Spectrum 776. The highs and lows

Rights Information
Year
1992
Reference
10715
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1992
Reference
10715
Media type
Audio
Duration
00:30:42
Credits
RNZ Collection
Cvitanovich, Jerome, Interviewer
LANE, Rose, Interviewee

Born in Rotorua in 1942, Rose Lane has looked at life from both sides; as the social-climbing wife of a professor of music in the United Kingdom and as a poor street dweller sleeping rough in Auckland City. She tells her story to Jerome Cvitanovich.

In 1960 at the age of 18, Rose moved to Australia where she met her first husband and started a family. She explains that although her parents were of Te Arawa and Ngapuhi descent they brought her up as Pākehā and she was able to switch between cultures.

Rose tells of how she and her English husband moved to Durham, England where she learned about classical music, opera, art and ballet. She explains how in the south of England she came across racial discrimination that didn't exist in the north.

From England her family travelled to Nigeria where her husband taught African students at the University. She tells of how she enjoyed going against the grain by going off campus mixing with the students and learning about their tribes.

After 18 years Rose says her marriage was "not what it was supposed to be" and felt like she had lost her identity. Heading home to New Zealand, she left her children behind knowing they would be open to education and more opportunities.

On arrival the freedom in New Zealand struck her. She thought she had become a snob, not eating certain foods from her childhood and eating hāngī with a knife and fork, unlike her father who would use his hands.

Rose says she found work in Auckland and lived in an abusive relationship until she decided to leave and live on the streets rather than return to her family in Rotorua. She describes how she found life on the streets, the first two years of which she survived without a benefit.

Then she and Ken met and got married. In 1987 due to the increased violence of the young street kids targeting homeless elderly they decided to move into a permanent home together. Rose acknowledges she has seen both sides of life and has still a lot of living to do. She now works at the Baptist City Mission helping others on the street.