Vincent Paul BOOTH. Interviewer: Jenny Campbell 28 January 2009. Abstractor: Jean Hawkes

00:00 Interview identification

00.36 VINCENT PAUL BOOTH born in September 1926 at NIGHTCAPS MATERNITY HOME. Seven siblings also born in NIGHTCAPS. Only member of family still in the area. Three sisters eldest in family, moved away for work and married away from NIGHTCAPS. Vincent youngest child.

02.45 Parents – JOHN BOOTH and ANN SMITH both of NIGHCAPS. Records in Family Bible. John was in a bakery business in GORE for a number of years, married and moved to NIGHTCAPS then worked in the mines. Died in his early sixties. Mother busy with family, kept cows which she milked, made butter which she sold. In late eighties when she died.

04.50 Vincent learned to milk cows when aged eight or nine. Milk, butter and cream delivered around NIGHTCAPS – Described. Milking and butter churning done by hand. Mother made the butter.

05.58 Mother very good cook. Cooked breakfast – Described. Always had roast meal in the evening. Plenty of vegetables – own garden. Cooking done on coal range.

06.48 Lived on BENSON ROAD then MASON ROAD, off SINCLAIR AVENUE. Price of homes – Discussed. Population of NIGHTCAPS about 600, coalminers and families.

08.14 Attended St PATRICK'S SCHOOL. Not keen on school. Did paper run night and morning. Left school at 14. Four nuns teaching at NIGHTCAPS and a music teacher, SISTER DOMINIC. (photo in 'Tablet', aged 101 [at time of interview]) About sixty pupils from 5 to 14 or 15 year olds. Nuns used a strap.

10.43 Secondary education – AREA SCHOOL at NIGHTCAPS, many attended. BOOTH boys went to St KEVIN'S in OAMARU. BOOTH girls went to St CATHERINE'S in INVERCARGILL.

11.24 Vincent worked part-time in butcher's shop as well as paper runs. Milked six cows night and morning at BEAUMONT STATION – Described. Set many rabbit traps. Made more money from rabbits than for other work. Farm pay was One Pound per week plus keep. Lived in a cottage on the station. Seasonal workers – Discussed. Permanent cook at BEAUMONT STATION. Milking of cows – Described. Butter made on the station.

14.54 Spent a couple of years as 'cowboy'. Got a few dogs to go mustering and other sheep work. Cultivation done with draught horses – usually teams of four. Grew fescue (grass), oats and turnips. Horse feed. Harvesting of oats, horse-drawn wagon used – Described. Brothers often helped with stooking oats.

17.35 BEAUMONT STATION more than 100,000 acres. ARDROSS BLOCK is 30,000 acres. Bigger ones about 40,000 acres. MISTAKE BLOCK, boundaries JACOB'S RIVER, OPIO – next to SINCLAIR Bros. (about 30 kilometres from one end to the other). One of the blocks took three days to muster. Ten to twelve thousand Romney sheep. Five hundred head of Hereford cattle. Station had six or eight hacks (horses) – Vincent bought one of his own. Owned by FRASER BROS (JIM and TOM). Their brother had a farm near EDENDALE – had Friesian cattle.

21.09 JIM FRASER had two adopted children. TOM FRASER and wife ANNIE had no children. Brother from EDENDALE unmarried. TOM gassed in war. JIM also served in war.

21.52 In early days BEAUMONT was as big as MOUNT LINTON STATION. MOUNT LINTON purchased surrounding farms to become bigger and improve. BEAUMONT soil needed top-dressing. STRUAN MINTY (present owner of BEAUMONT hill country run) – Mentioned. Aerial top-dressing – Mentioned.

22.52 Pastureland – clover. Lots of bidi-bids. Infested with rabbits. Rabbit poisoning. HERB MORRIS and uncle GILBERT GREER of NIGHTCAPS – rabbitting. MISTAKE BLOCK, TAKITIMUS – Mentioned. RABBIT BOARD – Mentioned.

