Interviewee: John Donaldson

Interview date: 18 October 2006

Interviewer: Morag Forrester

Tape counter: Sony TCM 939

Tape 1 Side A

004: States he is JOHN MALCOLM DONALDSON and that he was born on 22/SEPTEMBER/1936 in CHRISTCHURCH adding that he grew up in the SPREYDON district.

012: Replies that he was the only male child in a family of SIX and names his SISTERS as PAULINE, BETTY, JUDITH, ALISON and DENISE.

019: His paternal GRANDFATHER, he says, was born in NEW ZEALAND although he understands his descendants emigrated from SCOTLAND.

022: Mentions his FATHER was MALCOLM LINDSAY DONALDSON and that he grew up in ASHBURTON in the late 1800s.

034: Having said that his paternal GRANDFATHER was a train driver, he replies that his FATHER was a truck driver before becoming a clerk for a large electrical importing firm.

042: His MOTHER’S name, he says, was ALICE née SPENCER and her parents emigrated from BLACKBURN, ENGLAND. Her FATHER, he adds, worked in a psychiatric asylum (in NEW ZEALAND).

054: While he was growing up, he recalls, his MOTHER did not work outside of the home, commenting that it was the norm then. “It’d be most unusual for a woman to go out working, yes (laughs).”

060: At the age of five, he says, he went to WEST SPREYDON PRIMARY SCHOOL which had about ten classrooms. He also remembers the name of his first teacher – MISS MOTTRAM.

074: Recalls that he walked to and from SCHOOL which was about half a kilometre distance from home and mentions that the pupils were provided with (free) milk each day and sometimes fruit such as apples.

090: Apart from the academic curriculum, he says there were also sports activities and particularly remembers the SCHOOL had a swimming pool. He recalls the swimming times were gender segregated adding that none of the boys had swimming togs.

100: Tape stopped and restarted

106: Out of school hours, he says, he (and playmates) made their own fun in the backyard. “We didn’t have a lot of bought toys. I remember I used to have a lot of fun with some old wire reels…making imaginary horses and corrals.”

111: The family rarely went away during the summer holidays, he says. “The only holiday I can remember I was sent to a health camp.”

119: Adds that it was probably at a time when his MOTHER needed a break from looking after the CHILDREN. Mentions that she may have been affected by POLIO(MYELITIS) as she had a lame arm and one shortened leg.

121: Comments that housework in the 1930s and 40s would have been hard for her because of having to do the washing in an old coal-fired COPPER and use a HAND-WRINGER.

128: When he was slightly older, he says, they visited his paternal GRANDPARENTS in ASHBURTON once or twice a year. “We sat on boxes in the back of this van…(laughs)…no seatbelts.”

138: Replies that after his paternal GRANDMOTHER died, his GRANDFATHER often stayed with the family. Adds that he never met his maternal GRANDMOTHER but remembers that GRANDFATHER as being very tall.

162: A lasting memory from his paternal GRANDFATHER, whom he got to know well, was being taught how to take a twig from the branch of a tree and cut a piece out of it to make a whistle.

166: After PRIMARY SCHOOL, he attended an INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL where he recalls they played soccer which led him at weekends to playing for the THISTLE SOCCER CLUB.

196: From INTERMEDIATE, he says he went on to CHRISTCHURCH WEST HIGH SCHOOL where he achieved the (national) SCHOOL CERTIFICATE and the following year gained automatic entry to UNIVERSITY (because of good academic results).

204: Comments that he started to enjoy his studies when he reached that more advanced stage in the education system and had been ranked top third in his class. GEOGRAPHY and HISTORY were two favourite subjects, he adds.

210: Mentions that throughout his HIGH SCHOOL years, he had worked part-time as a DELIVERY BOY for a couple of PHARMACIES in CHRISTCHURCH, which is what interested him in taking up the subject as a career.

