Person recorded: Lewis Francis Blatch

Date: 2 September 2005

Interviewer and abstractor: Morag Forrester

Tape counter: Sony TCM 393

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009: States he is LEWIS FRANCIS BLATCH and that he was born in 1922 at a nursing home in INVERCARGILL.

015: Affirms he grew up at LYNWOOD STATION, TE ANAU, and that his FATHER was HENRY FREDERICK BLATCH who died in 1938. Adds that he was attending HIGH SCHOOL at the time so had not been in a position to work with his FATHER.

030: States that the one-roomed LYNWOOD SCHOOL, behind the HOMESTEAD, forms a key part of his earliest childhood memories. Mentions that the authorities eventually recognised it as a public school after a SHEPHERD and his family moved onto the property and increased the school roll to five.

044: However, he recalls that in the late 1920s only his SISTER, WIN, and he were taught at the SCHOOL by a governess (MARY SULLIVAN).

051: Names the later school pupils as children from the family of WATTIE BEER of MOSSBURN, the youngest of whom was KEITH. Also mentions KEITH’S sisters, PEARL and EDNA.

156: Another pupil, he recalls, was GEORGE RIORDAN, who walked to and from the neighbouring HILLSIDE STATION (about 3 miles [4.8kms] each way).

064: Muses that MARY SULLIVAN was probably quite a strict teacher but not, he says, like some “old school ma’ams were strict you know…she didn’t wield the waddie or anything”.

076: Mentions that he didn’t begin primary schooling until he was seven years old because he had to wait for WIN (almost three years younger) to catch up before a governess was hired for them both. In the meantime, he adds, he briefly attended WAIHOPAI SCHOOL in INVERCARGILL.

086: Secondary education, he says, was at WAITAKI BOYS HIGH SCHOOL in OAMARU where his two BROTHERS (JIM and ALF) had also been sent.

094: Replies that at that time, one other boy from the TE ANAU BASIN also attended WAITAKI BOYS – HAROLD CHARTRES whose family lived at TE ANAU DOWNS STATION.

109: Back to life on LYNWOOD, he explains that in SPRING, the main job was LAMBING and he recalls that many EWES were lambed on both the FREEHOLD area and on the WHITESTONE FLATS. Adds that all the RUN (government-leased property) EWES were lambed on site.

116: Normally, he continues, there were two SHEPHERDS working across the property mainly picking up cast EWES (animals that had fallen on their sides, unable to get up again) and shooting WILD PIGS that preyed on young LAMBS.

125: Recalls that following the start of WWII, he single-handedly did one LAMBING and half of another. Mentions that he had to camp out on the property, spending only a few hours on SUNDAYS at the HOMESTEAD.

132: States that during the week, he stayed in HUTS on the STATION – one on the UPUKERORA RIVER FLATS, one on the DALE (towards MT PROSPECT) and another at the DALE GATE (opposite PROSPECT), which he mentions belonged to MARAROA STATION although it was on the LYNWOOD site.

141: Affirms that LYNWOOD SHEEP grazed as far as these areas and further along the UPUKERORA RIVER to MT SNOWDON but only on its lower slopes.

153: Replies that during his FATHER’S period as RUNHOLDER, LYNWOOD stretched to about 67,000 acres. But at one stage, he says, it had been bigger. TE ANAU (LAKES) STATION, he continues, had a HOMESTEAD on the UPUKERORA RIVER – the remains of which were still there in the 1930s.

176: The second area was HILLSIDE STATION which, he believes, was split off as part of the “soldier settlement” scheme for returning WWI veterans. Mentions its first settler was a man with the surname of SHEEHY.

184: Goes on to say that that just before the SLUMP (the GREAT DEPRESSION of the 1930s/40s) the RIORDANS took it up, arriving from ETTRICK, OTAGO. “They had a really hard row to hoe there for a long time.”

195: As far as stock numbers were concerned, he says that during his FATHER’S tenure, the property carried about 8000 EWES, 1200 HOGGETS and about 400 HEREFORD CATTLE.

203: Recalls that in the earlier days the property would not have carried FATTENING LAMBS because of lack of transportation to get them to market. He continues that it wasn’t till the early 1930s that he saw a big TRUCK on the property.

210: Remembers LYNWOOD having a solid-tyred INTERNATIONAL which his elder brother, JIM, took to MOSSBURN. “It used to be a whole day’s trip, there and back.”

214: It was the early 1930s, he goes on, when they started sending stock to the MEATWORKS (at MAKAREWA).

