Manawatū Conversations - Oral History

First broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 11 June, 2019. Working in the education psychology field 1974 to 2003. Scope of work in early years. Requests from schools for assessments of specific pupils and formulating strategies. Special classes and special schools. Blindness and deafness. Initially little assistance for pupils with special needs, no specific instruction for teachers, Teaching reading. Studying special education in Pennsylvania. Career path from education into psychology. Impact of Tomorrow's Schools (1989). Ritalin used since 1970s. Behaviour problems. Discipline, abolition of corporal punishment, alternative strategies. Limited in-service training for teachers. Ritalin and parents. Single parent families.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 28 May 2019. Rosaline Putu, part 1 of 2. Scandinavian origins, born in Palmerston North 1938, married a Maori in 1960. How they met. Speaking English. Acceptance into the family. Speaking Maori, evolution of the language. Highbury Maori Club. Pakeha reactions. Anglican/Catholic. Separated, but kept Maori links. Differences, Maori and Pakeha. Multicultural environment.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 4 June, 2019. Rosaline Putu, part 2 of 2. Early life in Kairanga (1940s). Moved onto a farm when very young, stayed until turned 9. Early memories. Deaf brother and sister. Wartime, Home guard. Country school life. Pony to school. How the area has changed. Fancy dress balls. Freedom to roam. Kicked by a cow. Farming with horses. Liking pigs. Army engineers, bull paddock. Longdrop outside toilet. Adjusting to town life. Saving. Changing values. Few clothes, making clothes, smocking.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 19th May 2020.  Part 2 of 2. Palmerston North Defence Heritage Advisory Group activities. Anniversaries and commemorations. Military history presentations. Recordings of talks at https://www.nzsappers.org.nz. Charter partners. 5 year programme looking forward. Service graves. Awapuni Medical Memorial. Linton Camp established 1942. Memorial Park redevelopment. The Showgrounds and Cuba Street (Soldiers’ Club, etc..). Poppy Places Trust. Maori Battalion Hall. Cycleway/walkway to Linton Camp. Evening public lectures. Online resources. 14 books published for the WWI Centenary. Conferences. Engineer Museum at Linton Camp.   

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 12th May 2020.  Part 1 of 2. Defence Heritage work since 2015. Coordinating defence heritage activities, ANZAC Day, Military Tattoo, etc.. Participants in the Heritage group. Attendance on ANZAC Day. Battle of the Bridges. Pre: 2015 organisation. 2019 Dawn Service had at least 10,000 people in the Square. ANZAC Day Civic Service. Military Tattoo planned for 2019, postponed to 2020 (Mosque attack), now cancelled (Covid-19). Future events. Battle of the Bridges details. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 5th November 2019. Part 1 of 3. Born 1940, father away during the war. Early years in Rewa. Father severely wounded in Italy. Father’s war diary, parcels from home. Treatment after wounded, eventual return to New Zealand. Mothers’ ancestors German, coming to NZ in 1843, Nelson area. Education Board land. Father’s side Scottish, coal miners, came 1926. Father working on farms, but other work after the war due to wounds and losing a leg. 1948 moved to state house in Feilding. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 6th October 2020. Part 3 of 5.  Marriage, parents approval, wedding and reception. Moving to Palmerston North, teaching at West End School for 3 years, 1950s. Wife working, then family. Travel to work. Description of pupils, teachers. Discipline. Class size (47). Making teaching resources. Moved to Blenheim. Became principal of school. Extra weekend and evening work. School fundraising. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 27 July 2021. Part 1 of 4.   Jackie came to NZ in 1958. Wanted a country without a class system. Experience of system. Grammar school. Jackie’s and Robin’s wartime childhoods. Robin’s evacuation, father absence. After the war, mother continued working. Jackie coming to NZ  as a service wife in 1958 on the Captain Cook with a baby, husband already in NZ. Information given about NZ. The journey out. Robin came on the Southern Cross in 1963.  

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 3rd November 2020. Part 2 of 4.   Working in the Palmerston North railway yards, 1950s and 60s. Railway through the Square. Safety and speeds. Shunting. Wagon of post holes. Size of PN depot. “Light up” shift, smoke. Cow catchers. Fines for accidents. Pay rates. Move of the yard to Milson. Accident with a cattle wagon about 1962. Cleaning boilers. Anecdotes. Transition to electric, falling asleep in the cab (tablets). Larger trains. Fatal train accident. Near miss. (OSH = Occupational Safety and Health)   

