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Nana, Jane (Jean) Christina Cross nee Sulzberger had lovely trinkets and jewellery on her dressing table in Mill Street,
Eltham, Taranaki, New Zealand.

As a little girl I would go into her bedroom, touch, look at and try on brooches and necklaces and take lids off bottles. There
was the perfume in a blue owl container, the glass slippers that are now on my dressing table, powder and always lovely
embroidered or woven dressing table mats.

Through the mirror I saw there were two wooden single beds with white quilts and floral eiderdowns. There was no double
bed. She did not remarry after the sudden death of Archie Cross, her late husband and my grandfather, who had died aged
forty-four in the influenza epidemic after World War 1 that reached Western Australia in 1922. He and his brother died within
a week of each other. Newspaper cuttings of their respective funerals suggest they were well known in Western Australia
and were keen cricketers.

One of the fragments that kept emerging through the looking glass on the dressing table was around how did she go from
Lilydale in Tasmania to Bedfordale in Perth and then to Eltham in Taranaki, New Zealand? Jean met Archibald Vidgen
Cross in Launceston, Tasmania. He had come across from Perth, no mean feat, to visit his father who appeared to be a
wanderlust Whilst there he had met Jean, how I don’t know - was it through a picnic? was he working for the Sulzbergers?
did they meet at a function at the Presbyterian church? But I know this was a love match. They married at the Presbyterian
manse in Launceston, so their wedding certificate says. Her sister Margaret (Maggie) was her matron of honour and
Maggie’s husband, Bob Granfield, was the best man. Nana and Maggie were very close and wrote letters to each other
throughout their lives. Did Jean and Archie travel by ship around the gulf or go to Melbourne and across the Nullabor? I
would imagine by ship.

Weddings were exciting events for little girls, so looking at them in her wedding photo, with Jean in her Edwardian fitted
gown with a bustle in what seemed like silk and taffeta with her hair swept up, conjured up all sorts of romantic pictures
about the life they would have together in Western Australia. However, Jean was leaving all her family and friends behind,
she didn’t know if she would see them again, letters were to be her only form of correspondence.

Thinking about wedding gowns reminded me that as a child I had seen and tried to get into Jane Phillips (Sulzberger’s)
wedding gown. It was brown grogram fitted and was kept in a tin chest at the home of Olive Andrews nee Phillips in Eltham.
Her daughter, Shirley Andrews, and I took it out of the tissue and tried to put it on. We had thought wedding dresses were
always white but not in those days.

After Jean and Archie’s wedding Jacob and Jane Sulzberger, encouraged by her brother Bert Sulzberger, decided to sell
their farm at Lilydale to his half-brother, Gottlieb Sulzberger, and shift to Taranaki New Zealand ‘where the grass was as
green as Tasmania’. They purchased land at Ngaere, then later, ten acres at Chistlehurst, Eltham. The Sulzberger men
purchased land in Mangatoki where descendants still farm today. At the same time the Marx family, who had come with the
Sulzbergers from Germany, travelled to Mangatoki and settled there, continuing the long friendships and close relationships
with Marx son and daughter marrying a Sulzberger son and daughter.

Jean’s new Western Australian home was in Bedfordale out of Perth where the Cross families had orange orchards.
Another Cross brother lived next door and the families were very close. Jean’s mother in law[nee Ottaway} was an upright
proud English woman who had worked very hard to maintain standards and her family whilst her husband travelled to and
from Perth and then took the family briefly to Dunedin New Zealand before turning permanently to Australia.

From all accounts life was lonely in Western Australia in the first few years for Jean. Mrs Levi Butcher, an established settler
living nearby with her husband, gave Jean support over the years. They became close friends writing to each other till Nana
died and then she continued corresponding with Bell and later with me. Mrs Butcher wrote about Jean’s loneliness and
grief especially when Archie died. However, in that quarter century in Western Australia, Nana, with Mrs Butcher’s help, did
survive, gave birth to five children, made a new circle of friends, and learned to cope with a hot dry climate such as putting
shades down and protecting her children’s skin from the harsh sun. She became an active member of the Congregational
Church since that was the nearest to her Presbyterian church. She, like her mother and sisters, established a garden and
became a good cook. She learned to deal with bush fires, plagues of frogs and different attitudes to life on the Western
Australia coast.