216: As DELIVERY BOY, he says, it was his job to pick up photographs from the KODAK laboratory and deliver MEDICINES to customers. It was all done by bicycle, he adds.

222: Recalls he initially was paid 15shillings/week at CAMERON SMITHS (PHARMACY) in the city centre, which went up to 17s/6d/week. He also worked at another PHARMACY in the suburbs.

226: The money earned, he says, was used to pay off the bicycle which was originally his FATHER’S. He later upgraded to a new RALEIGH bike (costing 32pounds) which was paid off on a weekly basis.

235: Replies that when he was training to become a PHARMACIST, it was done by apprenticeship and on leaving SCHOOL, he started at LAKES CHEMISTS in ADDINGTON, CHRISTCHURCH (c.1952).

241: The first two years, he continues, involved attending a weekly night class at CHRISTCHURCH POLYTECHNICAL COLLEGE, at the end of which was an examination. On passing, the next stage was doing a two-year CORRSPONDENCE COURSE with the PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY in WELLINGTON. This included a two-week practical stint in the capital followed by final examinations which on passing qualified the student to apply for registration to practise as a PHARMACIST.

257: In the late-1950s “we were still crushing plants and I was making all sorts of things” which made the job much more interesting than nowadays when there are many more ready-made drugs.

262: The PHARMACIST he says used mortar and pestle (for crushing ingredients) and made emulsions, creams and even eye drops ensuring they were “isotonic”.

272: Affirms that most newly-qualified PHARMACISTS wanted eventually to own his/her own business. But in the 1950s, he says, there was a licensing system that was strictly controlled and at that stage it was “one man, one PHARMACY”, a regulation that has only recently changed.

277: Nowadays, he adds, outsiders could have a share in a PHARMACY business as long as a qualified PHARMACIST also had a part-shareholding.

280: However, the rules are still that in order to practice, a PHARMACIST must be registered as a member of the NZ PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY and once he/she owned a business it was normal to sign up to the NZ CHEMIST GUILD.

286: Mentions that he did not become fully qualified until he was about twenty-four years old, explaining that before he started his apprenticeship he had to complete COMPULSORY MILITARY TRAINING at BURNHAM MILITARY CAMP.

292: Remembers it as an enjoyable experience: “I thought it was a neat thing to do and it probably taught me a heck of a lot in life skills and things.”

309: Replies it was a six-week basic course after which a recruit could volunteer, which he did. This involved committing to further training for about a fortnight each year with a few additional weekends.

315: Referring again to his profession as a PHARMACIST, he says he was working in BALCLUTHA when he sat his final exams which were taken in DUNEDIN. Adds that he had been working for AJ HENDERSON in BALCLUTHA.

323: Social life was rather limited, he says, to rabbit shooting and deer stalking in the BLUE MOUNTAINS (at TAPANUI). Mentions he also went to CAR RALLIES, having been introduced to this interest by a fellow boarder in BALCLUTHA.

334: Describes himself as having been “a bit anti-social” as far as dating and socialising and replies that he met his WIFE, ISOBEL (née STIVEN) through work because she was employed by AJ HENDERSON as a SHOP ASSISTANT.

341: Says that because ISOBEL’S family lived on a farm in the WAITAPEKA area, they went to country dances and social gatherings.

350: Replies that after they’d been courting for a while, they progressed to getting engaged and eventually got MARRIED (at the old PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, BALCLUTHA on 23 FEBRUARY 1963)

352: Mentions that shortly beforehand, he had moved to INVERCARGILL where he MANAGED the WAIKIWI PHARMACY. Says he and ISOBEL lived in the southern town for a few years until he started looking for somewhere to set up his own business.

360: Referring back to when they decided to get MARRIED, he affirms that he had to seek permission from ISOBEL’S FATHER which was “quite daunting”.

372: For their honeymoon, he says, they went to CHRISTCHURCH, PICTON and BLENHEIM.

