Born New Plymouth 1928, third child of five. Father ran medical practice from family home with assistance of mother. Assumed domestic duties while father serving in WWII, aged 15 on his return. Followed family background in science with Bachelor of Home Science degree at Otago University. Became science teacher. Married Cornelius (Kees) Toebes, 1925-1975, a Dutch hydrologist who had worked in Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). First home on foreshore at Onerahi. Three children. Learned to cook Dutch and Indonesian food. Later family life in Wellington. Separated 1970. Following LLB and library studies became legal librarian and researcher.
Toebes, Heather Bethune, 1928-2020
Thomson, Heather Bethune, 1928-2020
There are 2 related items to this topic
Image
Interview with Heather Toebes
Date: 12, 19 April 2010 - 12 Apr 2010 - 19 Apr 2010
From: Mrs Schumacher's gems oral history project - domestic life in New Zealand from the 1940s to the 1960s
By: Toebes, Heather Bethune, 1928-2020
Reference: OHInt-0984-20
Description: Interview with Heather Toebes (nee Thomson), born in New Plymouth in 1928. Interviewer's summary: Topics covered in the recording include: father's family background, upbringing, medical studies, war service (including Gallipoli, prisoner of war in WWII). Mother's upbringing: female teachers and role models, acquisition of domestic skills and knowledge, use of a spurkle (spurdle). Her father George Thomson's medical practice in New Plymouth and the family home: layout, hygiene, laundry, mother's role in practice, care of babies, encouraging Maori into maternity nursing, goods in lieu of fees in the Depression. Family life in wartime: household chores, power cuts, mother's social life, learning manners and table manners, fear of Japanese. Childhood: attitude to parents, discipline and punishment, treatment of domestic workers, food, ironing, use of starch, personal cleanliness, mother's care of babies, learning the facts of life, schooling, manual training, saving and swapping. Food and meals: mealtimes, puddings, supplies, healthy food, examples of meals, keeping food fresh, sterilising milk and water, preserving. Kitchen and laundry layout and appliances. Garden: vegetable crops. Mother: friendships, sources of support during husband's war service, attitude to community service, support of female patients and friends. Siblings: adoption of elder brother, younger brother's loss of hearing following measles, role during mother's trips away. Mother's old age. Recipes and recipe books: Olive Bone's Fudge, "The Nothing Succeeds like Excess Cookbook", mince, curry, marmalade, gravy. Heather's working life: Victoria University Law Library, Chen and Palmer, secondary teaching, scientific translation. Marriage to Dutchman Kees Toebes: preparations for marriage, wedding presents, learning to cook Dutch and Indonesian food, learning Dutch pronunciation and language, husband's work. Family life: first home at Onerahi, meals and supplies, keeping food fresh, fishing, swapping food with neighbour, growing fruit and vegetables, drinking wine, daily and weekend routines, sewing, domestic furniture, ceramics and china, drinking coffee, kitchen utensils. Current living arrangements: buying house, kitchen, shopping, washing, housework, garden, grandchildren, change in manners and table manners, teaching law students. Interviewer(s) - Pip Oldham Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-001504 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s) digital sound recording(s). 1 Electronic document(s) (abstract). 1 printed abstract(s). 5 digital photograph(s). 13 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s). 5 electronic scan(s) of original colour photographic print(s). 1 interview(s) over 2 days. 4.49 Hours and minutes Duration. Physical Description: Sound files - wave files; Textual file - Microsoft word; Image files - Jpeg, Tiff Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHDL-001483, OHA-7400. Colour photographs of: Heather Toebes in her kitchen; recipe book and spurtle; recipe book (all 29 April 2010). Scanned colour photographs of: Toebes' home at Onerahi; Annie Thompson with children (1939); Kees Toebes in the house; Heather's children Quentin and Harriet at Manakau with a Christmas Crown (c.1970); Heather Toebes at her farewell from the Law Commission (1995). Scanned B&W photographs of: Major George Thomson in uniform, and verso with handwritten details; George Thompson; Heather's mother Annie with her school hockey team; Annie Thomson with Heather (c.1929); Toebes' home at Onerahi; Heather with her mother, brothers and sister (1939); Heather's mother Annie as a your woman; Heather Toebes (1951); Heather's wedding party (1954) (OHDL-001484) Search dates: 1928 - 2010
Image
Photographs of Heather Toebes
From: Mrs Schumacher's gems oral history project - domestic life in New Zealand from the 1940s to the 1960s
Reference: OHDL-001484
Description: Colour photographs of: Heather Toebes in her kitchen; recipe book and spurtle; recipe book (all 29 April 2010). Scanned colour photographs of: Toebes' home at Onerahi; Annie Thompson with children (1939); Kees Toebes in the house; Heather's children Quentin and Harriet at Manakau with a Christmas Crown (c.1970); Heather Toebes at her farewell from the Law Commission (1995). Scanned B&W photographs of: Major George Thomson in uniform, and verso with handwritten details; George Thompson; Heather's mother Annie with her school hockey team; Annie Thomson with Heather (c.1929); Toebes' home at Onerahi; Heather with her mother, brothers and sister (1939); Heather's mother Annie as a your woman; Heather Toebes (1951); Heather's wedding party (1954) Quantity: 5 digital photograph(s). 5 electronic scan(s) of original colour photographic print(s). 13 electronic scan(s) of original black and white photographic print(s).