This recording contains edited cuts of interviews recorded in the 1980s with elderly West Coast residents which were played as part of a radio history series "Looking Back at Westland" produced at Radio Scenicland, Greymouth.
[Each track is preceded by an announcement of a track number and date, which do not correlate to the numbers below.]
Tracks 1-2: West Coast woman Ivy Brown, recalls dances and balls in early Greymouth.
Tracks 3-5: Dorothy Fletcher talks to Jim Breeze about her family's history at Franz Josef. Her father was Alec Graham, the first to climb Mt Aspiring. She recalls Dr Teichelmann who was a pioneering medical man on the Coast and often assisted by her father.
She talks about the Graham family involvement in tourism, buying the Batson's Hotel at Franz Josef in 1911 and developed the business.
Tracks 6-10:Jack McMillan of Cobden talks about his long career as a carpenter with Railways on the West Coast, also working as a cook for workers.
Tracks 11-15: Sailor Hill and Aunty Cath look back at their life at the Mawheraiti Hotel from 1947-1970s. Sailor talks about their relationship with local police and a time when the beer went off and tasted sour. Cath talks about putting on tea for 100 people, with the help of pub regulars and practical jokes played by patrons Jacky McDonald and Billy Sinnott. Sailor talks about the previous publican, Mrs Whaitiri [?] who they replaced in 1947, and hotel inspections. Cath remembers residents from the boom town of Waiuta were patrons, as they headed to Reefton. Sailor remembers a patron who died in the hotel dining room.
Tracks 16-25 Jack Marshall of Hokitika talks to Ivan Wilson about the opening of the Otira Tunnel and the Hokitika Exhibition of 1923-1924, which was held to celebrate the event. He talks about his memories of going over the Otira Gorge by Cobb and Co coach, before the tunnel went through. His parents had a hotel at Three Mile, north of Hokitika and tells an anecdote about their cow. He talks about Hokitika in the mining days, with many ships anchoring there. He recalls cock-fighting taking place in Kokatahi, which would bring in enthusiasts from as far as Christchurch, although it was illegal. He describes how a fight would take place and how the game-cocks were kitted out with spurs.
Track 26 Former West Coast gold miner, Dave Pearson, recalls dances and balls held at Little Wanganui on the West Coast, and how people got home safely afterwards, during the 1920s.
Track 27-34 Greymouth man Dave Clarke recalls wrestling matches on the Coast, his childhood in Greenstone where his grandparents and parents had a hotel and the last days of gold mining there; the settlement of Mitchell's, entertainment at the hotel at Greenstone- billiards and card games, beer came from the brewery in Kumara. He lists the number of hotels (about 12) in Kumara at one time. He talks about a hotel at Dillmanstown which had its own electric power, generated by a water wheel. When he was 15 he went to Cobden and got a mine job.