Overview The son of a shearer who worked in the Te Anau Basin during the 1940s, Cliff's first introduction to the district was in 1945. Since then he has developed extensive knowledge of the deer-run hinterland as well as the craggy coastline of the southern fiords where he spent many years both as fisherman and tourism operator. In this interview, Cliff remembers traditional skills such as blade-shearing and oyster-catching as well as forming a small tourism business in Doubtful Sound. He also talks...

Overview Peter's immediate environment, as a young child, was the granite, tree-covered mountains and clear waters of the Hollyford Valley. As a youth and into early adulthood it was the tussock country of the Te Anau Basin that he frequented. He was also among the early contract staff to carry out the initial task of levelling swathes of shrub and bush so that it could become productive agricultural soil. Leaving for a few years to live further south, Peter returned and worked for the Fiordland...

Overview In this interview Joe talks about his early life in Otago, Waikouaiti and then Dunedin. On leaving school Joe took up shearing. Joe then recounts his experiences of WWII in some detail. Joe served in the air force and was prisoner of war from 1943 to the end of the war, after his plane was shot down in Egypt. On his return Joe married and took on a lease for Elmwood Station at The Key. Initially Jo grew fescue, which was exported to the US, and made more money than sheep. Joe goes on to...

Overview Before the government undertook a major farm development programme in the Te Anau Basin between the 1950s and 1980s, the scattered large leasehold runs were in the hands of individuals/families. The Hazlet family of Invercargill took up the Burwood, Centre Hill and Mavora Runs in the 1920s but it wasn't until the estate became the responsibility of Bill's father (also named Bill) in the late 1940s that major developments were pioneered with the help of the newly introduced system of...

Overview As a young teenager, Colin left school to pursue his ambition to become a farmer. Starting out at Lynwood Station as a farmhand, he eventually worked on various large properties throughout the southern South Island; mustering, shearing, ploughing and learning first hand what farm work involved. By his mid-twenties, he was married with a young family and on his own small farm back home in Greenhills. The family moved to Castlerock and eventually to the Lillbum Valley where for more than...

Overview In this interview Donald recalls family history dating back to Great Grandparents and the history of their/his property at Greenbush, his own early life and family life and education. After leaving school he went to shearing school and took over the running of the family farm with his brother Robert. He tells of the various farming practices during this time. The family was eventually sold to his son Scott.

Overview As Jack explains through the interview, his connection with Manapouri reaches back several generations. His great grandfather, (Old Bob) Robelt Murrell arrived at Bluff in 1863 and settled at Balloon Loop (by the Waiau River) two years later. The Murrell family is one of first explorers, farmers, tour guides and accommodation providers in the Te Anau Basin. In this profile, Jack is historian and raconteur. He also gives a personal account of growing up in an area that has undergone enormous...