Places

Date: 27 Jan 1983

From: Masterton South Rotary Club Oral History Project.

By: Te Tau, Katarina, 1899-1998

Reference: OHInt-0015-05

Description: Kuini Te Tau describes her family background, her parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters; her tribe - Ngati Kahungunu and Ngai Tahu. She recalls her childhood at Waikouaiti in the South Island:- the story of Parihaka as told to her by her grandfather; her father as a farmer; Sir James Owen; the family house; cooking; music; meals; butter making; swaggers (tramps); the Te Whao Family; the thrashing mills; her father and the Maori Land Courts; whakapapa; speaking Maori; dances; punishment; pocket money; doctors; alcohol; the Otago Hussars; home medicines; birthdays; lollies; influenza epidemic; visiting the mental hospital; school - Waikouaiti Native School; religion; Sundays; the era that Grandfather Parata was in politics; the effect of World War I on her family; horses; attitudes to sex; 'Maori matches' - marriage between two families for land. Discusses meeting her future husband; his family background; leaving the South to live at Masterton; polo ponies; the 'old Maori' on the Pa; the homeguard; joining the Red Cross; Kitty Cameron and John Bunny; World War II; American soldiers; the Featherston Prisoner of War Camp; Maori Affairs Housing; sport; the meeting house, Nga Tau E Waru and her role; her job in the war for Manpower and becoming the first Welfare Officer for Maori Affairs based in Wellington; the elderly Maoris; meals on wheels; Maori budgeting; respect for elders; Mrs Paku who lived at Whakataki; Mrs Rimene; Rose Brian; Maori attitude towards Pakeha; the Historic Trust; school visiting; Joe Paku and his story of how Wairarapa and its rivers got their names; the Maori Anglican Church; the Depression; the Costello Family. Venue - Masterton Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe Venue - Gordon Street, Masterton Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-004417 - OHC-004419 Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 3 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 886. Copies of black and white photographs:-. Kuini Te Tau, undated. Rewi Tamahau Tamihana, Kuini Te Tau; Richard Tahuora Himona, from the Wairarapa Times Age, 30/10/1976. Kuini Te Tau, from the Wairarapa Times Age, 1983 Search dates: 1899 - 1983

Date: 15 Jul -29 Jul 1985 - 15 Jul 1985 - 29 Jul 1985

From: NZOHA Sunlight Centenarians Oral History Project

By: Siddall, Alice, 1884-1987

Reference: OHInt-0004/21

Description: Alice Siddall was born in Wanganui in 1884. Gives details of a working class childhood in Wanganui before World War I. Describes her mother's early death, father's disability and how the family coped. Talks about the early death of a brother and sister and living with her brother Charlie, who worked with the Railways Department, at Bell Road in Lower Hutt in the 1920s and later. Recalls travel on the Wanganui River to Pipiriki by canoe ca. 1892, living in a whare at Upokongaro, Maori women's tattoos and relationships with Maori. Talks about the Keith Street area, living conditions, the family garden, chores, running away from school and not returning, the town of Wanganui and its personalities, the 1891 flood, the Church of Christ and the Salvation Army. Recalls clothing, her dislike of trade unions, phonographs, the lamplighter before electricity, `foreigners' and the 1918 flu epidemic. Venue - Lower Hutt : 1985 Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe Venue - Aroha Hospital, Molesworth Street, Lower Hutt Accompanying material - Two newspaper articles - one about Alice Siddall's 100th birthday and one about her 101st birthday Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-001329; OHC-001330; OHC-001331 Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 183. Search dates: 1884 - 1985

Date: 12 Jan 1985 - 2 May 1985 - 12 Jan 1985 - 02 May 1985

From: NZOHA Sunlight Centenarians Oral History Project

By: Mountjoy, William Joseph, 1884-1985

Reference: OHInt-0004/06

Description: Describes his parent's background, marriage in England and emigration to New Zealand in 1878. Talks about the Mountjoy relatives. Notes that both his parents lived and worked at the Timaru Hospital until the birth of their first child, after which his father took on odd jobs, including the construction of the Timaru breakwater. Describes their move to Napier with the firm Palliser Jones, where his father was employed constructing the Napier breakwater. Talks about the home delivery of produce (bread, meat and milk), going to school at the age of three with his older brother, getting the cane in Standard 1 in preference to doing his homework, going to Sunday School and Bible Class and being in the church choir. Describes the family as Baptist. Talks about shipping going in to Napier, loss of life in the 1897 floods and transport, including the description of a landau. Describes local Maori and the Native Schools. Mentions moving to Palmerston North at the age of nineteen and working at the Sash and Door Factory. Venue - Porirua : 1985 Interviewer(s) - Hugo Manson Venue - Kenepuru Hospital, Porirua Accompanying material - Newspaper article Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 2.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 181. Search dates: 1884 - 1985

Date: 16 March 1989 - 16 Mar 1989

From: NZOHA Country Library Service Oral History Project

By: Harsant, Florence Marie, 1891-1994

Reference: OHInt-0058/06

Description: Florence Marie Harsant talks about her childhood as the daughter of a school teacher who taught at native schools, her own education and relationship with Maori, learning to speak Maori, her father's attitude to learning Maori and her reading tastes. Notes difference in dialects around the North Island and refers to her autobiography `They called me Te Maari' and the radio programme produced by Alwyn Owen. Discusses her work with the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) as the Maori organiser in the North Island, her personal hatred of alcohol and having to give up this work because of ill health. Describes going to live in Hahei, the horseback and ferry rides necessary to get there, conditions of life in such a remote place, her marriage to Horace Henry Harsant and her life bringing up her children in Hahei. Recalls her history of library membership, writing to the women's pages of various farm magazines, taking a correspondence course in journalism and her subsequent story writing. Describes why and how she came to set up a Country Library Service `B' library in 1952 in her home at Hahei. Gives details of the library systems used, subscriptions, supply of cataloguing cards, selection process, increase in number of books supplied and the changing nature of users and reading tastes over the years. Describes the routine when the book van was there, talks about the first Field Librarian Joe O'Neill and about having the drivers to stay. Discusses the great importance of reading and having access to books when living in such a remote place and the impact the library has had on the community. Explains the continued difficulties of travel in the area, detailing the ferry service and recalling trips out to have children. Details how she looked after other people's children and teaching school in her own home. Describes her husband's accident and its impact on the family. Discusses her favourite book van drivers Joe O'Neill and Jim Sutherland and making friends through the library. Describes the current library service she runs from her home through the National Library Postal Book Service. Talks about the publicity she has received from writing her book and being awarded the Queens Service Medal (QSM). Venue - Whitianga Interviewer(s) - Judith Fyfe Venue - Mrs Harsant's home at Whitianga Accompanying material - Printed abstract contains list of publication Relationship complexity - Diary and materials held in Manuscripts & Archives at MS-Group-0246 Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-002055, OHC-002056, OHC-002057 Tape numbers - OHA CLS 2714, 2715, 2716, 2717, 2718 Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 2.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-0310. Printed abstract contains two portrait photographs of Florence Harsant, one dated ca 1913. Search dates: 1891 - 1989