Places

Date: 4, 7 Dec 2007 - 04 Dec 2007 - 07 Dec 2007

From: Studio La Gonda - a large format legacy oral history project

By: Adams, Mark Bentley, 1949-

Reference: OHInt-1002-01

Description: Interview with Mark Adams, born in Linwood in 1949. Talks about his family background and both his father and grandfather being photographers. Reminisces on growing up in the beach suburb of Brighton, disliking school, and his high school art teacher Digby Graham who "saved his life". Comments on attending Ilam art school (University of Canterbury) where his teachers included Tom Taylor, Don Peebles, Doris Lusk and Eileen Mayo, and deciding he wanted to do photography. Mentions the pop culture, art scene, drug use and counter culture in Christchurch at the time. Describes his first cameras, a box brownie (1966-1968) and then a Kodak Retina. Refers to using a 35mm Pentax at university, as well as a 4x5 inch Linhof plate camera from 1968. Mentions going to Sydney in 1973 and buying his own 4x5 Linhof camera, Schneier lens and Kinderman 4/5 enlarger. Comments on meeting Theo Schoon in Sydney. Talks about moving to Northland in late 1974 and photographing Kaipara sites that were clearly cross cultural. Refers to starting photographing at Waitangi in 1980 and participating in land marches. Talks about moving to Auckland in 1978, being asked to photograph a man with Samoan tattooing, and finding it a "key moment" in his development. Discusses his work photographing Samoan tattooing and tattoo artist Paulo Suluape at work, and using the images in an exhibition and book. Refers to other projects he worked on including Northland 1977-1978, Ngai Tahu histories starting 1978 and Rotorua photographs starting 1979. Recalls his first solo exhibition at the Real Pictures Gallery in 1982. Comments that the Real Pictures studio was a model for Studio La Gonda as a resource base for photographers. Discusses setting up the business Sharp Black & White in September 1982, people involved, and its work. Talks about financial support mechanisms, the ethics of representation and sale of images. Describes Studio La Gonda (SLG), division of labour at the studio, his working methodology, and social life at SLG. Talks about photographers who used the studio including John Miller, Fiona Pardington, Davina Monds and Greg Semu. Explains his approach to teaching art and photography and his passion for large format photography. Describes the physical challenges of working with large format photography, the way the view camera works and his own self taught approach. Comments on the importance of scale with the process of enlargement. Details equipment used at SLG and describes it as "a museum of analogue". Speculates on digital photography and the future of the photographic industry. Lists influences on his work, particularly Ansel Adams, and mentions the Burton Brothers and George Valentine. Interviewer(s) - Hanna Scott Accompanying material - List of selected solo exhibitions by Mark Adams and selected bibliography (3 p.) Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-023021 - OHC-023024 Quantity: 4 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 4 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7505. Transfers: To Photographic Archive - four large format photographic negatives. Photograph of Mark Adams in his studio? (photographer Haruhiko Sameshima; 2007 or 2008) Search dates: 1949 - 2007

Date: 15 Jul, 3 Aug 2009 - 15 Jul 2009 - 03 Aug 2009

From: Honouring seniors oral history project

By: Flyger, Noel Plummer, 1919-

Reference: OHInt-0979-03

Description: Interview with Noel Plummer Flyger, born in Wanganui in 1919. Describes family circumstances when he was born: father was working on a difficult, uneconomic rehab block, two hours drive from Eltham, Taranaki. Refers to hardships, but also the benefits of a self-sufficient, isolated life. Explains family's shift to a farm owned by his paternal grandfather, at Mata, south of Whangarei. Talks about evidence of earlier Maori occupation of the land which had two pa sites on it. Describes challenges of the run-down dairy farm, and outlines the mechanics of milking cows before electricity came to the district. Mentions the importance of the horse - as a means of transport, and for preparing pasture - and also pigs, which consumed the skimmed milk and subsidised the income from the farm. Talks about the acquisition of the first tractor in the village, and the subsequent opportunities for jobs on other farms. Discusses situation in World War II when many of his mates left to serve overseas, while he was manpowered to keep the farm going. Talks about his marriage to Draja Radich, from a Yugoslav family, and their early years living in a cottage on his father's farm. Describes the different rocks of the the Mata area, quarrying for road metal, and also explains the different types of drains, and techniques used to bring clay soils into productive pasture. Discusses the range of contract work he did after he stopped milking cows, and gives details of the families and farms in the Mata community where he lived from 1936 until the mid 1970s. Interviewer(s) - Patricia Cutforth Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001252 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s). 2 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 printed abstract(s). 3 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 1.33 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7481, OHDL-001260. Scanned B&W photographs of: Wedding, Noel and Draga Flyger (1943); Flyfer farm; White quarry, Flyger farm Search dates: 1919 - 2009