A year after Archie’s death Jean decided to leave Bedfordale and the farm named Runnymede [the Cross family came from
Kent not that far from King John and the charter. Runnymede would seem a logical name to remind them of England] and to
settle in New Zealand near to her parents. Archie and Jean had visited them in New Zealand and there was a Sulzberger
gathering at Ngaere Gardens in Taranaki, so she had some idea about the country she was coming to. According to Evelyn
the eldest, it was a dreadful journey, Nana was very distressed and Evelyn wondered at times if she and the younger
children would be arriving in Wellington as orphans.

But Nana survived that journey too. She shifted to a large house in Chistlehurst not far from where her parents lived. Later
she moved closer into town where she bought a house in Mill Street where most of my memories are from.

I liked her dressing table and I believe she liked the things she placed on it. I touched things and used her brushes too.
When I look through the mirror again I see the contents of her wardrobe, dresses and coats hung neatly hung on crocheted
coat hangers, shoes with shoe trees and the hat boxes. I remember her wearing mainly navy blue, especially discrete navy
floral under a dress coat, creams, black and, in the garden, always a wide straw brimmed hat. As a primary school aged
girl, I thought that she seemed old. She was then only in her late fifties but I did know she dressed well and was a very
attractive woman. Apart from her family everyone called her Mrs Cross.

I wonder what fragments linger in all the grandchildren about the move to New Zealand, what questions we didn’t ask our
parents. Or did we as children just accept that Nana lived in Mills Street, Eltham, and that Aunty Dorrie had died and Uncle
Keith was killed in the war. Nana had a large garden and lots of hens, she sold fresh eggs and preserved eggs and sold
them to the neighbours. Was that how she, a widow, supported herself?

The fragments in the looking glass finally show Nana letter writing to Tasmania and Western Australia, talking on the phone
to her family, helping caring and supporting her mother Jane after Jacob’s death in 1930, spending many hours with her
when she lived for many years with Uncle Bob. Nana died of bowel cancer in 1951, as did at least three of her brothers and
sisters.

What legacy did the Sulzberger family leave Nana and her children? As her children were all dead by 1970 we grandchildren
did not have the same close links with her family. How was it for a mother to lose two of her five children and one grandson,
to nearly lose another son to polio?

We all hear stories of the great flu epidemic but it hasn’t been till the last decade that I’ve realised the immensity of it for
Jane Christina. One moment an orchardist’s wife with five children growing up and the eldest daughter, Evaline,
considering marriage to Arthur Butcher (so the rumour went), Dorothy and Bell in their mid teenage years, and Keith and Syd
primary school age. They had many friends and were close to their uncles, male cousins, and Aylsa Cross, the only other
female cousin. Suddenly, she is a widow, who runs the orchard now - packing sheds had just been completed before
Archie’s death. Bell is finishing at school and enjoying music and singing. Homesickness and family ties must have been
very strong to bring her back to her parents and brothers and sisters who were now in New Zealand. Jean must have had
great resilience and resourcefulness to pull her through the grief of this tragedy.

Jacob and Jane Sulzberger left my family with a strong sense of family. We experienced family also being our close friends.
They taught us about the stiff upper lip and rectitude, as well as getting involved in the community and using our skills on
local body councils. Alongside this, how to survive with a German name, and how to support the family during World Wars.
This family softened the guttural sounds in the Sulzberger surname, assimilated with the dominant culture, leaving behind
language and other features of their culture e.g. food and history. Nana gave me a newspaper cutting about Mozart and
where he lived and thought I would like the music. How right she was.

The Sulzbergers’ life at Lowgarth
by Lloyd Beech
(In 1991 Lloyd Beech recorded his mother’s memories of the family’s life at Lowgarth. His mother was Amy Beech (nee
Sulzberger) and her parents were Albert Thomas and Hansinia Alma Sulzberger.)

I was born on 22nd March 1909 in Eltham. My father was Albert Thomas Sulzberger from Lilydale Tasmania and my mother
was Hansinia Alma Perger. My mother was born at Weatherstone near Lawrence Otago, New Zealand but returned to
Tasmania aged about two years, with her parents. She later returned to New Zealand.

How long did you live in your first home?

I lived at Hastings Rd. Lowgarth until I was eleven years old. That's where Albert had bought his first farm in New Zealand.
Dad's occupation was a farmer. Mother helped on the farm by milking. She did not feed out but she had so much else to do.
The milking involved 40 to 50 cows, which were hand milked. There was a lot of bush to be felled. Work started very early.
Mum had often said many a time she would be pushing the pram back to the house after milking, with the stars still shining.
They got up about 4.30.a.m. and supplied their milk to the Mangatoki factory. The Lowgarth factory hadn't started up. It was
about two and a half miles and they used a dray and I think one horse.

