<&>Wellington Corpus of Spoken New Zealand English Version One <&>Copyright 1998 School of Linguistics & Applied Language Studies <&>Victoria University of Wellington <&>side one <&>12:03 when we did our local history interviews <,> in the local <.>k kilbirnie lyall bay local history group <,> we exhales i mean we had a <.>n thing like that yes so the quality of it is <{><[>is appalling <[>very poor <{><[>and it SHOULDN'T be i <.>mean <[>yes you <.>REAL you've really got to use a microphone for things <{><[>like that <[>we did use a microphone you did? and it was still fuzzy? wasn't too bad actually but i mean the thing itself <.>was and in actual fact you don't have to have a huge thing to make it really good no you just <{><[>need a good sound system <[>yeah <.>it <.>it it doesn't have <.>to <{><[>i mean size doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be great <[>with microphone no <.>wh when did you do that history thing <,> was <.>that when did we do it <.>that we did it <{><[>last year <[>last year cos i'm interested in oral history you see <.>and <.>and and i've been on a <.>cour oral history course and i'm on this no hands committee and he's just coopted me onto a sub committee which <{><[>sounds absolutely GHASTLY because word the um the committee for the whole of new zealand see and um sally rolle and i started this local history group <,> at the community centre in kilbirnie <&>13:00 cos <.>we she <.>was <.>she she was aware that there <.>was there weren't many activities for OLD people <,> um cos they do lots of different activities but not all of them suit <.>o you know particularly quite elderly people and she was also interested in getting a history group started <[>inhales oh god mm because there's not much history documented for this area there's quite a lot in miramar and there's a lot in newtown but somehow kilbirnie lyall bay's just really hotchpotch? <,> so we <.>s we decided that we'd get this group going and i must say she's done all the work i've only sort of tagged along and helped her out but <.>she that's what her job is mind you much more than mine is um and we decided that as part of the sesquicentennial year last year that we'd try and do an oral history interview of the group? there was about twelve i suppose that day it varies depending on the weather as to how many there are um <,> and we decided to <.>w we didn't want to pick anything that was too personal because old people <.>f find it quite difficult to talk about <,> their own lives? oh yeah i think it's a combination sort of <.>perhaps suspicion <.>you not wanting others to hear because <{><[>perhaps there's some <.>sh <&>14:00 <[>plus they don't really think of it i think <.>as <{><[>as history i mean it's just normal life for them <[>well they <.>don they think it's very ordinary <.>they i mean they kept saying to us all the time but you don't want us to tell you about anything <{1><[1>i mean our lives are just so ordinary and we say yes but the mere fact that you've lived for sixty seventy years makes those lives extra ordinary by today's standards <,> and so we <.>ch we chose the exhibition <,> which was held in nineteen forty over at rongotai which was um to celebrate the hundred years which's er since the signing of the treaty of waitangi and i mean it was a <.>new it was a whole new zealand thing it just happened to be <{2><[2>situated right in our territory and it was open for <.>about about three months i think <{3><[3>wasn't it from about november to february something like that from <.>ni nineteen forty forty one over that summer period and although it was the war it was a FANTASTIC exhibition and most of these people who come to this group have lived in this area all their lives so almost all of them had memories of their being there fifty years ago <,> when they were <.>young young adults <{4><[4>and they have wonderful stories to tell <[1>yeah <[2>mm <[3>yes yep <[4>yes cos there were so <.>many voc yeah and there was so many things for them to DO there and it was cheap and it was <.>i in this area they could walk to it they could walk to it but in FACT in the end coming <.>i <.>t they had more people go to the exhibition than the population of new zealand so that shows how many people went over <{><[>and over <[>right over and over again and <.>mister mister goldstein for instance told us that he bought <.>a voc a season ticket which had thirty <{1><[1>passes and of course if you <{2><[2>bought that you had to use them all up so he went THIRTY TIMES all laugh <[1>oh right <[2>laughs <&>quietly oh no we've got a crown at home <.>it it's about the <{><[><.>size yes er commemorating it <[>commemorating it yeah mum <{><[>and dad had <[>well <.>pe people bought a lot of memorabilia people still HAVE little china <{1><[1>dishes <.>and and brochures that they'd got <{2><[2>and tickets to the roller coaster and <[1>oh yeah <[2>oh yes mum's got a <.>lit mum had a little um it was all sorts of things put up yeah you <.>can you <{><[>could get a <.>l <[>a blown glass little mug <.>mo and you could get a little model of the <.>actual actual <{><[>exhibition hall i think <[>oh yeah it was <.>a it was beautiful beautiful buildings that were <{><[>put up then <[>where was it was <.>it it was in the grounds of rongotai college college oh <{><[>really <[>and <.>it but it went right down to the beach it went as <{1><[1><.>like it was HUGE it was very extensive and the <.>kupe that kupe statue that stood <.>so for so long in the railway station that <.>was that was made for it along with many other things but <{2><[2>the bulk of it was destroyed in a <{3><[3>fire in about nineteen forty seven i <.