Overview Rex grew up in the 1930s on Stewart Island surrounded by the sea and people whose lives were ruled by the tides and the weather. Despite his mothers’ efforts to prevent him going into an industry that had taken the lives of some of her immediate family, Rex spent nearly 50 years making a living from the seas around his childhood home and along the Fiordland Coast. He remembers a time when crayfish were considered not worth catching. In this profile he gives an account of those early days and...

Overview Murray, now in his eighties, was selected as a participant in this oral history project because of his work with the Fiordland National Park in its earlier stages as well as his experience as a fisherman on the Fiordland coast. There are several other topics lightly touched upon in the interview, some of them highlighting the many changes that occurred in New Zealand society through the second half of the 20th century.