The house I grew up in was a 3 bedroom house with a veranda in front, a dining room and a nice big kitchen. It faced the
sun and got the sun in the house and in the washhouse outside.
Mum washed clothes outside until a washhouse was built. The back shed was added with 2 rooms. Dad had it built. It was
a wooden house but a reasonable size, 3 bedrooms and passageway.

How many lived there?
As the years went on we had extra help. We did have Mum's brother, Uncle Tom who came up from Wellington and helped
Dad on the farm. Also we had a friend from Tasmania, Bill. His wife worked as a domestic help at a nearby family
homestead. Uncle Tom and Aunty Sis Francis lived in a small cottage on the farm. My mother had four brothers, Lawrence,
Garnet, Walter, and Thomas. Thomas known as Tom lived in New Zealand.
My mother’s parents were from Tasmania and they came to Otago for mining. Mum was born in Otago but when two years
old went back to Tasmania. She knew the Sulzberger family in Lilydale and had met Albert. She came out with the
Sulzbergers and lived in Wellington in 1902.

There was no electricity on the farm and they used an old coal range. There was no coal, only rata and rimu wood which was
good to use. The farm was 123 acres and my father did a lot of clearing of the farm. It was heavy native bush with lots of
whitey wood trees. We had lots of bush and three large areas were known as the first bush, second bush, and third bush.

It was a very broken farm with streams in between. Dad didn't help in the house at all. That was my mum's work. I had
special jobs to do. On Saturday it was all day shopping and that's when mum would go to town and the children would be
left home to do jobs. On Wednesday afternoon the town was closed for half the day.

Sometimes I went by horse and gig to Eltham. We put the horse in the stables at Croziers. The road was gravel and some
tarseal. I had my own bedroom.

By the time we had tea in the evening, about 8 o'clock, it was late and it would be off to bed. We had to get up early in the
morning to do everything for ourselves. Then we set off for school, walking about a mile and catching the milk carts going to
Mangatoki factory. Mr Fred Reardon was a sharemilker and he took three or four kids to school down there about 7.30 a.m.
We would walk all the way home from school at night. We were a long time on the road.

We always had hot baths. Dad made sure we had lots of wood with a big fire. For washing clothes we boiled up the copper.
We only had white sheets and used a hand wringer.
Washday was a big day but we didn't do the amount of washing that is done today. There weren't the clothes available. We
would have our changes. Our family was always well dressed with good clothes.
We ate in the kitchen where there was a big table. Mum must have cut our lunch sometime.

Mum cooked the mid-day meal and we would have it reheated over a pot of water when we came home from school. To
have it in the evening was too late when the men came in from milking. All the farmers had their meal at midday.
Grocers and butchers would call. Dad would have meat every day. Dad killed our sheep for mutton.
Sunday dinner was a hot meal. Dad liked his food and we had excellent meals as mum was a very good cook. Children
weren't allowed to say much at the table.
Dad would say "eat up” and you had to keep quiet and eat the meal.

Were you ever hungry?
No, we would help ourselves. Our cupboards were always full.
We had a good garden. Dad would dig it. Mum did a lot of it, rows and rows of peas and beans.

Mum baked a lot of her own bread particularly in the war years.
I can see it now; lovely big tins with fresh bread and cooked in the oven. She had her own yeast with a starter and potato and
would make ginger beer. She preserved fruit and eggs in two ways. Ovaline was rubbed on the eggs and it was like
Vaseline and the other way was using a liquid. The eggs were put in a 4 gallon tin. It worked marvellously. We broke them
and used them for cooking. We also used a safe. Mum made soap. She used to keep all the fat from the sheep and render it
down in the oven and keep it. The water out of the copper was then added to the fat with caustic and borax to make soap.

The people worked hard. They stayed home and worked. Often l think how they worked. But oh the washing! The old wash
boards and scrubbing those pants. There weren’t the overalls and things like gumboots. Fancy going milking cows with a
long skirt. Just boots laced up. It was a tough life.

Did you learn at home before school?
No. You started school when you were six years old because of the distance. You finished at 14.
When I was ten years old I got a bike.

