Subsistence economy

Date: 16-17 Dec 1995 - 27-28 Jan 1996 - 16 Dec 1995 - 28 Jan 1996

From: Haast oral history project

By: Buchanan, Henry John, 1917-1997

Reference: OHInt-0419/03

Description: Henry Buchanan was born in Runanga in 1917. Recalls living in Ikamatua where his father trammed for the sawmiller A R Wallis. Mentions their shift to the Turnbull River in 1930 where his father cut timber for Mr Wallis, had a farm and built a sawmill at Okuru. Describes working for his family on a gold claim on the north Haast beach, growing vegetables, having dairy cows and making butter. Recalls other food eaten including wood pigeon, ducks and some beef. Recalls rowing from Big Bay for a dance and riding by horse to Haast and Jackson's Bay. Mentions fording rivers and going by the tide. Talks about mail brought in by pack horse and a launch between Jackson's Bay and Okuru. Comments on the beginning of the aeroplane service and being able to get emergency service when needed. Notes that previously when people were sick it had taken three or four days to get them to Paringa by stretcher. Mentions accidents in the area. Comments on Dr Jean McLean flying down from Hokitika each fortnight. Describes post offices at Okuru, run by the Eggeling family, at Upper Okuru, by the Nolan family, at Haast, by the Cron family and at Huhuka by the Harris family. Mentions Betty Eggeling was the first woman to drive through Haast Pass. Talks about marrying Mina McCrae at Greymouth and their honeymoon in Nelson. Describes life with radio and no television. Describes beginning a fishing venture about 1950, buying a freezer, starting whitebaiting and a `whitebait war' with the Nolans. Describes operating boats and an aeroplane while whitebaiting and crayfishing. Discusses fights about air space with Myrtle Cron, the airways agent at Haast. Mentions that Ivy Cron operated the ferry across the Haast. Notes that West Coast Airways began operating about 1930 and discusses weather problems and flying. Recalls deer stalking full time from 1955 to 1960, a venison factory built in Greymouth in the 1970s and a mussel farming venture in Marlborough. Discusses other work he has done including on the Haast aerodrome, goldmining, scrubcutting for W D Nolan in Cascade, droving cattle out to Whataroa, working on the road from Makarora and from Waiatoto to Okuru and being manpowered into the sawmill at Ikamatua. Notes that the Government gave subsidies for gold mining during the Depression. Talks about the Cowl and Harris families and mentions his mother remarried Joe Harris. Mentions camps at Jacksons Bay, Okuru and Haast and roadmen Joe Driscoll and Jack Farrell. Talks about brothers and sisters Ted, Bill and Myra Buchanan. Interviewer(s) - Julia Bradshaw Quantity: 4 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 3.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-2897.

Date: 15-16 Nov 1997 - 15 Nov 1997 - 16 Nov 1997

From: Haast oral history project

By: Eggeling, Milcah Elizabeth, 1920-

Reference: OHInt-0419/07

Description: Betty Eggeling was born at Ross in 1920. Describes her family background, her parents meeting in Greymouth, her father's occupations as coalminer, goldminer and farmer and how the family lived in Runanga, Aratika and Ross. Describes how their house was washed off its foundations by a burst water supply dam. Comments on her mother's ability to feed the family, trap possums and make clothes for the children from flour bags. Recalls the tin bath in front of the open fire and rescuing her brother from being drowned in the river. Describes being timid, having few visitors, the distance from school and some schooling by correspondence. Describes the family's shift from Ikamatua to Okuru after the purchase of a farm and recalls travelling south by boat with the livestock in 1931. Mentions planting potatoes and oats. Talks about her father's absence bush cutting. Mentions her brother Henry Buchanan was like a father. Describes the cattle track and mustering. Discusses the roadmen Jack Farrell and Joe Driscoll, Chinese mining for gold at Bald Hill and gold diggings at the Arawata River beach. Discusses changing her name from Milcah to Betty. Recalls having her children at Greymouth, the fortnight spent in hospital and how women looked after one another's children. Talks about the work of her husband Charlie Eggeling and his brother Dick Eggeling building and maintaining the roads and bridges. Discusses alcohol, the arrival of the supply boat, the ensuing dance and the use of alcohol by the Ministry of Works (MoW) staff. Describes the friendship of the Harris and Buchanan families. Talks about operating a motor camp and looking for greenstone with husband Charlie Eggeling. Access Contact - See oral history librarian Abstracted by - Abstracted by Julia Bradshaw Interviewer(s) - Julia Bradshaw Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-009129; OHC-009130; OHC-009131 Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 2.30 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA 2901.