380: Replies that one of the considerations in getting MARRIED was that he felt confident in being able to (financially) support a WIFE and any CHILDREN that followed. “You didn’t do anything in those days that you couldn’t afford to do.” Person recorded: John Donaldson

385: Their first home together, he recalls, was in PALMER ST in the GRASMERE area of INVERCARGILL.

389: When they moved to TE ANAU (in 1965), he says, they rented a home for two years until their house (in QUINTIN DRIVE) was built (in 1967). It was constructed, he adds, by a builder in INVERCARGILL and transported to the site on which it now stands.

391: Explains that initially it was split-level with the living areas built above the garage and later a second storey built on top of the original ground floor area so that their four CHILDREN had a bedroom each.

396: Before he set up the PHARMACY in TE ANAU, he says, the nearest PHARMACIST was in LUMSDEN (about 80kms east) which was also where the nearest doctor (GP) lived.

399: Replies it was he that decided TE ANAU could do with its own PHARMACY but before he could set up business, he had to successfully apply for various permits – e.g. to sell METHYLATED SPIRITS or DISPENSE dangerous DRUGS. In addition, the PHARMACEUTICAL SOCIETY had to approve the building he planned to operate from met specific requirements.

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016: Continuing the discussion about setting up the PHARMACY in TE ANAU, he says he looked for a suitable business site before a home in the town. Mentions that he was introduced to ANDY BLAIR, owner of an A-frame timber and hardware shop on the main street. Says BLAIR proposed building a “lean-to” shop in the access way adjacent to his store.

033: While the “lean-to” was being built, he says, he organised the fixtures and fittings for the new business and soon enough the STOCK was arriving before the roof was on the building. It took about three months for the work to be completed and the PHARMACY opened for business on 6/DECEMBER/1965.

053: Having mentioned DICK VEENSTRA’S BAKERY and ANDY BLAIR’S HARDWARE STORE, he says there was a BUTCHER’S SHOP past the A-frame and PETE’S (SULJEMANOVIC) RESTAURANT across the road. Other businesses included SPEDEN’S SPORTS SHOP, SKELTON’S GROCERY STORE (4 SQUARE) and a fish and chip shop.

063: An old HALL and the (PRIMARY) SCHOOL were further up MILFORD ROAD, he says, and there was (GEORGE and ALMA) RADFORD’S GENERAL STORE (on the corner of LAKEFRONT DR and MOKOROA ST).

072: Mentions that it was in OCTOBER 1965 that the TE ANAU HOTEL was severely damaged by fire which at the time he thought would be bad for his business. However, the HOTEL’S reconstruction brought in contractors and labourers to add to the many more that had started working on the HYDRO ELECTRIC SCHEME at WEST ARM on LAKE MANAPOURI.

091: Affirms that the LUMSDEN-based DOCTOR visited TE ANAU twice a week and says that prior to the new PHARMACY, the DOCTOR would write out the prescriptions in TE ANAU, take them back with him to LUMSDEN where they would be dispensed in time to be returned by bus the next day.

096: Explains that in 1965, the DOCTOR conducted his surgeries in a small room at the back of RADFORD’S STORE. This venue changed to the PRESYBTERIAN CHURCH which was on LAKEFRONT DR until there was a resident DOCTOR installed at the HYDRO VILLAGE near MANAPOURI in the late-1960s.

110: Mentions a DR MEE was the first to practice from a converted house in the village. A couple of years later, he says, DR MEE was replaced by DR JOHN MOORE and at the end of the POWER SCHEME PROJECT when the temporary village was being dismantled, he says the SURGERY was moved to its present site on LUXMORE DR, TE ANAU.

129: On the day he opened for business, he says, he had already canvassed homes in the town with a 6-page promotional leaflet advertising what was available at the PHARMACY.

137: His PHARMACEUTICALS supplier, he says, was KEMPTHORNE PROSSER in DUNEDIN and submitted a regular stock request for whatever goods he required.