224: States that when JIM (and ALF at first) took on the property, they continued to “break in” more of the land thereby increasing the stock numbers. Says mostly the new areas were between the WHITESTONE RIVER and THE HILLS which were mainly covered in tussock.

232: Explains the land was first ploughed using a six-team of HORSES and the top work was done by TRACTOR.

239: Estimates that up to 500 acres of that land were developed in addition to land on the KAKAPO side of the WHITESTONE. Adds that this was “poor” land so they tried growing FESCUE (an imported hardy grass).

247: “It was all leasehold land, that, and there was an uproar from the MOSSBURN FESCUE-growing community about that (laughs).” So JIM gave up on cultivating FESCUE there at a time when, he says, it was losing its popularity (probably the late 1940s).

[FESCUE became known as CHEWINGS FESCUE because it was first threshed as a seed crop in NEW ZEALAND by GEORGE CHEWINGS of GLENELG, MOSSBURN in 1888. It proved useful for airstrips and sports grounds which required a hardy, springy grass. It was in high demand overseas, particularly during WWII, and as a result fetched good export prices. Even post-war it continued to be a reasonable cash crop until its main export market, OREGON, USA, looked to growers in the UK. At its peak in 1944-45 it was priced at up to 23 cents/lb, compared with about 2 cents/lb in the early 1930s. It had mainly been linked with growers in MOSSBURN, however, several pastoral runs in the TE ANAU BASIN were also producing FESCUE at that time.]

252: Considers FESCUE “put a lot of people on their feet” as they attempted to overcome the hardships caused by the SLUMP.

258: At LYNWOOD, he says, the first FESCUE paddock he remembers was on FREEHOLD land across from the HOMESTEAD in the 1930s.

269: Agrees that the FESCUE HARVEST required a lot of labour. Mentions that LYNWOOD had its own (threshing) MILL. But it was all hands on deck.

276: Explains that at first they borrowed the MILL from THE PLAINS STATION until they bought their own “raggedy old thing” which his mechanically minded BROTHER, JIM, was able to fix up. Adds it worked well enough to be towed to and from TE ANAU DOWNS to help the FESCUE harvesters there.

289: Recalls one year the price for FESCUE SEED was 2shillings/lb. “It put a lot of people on their feet around the area, not so much here but down in MOSSBURN/LUMSDEN.”

315: However the FESCUE harvest, he says, did not play a big part in the SUMMER season of work at LYNWOOD. Mostly it involved FENCING, HAYMAKING and harvesting OATS for the HORSES.

323: States that FENCES were put up around the FREEHOLD and newly-developed areas, not on the RUN country which was divided by the UPUKERORA and the WHITESTONE RIVERS.

328: Explains where the property boundaries were: between the FREESTONE (STATION) and LYNWOOD it went across the RAMPARTS to just above HORSESHOE BEND on the WAIAU RIVER, straight across, then up the WAIAU, up the LAKE (TE ANAU) to the 12-MILE BUSH, follow that round then up the UPUKERORA RIVER to SNOWDON and back down the other side of the UPUK to the top of the DALE HILL. From the bottom of the hill, the FENCE boundary with the MARAROA STATION went down the LYNWOOD side (west) of the WHITESTONE RIVER all the way to the ROUND HILL where it broke off. Then it re-started on the other side of the river to the left-hand side of the little BLUE CLIFF down to the HILLSIDE (STATION) boundary and round to the site of the old LYNWOOD HOMESTEAD on the hill.

364: Tape stopped to access mains power supply.

377: Comments that there were regular exchanges of “straggler” stock between LYNWOOD and their neighbours on the MARAROA, HILLSIDE and FREESTONE STATIONS.

380: Replies that the boundary and paddock FENCE POSTS were made from local TOTARA and RED BEECH.

394: While wood was used for domestic purposes, he says the main form of heating in the HOMESTEAD was coal and anthracite (from OHAI) for the ESSE range in the kitchen.

402: MARCH was the time of year, he says, that EWES were brought in for DIPPING and the LAMBS would be WEANED at the same time. The STOCK would then be sorted into those bound for market and HOGGETS to be kept on the property.

407: MUSTERING, he says, was done in blocks. Some areas (near the HOMESTEAD) required only a day or so to MUSTER while farther out would require five or six days. For example going up the UPUKERORA, over the bridge then down the WHITESTONE and back home, he says, would take about a week.

414: Says about five men would work on that week-long MUSTER.

