Interview with Barry Chalmers

Interview with Barry Chalmers, born in Bluff in 1950. Talks about his family background, being the youngest of eleven children, his birth mother dying when he was very young, and being brought up by an uncle and aunt who interested him in tramping, nature study and environmental activism. Talks about working for stock and station agents Donald Reid Ltd for three years after he left school, then as a bar manager, a labourer with a landscape gardening company, and as a groundsman at Lincoln College. Talks about deciding to become a landscape gardener, completing a Diploma in Horticulture at Lincoln College and then the new Diploma of Landscape Technology course. Discusses the course content and teachers, and compares it with the Landscape Architecture course.

Describes his career in local government 1975-1998, in parks and recreation departments in Dunedin, Whakatane and Wellington Region. Comments that he worked in management from the mid 1980s and saw the need to establish landscape principles at a political and senior management level. Reflects on the relationship between parks and recreation and landscape, early parks people having trained at Kew, and the increasing use of New Zealand native plants in landscape design. Talks about working in Whakatane 1983-1986 where the practice of landscape architecture was new and having difficulty getting his design ideas implemented. Comments that under the Reserves Act 1977 management plans were required for all parks and reserves but councils were reluctant.

Discusses his position with the Wellington Regional Council where he set up and managed the Recreation Department and implemented the strategic plan for the regional parks network. Comments on the different types of landscape in each park as well as their histories and their uses including recreation, farming, forestry and water collection. Mentions land acquisitions, and refers to conflicts between the local and regional councils over recreational land. Refers to having to educate councillors about the landscape approach to managing regional parks. Comments on parks being considered discretionary in difficult economic times and having to use volunteers. Discusses introducing park rangers, and establishing "Friends of" to get community involvement. Talks about the development of the summer treks programme to promote the regional parks, developing picnic areas and simple structures, and protecting heritage structures and sites. Refers to leaving the Regional Council in 1998, setting up a consultancy and working with councils in the lower North Island on parks and reserves strategies. Mentions the conflict between developing amenities and retaining natural character and the need to involve the community, citing Te Raekaihau Point on Wellington's south coast as an example. Reflects on the need for a new approach to open space and built environment management, and comments that he regards landscape as infrastructure.

Accompanying material - Abstracts accompanied by two appendices: Citation from the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects (2006); Citation from the New Zealand Recreation Association for outstanding contribution award to parks and open spaces (2007)

Interviewer(s) - Shona McCahon

Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s). 5 Electronic document(s) (abstract, appendices, form). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 digital photograph(s) (Jpeg file). 1 interview(s) over 8 days. 8.12 Hours and minutes Duration.

Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHDL-001330, OHA-7353.

Search dates: 1950 - 2009

Original recordings not available for playback. Surrogate copies will be provided. Note that in this interview Barry’s voice is affected by the fact that he is in the final stages of Motor Neurone Disease (MND).