143: Mentions that the supplier offered the first STOCK of goods on a “delayed” account which he was able to pay off on a gradual basis, while continuing to clear his subsequent monthly accounts.

147: Recalls that he set up business on 500 pounds “that was all I had” adding that it was helpful that all the suppliers and warehouses he used were supportive of his new venture.

156: Affirms that in 1965 he was still crafting the prescriptions in the SHOP and if there were any special ingredients required, he ordered them from the supplier and they were usually promptly delivered to TE ANAU.

172: “In those days, a day’s delay wasn’t a big deal because all the emergency stuff…I would’ve had.”

178: At first, he says, he was the sole employee and that he ended up having to recruit full-time staff from out of town because with few long-term opportunities for young people, most of them left town after completing their schooling.

188: In advertising for staff, he says, he had to offer holiday incentives. Of the counter staff he employed in those early days, he says at least two still live in TE ANAU - GOWAN HEANEY (nee SMITH) and JULIE WALLS.

200: Explains that he sent his employees to training courses offered either by the CHEMISTS GUILD or some of the large cosmetic houses

208: The working hours, he says, were 8.30am till 8.30pm seven days a week for six months of the year (the holiday season). Replies that for the first ten years, he worked those hours until another qualified PHARMACIST joined the team for about nine years.

218: In 1965, he says, the permanent population of TE ANAU was about 815.

222: During the off-season six months, he says, the hours were reduced and there was no SUNDAY opening.

224: Tape stopped and restarted.

227: In the first few years, with the town DOCTOR based at LUMSDEN, he affirms that his customers sometimes looked to him to deduce a diagnosis of health complaints and thereafter prescribe a remedy.

230: However, knowing his limitations, he often consulted the DOCTOR by telephone to discuss a case. “Sometimes felt it was a big responsibility….I did a lot more diagnosing than a lot of pharmacists would have to do.”

240: Replies that he ran the business for thirty-one years, selling out in 1997. In that time, he recalls, there were three makeovers of the main street. He also comments that it was a bit of a “wild-west” town when he first arrived “and look at it now, it’s marvellous”.

254: Of their family, he says when he and ISOBEL arrived in TE ANAU one of their CHILDREN had already been born (DAVID), and was followed by two more SONS (MALCOLM and RAYMOND) and a DAUGHTER (JOANNE).

262: Referring to the impact of working long hours on his FAMILY life, he replies that at the time he considered his primary obligation was to provide for the FAMILY. Adds that he felt he had “bonded well with my kids” and after employing another PHARMACIST, he took part in parental duties such as taking the CHILDREN to sports events.

275: ISOBEL, he says, did not work while the CHILDREN were young but started at the PHARMACY once they left home.

283: Referring to the ten years up to 1976, when two major government SCHEMES were underway at the same time in the area (the MANAPOURI HYDRO POWER PROJECT and the LANDS & SURVEY FARM DEVELOPMENT SCHEME), he says it was a period of boom not only for his business but also for the social structure of the district.

286: “TE ANAU was a little wee town but it had the sophistication of a much, much larger town. We had hotels, dining restaurants…things that towns like LUMSDEN haven’t got yet.”

283: In 1965, he says, the TE ANAU HOTEL was a social centre as well as the TE ANAU HALL. Mentions there was the theatre group, FIORDLAND PLAYERS which produced several dramatic shows. In addition, it was an outdoors area for men interested in pursuits such as fishing or deer hunting.

304: Alternatively, the women formed a PLUNKET SOCIETY and later on a monthly WOMENS CLUB (formed in the 1980s).

317: Considers TE ANAU was an “excellent” environment for their children to grow up in with swimming in the lake during the summer and other similar outdoor activities.

327: Replies that all four went to TE ANAU PRIMARY SCHOOL and FIORDLAND COLLEGE, with the eldest CHILD being one of the latter’s first pupils.

340: Comments that the opening of the COLLEGE in 1975 “consolidated the town”.