24.22 Treatment of rabbit skins – Described. Rabbit skins sent to market in DUNEDIN. Sent a ferret skin which fetched a price of One Pound compared to one shilling for rabbit skin. Payments by cheque. Two banks in NIGHTCAPS. Banker travelled from OTAUTAU on Fridays. Poisoned rabbit carcasses buried, trapped ones used for dog tucker.

26.54 Possums – not much of a problem, increased over the years. Some hunting done over the winter.

27.19 Deer – lot of animals. Used to watch deer, especially stags as they ran into bush. Became keen on deer-shooting. Mobs of thirty or more. Government shooters brought in. Treatment of deer carcasses and skins – Described. TUATAPERE – Mentioned. Venison for export – sold to MOSSBURN factory Poor shoot if only twenty hinds and stags taken in a weekend by Vincent, his brother, JIM HAMILTON and BRIAN KELLY. BRADY – Mentioned. Condition of land – Described. DOC (Department of Conservation) did an aerial drop of 1080 poison.

31.54 Fencing – not a lot done, repairs only. Syndicate bought farm from JIM FRASER. Did a lot of fencing made blocks smaller. Paddocks only at the Homestead, remainder open country. Property, essentially, five massive paddocks.

33.42 Mustering – Preparation – Described. Stayed in huts. BOB TURNBULL (rabbiter) of JACOB'S RIVER, ferrets at his hut. Accommodation – Described. Camped out for about five days going from hut-to-hut. Food held in tuck box – Explained. TAKITIMU'S – Mentioned.

35.29 Ferrets – BOB TURNBULL was on the MISTAKE (BLOCK) for years catching rabbits. Kept ferrets in cages against the hut. Unpleasant smell. Hut burnt, stone hut built on edge of river but not used by musterers. BARRETT'S, adjacent to MISTAKE BLOCK, used. BEAUMONT HOMESTEAD – Mentioned. Use of ferrets and nets to catch rabbits – Described. Some rabbit warrens were large. BOB TURNBULL, big, tall man, nice chap.

39.28 HENRY DEWE had an old caravan on boundary fence between BEAUMONT and MOUNT LINTON over many winters. Tough 'old fella'. Not very big. Used dogs. Some trapping. Top rabbiter.

40.15 BALDY DRAIN and LOGAN ROBERTSON, rabbiters. Worked on DUNROBIN.

40.56 HENRY (DEWE) had a house halfway to OHAI. Lived with wife when not camped out.

41.24 JACK DARREN from NIGHTCAPS pitched ten on BEAUMONT (STATION) on BOXY GULLEY. A rabbiter.

42.02 Hares – not many. Now nearly as many as rabbits.

42.32 Weeds and noxious plants – not a big problem. STRUAN MINTY grudge against gorse and matagouri (note: also known as 'wild irishman'). Aerial spraying. Maiden country put into production. Red Tussock a problem. Burning off not allowed.

44.13 Change from horses to tractors – BEAUMONT'S first tractor FORDSON with steel wheels. Used to ride horses on cattle and sheep tracks. Road put in, possibly by Rabbit Board. Now can use four-wheel drive vehicle. STRUAN MINTY put in many roads, blockto- block, into back country.

45.52 Mustering – big paddock at each hut. FLECK'S HUT had largest paddock, whole mob on to fifty acre paddock next to the station. Then moved into yards. Mustered for shearing and dipping. Not brought in for anything else. Permanent tailing yards on the hill on each block. Tailing gang – mostly the five musterers.

47.29 Shearing – done with blades by eight shearers, before Christmas Day. Station did all the cooking for the men and provide accommodation. Eventually installed shearing machines. Now done by contractors who selfsupporting (provide own meals etc). 'Rousies', 'pressers', wool-classer – Mentioned.

48.56 In early days wool main income. Prices fluctuated.

49.27 Cycle of work – Described.

49.51 Cattle muster after Christmas, to mark calves.

50.02 Vincent liked mustering best of all task. At BEAUMONT STATION for about six years full-time followed by some part-time work.

