Mobile Unit. Paeroa - early life

Rights Information
Year
1947
Reference
5053
Media type
Audio
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Rights Information
Year
1947
Reference
5053
Media type
Audio
Series
Mobile Unit - NZ oral history, 1946-1948
Duration
00:32:07
Credits
RNZ Collection
McConachie, Kathleen, Interviewee
Fowler, Leo (b.1902, d.1976), Interviewer
New Zealand Broadcasting Service. Mobile Recording Unit

An oral history interview with Mrs Kathleen McConachie (nee Barrett) of Paeroa, who was born in Ireland. She arrived in Auckland on 03 May 1884. She describes her voyage to New Zealand onboard the "British King", via Cape Town.

They then sailed from Auckland to Paeroa on the "Rotomahana" and then to Rotokohu. She describes the lack of roads and bridges in the area at the time. Paeroa was very small, with just the main street facing the river. A man named Bradley used to deliver the mail.

The 50 acre farm her family came to, had been left by a man who had gone to the gold rush at Waiorongomai, but then died.Her uncle Jim Barrett bought the place for her family for about 35 pounds. Eventually her brother Jack took up further land behind it. Bradley's coach used to pass once a day and mail would then be taken to Paeroa and on to Tauranga. The local paper was the "Tribune", edited by a Mr Mitchell which they got once a week.

They used to go through the swamp to school at Paeroa, four miles away. Their neighbours were the Sheehans and they would go to school with their children. In summer it was alright but it would flood in winter. There was a track Māori used to use over the ranges and they would use that in flood times.

Things improved after men named Thorp and Nichol drained the land. Mr Nichol was "half-caste." She says there were hundreds of Māori living in the area, and describes how tangi were held over many weeks.

She describes how she used to have to walk through a Māori cemetery when bringing cows home. She knew it wasn't right but her father had taught he not to be afraid of the dead. She says local iwi Māori used to go to bed early and not go out after dark because they were afraid of the taipō.

She say the local Māori were always very good to her family, even though they were very poor. Her mother was good to Māori children and would feed them when mothers came to their house with ill children. Her mother fell ill and died in Thames Hospital. Her body was brought by train to Paeroa and local Māori performed a tangi at the station for her. The local "Tribune" newspaper wrote a tribute to her and the affection with which the Māori people held Mrs Barrett.

She talks about her prowess on a horse and setting snares. Her brother worked with her uncle who was a butcher in Paeroa became ill with typhoid fever and nearly died. He recovered in Thames Hospital and went to work in the cyanide battery at Karangahake. She describes how one of the foreman [James] Taggart fell into a vat of cyanide [19 Aug 1891.] Jim Sheehan and her brother Jim Barrett pulled him out but he died almost straight away. Her brother was then made foreman of the battery. He would ride to Thames to the School of Mines twice a week. Later he was battery manager at the Crown.

She talks some more about learning to ride standing on the horse's back after her brother saw this in a circus. She describes how she used to trail behind her brother when they went out in the bush, and she knew got to know the area very well and could always find her way in the bush.

She talks about the large Sheehan family who lived near them at Rotokohu.