Interviews with Avice Hill

1989 interview is difficult to hear. A sketch abstract of the interview and additional notes are bound in to the abstract.

Avice Hill was born in Christchurch in 1906. Gives an account of her family history with an emphasis on the immigration of her maternal grandparents, the Crosbie family, in 1863. Avice Hill reads from notes about the Crosbie family's voyage to New Zealand on the ship `Brothers pride'. Discusses the daughters, Agnes and Jane, who were tailors and milliners and operated a successful business in Christchurch in the 1870s. Notes that Agnes Crosbie became Agnes Francis on her marriage but that her husband died and she continued to live with her sister Jane Crosbie. Describes their home on the corner of Armagh and Durham Streets and later on a large property in Withells Road. Discusses the purchase of a piece of land on Memorial Avenue which has been donated to the Christchurch City Council and is now the Avice Hill Reserve.

Recalls growing up at Withells Road under the care of her aunties Agnes and Jane and travelling by trap and tram to attend St Margarets school in Cranmer Square. Discusses her passion for bug breeding as a child and later attending Canterbury College (university) to study science. Talks about getting her Master of Sciences degree and writing a thesis on the dobsonfly, an insect that lives in rivers. Describes working on insect pest eradication at the Cawthron Institute in Nelson in the 1930s. Recalls meeting distant relative Frank Hill again while visiting a mutual relative Maud McDowell. Describes their courtship, getting married, a trip to Great Britain and starting to grow and sell herbs at the Memorial Avenue property. Describes the growth of the business, involvement of Frank Hill and establishment of the house and herb gardens. Recalls the formation of the Canterbury Herb Society by Avice Hill, Peggy Fitts and one other person. Notes that the Withells Road land is now Crosbie Park. Talks in some detail about the Avice Hill Reserve.

Accompanying material - Information on the Crosbie family; information on the property at Memorial Ave; information on the replanting of the enclosed herb garden as a scented garden; article `Bugs, lavenders and ginger cats' by Avice Hill, article `Queen of herbs' in NZ gardener Apr 1998. These are bound into the abstract.

Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 2 interview(s).

Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete.

Original recordings not available for playback. Surrogate copies will be provided.