Gloriavale: Employment Court chief judge visits West Coast commune

As lunchtime nears, a young Gloriavale woman stands on a metal step dipping a giant wooden spoon into a steaming hot vat, like a paddler working against a tide of macaroni cheese.

In one of the most isolated kitchens in the country, a visit by the Employment Court's chief judge was a little daunting.

"Sorry, it's just a little nerve-racking with a whole lot of people," she confesses, although Christina Inglis is not here to judge her cooking.

The court had come to Gloriavale to better understand the evidence presented in a case brought by six former members who claim they were exploited, treated like slaves and exposed to workplace sexual harassment and abuse.

Three of the women - Pearl Valor, Virginia Courage and her daughter Anna Courage - joined the chief judge, lawyers and reporters on a two-hour tour of the Christian commune on Friday, led by Gloriavale members Sarah Standtrue and Purity Valor.

Valor's husband Samuel Valor is a Shepherd and one of five Gloriavale defendants in the case.

As the macaroni simmered in the super-size steam kettle, other women washed fruit, sliced bread and turned out trays of chocolate muffins.

The court party wove around stainless steel benches and kitchen equipment, including an old dishwasher reportedly on the "death list".

The leavers claim they worked long hours without breaks in the kitchen, where outdated equipment would sometimes fail, and are seeking a ruling they were Gloriavale employees.

Purity Valor introduces two young women cheese-milling in the dairy room, one of whom shifts from one foot to the other, near a paint-chipped butter churner.

"It was brand-new when we started to use it, just in case you're wondering," she said.

The kitchen leads to the extravagantly decorated dining room, where walls are splashed with colourful jungle murals, fringed by fake palm trees and a working clock tower.

"If you want to keep your children occupied at mealtimes you give them paintings to look at," Valor said.

Stuffed lions watch over the room and a model aeroplane hang from the ceiling.

Bibles lie on communal tables, while news articles about the Employment Court case were pinned to a noticeboard on the wall.

Everyone knows their place here, Valor said.

"They're assigned. To fit everybody in you have to have some type of organisation. They're all seated in family groups around the room," she said.

Chief Judge Inglis also visited the preschool and school, where young children clamber around playgrounds and girls in blue dresses and aprons learn to bake.

"Whatever you don't do with your mum at home, you do the rest here," Purity Valor said.

Wall-to-wall industrial-size washing machines and dryers whir in the laundry, where loads are pre-sorted and folded in named family boxes, although Gloriavale insisted it is not a commercial operation.

A steam press hisses in a small windowless room off the laundry, where young women iron in silence in a row along the wall.

Three colossal clotheslines could only hang a third of the day's washing, Valor said.

"Normally we'd only hang the men's cover-alls, towels - which take a lot of energy to dry - sheets and all the baby nappies and trainers," she said.

Purity Valor usually works in the attic sewing room, with spectacular views across Lake Haupiri.

The room was empty except for a mature woman working at a machine in the corner, who quietly said "I'm enjoying myself" as the court group passed by.

Gloriavale's accommodation blocks house almost 600 people, with double beds and bunks in family rooms, some of which have ensuites.

Here Chief Judge Inglis was introduced to Anchor, an excited four-year-old boy keen to meet Gloriavale's special visitor and shake her hand.

Anchor initially claimed he was six before changing his story, although amused onlookers noted he was not the first person to try to mislead a member of the judiciary.

Outside bush-clad mountains rise above the lawn to the lake - a wildly beautiful part of the West Coast with a sometimes ugly past.

The court returns to Christchurch on Monday, when Gloriavale's Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple will give evidence.