly did! When driving through the mountains, I saw the same river that ruled the comings and goings to this station. I would love to go live/work on a high country station and put up with the life that Mona shares. She sounds like a tough woman!
January 18, 2009
Life on a remote sheep station in the early days. A pioneering story of sorts.
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November 9, 2012excellent
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews