Interviewee: Colin Maxwell King

Date recorded: 14 December 2005

Interviewer and abstractor: Morag Forrester

Tape counter: Sony TCM 393

Tape 1 Side A

003: States he is COLIN MAXWELL KING and that he was born at the MATERNITY HOME, INVERCARGILL on 5/MARCH/1935. Adds that his PARENTS lived at GREENHILLS, north of BLUFF.

015: Replies his FATHER was HAROLD HENRY KING who for 27 years worked as a BUTCHER at the FREEZING WORKS (OCEAN BEACH).

022: His GRANDFATHER, he says, was a FARMER at PUKEMAORI (near TUATAPERE) and was called HENRY, adding that he died a victim of the “big flu” (the global epidemic of 1918) and was buried at the TUATAPERE cemetery.

032: Says his maternal GRANDFATHER was MCINTYRE by surname while his maternal GRANDMOTHER was from the CLARK family who through four generations had never left GREENHILLS.

041: Considers that the MCINTYRES were from SCOTLAND and had probably immigrated as convicts to AUSTRALIA before making their way to NEW ZEALAND where they worked as QUARRYMEN at the GREENHILLS QUARRY which provided materials for INVERCARGILL and BLUFF.

049: The KING family’s origins were ENGLISH, he believes from third-hand information. Adds that some distant relations live in the KENNINGTON area.

080: Mentions that he has one SISTER, JOYCE (WILLS), who is five years younger than him. She still lives at GREENHILLS, he adds.

087: They went to GREENHILLS PRIMARY, he continues, which was a two-roomed SCHOOL.

092: Recalls that at a young age he knew he wanted to become a FARMER so he left school and ran away from home at the age of fourteen. Having never been past INVERCARGILL, he says, he arrived at LYNWOOD STATION (TE ANAU) where he was employed by HARRY ANDERSON (RUNHOLDER) for thirteen weeks.

100: From there, he goes on, he found work at the neighbouring MARAROA STATION, then on to BLACKMOUNT STATION (near MONOWAI) for about a year before taking up MUSTERING work at TE ANAU DOWNS, NOKOMAI, through OMARAMA and the ASHBURTON GORGE to NORTH CANTERBURY.

113: Backtracked by the interviewer, he says he left school due to lack of interest.

121: Recalls that HAROLD ANDERSON had only taken over LYNWOOD a couple of years before he arrived and that it was only a few years after he left that the STATION was sold to the government (DEPARTMENT of LANDS & SURVEY).

128: Mentions he was paid about ten pounds a week, board included, while working at LYNWOOD. Adds that he lived in one of three (SHEPHERD’S) HUTS on the property and remembers his first night there with a story about a cat having kittens.

142: Says it was springtime when he worked at LYNWOOD so he helped with LAMBING. Calculates that there were about 3000 SHEEP and 600 CATTLE on the STATION that year.

152: Recalls that in 1949 the area from the bottom of the KAKAPO SWAMP down to FLAXY CREEK was just the one PADDOCK – the rest, he says, was TUSSOCK and SCRUB.

156: Remembers that an old RABBITER (surname of THOMPSON, he thinks) lived at the old HOMESTEAD site at the top of the hill (where LYNWOOD CEMETERY now stands). Says the man was stone deaf and laughs about spending weekend afternoons talking to someone who couldn’t hear while they went about chasing RABBITS.

163: On the TUSSOCK country, he says, some of the CATTLE grazed as far as the WHITESTONE (RIVER).

167: Below the KAKAPO SWAMP, he continues, there were two 200-acre PADDOCKS – the KAKAPO PADDOCK before the WHITESTONE BRIDGE and the WHITESTONE PADDOCK, which was on the left after it.

176: Mentions that at SHEARING time, he was paid 10s/hour to pickup the fleeces. The SHEARERS names, he says, were BAYNE MILLER and BRUCE SINCLAIR while he was the ROUSABOUT and there was also a PRESSER.

186: Of the RUNHOLDER, HAROLD ANDERSON, he describes him as quite a religious man who was a hard worker. Previously, he says, ANDERSON had a GRAVEL-CARTING contract at NORTHOPE, using horse and dray.

194: Recalls that ANDERSON would not allow beer on the property but they got round that one. Once a week, he says, a worker would deliver milk from LYNWOOD to the TE ANAU HOTEL where the proprietor agreed to put twelve bottles of beer into a milk can and they drank that through the week.

198: Adds that they got rid of the empties “on the hill somewhere”.

201: The other workers on the STATION were TRACTOR DRIVER, BRUCE ANDERSON and IVAN ADCOCK who was the SHEPHERD.

206: Replies that HAROLD ANDERSON and his WIFE, (ELIZABETH) had two CHILDREN, including a DAUGHTER who lives in WYNDHAM and whose married name is CAROLYN ROBERTSON.

217: States that the RUNHOLDER was continuously trying to make improvements to the property by ploughing and digging to create more pasture out of the TUSSOCK and SCRUB.

219: “We’d leave in the morning with the TRACTOR, two of us; we wouldn’t come home at night till we’d finished a 44-gallon drum of petrol for the day.”

222: Most of the ploughing, he says, was done on either side of the main highway, on the flats.

228: At STOCK SALE time, he says, he thinks the LAMBS were trucked to MOSSBURN where they were taken by rail to the FREEZING WORKS further south.

235: Mentions there was not much interaction between the FARM STATIONS, mainly because of the distances involved.

246: Of TE ANAU township, he says, there was the HOTEL, one GARAGE and a GROCERY STORE situated off it. He also recalls that postal deliveries were three times a week

261: Referring back to LYNWOOD, he replies that the SHEEP were only grazed on the flats and for about a mile above the WHITESTONE BRIDGE but not further because it was all TUSSOCK country thereafter.

264: After LYNWOOD, it was on to MARAROA where he worked for (JOHN) COCKBURN. Says he mostly did SHEPHERDING, MUSTERING, TAILING and SHEARING.

273: Recalls that being so much younger than other FARMHANDS “they used to give me a hard time, make me run a lot and do all the dirty jobs”.

274: Of the other workers at MARAROA, he remembers CYRIL MACAULEY and LES MORTON while JIM MCGIMPSEY was the MANAGER and DOUG DICKSON was HEAD SHEPHERD.

283: Relates a tale about one of the “old HANDS” who lived in the backblocks of the STATION properties, usually subsisting on DEERSTALKING or POSSUM HUNTING. “All the STATIONS, when I was a kid, had an old HAND –even this place; when I came here we had an old HAND here.”

287: Goes on to relate a story about old BILL CRICHTON who roamed between LYNWOOD and MARAROA STATIONS and died just outside MOSSBURN as he was being taken to hospital in INVERCARGILL.

309: Talks about another old HAND, JIM NEWMAN, who lived in a bush HUT on BURWOOD STATION which at that time included MAVORA. Relates examples of how NEWMAN ended up in front of the magistrate’s court following nights out in INVERCARGILL.

330: Returning to his work at MARAROA, he says the STATION ran probably twice as many SHEEP as at LYNWOOD – about 6,000 although it had fewer CATTLE than BURWOOD and CENTRE HILL STATIONS.

336: His next job in the TE ANAU/WAIAU area was at BLACKMOUNT STATION, run by the TURNBULLS, in 1950/51 for about a year. Goes on to say that at that time it spread across 66,000 acres – up to the TAKITIMUS, along REDCLIFF CREEK, and round to the MONOWAI POWER STATION.

341: Comments that there was no road between BLACKMOUNT HOMESTEAD and REDCLIFF STATION.

343: During the winter, he says, he was employed to shoot old HORSES. It was at a time, he adds, when WORK HORSES were made redundant as more properties acquired TRACTORS. The animals were put on the train to TUATAPERE from where they were trucked to BLACKMOUNT.

351: Wild PIGS were another problem in the hills and through the SCRUB country, he says. Horsemeat laced with phosphorous was used as bait for poisoning the PIGS. Person recorded: Colin King

352: At LAMBING time, he says, it would take him four days on horseback to get round all the STOCK on the STATION, keeping the PIGS at bay and the SHEEP on their feet.

363: Says there were about 8,000 SHEEP on the property in those days, again on the big flats. Adds that BLACKMOUNT EWES were (and still are) sought after by buyers because they were bred on the HILL COUNTRY.

374: Replies there were only a couple of hundred head of CATTLE on BLACKMOUNT then.

378: Mentions there were about four HANDS including GEOFF MEAD, who years later drowned in the LILLBURN RIVER, as well as ROGER and JIM TURNBULL (the owners).

392: Referring back to the redundant HORSES, he explains that they were brought onto the property to provide bait for the wild PIGS. So, he would shoot the HORSES, cut their stomachs open, return a week later and fill the gaping stomachs with phosphorous pollen which would kill the PIGS that gorged on the killed carcasses.

397: Affirms RABBITS were another pest so he would go night-shooting on the flats. Also DEER were a problem as they roamed downfrom the TAKITIMUS for grass on the flats.

406: After BLACKMOUNT he did his stint of COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING aged 19 years (1954) at BURNHAM MILITARY COLLEGE. This lasted about 13 weeks. Afterwards, he did some MUSTERING work on various properties including TE ANAU DOWNS STATION.

411: States he worked at TE ANAU DOWNS, off and on, over the following twenty years. Firstly for JOHN CHARTRES, then his son, DONALD CHARTRES and latterly for DONALD’S widow, JO CHARTRES.

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005: Continues giving details about his SOUTH ISLAND stints of MUSTERING work, starting at BURWOOD STATION for the HAZLETT family. Recalls there were 2,000 (HEREFORD) CATTLE put out to graze the MAVORA LAKES area and they were brought in around AUGUST to calve.

013: Next he went south to TOKANUI for LAMBING SEASON (SEPTEMBER) and then WAIMATE for more LAMBING work, back down to BLACKMOUNT, TE ANAU DOWNS and then up to OMARAMA where he joined a “flying gang” which worked across eight STATIONS just south of the MCKENZIE COUNTRY for about six months. He worked with the gang for four years.

033: Explains that the “flying gang” was a group of FARMHANDS consisting of IAN MCKENZIE, ALEX STALKER, JIM HOPE, JACK KEAN and himself and that they worked from STATION to STATION doing HIGH COUNTRY MUSTERING.

066: Most of the SHEEP, he says, were of the MERINO breed which is a hardy survivor in extreme weather conditions. Adds that it is an ideal HIGH COUNTRY breed.

084: It took about six months, he continues, to do the round-robin trip with the “flying gang”. Adds that he was paid about 3 pounds a day with lunch provided. This, he recalls, was made in the winter (bread and meat sandwiches) and put in the deep freeze so that when it was handed over each morning it was frozen solid but he would tuck it into his shirt and by lunchtime it was ready to eat.

100: Mentions working at NOKOMAI STATION, which he did before joining the “flying gang” in 1954. The STATION, he says, was runby FRANK HORE and managed by FRANK MCGLAUGHLIN.

109: Recalls they also hired about six SHEPHERDS and a TRACTOR DRIVER.

115: When they MUSTERED, he says, from the HOMESTEAD they went through to BEN NEVIS and helped MUSTER there as well as the NEVIS VALLEY. Says it took them 28 days to complete and that they took five PACKHORSES for their supplies.

119: Remembers that one of the HORSES carried their bread which they were still eating at the end of the 28 days.

122: As well as bringing the NEVIS VALLEY SHEEP in, he says, they were required to eye-clip them, gather in the stragglers and do a bit of fencing around the area.

139: Each time they reached the next MUSTERER’S HUT, they would kill a SHEEP to provide food for both the men and the dogs. CHAFF for the horses was carried in.

150: Calculates that in total there were about seven or eight HUTS that they used, mostly one-roomed in which the men would bunk together. Names the team that year as ERIC WHITE (HEAD SHEPHERD), BOB METHERILL (of ELFIN BAY), JOCK MACAULEY, JIM STEWART and himself.

174: During bad weather conditions, he replies, they had to stay in the hut, adding that in the HIGH COUNTRY, fog is often the worst problem to have to deal with in the autumn.

195: “I did a lot of chasing WILD CATTLE when I was younger” he says adding that TE ANAU DOWNS STATION was known among farming circles for keeping WILD CATTLE.

199: That said, he recalls, they were easier to handle than the WILD CATTLE through the HOLLYFORD VALLEY. The latter, he says, would chase you. “Once they could see you they’d go lookin’ for you.”

203: At TE ANAU DOWNS, he replies, they were all HEREFORD CATTLE, but in the HOLLYFORD there were also a few old DAIRY COWS or some that were a HEREFORD/JERSEY cross.

210: Affirms that the HOLLYFORD CATTLE were those of the MARTINS BAY/HOLLYFORD RUNHOLDER, DAVID GUNN, who died in a drowning accident on CHRISTMAS DAY, 1955.

211: Says that he and two others (JACK JENKINS and BOB ENSAW) agreed on a contract (for the PUBLIC TRUST COMPANY) to land 100-head of the HOLLYFORD CATTLE at LORNEVILLE.

213: Continues that they had to provide for themselves and as they didn’t have enough HORSES, they snared two wild ones around HIDDEN FALLS which they also sold at LORNEVILLE.

221: Explains that it took six weeks in the BUSH to muster the CATTLE to the HOLLYFORD ROAD end, followed by another 13 days to complete the trip, droving the herd all they way to LORNEVILLE.

225: Referring back to his work at TE ANAU DOWNS STATION, he says he was employed by JOHN CHARTRES on a casual basis on about three pounds a day to round up the wild cattle on the property.

228: Other workers apart from DONALD CHARTRES, he names as JACK McCHESNEY who also worked as a MANAGER on NOKOMAI STATION, JACK CHAPMAN and BRUCE STODDARD.

236: Mentions that he also worked on JOHN CHARTRES’ MOSSBURN property during the winter, mainly PLOUGHING and TRACTOR DRIVING.

238: Says while there they stayed in the stable on the property. Inside, he says, it had a fireplace in the corner with tin sheeting around it so that when a fire was lit, they couldn’t see each other for smoke.

244: Replies that JOHN CHARTRES was a good employer adding that, unlike some others, he was more than fair about paying what was due.

255: Comments that MRS (RUTH) CHARTRES did not work on the property, nor did she do any of the cooking for the men who stayed at the RETFORD COTTAGE - not the HOMESTEAD with the family.

268: States that he is disappointed that all the “back country has been torn apart by the DEPARTMENT of CONSERVATION and MILFORD (SOUND) is ruined…with the tourists in there.” [This comment refers partly to the expansion of the FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK boundaries which affected the grazing rights at TE ANAU DOWNS STATION as a result of government policy in the 1950s. The NATIONAL PARK borders the STATION at the EGLINTON VALLEY through which SH94 cuts on its way to the tourist destination of MILFORD SOUND.]

273: Considers that the only way to overcome the problem of congestion on the tourist route would be to cut a road from JACKSON’S BAY on the WEST COAST through the PYKE/HOLLYFORD VALLEYS to QUEENSTOWN.

281: Affirms that he worked on the last CATTLE MUSTER of TE ANAU DOWNS CATTLE through the EGLINTON VALLEY in 1954. Says the situation arose because government policy declared that the CATTLE were damaging the natural flora and fauna. But, he says, it was not the CATTLE, but DEER that were causing any damage.

289: Says there were 600 CATTLE to bring out from as far up as CASCADE CREEK and down the EGLINTON RIVER flats. States there were none in the hill country. He later says it was the same with the SHEEP which were also allowed to graze on the flats up to CASCADE CREEK until the late 1990s.

296: Traditionally, he says, the CATTLE were mustered every autumn to mark the CALVES in the STATION yard as there were no yards in the VALLEY. However, he agrees there had once been a SHEPHERD’S hut at the EAST BRANCH.

303: Usually, he continues, they would start at CASCADE CREEK and spend a day before reaching just south of KNOB’S FLAT where they stayed the night before continuing on the following day.

317: Mentions that in the 1920s, JOHN CHARTRES, would run SHEEP on MT EGLINTON during the summer, having taken them across FLAXY CREEK and then through a track into the HIGH COUNTRY there. Adds that this took place before the MILFORD ROAD was built.

325: Replies that the CHARTRES continuously resisted the government’s policy towards their grazing rights particularly because it affected the STATION’S income. Says the family was forced therefore to develop a lot more of the freehold property on the STATION.

330: Considers that PETER CHARTRES (descendant) would probably be running the same amount of STOCK in 2005 as had been grazed thirty years previously and yet on a much reduced acreage.

332: Referring back to the 1954 MUSTER, he says the herd of 600 were taken down to MANAPOURI STATION which was run by JOHN CHARTRES’ eldest son, HAROLD. Recalls it took about five days to complete the journey from CASCADE CREEK to the BULL RING (about six miles north of TE ANAU), down to the UPUKERORA RIVER across to the top end of the KAKAPO SWAMP and past LYNWOOD STATION.

345: Recalls that they slept in the wooden HUT which now stands on stilts on DONNY BAKER’S property by the side of SH94. Next day, he continues, it was on to the RIORDAN’S property having had a heavy night on the booze.

347: The next part of the MUSTER was to get the CATTLE across the MARAROA RIVER, which he says was difficult because the BRIDGE was too narrow so they went underneath it.

350: Complains about the state of the RIVER, the banks of which he says have been allowed “by the bureaucrats” to become overgrown with gorse. On his own property, he says he has eleven kilometres of LILLBURN RIVER and “you won’t see gorse in it”.

362: Having got the 600 CATTLE across the MARAROA, they carried on to THE KEY and then turned right for a few kilometres to MANAPOURI STATION.

372: Refers to DAVID GUNN of the HOLLYFORD VALLEY in that he would sometimes help out at TE ANAU DOWNS when they were rounding up the WILD CATTLE.

374: Recalls spending some nights with DAVID GUNN, listening to stories of previous times in the HOLLYFORD and at MARTINS BAY.

381: Says that GUNN told him that before the MILFORD ROAD was built, he would bring his CATTLE through the HOLLYFORD to DEADMAN’S CAMP, up over the top to the DIVIDE, into the GREENSTONE VALLEY to MAVORA LAKES and on to CENTRE HILL and MOSSBURN.

386: Relates a story which GUNN told him about losing a money cheque for 27 pounds that was to last him the year. The upshot of the story was that it was a year later that he found the cheque while going through his HORSE packs.

395: Another story refers to GUNN helping at TE ANAU DOWNS and how he’d advised the much younger COLIN KING to stand back as he tussled a two-year old WILD BULL.

400: Describes GUNN as fit and wiry and mentions the name JEAN PRUSS – a woman who helped out GUNN’S tour guide enterprise through the HOLLYFORD. Says PRUSS also helped GUNN out by doing housekeeping chores at the CAMP.

402: Of the tour guide venture, which involved PACKHORSES, he says GUNN also employed ED COTTER (an ALPINE CLUB member) and JACK JENKINS.

410: Referring back to the HOLLYFORD CATTLE, he says it was “different MUSTERING in there to anywhere: the CATTLE were all wild”. Over such a large area of land (stretching from MARTINS BAY on the WEST COAST almost to THE DIVIDE), he says, GUNN ran only about 400 CATTLE. However, most of the time the herd stayed on the flat pastures at BIG BAY until they were brought out each year to the stock yards at LORNEVILLE. It was a journey which took months not days. GUNN did build FENCES and CATTLE YARDS both at BIG BAY and at stopping points through the long route along the HOLLYFORD.

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006: Continuing the discussion on the CATTLEYARDS, he says that they had to build them in the KAIPO before the 1956 MUSTER took place. Once started, he says, it was necessary to form a decoy mob, explaining how this was done with a handful of WILD CATTLE over several days.

026: Says they spent about a week in the KAIPO before making their way out to the coast. Mentions that they had to “peg the tide” at MCKENZIES (homestead at MARTINS BAY), adding that it was the failure to do so that resulted in the death by drowning of some MUSTERERS who took on the same job the following year.

045: Recalls there were WILD CATTLE roaming MARTINS BAY and that because the bush cover was so thick there was no evidence of any harm being done to the foliage by their presence.

056: After about five days in MARTINS BAY, he says they drove the CATTLE round SEAL POINT where they had to lay timber across a large rock barrier in order to pass through to continue the twelve miles to BIG BAY.

062: There, he says, any CATTLE they did come across had some JERSEY cross and were “very toey”.

064: Four days passed and they moved on from BIG BAY over the tops into the UPPER PYKE VALLEY. Says they MUSTERED the cattle to the foot of the RED MOUNTAINS.

072: It was on then to the SHELTER HUT north of LAKES WILMOT and ALABASTER. Recalls the track from the SHELTER HUT was very narrow: “We lost a few cattle over the bluff there.”

084: The next stopping point was at the BARRIER where, he says, they had to round up a lot of CATTLE.

091: Recalls they had to build a semi-submerged bridge over the OLIVINE RIVER to get the CATTLE across.

106: Says they then reached the LOWER PYKE where it merges with the HOLLYFORD and then out along the banks of the latter. Mentions they crossed the river seven times between LOWER PYKE and HIDDEN FALLS because of the bluffs.

121: Comments that he shot forty DEER when they were at the BARRIER.

126: The journey continued from HIDDEN FALLS to the HOLLYFORD CAMP where they spent two days before moving on south to LORNEVILLE.

129: Recalls that on reaching the MILFORD ROAD, they were met by a tour bus on its way to MILFORD SOUND and its passengers got out and took photos. As a result, he says, it took them about an hour to round up the CATTLE again which got spooked by so many people.

137: Stopping points along the way began with CASCADE CREEK, then on to BOYD CREEK at the edge of TE ANAU DOWNS STATION. Recalls it was the first time the CATTLE had ever been in a paddock.

148: Next day, he continues, it was on to TE ANAU DOWNS where they stopped for a day, then on to the BULL RING (just north of TE ANAU), across the UPUKERORA RIVER to the KAKAPO SWAMP and on to LYNWOOD STATION where they stopped another night.

167: The following day, he says, it was on to BURWOOD STATON, CENTRE HILL STATION and from there to MOSSBURN and a stop on JOHN CHARTRES’ property there (as mentioned previously).

181: Next day, the journey continued to DIPTON and WINTON until finally they reached their destination at LORNEVILLE.

186: “There were some big STEERS; some of them were ten years old...bloody antlers…horns on them.”

187: Replies that they did not get all the CATTLE out of the HOLLYFORD, that they left a large number behind, possibly up to 300. But he adds that they were only contracted to bring out 100.

190: Says the next team of contractors that went in did not succeed in getting any CATTLE out, while another team drowned.

207: Remembers that although they were paid for the work “we drank it all on the way down, we were in debt when we finished (laughs)”.

212: Mentions that after DAVEY GUNN’S death, he had applied to take over the lease on the run through MARTINS BAY and the HOLLYFORD. “I just wanted to get up to the HIGH COUNTRY, away to hell and gone.”

220: Responding to question, he says that during GUNN’S time any expenses in running the CATTLE through there would have been nil.

226: Affirms there would have been enough for the animals to feed on – on all the river flats: the BARRIER, KAIPO, MARTINS BAY.

231: When the CATTLE went bush, he says, they usually headed for the swampy areas and it was up to the dogs to hunt them out.

236: “You never ever flook WILD CATTLE. You get two or three running into the (decoy) mob without a dog on them, they’re gonna have a go at you sooner or later. They’re gonna try and break away.”

243: Recalls that DAVEY GUNN’S HORSES were used to the bush work. They would look around the trees to see their way through the forest, he says. Also says that one trip a year with the CATTLE going through was enough to keep the track open – it did not have to be cut down.

248: After the CATTLE were brought out, he comments, the DEER took over because although he shot so many at the BARRIER, there had been none in the KAIPO, MARTINS BAY or BIG BAY and that they (and the dogs) had lived off fish and PARADISE DUCKS.

261: Believes that a proposed road should be built from JACKSON BAY on the WEST COAST down the PYKE and HOLLYFORD VALLEYS to join up with the HOLLYFORD ROAD. Suggests it should be a toll road to make it pay its way.

277: Comments that if instead a proposed tunnel route were built from QUEENSTOWN to the HOLLYFORD ROAD end, TE ANAU would become like the more southerly towns of TUATAPERE and OHAI, “it’s going to die”.

282: Returning to 1956, he says that after the HOLLYFORD MUSTER, he and BOB ENSAW went south to TIWAI POINT to MUSTER SHEEP in the days before the COMALCO aluminium smelter was built.

286: It was back then to MID-CANTERBURY where he MUSTERED around the STATIONS such as MOUNT POSSESSION and EREWHON.

292: Referring to how he ended up at WAIAU HEREFORD STUD, he says it was partly due to the perseverance of his predecessor (TED EDMUNDS) who insisted the participant was the best person to take over from him.

300: Eventually, he says, they drew up a partnership agreement to cover the following five years. However, after four years, his predecessor died leaving him to take over under the terms of their agreement, which, he admits was no easy task financially.

312: He recalls there were several hurdles including death duty taxation on land prices that had sky rocketed in four years, newly introduced stock taxes, and interest rates of 27%.

319: “Every time I’ve had problems it’s been government moving round, shifting the goal posts.”

330: Says that in the latter 1950s DONALD CHARTRES was preparing to take over the running of TE ANAU DOWNS STATION from his father, JOHN CHARTRES.

345: However, he continues, although DONALD was in charge, JOHN still wrote the cheques, admitting that as with most families there was often tension between the two.

347: Comments that JOHN had always been a hard worker while he could not describe DONALD as being similar.

360: Reiterates that for about twenty years he would go back and forth to TE ANAU DOWNS each year, even after he was married.

364: Remembers one occasion when he and his WIFE, FAY, and their nine-year old DAUGHTER, SHARON, went from their FARM at CASTLEROCK to help DONALD CHARTRES round up SHEEP in the EGLINTON VALLEY.

374: Interview closes; tape stopped and allowed to run clear to the end.

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A second recording took place again at the participant’s home on 21 JANUARY 2006 on a busy day on the property, partly due to an improved change in the weather. As a result, the participant starts the recording sounding slightly out of breath.

013: Referring back to DAVID GUNN and his death in 1955, he says the double-drowning accident happened the year before he went in to MUSTER the 100-head of CATTLE under contract to the PUBLIC TRUST COMPANY.

[The accident happened on CHRISTMAS DAY, 1955 when DAVID GUNN was bringing a small party of people out of the VALLEY at the end of a guided trip down to MARTINS BAY. GUNN and a twelve-year old boy, WARREN SHAW, were on the same HORSE making its way across the LOW FORD at HIDDEN FALLS when it stumbled and fell. Both riders went in with it and it seems that as the HORSE got back on its feet, they came off the saddle and were swept away. SHAW’S body was later found by the riverbank but no trace was ever found of DAVID GUNN.]

023: Although he wasn’t witness to the accident, he says he spoke to JACK JENKINS who had accompanied DAVID GUNN on the day and that JENKINS told him how he saw the two standing up when the HORSE fell into the water but when it stood up they got swept away.

035: Thinks that the HORSE survived the accident and that it took part in the MUSTER of 1956.

042: Affirms that he was one of the people who built a commemorative cairn for DAVID GUNN which is situated near the confluence of the HOLLYFORD and PYKE RIVERS.

077: Mentions again that he had applied to take over DAVID GUNN’S lease for the HOLLYFORD and MARTINS BAY RUN even though he knew the authorities wanted to get all the CATTLE out of the area because it had been designated part of the FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK conservation zone in 1953.

088: Returning to his family life, he says he married his WIFE, FAY, in 1958. Her family name was COLYER, adding that although their respective parents were old friends, they first met at NOKOMAI but didn’t pair up until they met again at a dance. (Slightly later he says he was a regular at the dances in the MASONIC LODGE, INVERCARGILL, so it is assumed they met there.)

095: Says FAY grew up in INVERCARGILL where her father had a joinery factory, COLYER & GREEN.

106: After courting for about three years, he says, they were engaged to be married for about eighteen months before the wedding took place in MARCH 1958 at the NORTH INVERCARGILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

118: Although she was a “city girl”, he says FAY, like himself, had always wanted to live on a FARM, although perhaps not quite as big as they now have.

133: The honeymoon, he says, was spent driving round the SOUTH ISLAND, adding that it was the one and only time he has ever been in QUEENSTOWN. Person recorded: Colin King

144: Their first home was back at his birthplace of GREENHILLS where they bought 160 acres of land for about 450 pounds. They developed it, he says, and sold it to the BLUFF GOLF COURSE.

151: As well as developing their own FARM, he says, he also worked as MANAGER of TARA DOWNS at OMAUI, GREENHILLS.

156: Before that he remembers working as a WHARFIE at the SHIPPING DOCKS in BLUFF for about three years, which he admits to not enjoying.

159: Mentions that at first the job at TARA DOWNS was only for six months of the year so for the remainder he worked at the FREEZING WORKS in BLUFF. Then as TARA DOWNS increased (its acreage reached about 3000), the MANAGER position became full-time.

165: Replies that he did not enjoy the WHARFIE job mainly because of the labour unions involved there. “I don’t like unions at any cost…they only want to work from eight to five and they want everything and give very little.”

