Manawatū Conversations

Peleiupu Etuale. Came to NZ at 16, after WWII. Soldiers living near them during the war. Samoans working for the soldiers. Japanese bombing. Children playing with grenades, etc., getting killed/injured. Children kept home, no school, Japanese submarine threat. Children not to mix with soldiers. Soldiers fighting. Coming to NZ. Wanted to stay with father. Education opportunities in NZ, but sent straight to work. Teaching first aid in schools, cooking to young adults. Sister in Samoa trained to be a teacher. Contact with Samoa, seeing father again.

Helen King. Work with MPR as funding manager. Purpose of Access Radio. Range of platforms. How to run a programme. Helen’s programmes. Changing technology. Recording during Covid-19 lockdown. Archiving programmes. Station staff. Feilding hub and portable studios. Programme makers. Video. Audience, live and after broadcast. Future developments. Source of local information, control of content. Impact of the environment. Editing recordings. Manchester House in Feilding. “Manchester” products.

Ian McKelvey, Part 3 of 3. Climate change and the environment. Adaptation. Urbanisation. RSE scheme (Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme). Mechanised dairying. NZ as a Pacific/Asian country. Population growth. National response to Covid-19. Experience in parliament – personality politics, under-resourced media. Ex-politicians, career politicians. Over-65 voters. Government borrowing and debt. Forestry, carbon credits.

Ian McKelvey Part 2 of 3. Getting into politics. Elected in by-election for Mayor of Manawatu. Bob Moody. Consensus politics, 1 vote in 9 years as Mayor. CEOs for management, council for governance. Feilding as a centre. Councils versus central government. Whanganui. Maori influence/representation. Maori wards. Press coverage. Quality of councillors. Maori culture. Use of productive land. Move to parliament. Workload. The disability sector. Select committees. The elderly.

Ian McKelvey Part 1 of 3. MP for Rangitikei. Always lived on Tangimoana Rd. Family came about 1845. Links between early settler families. Integration of new migrants. Childhood schooling, Clydesdale School then Huntley. Riding to school. The Whanganui Collegiate. Small rural secondary schools struggling. Royal connections. Left school and worked in farming, some Massey agriculture study. Colombo Plan students. UK leaving the EU. NZ food exports. Sheep and beef farming. Marriage. Farming with brother. Keeping family farm as a unit (trusts, companies). Trusts less functional now. Corporatisation of farming. Little impact from the Vietnam War. Flax in the area. Development of the sand hills.

Betty-Anne Lawler-Wishnowsky Part 2 of 2. Teaching, Ross Intermediate for probationary year, then primary teaching at Terrace End, then secondary at Manawatu College. Not a rigid curriculum. Total emersion schools. Involvement with Maori, attempts to increase number of Maori teachers. Grandson now a qualified teacher, family tradition. How teaching has changed. New Zealand history in schools. Assessment in schools (internal exams). Gifted children, special needs children. Teaching English in a total emersion school. To Teachers’ College. Maori trained teachers diverted to government departments because of language skills. Requirement of 3% of school material in Maori. Widowed and left teaching to run husband’s animal pharmaceuticals business.

Betty-Anne Lawler-Wishnowsky Part 1 of 2. 1940s, children born in Palmerston North nursing homes. Rostrata Maternity Home. Changes to Palmerston North (trees in Ruahine Street). Milson as a railway settlement (“country kids”). Dux of Milson School, teachers. Moved into town. Cycled or walked everywhere. Played cricket and rugby. Country school activities. The Queen came. Husband was a vet. Difficult adjustment to town living. Much larger school. Misbehaving at school. Detention. Subjects taken. Teachers’ College, career choices, boys’ options.

Joe Sing, Part 5 of 5. Teaching the business of professional photography. Business plans. Balancing income and expenditure. Getting conned. Employees. Business problems. Insurance. Establishing a degree programme, Bachelor of Applied Visual Imaging. Digital photography. Photographing scenery and objects. Clients with spectacles. The human side. Light meters.

Joe Sing, Part 4 of 5. Tips for photographers. Box camera problems. Exposure time in early photographs. Enjoyment of photography, the business of photography. Developing courses and teaching photography. Professional qualifications for photographers, including how to run a business. Relating to customers, posing the client. Photographing men versus women.

Joe Sing, Part 3 of 5. Asian name order and meanings. Going into photography. Wedding photographs (1960s). Street photographers. Polaroid cameras. Colour photography, fading. “Stringers”. Importance of light. Photography tips.