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009: Referring to his BROTHERS, JIM and ALF, taking over the running of LYNWOOD, he explains that their different skills and interests complemented each other. For example, he says ALF was more of a STOCKMAN and JIM’S leanings were mechanical, so he did much of the general repair work. But during and after WWII, he had had to do manage by himself.

017: Replies there were about seven workers at any one time on the STATION. He lists these as a HEAD SHEPHERD, a couple of other SHEPHERDS, a TEAMSTER (person who worked and tended the DRAUGHT HORSES and would also be referred to as PLOUGHMAN) and a couple of ROUSABOUTS.

028: Recalls two of the SHEPHERDS as DAVE MCKAY and IVAN ADCOCK, both of whom enlisted for service during WWII and returned to NZ when it was over.

036: Explains that he did not work at LYNWOOD for long because after leaving SCHOOL in 1939 at the age of 17, he joined the ARMY the following year. Adds that apart from a few MUSTERING rounds as part of the government’s MANPOWER SCHEME, he spent much of the time at ARMY CAMP until he was 21 and was sent overseas in 1943. LEW is a veteran of the BATTLE OF MONTE CASSINO in ITALY, 1944.

051: Remembers the PLOUGHMAN was GEORGE CARROLL, describing him as a “well-known character about MOSSBURN”.

066: Mentions a MRS MCKAY who was employed as SHEARERS COOK adding that she was the mother of their SHEPHERD, DAVE MCKAY. Comments that there were various different COOKS employed over the years.

071: However, most of the time, he says, his older SISTERS, (MOLLY and CATHY), cooked for the household staff, including the permanent workers who took their meals in the large kitchen at the new HOMESTEAD. The house was built in 1928 by the DORES of MOSSBURN after the previous dwelling was destroyed by fire as a result of an arson attack by an itinerant worker.

086: Describes how at the back of the house, the verandah opened into the kitchen where the workers had their meals. Through the kitchen, he says, there was a serving hatch into the adjoining dining room for the family meals.

126: Moving on to the WINTER months, he says they were kept busy on chores such as feeding the HOGGETS. In those days, he says, it involved shifting TURNIP or SWEDE BREAKS which meant driving stakes and unrolling netting – more labour intensive than nowadays when FARMERS can run electric wire across PADDOCKS.

133: Also mentions that all the CALVES were wintered (more feeding out) on the STATION as well as the HOGGETS and the EWES.

141: Referring to the problem of pests, particularly RABBITS, he says the STATION employed a RABBITER. He recalls FRANK MCKAY was there during his time.

145: Explains that MCKAY would lay out the poison in the winter and trap the RABBITS in summer. Relates a tale about a prank MCKAY played on GEORGE CARROLL concerning icing sugar made to look like the strychnine poison for the carrots.

181: Replies that the future for continuing tenure of the run country was always uncertain because of the risk of non-renewal. Speculates that if ALF had still been alive at the time, he may have been interested in taking on the FREEHOLD section (of about 800 acres). ALF had joined the RNZAF at the start of WWII and was sent overseas where he died in action in 1940 after his plane was shot down over GERMANY.

190: Goes on to say that JIM was definitely not interested in working the FREEHOLD property, adding that the government offered him another five years of the RUN at the end of the 33-year lease term.

194: At the end of those five years, he says, the government offered JIM only a further year as this was around the time it was planning to implement its LAND DEVELOPMENT SCHEME in the TE ANAU BASIN.

197: Reflects that it was probably only family duty that had kept JIM at LYNWOOD for so many years; in the end he sold both the lease and the FREEHOLD in 1951. Two years later, the purchaser sold it back to the government and LYNWOOD became the first of the LANDS & SURVEY DEPARTMENT’S FARM DEVELOPMENT PROJECT areas in the TE ANAU BASIN. This 30-year PROJECT resulted in the break-up of almost all of the PASTORAL RUNS in the district.

204: Suggests that the price JIM got for the sale was about 16,000 pounds (but later says it was perhaps 24,000 pounds).

212: Comments that the new owner (ANDERSON) “fell on his feet” because he bought the property just before the price of WOOL dramatically increased in 1951. “He’d just about paid the place off with the WOOL cheque….in the first year.”

227: Asked about what JIM’S wife, ELVRA, thought about the decision to sell, he says FARMING hadn’t really been of great interest to her anyway. As an aside, he recalls that although ELVRA had been a governess at THE PLAINS STATION, (prior to her marriage) he thinks she had also been governess at TE ANAU DOWNS.