352: Referring back to the PHARMACY SHOP, he affirms that as the business progressed, he had to diversify the type of products sold.

363: Replies that after two years operating from the “lean-to”, he successfully applied for a SHOP site near the former POLICE STATION. It was there, he continues, that a two-storey PHARMACY was built (in 1967) and is still operating as such in 2006.

376: He contracted ROBERTS BROS (BUILDERS) to construct the new SHOP as they had also helped build a staff house in QUINTIN DR.

386: Considers that the major change in the PHARMACEUTICAL industry since he started is that PHARMACISTS no longer DISPENSE medications as the bulk of them are pre-prepared and packaged.

396: Recalls that all the dangerous DRUGS he stored at the PHARMACY were locked in a safe and the SHOP also had an alarm system installed in later years.

401: “The other thing I always felt confident about was the fact that there was only one road out, so if anyone did anything in TE ANAU, the LUMSDEN police could put a roadblock in and that would be it.”

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006: With reference to the TE ANAU AMBULANCE service, he says RON PALMER, JACK MURRELL and he started the ball rolling by first discussing the practicalities of setting up a service in the town which was reliant on an AMBULANCE being sent from INVERCARGILL in an EMERGENCY (taking a couple of hours to reach TE ANAU).

013: At that time, he adds, the vehicle used was a VOLKSWAGEN COMBI van which was not comfortable for injured or sick patients.

028: Following a public meeting, a committee was formed which eventually led to the service being established (in 1969) after various fund-raising efforts to purchase a suitable vehicle.

032: It was, he says, an INTERNATIONAL which was built by TEMPRO in OAMARU and he mentions that the second vehicle they bought was a V8 INTERNATIONAL.

057: Replies that the INTERNATIONAL was installed with MEDICAL equipment such as suction and oxygen, splints – “all the equipment necessary for a major trauma”.

068: States that it was also a vehicle that could transport patients in much greater comfort than the VW COMBI especially on the approach to bridges. It was this matter of comfort which was more important for the patient’s welfare rather than speed, he says.

082: “I remember being complimented by the people at KEW (SOUTHLAND HOSPITAL) that our patients always arrived in pretty good condition.”

092: Affirms that in the late1960s, airlifting the injured or sick to INVERCARGILL was uncommon mainly because of the stresses caused by such activity.

104: Says that RON PALMER had worked for ST JOHN AMBULANCE SERVICE before moving to TE ANAU, adding that PALMER had also taken part in a study tour of AMBULANCE services in the US.

109: Tape stopped and restarted.

111: Recalls that PALMER was “dedicated to AMBULANCE services” and had strenuously researched all that was required for setting one up in TE ANAU. “He was a huge asset to the area.”

120: PALMER, he says, opened a bookstore in TE ANAU, operating out of one of the rooms above the PHARMACY before moving to another venue in the town.

131: Referring back to setting up the AMBULANCE service, he says their fundraising focused on seeking donations and when they were far short of what was required they won support from ten individuals to act as guarantors for a bank loan.

147: The total start-up cost, he recalls, was about $20,000.

157: In the first year, he says, the service recorded about eighty callouts, mostly MEDICAL with just a few ACCIDENTS. “It changed the minds of quite a lot of people who thought there was no need for an AMBULANCE up here…it proved that there was.”

166: Replies that the V8 INTERNATIONAL that was added to the service had been built in AUCKLAND and “had all the latest (equipment) that AMERICA was using.”

173: Mentions that he, ISOBEL and RON PALMER travelled to AUCKLAND and drove the completed vehicle back to TE ANAU. Adds that the committee was given special dispensation to keep the original INTERNATIONAL as a backup vehicle.

179: States that he was on the AMBULANCE committee for nine years (appointed CHAIRMAN for two years) and had provided (MEDICAL) training for volunteer service personnel as well as being part of its ON-CALL team.

