A compilation of nine audio cuts:
1. Wynford Vaughan-Thomas of the BBC visits the Waitomo Caves. He describes the caves, and the glow-worms and their cocoons. He interviews guide Hector Sear, the Chief Guide, who will take the Queen through the caves.
Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and Hector Sear enter the grotto in a boat – they keep quiet and whisper, so as not to disturb the glow-worms. Vaughan-Thomas describes the breath-taking sight of the glow-worms. Recorded during the 1953-1954 Royal Tour of New Zealand.
2. Various recordings of kiwi calls.
3. A recording of remarks made by Captain Edwin Musick, Commander of the Pan Am Clipper II, on arrival in Auckland. The plane was later named the ‘Samoan Clipper’ and was lost in January 1938 after a mid-air collision. Recorded 30 March 1937 [see ID 36100 for full recording].
4. Announcer Dudley Wrathall commentates for station 1ZB on V.E. Day celebrations in Queen Street, Auckland, 9 May 1945. A huge crowd of mostly young people is surging down towards the ferry building. The street is a mass of bunting with the Union Jack and Soviet Russian flags most in evident.
5. Spoken radio commercials by an unidentified announcer for 1ZB, Auckland, 1936. The commercials are interspersed with music excerpts.
- Bradstreet Ltd
- Nada [?] toothbrushes
- Macky Logan's department store
- Ben-Hur tobacco (sponsor of a music programme), including offer of a free sample of their product. [Taken from disc - poor audio quality]
6. A 1936 weather forecast from 1ZB: "Tomorrow does not look too gay".
7. Dudley Wrathall interviews John Charles Thomas gives in Auckland, 17 July 1947. Thomas speaks about his interest in sport – golf and boat racing in particular. He also talks about his singing. He prefers songs that have poetry and tell a story, and a good melody. He then talks about his reasons for singing Negro spirituals. He was brought up in a Methodist preacher’s home, so he admires and identifies with the sincere spiritual feeling that the songs have.
8. Nine-year-old Gene Jimae plays the harmonica, recorded on stage during a New Zealand tour in the 1950s.