Invercargill Archives

Overview In this interview Joe talks about his early life in Otago, Waikouaiti and then Dunedin. On leaving school Joe took up shearing. Joe then recounts his experiences of WWII in some detail. Joe served in the air force and was prisoner of war from 1943 to the end of the war, after his plane was shot down in Egypt. On his return Joe married and took on a lease for Elmwood Station at The Key. Initially Jo grew fescue, which was exported to the US, and made more money than sheep. Joe goes on to...

Overview Win is among the few remaining people who grew up in the Te Anau Basin when it was still considered remote and inaccessible with land covered in tussock and scrub that was only useful for grazing stock. As the youngest child of Henry F. Blatch, runholder of Lynwood Station (originally gazetted as the Te Anau Lake Run 301B) between 1906 and 1951, Win recalls a childhood of walks and picnics in the Basin as well as some of the events that dramatically changed the lives of her immediate family and...