Did you like the teachers?
Yes, I always got on well with the teachers. We had one teacher boarded with us for a long time. She was a lovely person.
Her name was Miss Harrison. It was not uncommon for teachers to board with families.

One teacher came from Waitara and her name was Miss McGregor. I was nine and she boarded at the Marx's place. She
taught at Mangatoki and then went to Kaponga as infant mistress. She had a car by then. She boarded 20 years at the Marx's.
I liked school. Mangatoki got up to a four-teacher school. I was never punished. I got on well and learnt the old way. There
was very little discussion. It was not encouraged. First thing in the morning there would be tables, then arithmetic, and
nature study, not social studies. Other subjects were reading a lot of copybooks for writing and just more the basics and
mental arithmetic.

What did you wear?
No uniform, just everyday clothes and only a uniform if you went to high school.
None of our family went on to high school. If we did we would have had to go and board. There was no transport, no buses
or any thing. High schools were at Stratford, New Plymouth or Hawera. It was normal for children not to go on to High school
unless they lived near a High school.

Was boarding available?
Only private and not part of the school except at New Plymouth. I did want to go to high school as a good friend of mine went
onto high school. The high school did have a boarding establishment, Scotlands, as it is now. I was wanted at home to help
my mother. The last exam I did was proficiency, Standard 6. I was just on 14 when I left. I would have liked to have stayed on
longer.
Stan stayed on for another year but then couldn't continue as Dad wanted him at home. We had bought this land across the
road. It was after the war. Dad put a sharemilker on the original farm and the family shifted across to the new farm. The
sharemilker was a cousin called Bill. Len was 16 at the time and we kept help. We had a woman to help in the home and
milk.

Stan had also left school. He was slightly older because he had sickness. When he was seven he had peritonitis so he
stayed home for a whole year.
Stan was good with figures and did some extra work being encouraged by one of the teachers. However because there was
only Albert with Len to work the farm, Stan also left. Stan deeply regrets leaving school and often brings it up and he has
never forgotten the missed opportunity of furthering his studies.

My mother was a very friendly person. She was easy to speak to and was well liked by everyone. My Dad was a different
personality altogether.
He was very strict in lots of ways. I'm not sure if it was because of his upbringing but his mother Jane Sulzberger nee
Phillips, was a very dominant person.
My grandfather was a fine old man with white hair and used a walking stick.
His name was John Jacob Sulzberger. I feel Dad took more after his mother.
Another factor Dad came out to New Zealand and lived on his own. His one aim was to get on in life and he took on a lot.
Things weren't easy those days. He really set out to make a go of it and he did achieve his goal. He had his ups and downs.
World War 1 caused difficulties. His one aim was a farm for each of his three sons as he expected them all to be farmers.
The war years made things extra hard going as there was a shortage of things. The price of butter fat dropped affecting the
dairy farmers
At the same time there was an amazing patriotic spirit in the district for people to help.

Our parents expected us to be law-abiding and we didn't think any other way. We all stayed home and helped. We would not
have achieved so much if we had not supported each other.
I was home at 14 years old after I left school, and we worked the two farms together with the help of additional men who
lived in. There were 5 men working on the two farms that we had to care for.

My mum was very important to me, especially being the only daughter. Also mum was very important to the boys. She would
help the boys in a number of ways that dad didn't know about.

The family festive occasions such as Xmas were always on Dad's side and these continued for many years. Even after my
granddad died they continued while Gran was alive. Those were the days when each Christmas we would go from one
family to another. There would be up to 30 of us for Xmas. My mother's family wasn't here in New Zealand.

Other festive occasions were when Archie and Jean Cross, our relations, came out from Western Australia to visit us. We
had a great day out at Ngaere gardens. All the families came and there is a photo of the event.)
The day was a large picnic lunch and we took all the food and travelled by car.

For a long time I was the only grand-daughter. Later on there was Maisie Dunlop and Faith, only three of us but lots of
grandsons thirteen or fourteen. Very rarely we went on holiday. The first time I visited Wellington I was sixteen. I travelled
down by train on my own. I remember going on the ferryboat to Day’s Bay with the Tregurtha family. I went up town and
everything was new to me. I never went to Auckland until I was married and on our honeymoon. The main transport was the
car and on this occasion this is how we travelled to Tauranga and Taupo.

