Abstract of Russell John MATTHEWS, 2023
Item — Box: 15
Identifier: H02940002
Abstract
RUSSELL JOHN MATTHEWS
Interviewer: Nancy Burnett
Abstracter: Judith Christie
Interview: 13 December 2016
TRACK One
00:00 Interview identification
00:45 Born in 1938.
01.30 Born in Invercargill, lived at Waituna during school years. FATHER WILLIAM OLIVER MATTHEWS, MOTHER MARY ROBERTS NEE MUNROE. Four SIBLINGS, ELIZABETH, MARGARET, RAYMOND and KATHLEEN. Margaret died in 2014. Self oldest sibling.
02.40 Attended WAITUNA SCHOOL, then SOUTHLAND TECHNICAL COLLEGE, leaving in 1953 at age 15. Had worked milking cows during school holidays, and after leaving school started work on a farm at TE TEPUA straight away for two years. Father a DAIRY FARMER of 38 cows.
03.30 Married NOELENE nee WAGHORN on 17 October 1962. FOUR SONS, one of which (Philip) is a farmer. Two sons in Australia. One son deceased.
04.20 Worked on LANDS AND SURVEY (now called Landcorp) blocks in the WAITUNA area – 3,000 acres at HODGKINS ROAD and MORTON ROAD, four kilometres inland from LAKE WAITUNA. Describes. Land was deep moss, Manuka, flax, scrub – swampy. Three years spent putting in ditches with excavators describes process.
09.40 Lots of timber underground, gelignite used to blow it up.
11.00 DRAINAGE helped farmers upstream. Local MP very supportive. Farm run at a loss.
12.15 Channels extended right through the catchment. Some eels and freshwater crayfish in the waterways.
12.40 Flax and Manuka rotary hoed and then burned, up to three times. Describes
End of Track One
TRACK TWO
0.01 Continuation of description of rotary hoeing.
00.50 Self and family lived at WAITUNA, ten miles from block. Travelled by motor bike to site, then by car. Then lived in a Ministry of Works hut for a few years. Contained a bed, table and coal range.
02.05 Block had two tractors, used to sow lime and superphosphate, then sown in grass. Describes
04.10 Two men worked on the block, along with a contractor to sow the grass. In 1956 the PRIME MINISTER SIDNEY HOLLAND paid a visit to see where government’s money was being spent.
05.20 Block was very dusty from the ash created by burnoffs.
05.55 CECIL BECKETT was the manager of the block and lived on the block. Self started work there when he was 17 or 18. 100 wethers grazed on property. A lot of ARMY HUTS were pulled together for manager, but latterly a house was built for him. BERT BRADLEY was the manager after Cecil Beckett.
07.30 100 tonnes of LIME sown by airplane once a day. Plane got bogged down, so a paddock was set up on a neighbouring farm for plane to fly from. Describes
09.15 STOCK NUMBERS built up as grass sown, and a married couple placed on the block. Shearing shed built. MILLER ROAD extended to HODGKINS ROAD. Road built using Manuka sticks Describes
11.30 EXCAVATORS were charged out at $5 an hour, BULLDOZERS at $6 an hour. All government paid, and good for the economy of the area. Describes
12.45 Self left that block after another block near the end of the road to Lake Waituna was purchased from BILL SHIRLEY in 1957. Self pulled fences down and pegged out the land ready for the contractors to drain the property. Worked there for a few months, then went to work at TE ANAU DOWNS station, then worked for TATUMS on bulldozers on Lands and Survey blocks.
End of Track Two
TRACK THREE
00.12 Further description of machinery for drainage.
01.40 Waituna not suitable for growing swedes etc. Draining land a long process
02.15 After working at Tatums, self batched at KAPUKA in a house without power. In 1961, started as a manager there. BURT BRADLEY, then DON SUTTON worked there. Three houses on the property.
03.00 In 1956, land sold by ballot system BY LANDS AND SURVEY. Describes BALLOTING SYSTEM.
05.00 200 acres a year put into grass at KAPUKA. Self built a house and shed. In 1962, MARRIED and had two sons there. Farm took over by farmers who were successful in ballot, and family moved to MOKORETA to another Lands and Survey block. Self and family balloted off four farms in total in the area.
06.40 In 1971, started work on land adjacent to the original block of land at WAITUNA, which had been purchased by MOUNT LINTON STATION to put calves on. Was asked to do this by ALISTAIR MCGREGOR.
07.00 Self has seen a lot of progress in the area. 3,000 cows being farmed on the TENNANT(?) grazing block, with four cow sheds. Government responsible for this progress – private enterprise would not have been able to do it.
09.30 WAITUNA BLOCK had two miles of LAKE BOUNDARY on it, and was drained and calves run on the land. HEREFORD and ANGUS CATTLE. House built there, and took on more land – in the end 2.5 thousand acres. Tracks put on. 2,000 cows on it at some times.
11.45 EWES not needed by Mount Linton Station sent to the block. Mentions the FARMERS’ PROTESTS when sheep were driven down Invercargill’s main street.
12.25 CATTLE trucked to LORNEVILLE YARDS, then calves would arrive. In 1992, dairy consortium took over farm – self continued to work for a while converting gates etc. Eight houses on the property by that time.
End of Track Three
Interviewer: Nancy Burnett
Abstracter: Judith Christie
Interview: 13 December 2016
TRACK One
00:00 Interview identification
00:45 Born in 1938.