248: Going back to his childhood years, before he went to WAITAKI BOYS HIGH, he affirms that there were not many other children in the district to befriend. So, he says, he spent much of his time PIG HUNTING and RABBITING with his dogs.

264: As to the fire that destroyed their house in 1928, he says that GEORGE CARROLL managed to save his (LEW’S) tricycle - about the only thing salvageable.

268: At the time, he recalls, he was in INVERCARGILL with his MOTHER and younger SISTER, WIN. His other siblings were at BOARDING SCHOOL and his FATHER, he says, was in WELLINGTON. The only BLATCH at LYNWOOD was JIM, but he had been MUSTERING some of the RUN COUNTRY.

277: Recalls that afterwards the family lived in a small cottage across the road which had a makeshift extension added to it. This, he says, consisted of a wooden floor with timber walls about halfway up and covered thereafter with canvas, similar to the roadworkers huts used at that time (late 1920s).

288: Says he can just about remember living in the old HOMESTEAD. Recalls it had an old “valley” roof which resulted in several leakages after a heavy snow.

297: Replies that he often went into the TE ANAU township and remembers a few of the people who lived there then, including CHARLIE EVANS and his successor, WARD BEER, as RANGERS for the SOUTHLAND ACCIMATISATION SOCIETY. Their job, he says, was to run the HATCHERY (TROUT FISHERY).

302: Also remembers GUS MCGREGOR, CLIFF HERRON and TOM PLATO of the MINISTRY of PUBLIC WORKS.

314: During the construction of the MILFORD ROAD (begun in 1929), he says, LYNWOOD provided meat for the workers cookshop. Continues that a couple of COWS and about 30 SHEEP were killed on the STATION each week for the workers.

329: Adds that his FATHER also used to cart groceries to the roadside camps and it was ERIC GLEN who managed that job. Recalls they took the (horse-drawn) spring cart from the HOMESTEAD, picked up bread baked at the TE ANAU HOTEL and went on to the various camps along the construction site.

335: Says they did this for a year or two and that later, instead of the cart, they used his FATHER’S MODEL-T FORD to transport the goods. Affirms that this was before the GILLIGANS set up their cartage business from MOSSBURN.

341: Sometimes, he says, he went along although usually there was no room for passengers because the vehicle was laden with supplies.

366: Affirms that his FATHER was a member of the WALLACE COUNTY COUNCIL, representing the MARAROA RIDING. Adds that at one stage his FATHER was CHAIRMAN of the WCC.

386: Recalls travelling with his PARENTS through OTAUTAU (where the WCC meetings were held) to RIVERTON and his MOTHER’S bach (holiday house). At first, he remembers, the journeys were first made in a four-cylinder DODGE.

397: Before the DODGE, he says his FATHER had two other vehicles – a baby BUICK and a MODEL T-FORD. He refers to a photograph of the family surrounding the FORD.

405: Explains it was a single-seater car and had a widened colonial body, enough to seat three people.

416: Describes the windscreen as made of glass and button-down canvas side curtains for protection against the weather.

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017: Replies that both his older sisters (MOLLY and CATHY) met their husbands on LYNWOOD STATION.

024: States that ERIC KEAST, who married CATHY, first worked at LYNWOOD helping out a RABBITER. He then worked as a general hand. After their marriage they moved to OHAI where he managed an open cast coalmine.

031: Affirms that MOLLY’S husband was JACK LAWRENCE and says they met under similar circumstances. Adds that the LAWRENCES had a FARM at KAUANA (between WINTON and INVERCARGILL) and that JACK worked on other properties to earn some extra money.

044: ALF, on the other hand, he says met his fiancée, ISLA STEVENSON (a nurse) while he was in the services (RNZAF) in WELLINGTON.

048: Says he met his WIFE, THELMA, at LYNWOOD while she was part of the government’s MANPOWER SCHEME during WWII and was sent there as a LAND GIRL. Her family were FARMERS in the OXFORD area of CANTERBURY where LEW and THELMA settled (at VIEW HILL) after the war.

091: Of his FATHER’S eleven siblings, he says he met most of them apart from two UNCLES who had died in WWI, and another who had moved to the NORTH ISLAND.

110: Explains that his FATHER took over the lease of LYNWOOD from his MOTHER (LEW’S GRANDMOTHER), ELLEN MARIA (EMMA) following her death (in 1915).

128: Considers that apart from putting STOCK on the RUN, it would not have been an expensive proposition to take on because in the early 1900s, the only improvements that were done probably consisted of maintaining boundary fences.

141: Interview ends

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