Date: 29 Apr, 6 May 2009 - 29 Apr 2009 - 06 May 2009

From: Honouring seniors oral history project

By: Sloane, Alice Annie, 1918-2012

Reference: OHInt-0979-06

Description: Interview with Alice Annie Sloane (nee Smith), born in Maungaturoto in 1918. Talks about the family situation at the time of her birth (when her parents lived on a farm at Kaukapaka), and their shift to a railways house at Puriri on the Hauraki Plains, when her father took a job there during the Depression. Descibes taking a job in the post office at Mata, south of Whangarei, at 18, community life there, and her close friendship with Erin Sloane, whose brother Ray she would later marry. Talks about working at various jobs in Auckland, where she met Ray at wartime dances. Describes the Sloane family's farm at Mata, where they settled, working relationships, domestic matters, land clearing and pasture development. Discusses life in the Mata community including the growth in population as farms were being cut into smaller units, school, Country Women's Institute and rural entertainments. Talks about religious differences in her family - she was a Catholic in a mainly non-Catholic community. Describes visits to Ruakaka, and to Whangarei - lists the businesses they frequented and refers to the delivery of meat and bread to the farm at Mata. Interviewer(s) - Patricia Cutforth Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001255 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s). 2 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 printed abstract(s). 3 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s). 2 electronic scan(s) of original colour photographic print(s). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 1.46 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7484, OHDL-001266. Scanned B&W photographs of: Alice Smith and Erin Sloane at wedding of Alice's sister, Helen (1947); Alice and Ray Sloane's wedding 1947; Erin and her horse.. Scanned colour photographs of: House at Mata in late 1960s/early 1970s; Alice at bowls (on right) Search dates: 1918 - 2009

Date: 15, 20 July 2009 - 15 Jul 2009 - 20 Jul 2009

From: Honouring seniors oral history project

By: Edwards, Mavis Kathleen, 1916-2016

Reference: OHInt-0979-01

Description: Interview with Mavis (May) Kathleen Edwards (nee Keith), born in Auckland in 1916. Outlines her family background, growing up in a family of 10 in Waiuku and on a farm at Ngongotaha, travelling to school on horseback, and milking cows by hand after she left school. Mentions travelling by horse-drawn wagon to Makatu beach for family holidays. Talks about the history of the Edwards family at Waikaraka where they were boat builders and farmers. Refers to Randall Edwards working at her parents' farm for a period and marrying him in 1937. Describes living in a one room cottage without power at Waikaraka when they first married. Discusses the Edwards family homestead and changes to it over the years. Refers to the family clearing bush for timber and firewood. Comments on the Edwards family travelling by boat to Whangarei before there was a road. Mentions keeping pigs as well as milking cows on their farm, and milking by hand until they had a tractor to run a machine. Comments that her husband was not called up for active service during World War II but their trucks were taken for the military. Recalls the sinking of the 'Niagara' by a German mine off Whangarei. Mentions the Labour Day Pataua horse races, dances in a hall at Parua Bay, and the church at Onerahi. Refers to picture theatres (in Whangarei?) Describes a trip to the South Island the family made in a truck after the War, camping, and Randall getting a job picking and processing tobacco. Talks about her children when they were young. Interviewer(s) - Patricia Cutforth Accompanying material - Notes about the Edwards family of Waikaraka (2 p; scanned, Jpeg files, with digital abstract) Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001250 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s). 2 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 printed abstract(s). 4 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s) (2 are scanned typescript). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 2.02 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7479, OHDL-001256. Scanned B&W photographs of: Randal and May Edwards in rowing boat built by Edwards family; Edwards Family Home at Waikaraka built 1909. Search dates: 1916 - 2009

Date: 29 Apr, 6 May 2009 - 29 Apr 2009 - 06 May 2009

From: Honouring seniors oral history project

By: Gunson, Kenneth Desmond, 1926-

Reference: OHInt-0979-04

Description: Interview with Kenneth (Ken) Desmond Gunson, born in Purewa, Northland in 1926. Describes his early childhood, as the youngest of five children raised on a small farm adjacent to gumfields, by a father who was a grader driver for Whangarei County Council, and a mother who kept large gardens and maintained the family's self-sufficiency. Talks about his dislike of school, which he left at 14, and the variety of work he did from childhood, including cutting firewood, working as a farrier, blacksmith, grader driver, and sawmill worker. Talks about hunting for birds, pigs, rabbits and hares. Tells of meeting his wife at a dance in Frankton. Descibes his main job, working on county roads as a grader driver which included roadmaking and making airstrips in isolated back country of the district. Talks about his workmates, and their recreations: dancing, going to the pictures, and various sports. Discusses the family backgrounds of both parents, and their life stories. Talks about Maori history of the district, and lists names of pakeha families who settled there. Interviewer(s) - Patricia Cutforth Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001253 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s). 2 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 printed abstract(s). 1 digital photograph(s). 7 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s). 2 electronic scan(s) of original colour photographic print(s). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 1.43 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHDL-001262, OHA-7482. Digital photograph of Ken Gunson and family (2009). Scanned B&W or sepia photographs of: Lizzie cars gone to the beach; Ken and older brother ploughing for potatoes (1930); Gunson kids off to school on horseback (1934); Grace and Ken Gunson (1941); Ken Gunson (1949); Ken Gunson and new Whangarei District Council Cat grader (2 photos, 1965). Scanned colour photographs of: Ken Gunson - farrier demonstration (1974); Ken Gunson (2004) Search dates: 1926 - 2009

