Manawatū Conversations

Jim Esson - Part 2 of 2 - Book on history of the Rotary Club of Terrace End, first 40 years. Catherine Hamlin World Understanding Award for the fistula hospital in Addis Ababa. Bringing buffaloes to New Zealand. Qualities for meat and milk, temperament, feed. Swamp buffalo and river buffalo. Valuable hides. Few buffalo in NZ. Potential value for NZ. Increased popularity of goat. Incident with buffalo bulls on a road. Ability to withstand floods.

Jim Esson - Part 1 of 2 - Entomologist in DSIR, 1950s. Structure of DSIR, relationship with Massey Agricultural College. Nationality of staff. Selection of research topics. Cicadas. Change when restructured into Crown Research Institutes. Detail on cicadas. Move towards outside funding for research.

Raylee Murphy - Part 2 of 2 - Overcame early effects of polio. Polio support group, on the board, learning about late effects of polio. Doctors now unaware of polio. The Duncan family polio rehabilitation hospital. Post-polio assistance needed. Supporting each other. Case of ongoing pain, although look fine. Mobility and accessibility issues. Impact of polio on families. Isolation, schools closed. Polio sufferer June Opie, book, Over My Dead Body. Iron lungs.

Raylee Murphy - Part 1 of 2. Bank work from 15. Early effects of polio. Hospital experience. When in early 40s, took university papers. Married at 19, 3 children. Divorced about 40. Volunteer and then work at Victim Support, organizing jobs, etc.. Description of Victim Support. Interaction with police. Reduced mobility, need for a stroller.

The Future Leaders Programme - Bre McQuade and Gayle Moana-Johnson. Structure of Future Leaders programme, objectives. Participants. How they operated. Monthly meetings. Catalysts and a coach. Umbrella organization called Inspiring Stories. Sponsors. “Try it out” expo. Continuity between yearly cycles. Festival for the Future. Participants’ future activities after the programme. Social conscience businesses, “Dignity”, “Eat my lunch”, “Yellow Bird”. Important issues. School strike for climate change.

Gayle Moana-Johnson - Moved a bit when young, 10 schools. Remembers parents splitting when 4 years old. Effects of changing schools. Desire to finish school. Maori mother. Social background very mixed. Pregnant at 15, mother at 16, in a teen-parent unit. The child’s father. Financial and other support. Second child in 1917. Mixing with other mothers (age difference). Moved into own (rental) house at 17. Social pressures as young mother. Daughter thought of her as very old at 23. University after school. Finishing degree and working in mental health as social worker.

Eddie Eggers. Working in the education psychology field 1974 to 2003. Scope of work in early years. Requests from schools for assessments of specific pupils and formulating strategies. Special classes and special schools. Blindness and deafness. Initially little assistance for pupils with special needs, no specific instruction for teachers, Teaching reading. Studying special education in Pennsylvania. Career path from education into psychology. Impact of Tomorrows’ Schools (1989). Ritalin used since 1970s. Behaviour problems. Discipline, abolition of corporal punishment, alternative strategies. Limited in-service training for teachers. Ritalin and parents. Single parent families.

Rosaline Putu - Part 2 - Moved onto a farm when very young, stayed until turned 9. Early memories. Deaf brother and sister. Wartime, Home guard. Country school life. Pony to school. How the area has changed. Fancy dress balls. Freedom to roam. Kicked by a cow. Farming with horses. Liking pigs. Army engineers, bull paddock. Longdrop outside toilet. Adjusting to town life. Saving. Changing values. Few clothes, making clothes, smocking.

Rosaline Putu - Scandinavian origins, born in Palmerston North 1938, married a Maori in 1960. How they met. Speaking English. Acceptance into the family. Speaking Maori, evolution of the language. Highbury Maori Club. Pakeha reactions. Anglican/Catholic. Separated, but kept Maori links. Differences, Maori and Pakeha. Multicultural environment.

Rotary Club of Terrace End - Part 2 of 2 - Rotary Club of Terrace End Memorial Educational Trust. Mike Hansen taking a team to Namibia. International students. Manawatu Enterprises (Sheltered workshop). Fundraising, catering for events. Mini-bikes. Opening the bridge. Crunchie Bar Express. Top Schools.