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 27th October 2020. Part 1 of 4.  Railway driving, appeal of steam. Training. Shifts. Yard work. Fun and games, drinking culture. Drivers’ runs, “learning the road”. Drivers’ skills required, “slack action”. Derailments. Work as railway firemen. Type of coal. Water pressures. Lineside fires. Smoke and ash in carriages. Firemen controlling coal, oil and water. Types of locomotive. Diesel-electric locomotives, comparison with steam. Turntables. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 17 August 2021. Part 4 of 4.  Worked as a social worker from 1980. Early days of university-qualified social workers. 4 year degree with placements. Maori studies. Maori Club at Massey University. New Zealand history, differing perspectives. Nature of social work. Youth institutions. Working with communities. Publication, Highbury Whanau: The Early Years, and the Highbury Whanau Centre. 1985 to hospital as student unit supervisor for student placements in community health. Funding cut after 4 years. Retirement age raised to 65. Into private practice, worked until 79. Volunteering with English language partners.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 11th January 2022. Part 1 of 2.  Eileen just turned 90. Came to NZ from UK in 1953, 10 pound Pom. Went to NZ for 2 years’ OE after future husband (Fred) had gone there, although he had dumped her. Got married. Years later she met the other woman. 5  o’clock at St James’ corner. Knowing Fred in UK. Husband’s experience in Royal Navy in WWII. Eileen finished school at 14. Stopped work when 6 months pregnant. Settling in to NZ. Learning to cook. Wartime childhood. When the war broke out. Evacuation to Yorkshire for 9 weeks. Bombing raids. V2s. Rationing.  

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 25th May 2021.  Part 1 of 2. Grew up in Auckland, university then army officer for 7 years, logistics officer. Why left the army. Limited Services Volunteers. YMCA then diploma in teaching and became a high school teacher. Father and discipline. Joined NZ First, elected to parliament. Winston Peters. Operation of parliament and select committees. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 6th July 2021. Part 3 of 3.  Aims of reforms to health services for Maori. Not necessarily just used by Maori, but different style of delivery. Problems with public health. Maori wards in local government. Mason Durie, four aspects of health. Deprivation. Covid-19 vaccine rollout. Lessons from the pandemic. Maori health workforce. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio 8th June 2021. Part 1 of 2. Long family history in NZ, 1823 Henry Williams arrived, later translated the Treaty of Waitangi. Other prominent ancestors. Father developed Lindale Farm. Grant went farming, but hit by policies from 1984 as recently bought a farm with high debt. Impact of family background on perception of self. Letters by Bishop Octavius Hadfield. Moved to Manawatu in 1989. Experience as farmer with policy changes in the 1980s. Communication different now, so knew little about world events then. Job as rep for Reed Publishing, then A&P executive officer, 7 A&P shows at the Showgrounds (Arena) including 2 Royal Shows. Pigs at the Royal Show.

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 8th February 2022. Part 1 of 2. Local government responses to Covid and other disasters. Voluntary networks, ethnic communities. Reliance on the authorities. Civil Defence workshop on mapping communities. Privacy issues, conflict with monitoring and databases. ID cards with facial recognition. Local government failure. Submissions to council. Referenda? Training for council staff. Governance versus management. 

Broadcast on Manawatu People's Radio, 14th Janary 2020. Part 1 of 2.   Came to Palmerston North in 1960. Dentist husband, Mike. Grew up in Wellington, University, then trained as a teacher. In Waiouru before bought dental practice in Palmerston North. Lived in Albert Street. To London for 2 years in 1965. No car when first married. Dentists had to buy own tools. Helped for husband to be army dentist at first. Mike joined Terrace End Rotary Club in 1960. Social life. Exercise, cooked breakfasts.  

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio 9 July, 2019. Raylee Murphy, Part 2 of 2. Overcame early effects of polio. Polio support group, on the board, learning about late effects of polio. Doctors now unaware of polio. The Duncan family polio rehabilitation hospital. Post-polio assistance needed. Supporting each other. Case of ongoing pain, although look fine. Mobility and accessibility issues. Impact of polio on families. Isolation, schools closed. Polio sufferer June Opie, book, _Over My Dead Body_. Iron lungs.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 10th September 2019. Early life. Airforce cadetship. 1 year initial training at Woodburn. Further year at Wigram, then permanent appointment to Ohakea as instrument fitter. Time serving in UK.

Broadcast on Manawatū People's Radio, 7 May, 2019. Trish Keiller on the history of Caccia Birch House, interviewed by Alison Mildon. Sound of cicadas in the background. Caccia Birch Trust Board member. House uses, history display. Original purchase and clearing of land, building house and occupants/owners. Polo grounds, rifle range. Governor General living there. House called Woodhey. Billiard room, tennis court, sentry boxes. Army use in WWII. Convalescent home, swimming pool. Then rest home, but fire risk. Victoria University use until about 1976. 1980s bought by city council. Subdivision, Ryder-Cheshire property, etc.. Awhina room.