193: In those nine years, he says, the annual number of CALL-OUTS stayed around that eighty to one hundred. “There were still people going down to KEW in private vehicles but if they (DOCTORS) felt there was a need for it (AMBULANCE) they called us.”

201: Calculates that RON PALMER stayed on the committee for about the same length of time as he did (nine years).

203: Affirms that the AMBULANCE operates under the ST JOHN AMBULANCE SERVICE which took it over. As a result, he says, everything that had been donated to the community-run service was also taken over.

213: Shortly before he left the committee, he says, liaison had just started with the volunteer TE ANAU FIRE BRIGADE.

219: Replies that the training of AMBULANCE officers was based on a manual used in the U.S. adding that essentially it was FIRST AID.

225: It was in the mid-1970s, he continues, that a national training school was established so selected volunteers attended courses there. Adds that now there are three PARAMEDICS in TE ANAU “it’s just tremendous”.

232: Affirms that during his nine year involvement with the AMBULANCE service, he attended some quite serious accidents, remembering that it was a big commitment on the part of volunteers.

241: Most accidents, he continues, happened at night so it was a big commitment on the part of the volunteers because there was attending the scene, transporting the injured to INVERCARGILL, sometimes staying with them, re-stocking the AMBULANCE with MEDICAL supplies and then travelling back to TE ANAU to start a day’s work.

244: In the first year, he remembers, he attended about forty of the CALLOUTS and RON PALMER sometimes accompanied him so that he could train other volunteers.

253: The commitment required, he comments, was probably greater than for his business at the PHARMACY not least because the emergency number which operated from the SHOP automatically switched to his home telephone at night and weekends.

261: “I think there were a lot of things that we didn’t do, socially, that we could’ve because of the AMBULANCE…Being on standby was inhibiting but the phone was the worst.”

266: Another service organisation he joined was the FIORDLAND ROTARY CLUB of which he was the inaugural PRESIDENT and committee member in 1978. He laughs while remembering that initially it took some persuasion from an INVERCARGILL representative to win support for a TE ANAU group.

273: “And it’s the best thing that’s happened for me personally and probably for the town was this ROTARY CLUB which none of us really wanted.”

275: His reasons for saying so, he explains, are that he considers he has learnt a lot from being involved in its fundraising activities adding that he is now one of fifty ROTARY CLUB members in the FIORDLAND branch.

281: Apart from contributing towards efforts to improve the lifestyles of people in developing countries, he says on a local level the organisation contributes to the town by, for example, funding the park benches that have just been installed along the new lakefront walkway (officially opened on 18/OCTOBER/2006).

284: Adds that ROTARY also sponsors children’s events and sports activities in the town well as contributing to MEALS ON WHEELS and the TE ANAU EVENTS CENTRE.

302: Mentions he was also a past member of the FIORDLAND COLLEGE BOARD of GOVERNORS (1975-1978), the TE ANAU COMMUNITY COUNCIL (which years?), and was a member of the MARAROA YACHT CLUB (1970-1974)

311: In addition, he is a JUSTICE of the PEACE and was a CORONER for the CROWN (a position held 1990-2004) and explains the legal activities each position involves.

349: Referring back to the PHARMACY, he says he retired in 1997 and sold the business to JULIAN PRICE whose father had run a PHARMACY in NELSON and manufactured an effective insect repellent.

357: Replies that JULIAN PRICE had to purchase the entire STOCK plus whatever goodwill was still operating from the suppliers. “In my day (1965) I would never have been able to buy a new business if the equivalent price was what he had to pay me.”

363: Says he retained ownership of the building until this year having only recently sold it.

367: Their home in QUINTIN DRIVE, he says was one of only two in the vicinity and points across the street saying that was where the AIRFIELD had been situated. “The aeroplanes used to fly in front of our window here….you could look into the cockpit of the DOMINIS and see the people.”

380: Considers that while there has been a lot of change in the town, it was done gradually “it never did anything like growing like topsy, it just (was) nice and steady.”

384: Interview ends

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