Phil Garland meticulously researched and then wrote songs about some of the early settlers, miners, swagmen and characters that lived in New Zealand, especially those from South Island. He was a natural left hander but played the guitar as a right hander because that was how the diagrams in the books told you to play.

He was a dance caller and played with several bands over the years including 'big uglies, he and I have been trying to put a 'small ugly' together since December but never got it together.

He recently lost his partner, Jan, which knocked him badly and has had ongoing health problems in recent years. He went into hospital for treatment but died overnight.

I got to know him in the last three years but most Kiwis would know him much better than me.

He has left a lot of us much poorer for his absence but better for knowing him.