179: Says that at TARA DOWNS, he put up 28 miles of fencing and laid 96,000 drainage tiles. On their own FARM, he says, he laid 19,000 drainage tiles.

184: States that from the outset, FAY has always helped out on the FARM, putting in ditches, milking COWS – that they have always worked together. “I reckon it’s the only way to succeed is to work together.”

190: Comments that wherever they go and whatever they do they are always together; independence does not factor in their relationship. “I think we rely on one another more than most people.”

198: They were at GREENHILLS, he says, for eleven years and moved on to CASTLEROCK for about eight years. Replies that while at GREENHILLS their two CHILDREN were born, DARRYL and SHARON.

203: Replies that the two CHILDREN were taught at GREENHILLS by the same teacher, MURIEL HOSSACK (née OATES) as had taught him in the 1940s. When they moved north, the CHILDREN attended LUMSDEN primary school.

209: Goes on to say that DARRYL later went to SOUTHLAND BOYS HIGH SCHOOL while SHARON attended SOUTHLAND GIRLS HIGH SCHOOL (both in INVERCARGILL).

222: The 600-acre FARM at CASTLEROCK, he explains, was the only one he could afford to buy (at about $70,000) at the time despite getting a good price for the sale of the property at GREENHILLS.

228: Adds that the FARM had once been part of the former CASTLEROCK STATION and that it had also at one time belonged to the ENGLISH family (of BILL ENGLISH, MP for CLUTHA-SOUTHLAND).

230: Says he was quite settled at CASTLEROCK until TED EDMUNDS (his predecessor at WAIAU HEREFORD STUD) sought him out even though the participant explained he was not in a financial position to consider taking on EDMUNDS’ place (as mentioned previously).

237: Recalls that in 1956 he had first worked in the LILLBURN VALLEY just after NEAVES and MCPHERSON had arrived as part of the government’s farm settlement scheme in the district.

248: Expands on the earlier comments on the partnership agreement with EDMUNDS which was due to last five years – enough time for the participant to save the finances to buy half of the property (land and STOCK).

253: Replies that in 1978 the acreage was 2,500 and that the property is now twice the size at 5,000 acres.

257: However, EDMUNDS died before the natural term of the partnership. Recalls that in 1978 EDMUNDS wanted $500,000 for the land which, he adds, was a lot of money then. But, he goes on, four years later on EDMUNDS’ death, the land was valued at $3.2 million.

270: Mentions that it was EDMUNDS who named the property because he had begun breeding HEREFORD STUD CATTLE in 1954, adding that it is probably one of the longest-running breeding farms of its kind in NZ.

278: Comments that he has always liked working with that breed of CATTLE since he was a kid, so doesn’t really know anything else. Considers, though, that HEREFORDS are a hardy breed that do well in rough country.

286: Says he regularly visits similar breeding properties in the US and CANADA in an effort to improve his STUD programme.

306: Despite the high prices overseas, he says he is still able to compete against such markets.

313: Apart from the STUD BULLS, the property also runs about 300 COMMERCIAL COWS for sale as beef.

317: Recalls there were 6,000 stock units when he took over WAIAU HEREFORD STUD and now there are 18,000 s.u.

320: He puts the increase down to developing the land as well as increasing the size of the property. At present, he adds, 10kms of drainage are being put in each year.

328: Being on the edge of the FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK, he says, has not proved helpful in his development of the property. “DOC are not on my CHRISTMAS card list, full stop. They’re hard to deal with. Everything’s got to be their way.”

334: One of the problems, he says, in dealing with the government’s conservation body is that halfway through a job the person he was corresponding with has moved on and been replaced by someone new so he has to start all over again. “Unless you’ve got it in writing, you’re in big trouble.”

343: Replies that since 1977 when he and his family moved to the LILLBURN VALLEY, he has been at TE ANAU DOWNS less often. However, he did help MUSTER CATTLE for the CHARTRES family on one occasion which took about a week.

357: Considers that PETER CHARTRES has developed more of the farmland on TE ANAU DOWNS than his father, DONALD ever did, and possibly more than his grandfather who did not have the machinery that is available today.

360: Goes on to say that with TE ANAU DOWNS also being on the edge of the FIORDLAND NATIONAL PARK boundary then PETER CHARTRES is always going to have a problem with DOC. “They’re going to keep wearing at him all the time. Everything he does they’re watching him.”

363: As an example, he cites one occasion when there were CATTLE in the BITE behind BALD HILL and someone made an official complaint. Yet, he adds, it’s not possible to fence the area off and therefore it’s impossible to prevent the CATTLE from drifting in there.

[By 1998 all grazing rights in the EGLINTON VALLEY were revoked by the DEPARTMENT of CONSERVATION (DOC). First gazetted in the late 1800s as RUN 461, it later became part of the leasehold land of its larger neighbour, TE ANAU DOWNS STATION. It is understood that the CHARTRES family was granted freehold rights of part of the STATION property in the early 1990s, except for land in the EGLINTON VALLEY which had been included in the NATIONAL PARK boundary.]