50.47 Keen on rugby. Went to coal mines, shorter hours, good money, time to train. Being in mines had type of apprenticeship system before working on his own. Started at BLACK DIAMOND MINE owned by TINKER BROTHERS. Bought by GOVERNMENT and open-cast it. Vincent moved to WAIRAKI MINE with two of his brothers. All mining by hand. Ten tons of coal per day – Described. Air drilling introduced – Described. Scraper loaders introduced – Described. Worked at mines from about 21 until 60 years of age. Killed stock for COALFIELDS BUTCHERY at OHAI and NIGHTCAPS. OHAI COAL, – Mentioned.

55.14 Vincent and wife had seven children.

55.48 Wages – Discussed. Worked five days per week starting at 8a.m, left bottom of mine at 2.30p.m. Adapted to underground conditions. Claustrophobia affected some. 56.50 Working with coal – Describe. Men looked after each other. Many friendships. Miners at OHAI and NIGHTCAPS supported each other except on the rugby field. WAIRAKI MAIN – Mentioned.

59.16 Rugby game against COLLEGIATE of INVERCARGILL – Described. Vincent played as break-away and No 8.

59.46 Mine safety – Underviewer did checks to ensure tunnels going in correct directions. Deputies did morning round starting at 6.0a.m – Explained. Surveyors put in lines as positional guides. LINTON MINE – Mentioned. Most miners worked until retirement age or older.

62.04 Draw taken for places in mines.

62.22 Health – Vincent has no apparent lung problems. Flumes for fresh air – Explained. No masks used until later on. Water used to spray coal dust. Probably would not work in mines if he had his time again. Prefers the land.

64.09 Wife a local girl, worked in exchange at NIGHTCAPS POST OFFICE. Met at a birthday party. Few years later got engaged, then married. Wife's name – DAPHNE LEE, brother manager of store at MOSSBURN. Clever with her hands, dressmaker. Raised children mostly on her own because of husband's work at mine and butchering. Had four girls and three boys.

65.52 When first married lived with his mother until they built their own house on SINCLAIR AVENUE. House built by SINCLAIR BROTHERS. After wife's death in 1982 moved. Married when aged 23 years. Wife worked part-time after marriage.

66.56 Entertainment – rugby and dancing. While single went to quadrilles in supper room adjacent to hall with a band playing. The KENNEDY'S 'THE BLACK CAT ORCHESTRA'. Several formal balls during the year – Rugby Club, Miners' but no Debutante ones. WALTER EXCELL drew sketches, of miners and activities, to decorate walls.

68.48 Alcohol – none allowed near halls. Used to 'plant' well away from hall. Policeman, PADDY McGRAIL (?), kept his eye on everyone.

69.37 Hotels – one hotel where present one is. Owned by BOYLE who went to hotel in WINTON. Building – Described. FRANK and MAYMIE WARD bought hotel, burnt down.

70.13 Fires in NIGHTCAPS – Volunteer Fire Brigade.

70.30 Hall burnt down, shop next door burned, baker's shop not burnt. Spark went from hall to SINCLAIR'S WORKSHOP which was also burnt. SINCLAIRS built new workshop, GRANTS built a new shop, new hall built.

71.21 Shops – four or five grocery shops, couple of drapers, hardware shop.

71.39 On retirement got more dogs, went back to BEAUMONT STATION. Use of four-wheel vehicles and horses – Described. Still does some mustering. WAIRAKI RIVER – Mentioned.

73.04 Surgery (in AUCKLAND) – Mentioned.

73.13 STRUAN MINTY'S wife (LYN) son and daughter, GLEN and a Maori boy ('COOKIE') now work on BEAUMONT STATION.

74.19 Present stock – 12 to 14,000 ewes, cattle, deer Vincent's son, PETER, introduced the deer, was also in Rescue Station at Mines. Bringing deer in – Described.

75.23 PETER bought neighouring WILANDA DOWNS was COOK'S. Sold this and bought land halfway to WAIRIO.

75.49 Worked at BEAUMONT until aged 81 years.

76.32 Still breeding dogs. Most dogs owned – seven or eight. Huntaways and heading dogs. Still has half a dozen.

77.13 Vincent, catholic so no meat on Friday. When deer-shooting would go to WAIRAKI RIVER to catch a trout. Rules changed and meat now allowed.

78.32 End of Track 1