Overview Errol first arrived in Te Anau from Auckland to work as a ranger for the Fiordland National Park Board in the mid-1960s. He soon discovered that commercial deerhunting, a job for which he had previously gained experience as a Forest Service culler in the North Island, was a more lucrative option. At about the same time, the first helicopter assisted meathunting began in the Te Anau Basin and it wasn't long before Sir Tim Wallis invited Errol to join his deer recovery operation, Luggate Game...

Overview The face behind the voice, Carol Brown, has spent the last thirty-five years being the personal link for crews working on helicopter venison recovery or commercial fishing in the Sounds and Fiordland hinterland. From the relative comfort of her kitchen in Te Anau, Carol kept in daily contact with Alpine Helicopters staff when she first accepted the role of radio co-ordinator on a voluntary basis in 1973. Eventually, her input was recognised financially and she continues to provide radio contact...

Overview The Baker family's connections with the Te Anau Basin go back more than half a century when Russell's father worked on the electrical supplies during the last stages of the Homer Tunnel construction. By 1964 Te Anau had become the family's permanent home and it wasn't long before Russell combined two of his favourite pastimes deer-hunting and aviation. In the late 1960s he was involved in venison recovery as a meathunter and after passing his commercial pilot's licence in 1975 he used fixed...

Overview It was 1960 when Dick Deaker first set foot in Fiordland as a schoolboy introduced to deerhunting expeditions. Three years later, he was back on a more permanent basis having started work as a deer culler in the nearby Takitimu Mountains and the Murchison Mountains/Takahe area. It wasn't long after gaining a private pilot's licence in 1968 that he combined his two great interests — hunting and aviation. By bringing out the deer he shot in his fixed wing Piper Cub, he could sell for a relatively...

Overview Vernon Thompson has been hunting wild deer since boyhood. A rapid rise in deer numbers in the south by the late 1950s meant he and his brothers, Bill and Nelson, were able to turn a weekend interest into a commercial enterprise. At first, using boats built in their fathers woolshed, the Thompson boys kept within the Lake Monowai and southem coastal areas. But increasing competition pushed Vernon to move to Te Anau where he was able to work as a groundhunter on the lake shores as well as those...

Overview William Arthur (Bill) Black has become a well-known figure both in aviation circles and among the general population of New Zealand as a result of his search and rescue activities in the south. From a young age he developed a keen interest in aeroplanes and bought his first Tiger Moth while still a teenager. Only a couple of years later he was working as a commercial pilot for Te Anau-based company, Ritchie Air Services, when as well as scenic flights he was providing air-freight services for...

Overview The tourism industry has been an essential contributor to the local economy of the Te Anau Basin since the formation of the Milford Track in the late 1800s. Following the opening of a vehicle route to Milford Sound in the 1950s, the number of visitors to the district has grown to the extent that an estimated 650,000 people a year spend at least a few hours at Milford. Dave Moss, has just retired from the local hospitality industry after about 35 years involvement. First, he was at Milford...

Overview A retired farmer, Lovat has experienced life on very different rural properties in the Te Anau Basin. As a child he and his brothers grew up amid the tussocks and sheep of a small pastoral run, The Gorge. During his early married life, he experienced farming in eastern Southland and at Mossburn until 1970 when he was one of the successful applicants of the ballot system for the government's new farm settlements in the Te Anau Basin. During this interview Lovat gives a personal account of the...