A sad occasion I remember was when Les Sulzberger's sister died aged five, after having pneumonia. She was the oldest
in the family with five boys after her. I went to the funeral which was very sad. It was held at the house. Another funeral I
remember was an uncle of dad’s, a Phillips. He was about sixty. Families didn't go to funerals like they do today and take
part.

I remember when I was a flower girl at Earnest Sulzberger's wedding when I was five. A year later, I went to Bob and Aunty
Annie's wedding at Kaponga. These were traditional wedding services with a church service and breakfast after. The
weddings were during the day often around 11a.m. Afterwards, we would go back to the house to have afternoon tea and
see the presents. We did not have a dance following the reception like today.

I learned the piano from a Mrs Hall who was a qualified teacher. After I got married I didn't continue. For a while we didn't
have a piano when we were first married. Then the family piano was given to me. There was not a lot of music at home.
Mum was quite musical. She couldn't play the piano but she could play the accordion. Uncle Tom Perger her brother from
Waitara was very good on the accordion. Before mum came back to New Zealand she was in a choir in Tasmania. I had
some of her choir books but I have since passed them on to the family. Stan liked music.

I remember the introduction of the radio. Our first radio was an Atwater Kent. It was a little mantle radio. This was before I left
home.
We were very proud of it. Programmes were music, speech and serials between breakfast and lunch. Dr Paul was a serial
that came later. Lots of ladies listened to this and it came on at 10 a.m. An aunt always stopped for morning tea at that time. I
can't remember the year when radio came in.

We didn't get magazines as they weren't available and there was no women's weekly. There used to be two local papers a
day, Eltham Argus and Hawera Star and then there was the Taranaki Daily Paper.

We didn't go to the library or get books. The Auckland Weekly was the paper we got and it was ordered. Lots of people
received this and the storekeeper delivered it when he delivered the groceries.

Church played an important part of life.
The children went to Mangatoki every Sunday. I went to the Presbyterian church. I was christened in the Methodist church.
The Lambie family took the Sunday school and bible class and they were Presbyterians. We went to Bible class after
Sunday school. I can't remember when Sunday school was but we rode our bikes there.
My parents never held a position in the church. Mum and I went to a service at the Finnerty School. Later on we went to the
Lowgarth Hall. A Methodist minister took these services.

My mother was keen for me to get my licence as she could not drive.
After I started to drive the car Mum was keen to go out. I have had a licence for 60 years. It wasn't the custom for women to
drive in those days.
It was the dominant role of the man to get into the driver's seat.
An aunt used to catch the Eltham- Opunake coach at Mangatoki and go to Eltham shopping, visit her mother and return
home every Friday while the car would sit in the car shed. My uncle would even take the coach and leave the car in the car
shed.

Once I had my licence, my mum and I would often go out especially to town. I learned to drive in a Dodge. It was an easy car
to drive. Then we got the big Dodge 6. It was a lovely car and I was allowed to take it out on my own. I could take it down to
play tennis. We still biked a lot.

Meals
We did say grace before meals. In time we let it slip and then it was not so regular. A lot of people let it slip.
My mother and father were very interested in politics.
Dad had worked in Eltham for Charlie Wilkinson who stood for Parliament. This may have increased his interest. Charlie
stood as an Independent. There was the standing national member, a Mr Aussie Hawkins who wasn't a strong personality.
Dad was very keen on Charlie and had the greatest of respect for him.
When Charlie stood he defeated Hawkins easily. Labour had no following. As an independent member, he brought in the 6
o'clock closing of the hotels. Some of the families in Lowgarth who were strong national would not have thought Dad would
vote independent. Dad voted for the man Charlie, because he was so capable and did so much for Eltham. He should
always be remembered. I can't remember other political figures but in those days we were in the Egmont electorate.
There wasn't a lot of pressure to vote. People made their own minds up.

Leisure
My parents spent their leisure time by being involved in the District. Dad was on the school committee for some years. He
would always help with school functions. At the end of the year there always was a school concert held. My mum used to
cook and help.
As they worked physically hard during the day they generally went to bed early.
During the war year’s people were very patriotic. They baked cakes and food for sending to the soldiers overseas.
Cards were played and it was mainly Euchre. After the Lowgarth hall was built, cards were played there.

