Howard Hobday aka Butch was town clerk of the smallest borough in the Southern Hemisphere - Naseby, Central Otago. He was also Naseby's butcher, a goldminer and, at one time, a publican on Stewart Island. In conversation with Jack Perkins, Howard, his brother David and daughter Ruth recall aspects of their lives.
Howard’s youngest daughter, Ruth started out as a nurse in the Navy, before becoming a social worker. Ruth’s uncle David is a retiree who used to work at Telecom. They talk about plots and unmarked graves in the cemetery. Ruth recalls her father being the ice master and how their family worked together to produce black ice for the annual Naesby figure skating and curling events. The group discuss “cribbies” versus “bach owners”.
Ruth describes her parents panning for gold. Stories are retold around Howard’s role as butcher and the forgotten grave of a miner discovered when burying watchmaker, Billy Strong. Ruth recalls her favourite times of the year; winter, when they could sledge, and summer, when there were dances with invited boys from Dunedin.
They remember the Naseby Centenary, which had a parade over a mile long and 10,000 people. Ruth tells an amusing story about how one float featured a man inside a glass encased hearse pulled by horses, was trapped and took several hours to get him out. Howard describes the wild west theme of the pub, The Ancient Briton.
Howard mentions Naesby’s Scottish vet and refers to the beard growing competition during the centenary. Ruth describes her father’s home which used to be the Mount Ada store and has no power, water or sewer. Howard, she says used to wash, do the dishes and his laundry in a gold pan and cooked outside. He now also grows tobacco and makes wine there whilst having a kunekune pig companion.
Howard and his wife used to run the Opua Hotel on Stewart Island 1966. He describes how they had to run their own power, water and sewage with the use of generators. The fishermen, he explains, were the backbone of the Hotel, accompanied by their deckhands. When they redesigned the bar, Howard says he brought in two 16-foot lengths, so as to accommodate everyone wanting to stand at the bar, from fishermen to the unemployed to the elderly. Ruth explains how her dad was the publican, she was the cook and her mother was everything else.
Ruth tells how, once the pub was bought-out, she was fired because the new owner didn’t like the way she did things, like putting lumps of coal into saucepans of potatoes and water to stop them turning brown. Howard comments that Naseby was a great place for men, but probably not so much for the women due to the amount of time the men spent in the pub.
Ruth reflects on what it was like to live on the island and says she is proud to have such an eccentric father.