Person recorded: Sheila Mary Jean Chartres

Date: 16 January 2004

Interviewer and abstractor: Morag Forrester

Tape counter: Sony TCM 939

Tape 1 Side A

000: Sound tests

011: States place of birth – WAIPUKURAU. Born 1928.

020: Says her PARENTS came to NEW ZEALAND from SCOTLAND. Her FATHER came out in 1910 with his FATHER. Rest of the family followed in 1915.

037: Says her maiden name was ANNAND – part of the STEWART clan. One of her ancestors was born in FRANCE.

051: States FATHER’S full name was ANGUS STEWART and MOTHER was named MARGARET PROUDFOOT.

055: Gives her own name as SHEILA MARY JEAN, but she uses JEAN.

062: Talks about her three BROTHERS, two were older – BILL and JOCK - one younger – DAVID.

074: Moves on to describing her home town. It was small with sale yards.

077: Mentions her FATHER’S occupation began as BAKER, following family tradition. Later, he became a GROCER.

086: Says her MOTHER didn’t work. “They stayed home in those days.” Although during the DEPRESSION, she MILKED COWS which she reared on leased paddocks near their home.

095: Recalls her maternal GRANDMOTHER being a member of the household. Her family had come from SCOTLAND in 1919/20.

107: Describes GRANNY as a “pretty hard SCOTSWOMAN.”

114: Says she and her younger brother slept in the same bedroom as her GRANDMOTHER.

117: States all her schooling was done in WAIPUKURAU. Says the HIGH SCHOOL was for the whole district.

128: Recalls swimming in the river when young: “We didn’t have baths (swimming pool).”

133: Mentions leaving school at age eighteen.

138: States that she had hoped to work at the local hospital. But was pipped to the post by another girl. Remembers going on vacation to WELLINGTON and being advised she could work at the LABORATORIES, since she’d shown an interest in studying BIOLOGY.

150: Recalls they had a job for her there if she wanted. Rang her PARENTS but her FATHER refused permission for her to leave home. Says she was very disappointed.

159: Remembers applying for a job as a SHOP ASSISTANT in a clothing shop. She got it. Stayed there till she MARRIED. “I loved it.”

Tape stopped to reposition microphone

165: Recalls meeting her future HUSBAND, HAROLD CHARTRES. Says it was through her employers taking up an opportunity to go on scenic flights run by THE FLYING KIWIS (AIR CIRCUS), a company owned and operated by HAROLD’S friend, BILL HEWETT of MOSSBURN. She was introduced to HAROLD at an AERO CLUB party in HASTINGS.

185: “He kept coming back and that’s how it went.” Says she met him in 1948 and they were MARRIED in 1950.

194: Mentions that during her first visit south, HAROLD took her ski-ing in QUEENSTOWN, but she didn’t like it. Says it was then that she first met his PARENTS, but has little memory of that time.

206: Says they got engaged in CHRISTCHURCH.

212: Recalls it was after that she met JOHN and RUTH CHARTRES properly. She stayed with them at TE ANAU DOWNS, where she met the whole family (younger BROTHER, DONALD and sister, PAM)

221: Talks about HAROLD’S proposal of marriage.

224: Recalls they MARRIED at WAIPUKURAU (in November). The wedding was held in a church.

231: Says their honeymoon was in TAURANGA, using his MOTHER’S car.

238: States they arrived home to MANAPOURI STATION where she was greeted by SHEARERS.

240: Mentions that HAROLD had already been living there after his FATHER bought the property during WWII for HAROLD. Says he didn’t want to return to FARMING, that he wanted to be an engineer, having qualified as an A-Grade MECHANIC in the army. But she says he did what he was supposed to do.

246: Recalls first setting eyes on MANAPOURI STATION. It was after they were engaged. Friends in WAIPUKURAU had told her the farm land was all mud and slush, so she didn’t know what to expect. But it wasn’t like that, she says.

256: Remembers the homestead being an old house, though there were plans to build a new one.

260: Admits to being homesick for a while. Recalls they were visiting friends in MOSSBURN. “We were in the aeroplane – when we went to go home HAROLD said ‘Do you want to go home for Christmas?’ I said ‘No, if I go home for Christmas I’ll never come back.’

270: Mentions FESCUE harvest took place after Christmas and she had to do the breakfasts for the workers, which kept her busy and cured her homesickness.