During the wintertime, they had dances up at the factory. These were in the area where the cheese was normally stored but
during the winter it was empty after the cheese had been sold. They had an accordion for music. I was only a young girl at
the time. Families went everywhere and were very friendly and had good fun.
My mother's interests were in the district.
There was the interest in craft. Mum had done needlework before but she never had time.
Dad only went out when he had to. There was no mention of a club or going to the races. He enjoyed the trots in later years. I
have memories of going with him once.
As a child I had one or two schoolmates down the road.
I used to stay home a lot.
There were not a lot of girls on the road where I lived. I had the freedom to play with anyone I liked.

Maoris
We never had Maori children at our school as there were none in the line Mt Egmont to the Central North Island Mountains.
This was from the legend that Mount Egmont would return to the Central North Island. You never saw a Maori North of
Matapu.

We had a gang of Maoris who would come around each year and set up camp. They were known as "Old Rangi and his
gang". They would do our weeding of mangles and carrots. We loved to go down to their camp at night and talk to them. They
were very friendly. They travelled by horse and dray. Their camp was along a hedge not too far from where they worked. They
lived in tents getting water from the river. The first thing they asked was about kai (food). How much food went with the job?
We usually gave them a sheep for meat. They asked when the baker and grocer were coming. They always wanted to buy a
billy of milk each morning.

Firewood was also supplied for their cooking. They stayed until the job was finished. Often the older mothers would be with
them and normally lots of children. Mum and I would go down to them and sit with them and talk. I can't remember what
schooling they had. They had come from Parihaka. They spoke English. They didn't spend time singing. There was no use
of the word discrimination. They were Maoris and very good people. Rangi, the head of the gang was a great old chap.

I didn't get any pocket money and had very few hobbies. My clothes were bought for me. I had to ask for anything I wanted.
Home had many people calling and we always had visitors. In the winter month’s people would visit each other in the
district. e.g. down to the Burke's family for an evening. We would just sit and talk and then later they would return the visit.
There was the Willans, Johnsons and different ones. When the telephone came it was marvellous even though it was a
party line.
Phone service was before we left the first house so it was before I was eleven (1909). It was an old box one with two big
bells on it.

I had my own friends and I also belonged to the Mangatoki tennis club. Later on we had a tennis club at Lowgarth. The boys
and I would finish milking early and go up to Lowgarth and play tennis in the evening. While at home we had lots of visitors.
We did not have parties at home but went to dances and balls. We used to go dancing quite a lot. We went by car and the
boys were allowed to drive the car.

The community built the Lowgarth hall. Different people used to take up afternoon tea. The men gave up their time. Dad was
very good at organizing that type of project.
There was an old lady who used to play for all the dances.
Harry Thrush used to teach young people in the district how to dance. Later on we used to employ someone.
They had cards and an open fire and these were very friendly evenings. The community used to have balls such as the golf
ball, and the tennis ball. As a young person I didn't go out until I was seventeen or eighteen.

Was society divided into classes e.g. landowners and workers.
Generally most people became involved in the social activities. Some of them were share milkers.
Often buses came out from Eltham with people for the social events. In those days if any one had smelt of drink you could
refuse them. Some people would arrive very much the worse for drink. It was a good district for the time. Then I used to go
down to Mangatoki for a lot of things. I did first-aid classes and then joined the institute.
Mum and I attended the Women's division when it started at Lowgarth. I was the first treasurer.

Our family had a struggle to make ends meet after Dad bought the other farm. We had another farm down Finnerty road,
It was at the time of the 1st world war. Butterfat was paying half a crown for a pound. Almost over night the price dropped
completely. It was a disaster. It dropped back to half its previous price. We bought the piece of land across the road after
selling the farm down Finnerty Road. It was a big price as land sales had been booming. We paid 100 pounds per acre. The
chap we had sold the land to came back and said he couldn't pay. My Dad was frightened that the farm would come back on
his hands. That would be three farms so what he did was drop the price. This is obviously what he wanted him to do. The
price was dropped to 1500 pounds.

We just stayed home and worked and the car didn't go out for 18 months at night because it didn't have a battery. It was a
Dodge car and had a magneto. We use to start the car by cranking it to start. New batteries were twenty pounds which was a
lot of money.

The Worth circus came to town and we wanted to go. Mr Taylor up the road by the factory took us and we thought we were
made. Dad couldn't take us because the car had no battery. We made the grade by all pulling together and hard work. Mum
was a great manager. She went eight years without buying a new coat.

