Overview William Arthur (Bill) Black has become a well-known figure both in aviation circles and among the general population of New Zealand as a result of his search and rescue activities in the south. From a young age he developed a keen interest in aeroplanes and bought his first Tiger Moth while still a teenager. Only a couple of years later he was working as a commercial pilot for Te Anau-based company, Ritchie Air Services, when as well as scenic flights he was providing air-freight services for...

Overview One of the New Zealand team members seconded to Colonel Howard for the 1949 expedition was former government deer culler, Jack Luttrell. He had worked a couple of years earlier for the Wildlife Branch of the Department of Internal Affairs culling red deer in the Haast district of the West Coast. He also took part in a reconnaissance survey of Fiordland in 1948 in preparation for the Howard expedition. Now in his 70s, Mr Luttrell, has a clear memory of those earlier years hunting in much of what...

Overview In this interview, Jim recounts his family history and his early life on the West Coast. He began his working life saw milling but his passion was hunting deer. Jim then became involved in the deer culling programme in Fiordland. After an accident involving his hunting dog Jim then worked on the Doubtful Sound track and ran a passenger boat service. He built a house in Manapouri before moving to Australia for 4 years where he continued with hunting. On his return to New Zealand he took up...

Overview Jack McKenzie is the author of an autobiography titled Mr Wapiti, published in 1992. In it he gives details about his family history and farm, Leithen Downs near Waikaka, where he has lived his eighty-two years. But as the book's title suggests, it is more concerned with his life-long interest in trophy hunting of both red deer and wapiti particularly in the Fiordland National Park. It also includes comment on his years as a member of the Fiordland National Park Board. This profile covers...

Overview In this interview, Jock talks about his early life in Fairfax. His first job on leaving school was at a saw mill near Otautau. Jock worked at other mills as he became more experienced. When he was 19 Jock joined the army and spent about 18 months in Japan. From an early age Jock got involved with deer hunting and on his return from Japan he became a deer culler for the Department of Internal Affairs and worked for 5 years without a break. Jock married in 1960, He then became involved in a...

Overview Murray, now in his eighties, was selected as a participant in this oral history project because of his work with the Fiordland National Park in its earlier stages as well as his experience as a fisherman on the Fiordland coast. There are several other topics lightly touched upon in the interview, some of them highlighting the many changes that occurred in New Zealand society through the second half of the 20th century.

Overview Hunter's first encounter with the forests and lakes of Fiordland occurred when his parents shifted south from Auckland bringing him and his younger brother with them. From an early age the allure of the bush stayed with him and by his late teens he knew it was where he wanted to live and work. For the next twenty-five years, Hunter became a professional deer hunter setting up his own base in the Back Valley of Manapouri. Taking knowledge from older bushmen and hunters, he rebuilt former cattle...

Overview Vernon Thompson has been hunting wild deer since boyhood. A rapid rise in deer numbers in the south by the late 1950s meant he and his brothers, Bill and Nelson, were able to turn a weekend interest into a commercial enterprise. At first, using boats built in their fathers woolshed, the Thompson boys kept within the Lake Monowai and southem coastal areas. But increasing competition pushed Vernon to move to Te Anau where he was able to work as a groundhunter on the lake shores as well as those...

Overview In this interview John talks at length about his family origins in Estonia and the lives of his forebears who came to New Zealand in the 1850s. John was born in Otautau and moved to Dunedin after he started primary school. John’s family later moved to Waitati and it was here that John’s involvement with deer hunting started. John started with the Forest service in 1959 and in the early 1960s John and his wife Aloma moved to Te Anau. As well as hunting, John describes his role in search and...