Growing Up In NZ
New Zealand church youth education 1925-50
Dorothy – 30/07/04 Church going and Sunday observances between 1925 and 1950 continued unchanged for many families in many churches.In Otago and Southland many churches retained the earlier strict ideas and young people’s church activities filled Sunday mornings and afternoons. In some parishes Sunday School was held during the morning church services leaving the afternoon…
New Zealand church going pre-1925
Dorothy – 02/07/04 Church going was an accepted part of the week for many families in the first quarter of the twentieth century. Whole families would attend weekly services, often walking quite long distances to church – dressed formally in their best clothes. Children were expected to sit beside their parents through a service which…
Spectre of the Brocken on Mt Robert
Peter Hunt- 13/2/04 The name Spectre of the Brocken conjures up mysterious images seen on mountains in Germany. In 1780 the name was given to the phenomenon seen on Mt Brocken when an enormously magnified shadow of the person watching was cast on a bank of cloud. It can happen when the sun is…
Barretts Farming on Banks Peninsula Part 2
An interview with Robert Barrett Dorothy – 19/03/03 The next generations of Barretts follow in the farming tradition on Banks Peninsula Robert Barrett followed the family tradition and took up farming on Banks Peninsula. After serving in the army in the Korean War he obtained a Rehabilitation farm at Kaituna Valley and he and his…
Growing up in New Zealand 1925-1950, Part 27: Greymouth; My Home Town on the West Coast
Greymouth – My Home Town Joyce Beumelburg – 05/07/02 The one and only time I saw the Aurora Australis was on a sharply clear Saturday night in the mid thirties in Greymouth – my home town on the so-called wild West Coast of the South Island. With two teenage girlfriends, I was ambling home after…
Growing up in New Zealand 1925-1950, Part 26
Treasured Autograph Books Dorothy – 21/12/01 Why have an autograph book? What do young people in 2001 think is the purpose of an autograph book? Most likely it is as a place to collect the signatures of people who are in the limelight for their achievements as sporting idols or stage performers. The role of…
Growing Up in New Zealand 1925-1950, Part 25
Life in the Public Works Camps on the Kaikoura Coast in the 1930s Dorothy – 14/12/01 This article is based on an interview with Leslie Walker (nee O’Callaghan) supplemented with information drawn from the stories published in Public Works Camps: Poor Kids’ Paradise compiled by Pauline Blincoe. During the Depression of the 1930s many men…
Growing up in New Zealand 1925-1950, Part 24: Life on a West Coast Farm in the 1920s
Part 24 – Life on a West Coast Farm in the 1920s Children never at a loss to devise their own fun Dick O’Callaghan and Leslie Walker (nee O’Callaghan) – 21/09/01 From left to right Leslie, Dick and Eileen O’Callaghan at the front entrance to the farmhouse Photo source Leslie Walker (nee O’Callaghan) Dick tells…
Growing up in New Zealand 1925-1950, Part 23: Life on a West Coast Farm
Part 23 – Life on a West Coast Farm in the 1920s – Difficulties and responsibilities Dick O’Callaghan – 14/09/01 We moved to the West Coast in 1922 when I was only eight. The farm was some three miles distant from the Punakaiki River and to reach it we had to cross both that river…
Growing Up In New Zealand 1925-1950, Part 22: Entertainments and hobbies for those growing up in towns and cities
Part 22 – Entertainments And Hobbies For Those Growing Up In Towns And Cities Dorothy – 07/09/01 These varied greatly partly according to the parents’ income, interests and attitudes. Freedom to roam Several of the people interviewed for the articles about growing up between 1900 and 1925 commented that young people had a lot of…