Electric industry workers - Training of

Date: 26 Feb 2008

From: Maori Linemen oral history project

By: Matthews, William, 1949-

Reference: OHInt-0889-02

Description: Interview with Bill (William) Matthews, born in Auckland in 1949. Refers to being adopted with his twin brother to the Matthews family in the Mangakahia Valley, Pakotai, who were relatives. Refers to his father Teuri Matthews having been wounded at Monte Casino while in the 28th Maori Batallion, and his mother Queenie leaving the family when he was a child. Discusses the small community in the valley, the communal vegetable gardens, fishing, pig hunting, and timber milling (kauri). Talks about attending the Pakotai Maori School, frienships made and playing rugby. Comments on living with various people when he attended Titoki District High and hand milking cows before and after school. Refers to his birth mother making contact with his brother when they were 47, visiting her in Rotorua and meeting their half brothers and sisters. Refers to working as a fencing contractor and scrub-cutter before moving to Auckland to work at the Otahuhu substation. Talks about moving to Clyde with a group of 20 to work on the line between Roxburgh and Cromwell, and staying in the area for over 20 years installing pylons and high tension lines. Comments on moving into maintenance work later, moving to the Marlborough area in the mid 1970s, and running a line with a 6 man crew up Wairau Valley. Discusses the upheavals of the restructuring into SOEs (state owned enterprises) in the late 1980s, with linemen being given severance then having to rehire them. Talks about having contract training work with Transpower, including live line training, at Omaka, Indonesia and Australia. Reflects on superiors who influenced him, and that he would like to have known more about engineering. Comments on life in the work camps, the whanau atmosphere, playing rugby, socialising in pubs, hunting and fishing. Discusses meeting his wife, a trainee nurse from Haast, in Clyde. Mentions that his wife encouraged their children to speak Maori. Talks about being diagnosed with cancer in 1992 and having bone marrow transplants and chemotherapy. Mentions the stresses from his career lifestyle, and their children's careers. Interviewer(s) - David Young Venue - Recorded in the TransPower Omaka Training Centre, Blenheim Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHDL-000175 Quantity: 1 digital sound recording(s) digital sound recording(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 Electronic document(s) - abstract. 1 interview(s). 2.52 Hours and minutes Duration. Physical Description: Digital sound recording - wave audio; Textual file - Microsoft word Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-5932, OHDL-001512. Search dates: 1949 - 2008

Date: [circa 1878], [ca 1930s-1980]

From: Pugh family: Photographs

By: Aldersley, David James, 1862-1928; Bunckenburg, Roger, active 1980; Muir & Moodie (Firm); Pugh, Charles Trevor, 1912-1989; Whites Aviation Ltd

Reference: PAColl-10208-3

Description: Photographs and postcards relating to Charles Trevor Pugh. The majority of images relate to his career with New Zealand Electricity Department (NZED) and show exterior and interior views of hydro projects, substations and equipment. Several images show New Zealand scenic locations and historic places. Most taken between circa 1930 to 1980. Also includes postcards of scenes taken circa 1878. Most images taken by C Trevor Pugh. Other images taken by Roger Bunckenburg, Whites Aviation, Muir & Moodie, Aldersley, and unidentified photographers. - Images taken during the 1930s include Arapuni Power Station (1937), Whakamaru Power Station and other unnamed substations. Also includes scenic locations; HMNZ 'Endeavour' at Russell, the Treaty House at Waitangi, the Stone Store at Kerikeri, Fox Glacier, Mount Cook, Hermitage Hotel, Chateau Tongariro, the Sign of the Takahe and unnamed snowy mountains. - Images taken in the 1940s include two men in front of 'Equipment Store 1st Field Brigade NZA' shed, unnamed state hydro projects, Stratford Substation (March, 1948), a gorge on Waikato River, Karapiro Dam and Power Station, Maraetai ferro-concrete bridge, Arapuni circuit breakers, Highbank Power Station, electricity pylons on farmland at Pahuatanui and elsewhere, plus photographs of the Waikato River hydroelectric power development maps. Also includes a State Hydro Department Library print of Tuai Power Station on Lake Kaitawa near Lake Waikaremoana, and a view of Cass Basin. - Images taken in the 1950s include Sir Edmund Hillary and Captain Harry Kirkwood on upper deck of HMNZS 'Endeavour' in 1956. Also includes views of electricity substations taken in 1958 of Inanaghua switching station and depot, Murchison Substation, Kikawa Substation with Stewart Johnson and Mr (?) Robinson inspecting the transformers unit, Westport Substation, Cobb Power Station and unnamed electricity substations. - Images taken in the 1960s include women making electricial componentry, men on a field trip to lakes and hydro stations (possibly Lake Taupo and Waikato River locations), unnamed NZED spillways and substations (possibly Waikato River or South Island locations), men in an electrical engineering classroom and lecture room, Eric Bruce MacKenzie, General Manger of New Zealand Electricity Department and other officials at Manapouri Power Station ceremony, the laying of the Cook Strait Cable showing the ship MV 'Photinia' at work, E B MacKenzie and others (1964), a lunch of NZED staff including geothermal electrical engineer Robin McKenzie, various unnamed buildings, people on beach after the sinking of the 'Wahine' ferry (1968), and an unidentified group of men on a street. Also includes unknown stone church and Queen Elizabeth II on visit to Christchurch Hospital (1953 or 1963?) - Postcards include views of Ohope Beach, Fox Glacier, Chateau Tongariro and Mount Ruapehu, Picton, Marine Parade at Napier, the Mansion House on Kawau Island, plus postcards showing early views of the Avon River footbridge and Domain Gardens, the Christchurch to Sumner tramway, and circa 1878 portrait of Donald Sutherland. - Aerial views of Karori suburb, Wellington, in 1980 show Karori Reservoir, Messines Road, Campbell Street, Wrights Hill Road, Beauchamp Street, and Karori Mall. Quantity: 191 b&w original photographic print(s). 2 b&w copy photographic print(s). 2 b&w photo-mechanical print(s). 1 colour photo-mechanical print(s). Physical Description: Silver gelatin photoprints, colour photoprint

Date: [ca 1963-1975]

From: Pugh family: Photographs

By: Pugh, Charles Trevor, 1912-1989

Reference: PAColl-10208-4

Description: Comprises strips of contact prints pasted on paper sheets. Taken by Charles Trevor Pugh between circa 1963 to 1975. Most images relate to the Manapouri hydro station, including two launches 'Endeavour II' at Supply Bay and the launch 'Resolution', West Arm, control room, buildings and seaplane, electricity pylons, the machine hall, cable connections, the CO2 bank, and the access tunnel. Also includes views of a senior staff review course. Images also include various unnamed hydro stations, derelict Maori meeting-house, Lake Waikaremoana, New Zealand Electricity Department staff on a boat trip and at lunch and in lecture room, Aratiatia Power Project beautification, unidentified women wearing hard hats on a hydro construction site visit, and a helicopter assisting with the erecting of electricity pylons on farmland. Quantity: 13 sheets holding contact prints from 35mm film, comprising 259 b&w photographs. Physical Description: Silver gelatin photoprints