>think i should know all this shouldn't i but it's <.>in in our paper anyway <[1>yes <&>16:00 <[2>that's now in the show building <[3>yes but they also pulled a lot down they <.>would've <{1><[1>cos it <.>was <.>only it was only to be temporary it was not to stay up forever so they had this wonderful solid looking thing which in actual fact um by today's standards would be considered quite solid but by their standards then was <.>very was very um <{2><[2><.>temporary yeah <{3><[3>very temporary <[1>they demolished a lot <[2>jerry built <[3>jerry built laughs and it was based on sort of <.>gr classical greek lines and it had a big long pool um down in the <{1><[1>middle of the courtyard with a fountain people walked all <{2><[2>around it it was really quite beautiful <[1>with a fountain <[2>i was three at the time and i can remember the fountain can you remember <{><[>the fountain <[>it's funny i <.>can <.>that's that's about ALL i can remember <.>i you know i was three thirty seven thirty eight thirty nine forty yeah three <{1><[1>three four and i went with <.>my my uncle took me he was um a soldier and he was <.>on on leave from camp or something and er <&>17:00 he took me and i've got a photo of him carrying me <,> <.>but i can remember THAT and i can remember this fountain and that's all <{2><[2>i can remember <[1>laughs <[2>well the fountain was quite large i think wasn't it <{><[>word <[>and it CHANGED COLOURS ah now <{><[>isn't that the fountain that's up in kelburn <[>lovely could well be <{><[>i don't know <[>i have a feeling it is it could <{><[>well be <.>well <[>oh really it could well be <.>well now the kupe statue is in the winter <{><[>show buildings isn't it <[>winter show buildings mm but it was only ever made of plaster <{><[>it was <.>not not substantial <[>yeah it's only plaster that's why they were making all <.>the the fuss about it in the railway station it was <{1><[1>just so EASY to graffiti and chip away and carve your <,> initials in cos it was plaster but it was painted as though it was <{2><[2>bronze so everybody thought that it wa a bronze <,> statue for kupe <[1>cos it get chipped <[2><.>bra <.>bro bronze or brass mm word bronze laughs <,> but <.>that it actually worked out quite well i mean it's <.>a in some ways <.>it's <,> it's easier doing a group interview than to do a single one <,> because <.>you you know if a person doesn't feel as if they can talk for very long <.>there's there's always someone next of course there are difficulties as well though <&>18:00 because you have people talking on top of each other right yeah <.>and <.>and and the critical thing with <.>a with an oral history tape is that you record who the person is that's talking so we had <.>this we had this system that didn't work where i said to them i was the sort of taker of notes <.>and and i said to them look just say who you are before you speak but of course they didn't they'd remember something and they'd voc quickly voc <{1><[1>come in with it and not say who were and so afterwards i'd be saying to people <{2><[2>what was the name of the woman in the yellow cardigan but in the end we actually managed to get it <,> um and record er who had said what and we actually put it into a typewritten form as well and gave each <.>per each person who'd been there a copy of this and they could <{3><[3>keep it <[1>oh pop it in yes <[2>who are you laughs <[3>have you still got copies of that oh yes we've still got copies of it I'D like a copy of that would you? yes it was very <.>much i mean it was <.>not it was very much a SOCIAL history you know just people's memories but <.>that's of where the stores were and going down to the <.>local and things like being on the roller coaster and the lady in front's false teeth flying out all laugh and someone else who went i think it <&>19:00 <.>was cos there was a roller coaster there you see pictures of it it was a real genuine <,> <{><[>roller coaster wasn't it there was never <.>any any before <&>someone coughs <&>B answers <.>telephone not transcribed <[>oh yes yes <&>telephone rings loudly margaret's decided she's going to do kites <,> right she just sort of decided goodness that's good so we're only going to have one session a week i think yes keep it to the minimum but i <{><[>haven't thought about what to have <[>well the the community centre'll still have their yeah bits and pieces too <{><[>won't they <[>we'll have to decide what we're going to do for the second week i've got no ideas about it well that's the week i'll be here ah laughs oh well you can think of it then all right NO <,> hush your mouth hush your mouth laughs cos she's an ex teacher you see so i'm mean i'm mean i just sort of say well you're good at doing that you think of it <,> what we could do <.>is we could base it on <.>a we could use a theme with kites say i don't <.>know windy wellington or something and then yes and then <.>just we could do something with leaves maybe <,> <.>or YES <{1><[1>look we could make a lovely big <,> tree <{2><[2>um <[1>or <[2>word word with where you just draw it on <{><[>paper and yeah <[>you draw the tree and is it a good time to find leaves <{><[>word <[>and they laughs it's not autumn is it <{><[>well that's all right we could spring <.>fl we could maybe make a spring garden <[>well word <{><[>word <[>but it's not really spring spring's <.>au um er it's <{><[>september by then <[>june um yes we could get yeah we could make daffodils and things out of cup cakes <{><[>word <[>we've done that before haven't we yeah that's we could think of yeah <{><[>we could think of something new well we'll use a theme of something like <,> i don't know our city <&>20:26 <[>um