Date: 18, 21 May 2009 - 18 May 2009 - 21 May 2009

From: Honouring seniors oral history project

By: Morgan, Reginald John, 1916-

Reference: OHInt-0979-05

Description: Interview with Reginald John (Jack) Morgan, born in Auckland in 1916. Describes the family background, and his parents, who ran the Hukerenui hotel. Tells of his father's death from influenza after World War I, and his mother's subsequent labours on the rough farm she ran - while raising seven children - after her husband's death. Talks about farming methods, and the transportation of materials and farm produce. Describes horse, rail, barge and railway transport of timber, lime rock, coal and dairy products. Gives details of collecting and marketing kauri gum and other jobs he did while at school. Describes milking cows twice a day, and getting the produce to the Whangarei Dairy Company, on atrocious roads. Discusses his shift from dairy farming to agricultural contracting, in particular to hay baling, which he worked at for 49 years. Explains the progress from manual to automated methods. Talks about his wife, and her supportive role running the family farm while he worked as a contractor. Describes the local extractive industries: native timber milling, kauri gum, prospecting and mining (for gold, coal, manganese, red ochre, mercury), mineral water, and quarrying. Talks about his interest in the history and the people of the district - Maori, and European settlers and community life Interviewer(s) - Patricia Cutforth Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001254 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s) digital sound recording(s). 2 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 printed abstract(s). 3 digital photograph(s). 6 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 2.06 Hours and minutes Duration. Physical Description: Sound files - wave files; Textual files - Microsoft word; Image files - Jpeg Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7483, OHDL-001264. Three digital photographs of Jack Morgan, one in his workshop (2009). Scanned B&W or sepia photographs of: Morgan farmhouse, early 1919; Hukerenui Store, 1920s; Hukerenui School (1923); Hukerenui Hotel 1936 flood; Hukerenui Home Guard; Morgan farmhouse, 1970s Search dates: 1916 - 2009

Date: 29 Apr, 6 May 2009

From: Honouring seniors oral history project

By: Finlayson, Leslie Norman, 1919-2011

Reference: OHInt-0979-02

Description: Leslie Norman Finlayson was born in 1919, and raised in Purua, a farming district northwest of Whangarei where his father farmed from 1907. Describes the physical and social environment - soils and rocks, occupations of his family and other people living there, including Maori, Belgians and Dalmatians. Talks about going to primary school (on horseback) at Purua and Ngararatunua, and life on the family farm. Explains the processes of felling kauri, getting logs to mills on bush tramways and then clearing stumps for pasture, using bullock teams. Talks about hand-milking cows, and other occupations of the extended family, including boat building, carpentry and other trades. Describes the town of Kamo, an hour away, its businesses, and its pub - the nearest one from Purua. Also talks about visits to Whangarei, where he went to high school for one year, the agricultural service industries of the town and entertainments, including silent movies. Mentions working for a motor mechanic, then returning to milking cows in 1934. Talks about the hardships of life in Northland during the Depression, and the changes to farming which came after World War II with better understanding of trace elements and fertilizers, and the advent of electricity. Tells story of the family home, `The Mount', built in 1910 from kauri, and lived in by family for the next 100 years. Interviewer(s) - Patricia Cutforth Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001251 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 2 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 7 digital photograph(s). 7 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s). 1 electronic scan(s) of original colour photographic print(s). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 2.15 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-7480, OHDL-001258. Scanned B&W photographs of: Finlayson family (possibly photographs of the originals); Finlayson RDN Group - Les (2nd from left); Purua Hall, School and School House; The Mount 1950s; Les Finlayson 1966. Scanned colour photograph of: The Mount 1970. Digital colour photographs of: The Mount 2007; The Mount 2009; Les Finlayson 2009 - 90th birthday lunch; Les Finlayson 2009; The Mount - laundry (2 photos); The Mount - Heritage Farm Plaque Search dates: 1919 - 2009

Date: 2002-2011

From: McDonnell, Hilda Mary, active 1944-2022 :Research papers

Reference: Series-5575

Description: Comprises research notes on Anne Catherine Wilson (1802-1838), a New Zealand missionary wife. Notes compiled in four holgraph notebooks and one folder of typescripts. Also research files (in electronic format). Includes a chronology and genealogical material on the Wilson family. Includes a transcript of the surviving page of Benjamin Clarkson's daughter Clara Clarkson's diary, (1831). Quantity: 2 folder(s). 7 Electronic document(s).