In the Wake of the Pioneers: Fiordland Museum Trust Oral History Project
Subject
Subject Source: Local sources
Found in 62 Collections and/or Records:
SHAW, Hunter John Douglas interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 52
Identifier: H0556
Overview
Hunter's first encounter with the forests and lakes of Fiordland occurred when his parents shifted south from Auckland bringing him and his younger brother with them. From an early age the allure of the bush stayed with him and by his late teens he knew it was where he wanted to live and work. For the next twenty-five years, Hunter became a professional deer hunter setting up his own base in the Back Valley of Manapouri. Taking knowledge from older bushmen and hunters, he rebuilt former cattle...
Dates:
2005
SPEIGHT, William Allan (Bill) interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 47
Identifier: H0523
Overview
In this interview, Bill talks about his life on Redcliff Station, a vast sheep and cattle station bordering the Waiau River and Fiordland National Park on the west, and the Takitimu Mountains to the east. Bill discusses his early schooling by correspondence, then boarding at schools in Canterbury before going to university at Otago. Bill talks about growing fescue as an extra to sheep and cattle farming on the station and issues with rabbits. He goes on to talk about developments in the area,...
Dates:
2004
STROUD, Winifred Elsie (Win) interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 50
Identifier: H0546
Overview
Win is among the few remaining people who grew up in the Te Anau Basin when it was still considered remote and inaccessible with land covered in tussock and scrub that was only useful for grazing stock. As the youngest child of Henry F. Blatch, runholder of Lynwood Station (originally gazetted as the Te Anau Lake Run 301B) between 1906 and 1951, Win recalls a childhood of walks and picnics in the Basin as well as some of the events that dramatically changed the lives of her immediate family and...
Dates:
2005
THOMAS, Edwin James (Ted) Interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 50
Identifier: H0542
Overview
Ted Thomas is a prolific artist of Fiordland landscapes. Before taking up the easel and brush, he was involved in a variety of different enterprises from building commercial properties to running a milk bar. This interview concentrates on his involvement in the Fiordland Venison Industry as a meat processing and packaging factory owner and operator. Starting in Mossbum and moving to Te Anau in the early 1960s, Ted provides some details about how he got into the business and who he worked with....
Dates:
2005
THOMAS Raymond George (Ray) interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 54
Identifier: H0580
Overview
From a young age, Ray knew that he wanted to become a sheep farmer. After leaving school he completed tertiary studies in commerce and agriculture at Lincoln College. Having also got married to the daughter of a farmer, he went on to work at her family's farm near Riversdale before securing a position as shepherd in the Moa Flat area. It was there that Ray and Ruth decided to apply for a balloted farm under the government's citizen settlement scheme which ran for almost thirty years until the...
Dates:
2008
THOMPSON, Vernon Albert (Vern) interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 53
Identifier: H0566
Overview
Vernon Thompson has been hunting wild deer since boyhood. A rapid rise in deer numbers in the south by the late 1950s meant he and his brothers, Bill and Nelson, were able to turn a weekend interest into a commercial enterprise. At first, using boats built in their fathers woolshed, the Thompson boys kept within the Lake Monowai and southem coastal areas. But increasing competition pushed Vernon to move to Te Anau where he was able to work as a groundhunter on the lake shores as well as those...
Dates:
2007
TURNBULL, Derek Philip Fraser interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 49
Identifier: H0535
Overview
Although Derek lives outside of the Te Anau Basin, he is one of the few people who met and worked with David Gunn, leaseholder of Martins Bay and the Hollyford Valley which he farmed, mainly as a cattle run. He was also the first tour operator through the valley. This interview focuses on Derek’s early experiences in the Hollyford and while there’s a summary of other key events in Derek’s’ life, they are only lightly touched upon.
Dates:
2004
VON TUNZELMAN, John Russell Francis interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 48
Identifier: H0532
Overview
In this interview John talks at length about his family origins in Estonia and the lives of his forebears who came to New Zealand in the 1850s. John was born in Otautau and moved to Dunedin after he started primary school. John’s family later moved to Waitati and it was here that John’s involvement with deer hunting started. John started with the Forest service in 1959 and in the early 1960s John and his wife Aloma moved to Te Anau. As well as hunting, John describes his role in search and...
Dates:
2004
WERNER, Lieselotte Renate (Lottie) interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 54
Identifier: H0579
Overview
Fifty years ago, Lottie boarded ship at a Dutch port bound for Wellington. She and her fellow passengers were New Zealand immigrants under the government's assisted passage scheme for displaced persons following the end of WWII. Embarking on a new life with the help of her first employers, Sir Matthew and Lady Oram, Lottie quickly adapted to the New Zealand lifestyle. A few years later, she crossed the Tasman but unable to adjust to the hot South Australian summers, she returned to New Zealand....
Dates:
2008
WILLETT, Raymond William Herbert (Ray) interviewed by Morag Forrester
Record Group — Box 54
Identifier: H0575
Overview
More than fifty years ago Ray first set eyes on the Fiordland Mountains while doing a tour of his adopted homeland. As a child growing up in war-time London, he immigrated to New Zealand in 1953 on the cusp of his seventeenth birthday to work on a dairy farm in Northland. Captivated by that first visit to Te Anau and Milford Sound, Ray and his wife, Helen, have lived in the Te Anau area since 1961, with only a five-year separation from the Fiordland Mountains when they worked as managers of a...
Dates:
2009
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