Date: 25-29 Sep 1985 - 25 Sep 1985 - 29 Sep 1985

From: Nelson and Golden Bay Oral History Project

By: Mildenhall, Albert Raymond, 1910-1989

Reference: OHInt-0053/17

Description: Ray Mildenhall was born in Porirua on 24 July 1910. Describes his apprenticeship to his father as a carpenter in Plimmerton. Talks about joining his father, Albert Mildenhall, brother Dick Mildenhall and Tom Deavoll and Oscar Miller and setting up a gold claim at Parapara, Golden Bay. Talks about some of the wives and families being there also. Focuses on these years and the lives led by the Depression goldminers. Describes in detil the trip to Parapara on the scow `Kohi', the setting up of the claim, use of coal mine gear from Puponga to work the claim, life in a depression gold mine camp, survival on the land, catching goats, weka, eels, ducks and wild honey, the Government gold subsidy and other gold miners including Mr Mouat. Recalls prospecting, the Canterbury Hills area, Anatoki, the use of the steam engine in sluicing. gold mining companies, social life among the miners, health and accidents, typhoid fever and `peppering the claims'. Talks about the breaking up of their claim by a bogus company and finding work at the Onekaka Iron Works. Talks about Westhaven Inlet and the timber mills. Describes the failure of his father's joinery workshop during the Depression and the effect on him. Venue - Plimmerton ; 1985 Interviewer(s) - Rosie Little Venue - Mr Mildenhall's home in Plimmerton, near Wellington Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-003015; OHC-003016; OHC-003017; OHC-003018; OHC-003019; OHC-003020 Quantity: 6 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 5 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 581.

Date: 4 Jul 1992 - 04 Jul 1992

From: Women in World War II Part II

By: Bell, Ellen Edith, 1918-2007

Reference: OHInt-0064/02

Description: Nelly Bell was born in Auckland on 14 Nov 1918. Gives details of her family background including the difficulties faced by her Church of England mother marrying her Irish Roman Catholic father. Notes that her mother converted to Catholicism later. Talks about the sense of community in the district around Newstead, involvement in the school and the Hamilton winter show. Describes living in a large colonial kauri house. Focuses on the Depression and her father walking off the land. Recalls how they survived on a small plot of land with some animals and a vegetable garden. Describes her mother's ability to sew, a clothes bank at the school and the problems with getting shoes. Describes how her father established the Unemployed Workers Movement and her mother was president of its women's division. Describes their belief in education despite the lack of money. Recalls her father's work stumping land and stacking hay and a bad accident which he had. Describes leaving school in 1936 and getting a job with the New Zealand Creditman's Association. Recalls meeting her husband at Unemployed Workers Movement meetings and Labour Party socials. Describes their war-time wedding. Talks about feeling unwelcome at a Women's Institute garden party on a farm where her husband was working. Describes their non involvement in patriotic activities. Talks about her husband's conscription, his pacifist beliefs, being sent to Waiouru as a driver and then overseas in 1943. Recalls waitressing, working as a telephonist and having her parents live with her. Comments on American servicemen and their attitudes to women. Talks about the influence of the war on the emancipation of women and the horror of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Venue - Hamilton : 1992 Interviewer(s) - Sarah Dalton Venue - Hamilton Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-004738; OHC-004739; OHC-004740 Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB 841. Photograph of Nelly and Kathleen Bell about 1943; photograph of Nelly Bell in 1992

Date: 23 Mar 1996

From: Tuapeka oral history project

By: Dickson, Peter Joseph, 1935-

Reference: OHInt-0569/04

Description: Peter Dickson was born in Lawrence in 1935. Describes how both of his parents were from Tuapeka Mouth. Mentions he was the youngest of a family of eleven children. Comments that the family was affected by the Depression of the 1930s. Describes rabbits as part of their diet. Explains how the family used rain water and how they did washing and bathing. Talks about a battery radio, coal range, copper and generator. Mentions there was no electricity in the area until the 1950s. Notes the family farm is where he currently lives. Describes attending Tuapeka Mouth School, Clutha Valley School and Clutha Valley High School. Talks about brothers who went to World War II and the escape of a brother who was a prisoner of war. Describes going ploughing and driving a four horse team on a Clydevale farm. Describes the blacksmith's shop near his home, Archie McCorkindale, the blacksmith, the general store, Post Office and the mail bus from Balclutha. Recalls living in Wellington for two years with his sister Margaret Dell. Describes getting there by bus, steam train and the Lyttelton ferry. Talks about returning to Tuapeka Mouth and farm work when he was seventeen. Describes vehicles he has owned including a Model A truck and a 35 V8 coupe. Gives details of working as a shearer for fifteen years and then at Finnigans (Finegand) Freezing Works for twenty years. Discusses the Catholic Church, dances at the Tuapeka Mouth Hall, the Shearers Jamboree, alcohol and movies in the local hall. Recalls local characters Eric Chapman, Jock Stanton and Charlie McGovern. Talks about the closure of the shops, the beginning of the rural delivery and a population decline. Discusses cricket, football, golf, bowling, fishing and shooting in the Clutha Valley. Talks about the telephone party line and the telephone exchange. Mentions his father's death. Gives details of the Tuapeka punt and its operation for 100 years. Notes he took over the job of puntman in 1994. Discusses the punt, river levels and centennary celebrations. Describes hearing about the possibility of a dam, positive local reaction, meetings held and his feeling that although Beaumont will lose land, the dam will be beneficial. Refers to Cromwell and the Clyde dam. Talks about the dam's location, the future of Tuapeka Mouth without a dam and the likely impact of a dam on the punt. Contends that the main road will go through Tuapeka Mouth and this will bring benefits. Summarises changes in the district since his youth and his desire to remain in the area. Interviewer(s) - Jerome Cvitanovich Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 2.10 Hours and minutes Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-2628. Photograph of Peter Dickson with family