Butterfat started to improve and we eventually came out on top. It wasn't like it is today as Dad had everything in his name. If
only he had put a farm in Mum’s name, it would not have been so crucial. We could have lost the original farm which was
near freehold. It was just good management that we came out on top. Dad always got good butterfat which resulted in good
income.

There used to be a certain amount of distinction between families where women had to milk cows and others that didn’t.
Some of the families down Mangatoki could play ladies. The women didn't have to milk cows as the families could afford to
have the ladies at home. In most cases they really couldn't. There was no distinction between town and country people as
we didn't have close contact with them and didn't worry about them.

Dad could have been said to be one of the pioneers. We always thought we owned land and hence owned something. My
Dad was a very proud man. He wasn't a rough person who would go into the hotel and stay there. He would have one drink
and that was that. He was high-principled.
He was on the Eltham County council and local school committee for years. Also he was in the Farmer's union. I think that
was the early name for the Federated Farmers.

I never had any part time jobs while at school as there was nothing available. When working at home I was never paid
wages. I did not have a bank account or any savings. I got on well with all my brothers while at home.
I had 14 years at home before I got married. I was 28 when I got married. I don't think I was able to be independent until I left
home as you needed money to be fully independent.

The hours I worked depended on what was needed to be done. If milking I would be up at 5 a.m. Milking was a lot different
from today. It wasn't just put the cups on as it is now. We used to strip the cows and sometimes double strip them. It was
ridiculous.

At harvesting time, Mum and I would milk the herd while the men would continue to stack hay in to the evening. When I got
married I just continued with farm work and the running of a house. That has been my life's work. I have always had good
routine and been methodical. That's how I managed and that's how I still manage today.

At this time there was unemployment as nobody could afford to pay wages to workers but there wasn't the population as
there is today.

In my spare time I played tennis in the summer and I used to go eeling with my brothers. We had no swimming pools. In
winter time we used to go to card parties and we also used to go to the films at Eltham and Stratford. I always remember
when they opened the Kings theatre at Stratford. It was a nice theatre.

Plays and live theatre were available occasionally. I remember going down to Hawera to see Vera Lynn. Hawera had an
Opera house but it was demolished. We used to have tour artists visit at times.
They were happy times. We didn't know any different - it was as people made it. Most were contented with their lot. It is vastly
different today. I think we had the better times. Even though there is more money about today, we worked for what we got and
you didn't buy things until you could afford to pay for them. That's why I feel people were more contented.

What about your own family?
My brother Len was fourteen when he left school and came home to work. We had the other farm across the road at the
time. When Len was sixteen, Albert employed a man for stumping. He was called Mr Lester. Len worked on land clearing to
establish crops and pastures. Trees had been fallen and only stumps remained. Clearing involved digging around them
and blasting with jelly. Horses were also used to pull them out. The pieces of stumps would be heaped up over a remaining
stump and set fire to. A lot of the wood was rata.

The paddocks would then be ploughed and put into crops such as soft turnips, mangles or carrots. These would be hand
fed out. Sledges would be used to feed them out. Mangles would be hand pulled while carrots would be loosened with a
hand fork one day and pulled the next.

Maoris would be employed to weed carrots or mangles. As kids we did lots of weeding but didn't get paid for it. We just had
to do it for love.

As well as working on the farm Len had to help with milking.

Len was also good at woodwork. It is great pity he never got the chance for training. He was very good with using his hands
and particularly at drawing. Once he drew a man's boot and it was entered in the Hawera show. He received first prize.

Len did a lot of hard physical work and developed into a very strong person. A pocket watch in its pouch was always with
him. He was a marvellous gardener and always had an excellent vegetable garden.

When Stan left school, he stayed home and worked first with his Dad and then one of the brothers. He had a social life and I
think he was secretary of the hall committee for sometime. He should have been away from home because he and Albert,
my Dad didn't get on. My Dad was impatient at times and could be irritable. If you didn't see things straight away, he would
not be tolerant.

Stan was very skilled at farm work particularly at using a fork when hay making. He could turn hay like a champion.

My younger brother Jeff never went to high school either. He had to follow the old tradition of coming home and working on
the farm. Jeff had a wonderful memory and should have gone on to high school.

Jeff was about twenty-six when he married. In his younger days he borrowed his dad’s car to go dancing. I can't remember if
he had a car. Len had a motorbike and bikes were very popular in those days. Names such as Harley Davidson and Indian
and Norton were common

I left Lowgarth to live on Hunter Road after my marriage to Ray Beech in 1937.