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Norman Parau Gibson
(21 September 1895 - 22 March 1964) New Zealand

Norman Gibson

Farmer, nudist

Claude Roy Ayling
(1886 - 1950) New Zealand

Roy Ayling

Farmer, nudist

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Norman Parau Gibson was born in Kaimiro, Taranaki, New Zealand,

New Zealand soldiers Roy Ayling and Norman Gibson met in 1915 on their way to WW1, and they fell in love. When machine gunner Norman Gibson was seriously injured in the Somme, France, his confidante, Roy Ayling, didn't know if he'd live or die. So Roy penned a poem to express his grief for the man he called his "Old Sunshine".

Old Sunshine
A loving tribute to my "mate" wounded on the Somme, September, 1916
Form like Hercules of old,
Mighty limbs in shapely mould,
Manly strenght in beauty rolled -
          "Old Sunshine"

One-and-twenty summers sped,
Laughing face and curly head,
Steadfast eyes to Honour wed -
          "Old Sunshine"

Heart of purest virgin gold,
Tender, loving, strong, and bold,
Treasure rich to have and hold -
          "Old Sunshine"

Drear the roadway I had trod,
O'er this shell-scarred stricken sod,
Without him to help me plod -
          "Old Sunshine"

Now that we are far apart,
Longing makes the hot tears start,
Who can ease mu aching heart? -
          "Old Sunshine"

So, when Night doth hold her sway,
Outstretched arms I fling and pray,
WSend him back, dear God, some day -
          Old Sunshine"

After the war, they farmed together at Kaimiro, up Mt Taranaki from Inglewood, New Zealand. They lived together for 13 years and shared a double bed.

They lived as nudists and had a circle of nudist friends, including Rewi Alley and his partner Jack Stevens, who subsistence-farmed at Moeawatea, 30 km up the Whenuakura valley from Waverley, from 1920 to 1927, when Alley went to China.

Norman died at age 68, in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand.

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couple
Roy Ayling (left) and Norman Gibson (right)

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Roy Ayling and his lover Norman Gibson farmed together at Kaimiro, up Mt Taranaki from Inglewood, New Zealand.

Norman

"Roy Ayling, the elder man, had told me how he had seen the younger Norman Gibson while at the war, poised for a dive when they were swimming, and loved his beautiful body. When they came back he had left his accountancy business in Auckland and put his money into this farm with his friend. In those days homosexuality wasn't mentioned, and I am sure there was none in a physical sense between these two men. Brought up as we were on the story of David and Jonathan, whose love 'exceeded the love of women', the relationship between them was perfectly natural and even admirable to us and our parents."

They lived as nudists and had a circle of nudist friends, including Rewi Alley and his partner Jack Stevens, who subsistence-farmed at Moeawatea, 30 km up the Whenuakura valley from Waverley, from 1920 to 1927, when Alley went to China.

Roy left Norman in 1931 and both married, though they stayed in touch. Norman's daughter became lesbian activist Miriam Saphira. In her biography of her father, A Man's Man - which includes a series of nude "physique" photographs of him - she is convinced their relationship was physical.

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Sources: written by Hugh Young © 1995-2002 Queer History New Zealand - http://www.pridenz.com/roy_ayling_and_norman_gibson.html - Toss Woollaston, Sage Tea, Collins, Auckland, 1980, p. 187

Nude picture: Norman Gibson posing in a studio photograph, London, 1919. Image courtesy of Miriam Saphira Gibson

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