274: Says there were about 26 workers for cutting and stooking the FESCUE. Six weeks later it was threshed.

280: Refers back to the SHEARERS. On their back from honeymoon, HAROLD, got word to hurry home as the SHEARERS had arrived. Talks about the male cook who upped sticks halfway through his contract and she was left having to cook for the men.

290: Mentions SHEPHERD, TOMMY DUNLEIGH, who advised her what to do.

294: Describes having to share their living quarters at first with the SHEARERS. Says they all slept in one large room at one end of the house.

307: Recalls TOMMY telling her that the first lot of scones she sent up for morning tea didn’t go down very well. “‘They were a bit hard,’ he said. ‘They finished up having them on the fence post taking pot shots at them with a .22’ (laughs)”.

316: Describes how she went in to the men’s sleeping quarters after they’d left. Says there were “dirty old bo-yangs covered in sheep muck” thrown in a corner of the room.

322: In response to question, describes having to cope with three young CHILDREN which they’d had at the start of MARRIED life. She had to travel to INVERCARGILL every month to visit the doctor.

327: Comments: “I thought I knew how to look after children. But I found I didn’t.”

330: Praises the work of the KARITANE nurses who showed her how to go about things.

334: Says they had hired another cook, so she didn’t have to worry about meals while the new house was being built.

338: Recalls that after the second child was born, she did think to herself “How am I going to look after two kids and cook for all those men.”

343: Mentions HAROLD’S MOTHER used to send girls over to work for her “but they were more trouble than they were worth.”

350: Says she was not expected to work on the FARM. “The women didn’t work on the FARM in those days, ’cos it was a big STATION.”

354: Says that because it was a RUN, with more acres than SHEEP, not many permanent workers were hired.

360: Reiterates that coming from HAWKES BAY where everything was green, it was a different view for her on this side of the GORGE HILL. “There wasn’t a green paddock in sight. It was just all RUN. There was nothing done to it.”

365: Says this didn’t change much until the LANDS & SURVEY SETTLEMENT PROGRAMME when more STOCK, more green PADDOCKS started.

368: Referring back to FESCUE, says they grew a lot of it at MANAPOURI and that although she didn’t actively help the HARVESTING, she cooked for the workers, with assistance from a young helper.

378: Admits that FARMING in the 1950s was so unlike present practice. “There were no vehicles that ran round the PADDOCKS. It was all on foot or by horse.”

383: Mentions that neighbouring FARMERS would help if required, but were often too busy on their own properties as everyone grew FESCUE, and SHEARING was also at the same time for everyone.

390: States that there was no contracted work in those days. The SHEARERS came in gangs. There’d be up to eight in a gang.

405: Mentions LAMBING when the SHEEP were more or less left to LAMB on their own. Then they’d be rounded up for market, which was the time more workers needed to be fed.

412: Recalls one year when there were so many PET LAMBS it took her ages to feed them all.

Tape 1 Side A Ends

Tape 1 Side B Starts

006: Talks about some of the changes over the years, particularly watching the land development. Person recorded: Jean Chartres

016: Describes the TUSSOCK country of the GORGE HILL as being what a lot of the land was like when she first arrived in the BASIN.

025: Says she didn’t feel remote, but did miss her friends. Admits however, she soon made new friends in the area.

031: Talks of her neighbours, including the MACDONALDS, the GALLANDS, and the SPEIGHTS.

047: Mentions HAROLD’S relatives at TE ANAU DOWNS. That he would sometimes go up there to supervise their FESCUE harvest and that after MANAPOURI’S was threshed, he would take his MILL up there and do theirs.

058: Says there wasn’t a lot of give and take among neighbours, in that everyone seemed to manage. But they’d help out if needed.

070: Talks about the first meeting of the WOMEN’S DIVISION (Federated Farmers) when daughter BEVERLEY was about one year old. Recalls leaving HAROLD to look after the children, including changing BEV’S nappy. However, next morning things were not too rosy. “He got better as time wore on.”

091: Mentions the small SCHOOL she and WIN GALLAND started on ELMWOOD STATION. Says that they had applied to the authorities for the transport costs to send the kids to the nearest town school. A long campaign ensued.

133: Says it was after JOHN CHEWINGS of MOSSBURN took up the cudgel that something happened. The authorities told them they could have a SCHOOL if there were enough children to attend it. “We said give us a school, we’ll get the children.”