Date: 1970 - 1979

By: CORSO

Reference: Eph-E-CORSO-1973-01

Description: An arrangement of text superimposed above an orange background photograph of a rural road with figures walking and standing. Date estimated from other CORSO posters acquired from the same provenance. Quantity: 1 colour photo-mechanical print(s). Physical Description: Photolithograph, 860 x 600 mm.

Date: 1986

From: Heath, Eric Walmsley 1923- :[Cartoons on topics of defence, politics, social issues, whimsy, medical issues, pollution, conservationists, trade unions, space exploration, animals, police & crime, Television, farming, sport, war, and transport. 1970-1990s].

Reference: B-144-864

Description: Shows a farming family around the kitchen table, waiting for the eel, rabbit, mushrooms and puha which the mother prepares. The husband talks to the taxman at the door. Published in the Dominion on 24 April 1986. Inscriptions: Recto - bottom right - ERIC HEATH Quantity: 1 original cartoon(s). Physical Description: Ink 250 x 355 mm, on sheet 385 x 522 mm. Provenance: Donated by the artist in 1996.

Date: 2002

From: Crimp, Daryl, 1958-:[Digital cartoons published in the Dominion Post and other newspapers]

Reference: DX-012-005

Description: Prison kitchens are told to reduce food costs further. Shows prisoner asking what the soup of the day is, he's told by the chef that it's water. Quantity: 1 digital image(s) ..

Date: 2006

From: Hawkey, Allan Charles, 1941- :[Digital cartoons published in the Waikato Times].

Reference: DCDL-0001574

Description: A woman stands in her kitchen holding a newspaper with the headline 'Energy users hit with rising prices'. Her husband comes in, just home from work, and she asks him to walk to the takeaway because she has stopped the gas, had the electricity disconnected and sold the car. He naturally looks less than happy. Quantity: 1 digital cartoon(s).

Date: 18-19 Feb 1997 - 18 Feb 1997 - 19 Feb 1997

From: Haast oral history project

By: Jones, Mary June, 1928-1998

Reference: OHInt-0419/09

Description: Mary Jones was born in Christchurch in 1928. Gives details of her family background and the arrival of her grandparents at Haast Beach where her grandfather, William Harris, had the store, farm and an orchard. Talks about the eleven children in the family. Mentions the family's move to a farm at the Turnbull River. Describes how her father met her mother in Christchurch where she was working. Describes being a tomboy, wrestling with Ted Buchanan, her love of animals, helping milk the cows, skinning sheep and mustering with her uncles after doing her Correspondence School work. Recalls riding horses and calves from an early age. Discusses animal husbandry including dipping sheep, branding and dehorning cattle and shoeing and breaking in horses. Mentions making bridles. Describes riding from Haast to Jacksons Bay on horseback and crossing rivers. Comments on the locals' respect for rivers. Recalls catching skate, paua and crayfish at Jacksons Bay. Describes the family home, the rifles hanging on the wall and the attitude to guns. Describes how her mother shot wood pigeons and trout were shot by an uncle. Talks about her father being a road builder and returning to the farm every fortnight. Describes the family's vegetable garden, fruit trees, bird life and storms and huge floods in the area. Recalls preserving eggs. Describes candles and kersoene lamps for lighting. Mentions the radio battery was charged on the water wheel and the saw ran off the milking machine. Discusses deaths from appendicitis before the beginning of the air service, operated by Captain Bert Mercer, about 1934. Comments on people's efforts to heal themselves in the period before the air service. Mentions Beecham's Pills. Describes how people got their teeth out rather than have fillings because the dentist visited infrequently. Describes going to high school in Christchurch and finding it difficult. Mentions shyness and not having played sports. Comments on road building stopping and the men leaving the area during World War II. Interviewer(s) - Julia Bradshaw Quantity: 3 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). 3 Hours Duration. Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete OHA-2903. Processing information: Record updated June 2024 following information from a staff member.