H0235

LESLIE JAMES (LES) COSTIGAN

Interviewer: Seona Craig

Abstracter: Judith Christie

Interview: 17 September 2015

TRACK One

00:00 By the time attendees passed out at Trentham, able to type 60 telegrams an hour by touch typing. Typed on to paper ribbon, five holes across ribbon and able to read alphabet. Describes

01.15 Two positions available, one at Wellington Radio and one at Awarua. Preferred Wellington, but lost by the toss of a coin and was shipped to Invercargill. Lived at Awarua Hostel and started life at Awarua Radio. Very few young people and low staff turnover. Promotion only when someone died and it took a while to be accepted into the group.

03.00 Started on training shift from 8.00am to 4.00pm Monday to Friday. Salary $3,500 per annum. At Trentham paid away from home allowance, after which received $2,800 pa, increasing to $3,200. Accommodation had to be paid out of salary.

04.15 Had to practise Morse Code. After second week, would use high frequency circuits to go second phone for another worker for training. Older co-worker who had been on coast watch and had come out of semi-retirement. Sat with him and was tested by him on receiving signals. Describes. Confused by Japanese Morse.

08.15 Older co-worker became unwell, so self was given job of coming on to watch and doing shift work. Self given scanning watch at Awarua Radio on different bands Describes.

09.00 Describes receiving and transmitting processes on older radio equipment.

11.30 Messages received from ships at sea all over the world. Describes

14.00 Lot of duplication. Neat handwriting very important.

End of Track One

TRACK TWO

00.00 Things improved latterly. Olivetti printers used, with TV screen. Describes

00.50 Self very proud of his profession. Other part of the job was manning the distress watch for larger ships. Used Morse Code to provide safety of life at sea. Describes

02.20 Sent and received telegrams for Coastwatch. Describes

02.44 Radio telephone used for coastal, Greymouth to Lyttelton south – at night right across the Pacific. Describes. Would broadcast weather forecasts.

04.00 Distress frequencies had silence periods for three minutes every half hour, to give vessels which had battery trouble would have a chance of getting through.

04.50 Watch log kept of everything happening. Tape recorders used as a backup. Describes.

07.00 Second tape recorder used in times of receiving distress signals. Carbon also used for log book for duplication. When Mayday received, all information taken in shorthand, and everything said logged. Used when enquiries held.

07.50 Describes use of shorthand, including specific codes.

08.50 Describes shift systems.

10.00 Single men in hostels more likely to be recalled to a shift if required.

11.30 Job 9/10ths boredom and one tenth panic. Most Mayday calls ended with success. Very stressful events. Once had to handle two distress calls at once, helped by a very good supervisor. Both vessels saved. Describes

14.00 Grateful fisherman once donated a sack of oysters.

End of Track Two

TRACK THREE

00.00 Two distress events haunted self, once when felt processes were wrong. Bound by Secrecy Act. Describes.

01.50 Describes Rose Noelle incident when boat went missing.

03.30 Eighteen months spent in 1974 on Chatham Islands radio as Senior Radio Operator. Returned to Awarua, then went to the island(?) for twelve months. Became frustrated with the hours worked. Left Radio Service and worked in the private sector on the island for two years.

05.15 Rejoined Coast Radio on the island – pay parity with the air traffic controllers. Original basic pay was $6,900, doubled with overtime. When rejoined, tax take was the same amount. Also better hours of work. Still long hours and hard on the family, as life revolved around the job. Married in 1982.

08.10 Before Post Office became Telecom, lot of static and background noise and concern about hearing when wearing headphones. Post Office union undertook a study on hearing and found that radio operator’s frequency response for hearing was wider than civilians, and that hearing deteriorated over the week’s shift.

10.40 Post Office was good with the Union – self was a Union rep and Post Office would consider any submissions made to it. Little confrontation. Air conditioning unit supplied. Describes.

End of Track Three

TRACK FOUR

00.00 Took redundancy in 1985. When Telecom began, knew technology would take over. Self felt operators were a forgotten group, but then redundancies started. Lots of discussion with Union before redundancy. Retraining offered and redundancy deal good.

03.20 Difficult time personally – jobs not easy to find, and a family of five to look after. Given three weeks to make a decision to take redundancy. Lester Price was the Manager, and tried to persuade self to change his mind.

05.40 In 1986 the radio station closed down.

06.50 Self took family for a trip around the South Island after redundancy. Used Post Office as his bank, and used cheques. Trouble with identification when self ran out of cheques. Describes

11.30 Incident when on watch, French visitors arrived at the station who were support crew for yacht trying to get through Foveaux Strait. Very arrogant. Describes

14.20 Another incident re Chatham Islands to do with Bristol Freighter.

End of Track Four

TRACK FIVE

00.00 Received aeronautical distress sign from Bristol freighter landing at sea around Papua New Guinea. Australian coast guard sent signal saying plane was still floating at sea. Plane sunk by gunfire by the Navy.

02.00 Indistinct discussion about Bristol freighters.

03.00 One of tasks on Chatham Islands was as a bus driver and carrier of freight when planes arrived. Supplied oil to the plane with a watering can. Describes.

05.30 Made very good friends when working for Post Office, and initially had reunions.

End of Track Five