139: Recalls the first MARAROA SCHOOLHOUSE was brought up on the back of HAROLD’S truck. Once they had that, the LANDS & SURVEY settled families supplied the children so that the SCHOOL grew.

147: Mentions that before all that happened, her children and those of her neighbours, the MACDONALDS and the GALLANDS, were being taught in a garage on ELMWOOD STATION by an unqualified teacher.

151: Says the garage was fine in the summer, but freezing in winter, so the children went over to the cottage at MANAPOURI STATION where they had lessons in the front room with the fire going.

154: Recalls having to take turns to board the SCHOOL teacher.

159: Mentions their having a SCHOOL committee.

167: Remembers JOHN CHEWINGS inviting education board members to see the children being taught in the COTTAGE. Says it helped their campaign to get a proper SCHOOL.

181: Some rustling of papers on desk trying to find the school roll. Lists it as about 10 children between them.

199: States that later schooling of her children was conducted in INVERCARGILL where they BOARDED in SCHOOL hostels.

219: Mentions that while they didn’t like it much at the time, her children now admit it was the best thing for them to be sent away to SCHOOL because it meant they got to know a lot more people.

222: In response to question, says that after leaving SCHOOL, the BOYS came back to work on MANAPOURI STATION and her eldest daughter, BEVERLEY, trained as a KARITANE nurse.

228: Mentions that it wasn’t till later that HAROLD formed a partnership with their SONS on the STATION. Says that really only happened after she and HAROLD moved into TE ANAU township in 1974 when he had retired.

239: Referring to an earlier period, explains why HAROLD in 1957 sold back to the government his lease on 4,000 acres and kept as freehold the remaining 4,700 acres. Says he couldn’t get the money to develop the property as he wished. So he sold the TAKITIMU area of leasehold land.

249: Mentions NOEL MCGREGOR at MT LINTON having already started to develop some of his property and that HAROLD helped BILL HEWETT with the rabbit poisoning programme on MCGREGOR’S land. It was then he decided he wanted to develop his own property. But he didn’t have the money, nor the influence and the banks wouldn’t lend money in those days. Which was why he sold the leasehold. After that he started developing.

259: Says it wasn’t until the late 70s – after HAROLD had died – that WRIGHTSONS came into the picture offering terms under which their SONS could more easily borrow money. Says that’s when they started stepping up the development plans.

266: Mentions that HAROLD did have one or two successes with his ideas.

274: Discusses HAROLD’S interest in AVIATION. Says he took her on a flight in his MOTH MINOR.

280: Mentions him then having an AUSTER which he had for about three years.

284: Says only the eldest SON, JOHN, went with his FATHER in the plane. HAROLD had given up flying by the time the other children would have been able.

293: Explains what the WOMEN’S DIVISION of the FF is about, saying it was a chance for the wives to get together. “This was just the one thing for the women. I mean the men had their DOG TRIAL meetings and we had our WOMEN’S DIVISION. We had a lot of fun.”

313: Talks about the group expanding to doing catering, mainly for the DOG TRIALS. However, she relates a funny tale about the mishaps that befell the first CALF SALE during the 60s which they were invited to cater for.

353: Discusses the district getting POWER for the first time in 1957/58.

360: Talks about the LIT-UP BALL at BURWOOD saying that BILL HAZLETT paid for the whole event. Mentions PETE SALEMANOVICH as the caterer (he had a restaurant in TE ANAU). Says she was involved in helping set things up. There were bowls of OYSTERS, CRAYFISH.

377: Mentions how with an unlicensed BAR on the premises, things got slightly out of hand and the place ended up a bit of a mess.

394: Talks about having dances closer to home. Now known as the TAKKIE DO’S, they were music and dance get togethers.

400: Tape stopped and re-started

401: Mentions BOB and ESMIE TURNBULL, who played drums and the piano respectively, and ANNE HASTIE on accordion. Everyone brought supper and their own drinks.

406: Recalls however that she and WIN would make a punch. Never with a recipe, just adding to it till it tasted all right.

414: Says the dances grew over the years being particularly popular when ‘six o’clock closing’ was still operative. They were held in HASTIE’S WOOLSHED at first, then when more blocks were taken up on the TAKITIMUS there was a spare SHED and a committee was formed.

Tape 1 Side B ends

Tape 2 Side A starts

008: Explains that before the electric power network was installed in the BASIN, at MANAPOURI STATION, they used DIESEL-powered generator in the shed.

