Spectrum 925. Post Eleven

Rights Information
Year
1996
Reference
23311
Media type
Audio
Ask about this item

Ask to use material, get more information or tell us about an item

Rights Information
Year
1996
Reference
23311
Media type
Audio
Duration
00:28:37
Credits
RNZ Collection
HOSKING, Rosaline, Interviewee
Perkins, Jack (b.1940), Interviewer

Jack Perkins interviews Rosaline Hosking, lighthouse keeper's wife during the Second World War.

After his army discharge in 1943, Harold Hosking joined the Lighthouse Service and took his pregnant wife Rosaline to Stephens Island in Cook Strait. On the island were three houses; two for lighthouse keepers, one for the Navy signalman. There was also a Naval barracks nicknamed "The Palace" which housed about 30 radar and signal personnel on the lookout for Japanese penetration of Cook Strait. The island was designated "Post II", one of many such watching points scattered around our coastline.

Rosaline Hosking recalls their rough-and-ready life on Post II; they had three house-cows and about 50 sheep to tend in addition to lighthouse duties. She believes their house was haunted, although she never told anybody about it at the time. When she returned to the island years later, the person showing her around told her that the same feelings of being watched had been experienced by several occupants of the house.

She says that the weather was generally good, but the wind could get very strong and could change in a moment. On one occasion, both radio masts on the island were snapped off, despite being on opposite sides of the island.
She was one of only two women on the island, and radio was very important to them. She remembers programmes, such as Aunt Daisy, that she was particularly fond of. She and some of the Navy boys entered radio competitions. Mail day was also very important, and they received a country library service.

She was pregnant when she arrived on the island, but needed to return to the mainland in July, a month before the birth. Her husband was unable to go with her as the Principal Keeper's father was ill and he needed to return to the mainland at the time. She describes the difficulty of getting off the island to the launch, and then the arduous journey to Levin on the ferry and then on the back of a mail wagon.
She stayed in Levin with a friend for a month before she was admitted to hospital for the birth.

She tells the story of a sighting of an enemy submarine. Rosaline was the only person on the island who saw her. She was not believed and therefore did not report it to the petty officer until the next morning when reports came in from Wellington that the submarine had been sunk that night.

Rosaline ends the interview with a poem that she wrote while on Stephen's Island.