A compilation of three audio cuts.
1. Leo Fowler [of station 2XG Gisborne] broadcasts from the 1960 Kiekie Marae flagstaff ceremony. This marks the re-dedication of the 88 year old flagstaff which was presented by Queen Victoria to Ngati Porou at the end of the Land Wars in 1871. The programme runs as follows:
- Waiata "Powhiritia".
- Mr Hoki Fox explains in English why the flagstaff was shifted from Mataahu to its current site.
- Mr Tawhai Tangapo[?] welcomes the guests in Māori, and gives further explanation about the flagstaff's history.
- Mr A. B. Williams, who is 90 years old, speaks [in English] after hoisting the flag commemorating Major Rapata Wahawaha.
- There is a himene, then Leo Fowler describes the large flag as it is raised.
- Mr Arnold Reedy speaks to the guests in English about the history of the flagpole.
- Another waiata ends the broadcast.
2. An interview with Mrs Blanche Thompson, who recalls her grandfather's sod-hut house, and the school in Amberley, North Canterbury. She describes how the sod house was constructed and thatched with rushes which grew locally. She says there was a huge fireplace in the one-room school.
Her grandmother and aunts all wore crinoline dresses, which she agrees looked rather queer in a small sod house. She describes the education her grandfather provided to children of the district, a typical school day, and discipline. She says when the train line from Amberley to Waipara began it was a great event. Her family moved to Christchurch eventually, and found it very large when they ventured into town to visit Ballantyne's store.
She learnt music and then taught, visiting students in outlying areas such as Hornby and Tai Tapu by bicycle. She says she and her sister were the first women to ride bicycles in the city, and were considered 'fast' as a result. Her brother would accompanying them as people would sometimes throw stones at them. Her brother rode a penny-farthing. She later drove a motor car, and says she was the first woman in the South Island to do so. She drove an Oldsmobile. A Mrs Crozier was the first in the North Island, and she and her husband delivered cars to Christchurch, driving over the zig-zag of Evans Pass from the port at Lyttelton.
[A transcription of this interview with Blanche Thompson can be found in 'Canterbury Voices' by Jim Sullivan, 2007.]
3. An interview with Mrs Nelson Wright, a Timaru choir member for fifty years, with recollections of South Island church choirs. She recalls churches she sung at: St John's at Latimer Square, Hokitika, St Chad's, Akaroa, Highfield, Lower Riccarton, Rangiora.