01.30 Born in Invercargill, lived at Waituna during school years. FATHER WILLIAM OLIVER MATTHEWS, MOTHER MARY ROBERTS NEE MUNROE. Four SIBLINGS, ELIZABETH, MARGARET, RAYMOND and KATHLEEN. Margaret died in 2014. Self oldest sibling.
02.40 Attended WAITUNA SCHOOL, then SOUTHLAND TECHNICAL COLLEGE, leaving in 1953 at age 15. Had worked milking cows during school holidays, and after leaving school started work on a farm at TE TEPUA straight away for two years. Father a DAIRY FARMER of 38 cows.
03.30 Married NOELENE nee WAGHORN on 17 October 1962. FOUR SONS, one of which (Philip) is a farmer. Two sons in Australia. One son deceased.
04.20 Worked on LANDS AND SURVEY (now called Landcorp) blocks in the WAITUNA area – 3,000 acres at HODGKINS ROAD and MORTON ROAD, four kilometres inland from LAKE WAITUNA. Describes. Land was deep moss, Manuka, flax, scrub – swampy. Three years spent putting in ditches with excavators describes process.
09.40 Lots of timber underground, gelignite used to blow it up.
11.00 DRAINAGE helped farmers upstream. Local MP very supportive. Farm run at a loss.
12.15 Channels extended right through the catchment. Some eels and freshwater crayfish in the waterways.
12.40 Flax and Manuka rotary hoed and then burned, up to three times. Describes
End of Track One
TRACK TWO
0.01 Continuation of description of rotary hoeing.
00.50 Self and family lived at WAITUNA, ten miles from block. Travelled by motor bike to site, then by car. Then lived in a Ministry of Works hut for a few years. Contained a bed, table and coal range.
02.05 Block had two tractors, used to sow lime and superphosphate, then sown in grass. Describes
04.10 Two men worked on the block, along with a contractor to sow the grass. In 1956 the PRIME MINISTER SIDNEY HOLLAND paid a visit to see where government’s money was being spent.
05.20 Block was very dusty from the ash created by burnoffs.
05.55 CECIL BECKETT was the manager of the block and lived on the block. Self started work there when he was 17 or 18. 100 wethers grazed on property. A lot of ARMY HUTS were pulled together for manager, but latterly a house was built for him. BERT BRADLEY was the manager after Cecil Beckett.
07.30 100 tonnes of LIME sown by airplane once a day. Plane got bogged down, so a paddock was set up on a neighbouring farm for plane to fly from. Describes
09.15 STOCK NUMBERS built up as grass sown, and a married couple placed on the block. Shearing shed built. MILLER ROAD extended to HODGKINS ROAD. Road built using Manuka sticks Describes
11.30 EXCAVATORS were charged out at $5 an hour, BULLDOZERS at $6 an hour. All government paid, and good for the economy of the area. Describes
12.45 Self left that block after another block near the end of the road to Lake Waituna was purchased from BILL SHIRLEY in 1957. Self pulled fences down and pegged out the land ready for the contractors to drain the property. Worked there for a few months, then went to work at TE ANAU DOWNS station, then worked for TATUMS on bulldozers on Lands and Survey blocks.
End of Track Two
TRACK THREE
00.12 Further description of machinery for drainage.
01.40 Waituna not suitable for growing swedes etc. Draining land a long process
02.15 After working at Tatums, self batched at KAPUKA in a house without power. In 1961, started as a manager there. BURT BRADLEY, then DON SUTTON worked there. Three houses on the property.
03.00 In 1956, land sold by ballot system BY LANDS AND SURVEY. Describes BALLOTING SYSTEM.
05.00 200 acres a year put into grass at KAPUKA. Self built a house and shed. In 1962, MARRIED and had two sons there. Farm took over by farmers who were successful in ballot, and family moved to MOKORETA to another Lands and Survey block. Self and family balloted off four farms in total in the area.
06.40 In 1971, started work on land adjacent to the original block of land at WAITUNA, which had been purchased by MOUNT LINTON STATION to put calves on. Was asked to do this by ALISTAIR MCGREGOR.
07.00 Self has seen a lot of progress in the area. 3,000 cows being farmed on the TENNANT(?) grazing block, with four cow sheds. Government responsible for this progress – private enterprise would not have been able to do it.
09.30 WAITUNA BLOCK had two miles of LAKE BOUNDARY on it, and was drained and calves run on the land. HEREFORD and ANGUS CATTLE. House built there, and took on more land – in the end 2.5 thousand acres. Tracks put on. 2,000 cows on it at some times.
11.45 EWES not needed by Mount Linton Station sent to the block. Mentions the FARMERS’ PROTESTS when sheep were driven down Invercargill’s main street.
12.25 CATTLE trucked to LORNEVILLE YARDS, then calves would arrive. In 1992, dairy consortium took over farm – self continued to work for a while converting gates etc. Eight houses on the property by that time.
End of Track Three
Dates
- 2023
Conditions Governing Access
For access please contact the Southland Oral History Project Coordinator at sohp@ilibrary.co.nz.
Extent
From the Record Group: 1 folder(s)
Language of Materials
From the Record Group: English
Creator
- From the Record Group: Burnett, Nancy (Interviewer, Person)
Repository Details
Part of the Southland Oral History Project Repository