017: Describes as an example using the washing machine and how unless she could turn the heavy generator wheel herself, she would have to wait for the men to come in from work before she could put the washing machine on.

031: Says they had a ‘Dishmaster’ machine for washing the dishes. Adds, however, that you couldn’t use too much power at once, or the whole thing would combust.

049: In response to question, says hers was the second model of ‘Dishmaster’ to come on the market. Explains how it worked – by handle rather than a button. Says HAROLD had been given the machine in exchange for some air fuel. This was before they were married.

068: Mentions that lighting was generated by the same DIESEL power. There was no TV: “We had battery radio….Everybody came in at morning tea-time to hear one of the soaps that were on.”

082: Describes the workings of the first DIESEL plant they had by saying you had to go over to the shed to turn it off. But HAROLD had it jacked up that they could turn it off from the bedroom.

095: Talks about the telephone network being a ‘party line’ and that each person was responsible for their own part of the line.

105: Says the line came from MOSSBURN, up the REDCLIFF road, on to TE ANAU, then up to TE ANAU DOWNS.

116: Explains that if you wanted to make a call, you lifted the receiver and asked “Are you working?” And that it was manners not to say any more than was necessary.

122: Adds that the men used the telephone at night. “If the women wanted to talk, they had to use it during the day.”

146: Agrees the arrival of the ‘settlers’ in the late 50s brought major changes to the district.

172: Discusses the HOTEL at THE KEY. Says it wasn’t there when she arrived. It had been built for the early ‘travellers’. Adds that the local landowners whose employees would drink at the HOTEL eventually bought up the license and closed it down.

182: Says there was also a HOTEL at BOB’S CORNER. It was owned by the MURRELLS.

191: Mentions getting groceries and supplies from MOSSBURN once a week by order.

197: Names LOU DEAN, followed by MORRIE BARRETT, who began delivering the orders.

205: Responding to question, says when she was first married, she couldn’t drive.

210: Remembers the first time driving the car herself.

223: Says she didn’t have a licence for quite a while. Recalls one incident during FESCUE harvest when she brought the morning tea out to the workers, by car. Says she couldn’t quite manoeuvre a steep banking but fortunately: “The only thing that happened was I spilt the tea.”

245: Recalls it was only a few days later she got her licence. “You didn’t have to do very much to get your licence in those days.”

254: Tape stopped following interruption from visitor. Then a bit of mic fumbling.

262: Remembers that in the early days on the FARM, a KARITANE nurse would visit for a fortnight once a year which meant she could go into town to get her hair done, see the dentist and go and visit her parents in HAWKES BAY.

271: Says her family would visit the FARM quite often, particularly at harvest time.

278: Explains the reason for moving to live in TE ANAU town in 1974. The eldest SON, JOHN, had married and with his WIFE moved into the cottage. When the next SON, SAM, also married it was thought there wasn’t enough space to build another house, so HAROLD and she moved out, leaving the newly weds to live in the homestead.

285: Describes her first reaction to living in town after being on the FARM.

302: Says she was approached to join a charitable organisation for crippled children. Says she enjoyed getting involved in that.

315: Mentions one event they held for the charity. Says ALAN BRADLEY was there with a horse and drey and it was a joy to watch the children, some adults, having so much fun.

330: Responding to question about HAROLD’S death, says he suffered from bronchitis which turned to pneumonia.

334: Referring to the death of her eldest, JOHN, in a plane crash, explains that since she wasn’t in TE ANAU at the time, she can’t say much about what happened.

339: Mentions that the youngest DAUGHTER, SUSAN, is the only one still living in the BASIN.

340: Explains that SAM had taken on looking after the FARM for his BROTHER’S family after his death. He split the property and kept part of it which he eventually sold in the late 90s.

361: Referring back to development of the BASIN, says it all began in the mid-50s. And that latterly TOURISM has introduced even more changes.

370: Says she hopes the present plans for expansion of the town and district don’t occur. “Because it’s going to take something away from TE ANAU.”

380: Mentions she still looks back on those first days travelling over the GORGE HILL.

397: Says the good friends she made in the district included WIN GALLAND, DORIS MACDONALD, and GLORIA LINDSAY from MANAPOURI a friend of HAROLD’S SISTER, PAM.

416: Recalls that HAROLD and his immediate family remained quite close, particularly PAM who married soon after she and HAROLD did, and moved to live in INVERCARGILL.

Tape stops as interview ends

END