Spectrum 624. Packhorses and public works

In the late 1920s, Joe Cooper's father died of silicosis caused by working in the quartz dust in the Waiuta gold mines on the South Island's West Coast.
In an interview with Jack Perkins, Joe describes his father's illness and the lack of any pension or support. His mother and the family survived through community support and benefit concerts.

Broadcaster Winston McCarthy lived in Waiuta and helped organise benefit concerts for the many widows whose husbands had died from the quartz dust.
After his father's death, Joe helped support his family of eight by running packhorses to nearby goldmines on the West Coast and he later worked on the Lewis Pass public works scheme.