376: Facing similar grazing boundary issues on his property in the LILLBURN, he replies that all of his boundaries with the NATIONAL PARK are fenced off. When he first took over, he admits, the CATTLE often strayed into the bush but nowadays they have less of an inclination to do so, preferring the grass in the developed paddocks.

391: Reiterates an earlier comment that the STOCK (SHEEP and CATTLE) on TE ANAU DOWNS grazed as far as CASCADE CREEK but no further. Says MUSTERING them was a relatively easy job because the animals followed the line of the EGLINTON RIVER.

410: Says there were 6,000 SHEEP and about 600 COWS and although there were the SHEEPYARDS at BOYDS (on the boundary with the FNP) they drove the STOCK all the way to the main YARDS (by the RETFORD).

416: Affirms that there had once been a SHEPHERD’S hut at the EAST BRANCH of the EGLINTON RIVER and that they would sometimes tether the horses there overnight.

418: Replies that the SHEEP never moved up to the higher ground, preferring to stay n the riverflat. “You never had to go into the bush to chase them, they just ran out whenever you made a noise.”

419: The biggest problem with traffic on the highway, he says, was people getting out and taking photographs and making a lot of noise which would startle the STOCK.

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Tape 3 Side A starts

006: Following on from his last comment, he says some drivers would toot their horns which resulted in chaos for the MUSTERERS.

036: Mentions that FESCUE was cultivated at the MOUSETRAP, between the DUNTON CREEK and the RETFORD STREAM. FESCUE was a type of grass, initially imported from ENGLAND, which was very hardy and became increasingly popular for use on airstrips and sports grounds. In NEW ZEALAND it was known as CHEWINGS FESCUE after GEORGE CHEWINGS of MOSSBURN who was one of the first to promote its qualities. During WWII, the export price dramatically increased because of the need to build airstrips. It continued to render good profits until the mid-1950s when the US (the major export market) began growing its own FESCUE. Person recorded: Colin King

040: Years later (early 1970s), he says, DONALD CHARTRES ploughed the grazing land in the EGLINTON VALLEY and laid what is called BROWN TOP (another type of introduced grass seed similar to FESCUE).

056: Comments that the authorities will be “very sorry” for ceasing the STATION’S grazing rights in the EGLINTON VALLEY because of the risk of a serious fire occurring in the long grass.

069: Similarly, he says, in the MAVORA LAKES area which is also now off limits to STOCK. If a fire did occur there, he says, and strong winds prevented intervention by helicopters, then there would be “one helluva mess”.

081: If fires were to break out in the EGLINTON VALLEY, he says, they would be even harder to put out.

094: Describes the changes that occurred in the TE ANAU BASIN due to the government’s FARM SETTLEMENT SCHEME of the 1950s to 1980s. Previously, he says, only the paddocks along the highway had been developed.

109: Considers that the farm development was worthwhile because much of the land had just been waste country. The only criticism he has concerns the state of the MARAROA RIVER (as mentioned earlier) and the amount of GORSE and SCRUB that has been allowed to grow on its banks.

123: Replies that the soil conditions in the TE ANAU BASIN are different from those of the LILLBURN VALLEY in that they are not as water-logged. LYNWOOD and MAVORA, he says, have stonier ground. TE ANAU DOWNS, he adds, would be harder to develop because it does get more rain and therefore has more swampy areas.

130: Some of the FARMS in the BASIN, he says, are very good properties having been developed from what was once “rubbish manuka”.

134: Now though, he adds, they would have to apply for resource consent to take out any manuka that was more than ten years old.

143: Asked about what type of social life he had during the years that he worked as a MUSTERER as a single man, he says he didn’t do much more than “just go to the pub”, adding that dating women was not much of a priority at that time.

155: Says that living in the LILLBURN VALLEY is little different in terms of how often he goes out for social occasions.

170: At OMARAMA, he says, the flying gang would often frequent the local pub but he implies that there was no urgency among them to try to date women; it was not a priority at that stage. He does however joke about one night on their honeymoon when he tried to book a double room at the local hotel and encountered some problems with the hotel landlady.

189: On bringing up their two CHILDREN on a FARM (particularly when they were quite young), he recalls that for about ten years he and FAY never took even a day off.

197: Replies that not every FARMER takes the same approach, that he and FAY were totally dedicated to their chosen occupation.

207: Referring back to TE ANAU DOWNS, he says that after the CATTLE were brought out of the EGLINTON VALLEY in the 1950s, the authorities insisted that the SHEEP also had to be removed to prevent further damage to the native environment of the PARK.

210: Nowadays, he says, with the amount of traffic on the MILFORD ROAD that runs through the VALLEY it would not be easy to have animals grazing there anyway without an electric fence running along the roadside.

213: Adds that he faces traffic problems on the seven kilometres of road that run through his property mainly due to people travelling too fast.

261: Referring to his future plans for the property, he affirms that he hopes to hand over to his son, DARRYL and that he in turn would pass it on to the next generation of KINGS.

287: Interview ends

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