Overview Lewis Blatch grew up on one of Te Anau's original pastoral runs, Lynwood Station. Along with his younger sister, Win, he is one of a dwindling group of people who can recall life in what was once a remote part of New Zealand, bordering the Fiordland National Park. In this interview, Lewis talks about the methods his father and brothers used on the Station's freehold pastures and the open run country before the government implemented its huge land development programme in the 1950s.

Overview Farm development was a major government policy in the 1950s and 1960s and the Te Anau Basin underwent the largest South Island scheme across four decades. Although a new kid on the Long Valley Block in 1968, Phil had previously gained stock management experience on a stud farm in Mid-Canterbury. Before that, he had worked on farms across Southland and in Canterbury as a shearer as well as a general hand. In this profile, Phil talks about some of that work experience and focuses on the...

Overview For most of his life, the Hollyford Valley has played a significant role in Murray's life. As a boy it was a distant place where his father, Davey Gunn, tried to make a living as a high country farmer. On the other side of the country, Murray grew up in Oamaru surrounded by women, his mother, aunt and two sisters. His first visit to the Hollyford was as a schoolboy in the late 1930s when he was one of a party on a walking holiday. The contrast between his home environment and that of his...

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 David talks about his early life at The Plains Station at The Key and boarding at Waihi School and Christ's College. He then went on to work on the station. He describes the change in farm use from growing fescue to focussing on sheep and cattle. The Plains Station went on to be divided in 1969 into three runs for David and his two older brothers to farm. The section David took was called Davaar, which he continued to run until 2002, when he and his wife moved to a property at...

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...

Overview In this interview Bob describes growing up in Christchurch and Kaikoura. After a brief stint in the NZRAF Bob went into farming and in 1960 he and his young family moved to Te Anau where he took on a role as a farm manager for Lands and Survey. In his first position he ran the Kakapo Block. After a stint in Canterbury, Bob and his family returned to Te Anau, this time as a field officer on the Takatimu Block. Bob talks about the development of farming in the Te Anau Basin, the ballot system and...