WWI photographs

Turning our thoughts to next year's WWI centenary. We have photographs of 19 of the 53 men listed on the Otautau War Memorial. Do you have any photographs of the following men? We'd be grateful to have a copy.

• Allen, Leonard - Wairio labourer?
• Ayton, Joseph Beck - manager of Thomson & Beattie, Otautau
• Beck, James Robert Ewen - Wairio, horse trainer
• Clark, William James - labourer
• Dove, Albert Ernest - Australia? enslisted Wairio
• Ellis, Peter - Wairio, farmer
• Evans, G - no information
• Findlater, Albert Walter - Balclutha, blacksmith
• Ford, H - no information
• Ford, Robert Emmet - Otautau, blacksmith at Heddon Bush
• Ford, Sydney - born, Otautau; farmer
• Gavigan, Oliver Daly - Otautau, farmer
• Gonley, Dominic - born Ireland, salesman in Otautau
• Healey, William - born Invercargill, labourer
• Johnstone, Peter Thomas - Otautau, Wyndham Dairy Factory
• Ladlaw, Francis Andrew - Isla Bank, sawmiller
• Laidlaw, John George - Isla Bank, farmer
• Laing, James Duncan - Dipton, labourer
• Lindsay, Arthur David - Otautau, farmer
• McAfee, Joseph - Otautau, farm labourer
• McCaw, Douglas Victor - born Invercargill, worked for R Dickson, farmer, Otautau
• McKenzie, Dudley - Wairio, farmer
• Morris, John - born Australia, awmill hand, Scotts Gap
• Muir, Donald - Linton Park, Otautau
• O'Shaughnessy, Patrick - Wrey's Bush, labourer
• Pay, Ernest John - Kennington, cheesemaker, Ryal Bush Dairy Factory
• Poole, Albert Preswid - Isla Bank
• Poole, Edward Arthur - Isla Bank
• Powell, Walter James - Otautau, labourer, Buick farm, Yellow Bluff
• Scott, A.J. - no information
• Stephens, Thomas Adam - Otautau
• Thomas, Edward Richard - Otautau
• Ward, Andrew Hannah - father in Te Tua, farm labourer

Men who were not listed on the war memorial but who we think may have ties to this area are:

• Baird, Adam - Isla Bank, a bank clerk
• Barwell, George - previously Orawia farmer
• Blatch, Ernest Arthur - Otautau, farmer
• Blatch, John Robert - Otautau, farmer
• Braithewaite, Horace - Otautau, worked for James Ryan, Bayswater
• Deacon, James - Isla Bank, farmer
• Hardy, James - Otautau
• Johnstone, Robert - Isla Bank
• McKenzie, William Lindsay - Isla Bank, farmer
• McKenzie, William Norval - Isla Bank, farmer
• McMillan, Charles Robert - Fairfax, sawmiller
• Moriarty, John - Aparima? miner
• Smith, William Martin - Otautau or Nightcaps? ploughman
• Taylor, Joseph Beck - Aparima, farmer

In addition to those who died in WWI, we're interested in those who served and returned - and there were quite a few - as well as key figures in Otautau at the time:

• Mrs A. V. King
• John Fisher 
• William Wesney
• Dr Baird

If you have photos or further information on any of these people, please contact us. Thanks!

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Otautau Senior Rugby, 1974

One of our recent acquisitions is this photo of the Otautau Senior Rugby Team, 1974. This was passed on to us by someone in the Winton Genealogy Group who happened to come across it. It's so great when people give us stuff relevant to Otautau & Districts. We really appreciate it, and it helps our collection grow.
Recognise anyone?

Names on the photo
Back row: J. W. Cribb, D. S. Collie
Third row: T. S. McKenzie, W. Gray, H. K. Clark, G. R. Newton, J. C. McDougall, J. L. Ballam, M. Huira.
Second row: N. A. James (Player-Coach), B. R. Hearsey, E. R. Thomson, D. A. Clark, G. W. Manning, K. D. Taylor, A. N. Stalker, J. M. Cullen (President).
Front row: B. J. King, N. D. Cameron, I. D. McKenzie, K. J. McRae (Captain), G. D. McKenzie (Vice Captain), W. F. Collie, V. K. Melsom.
Absent: L. Barnes.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Oral History Workshops

The Essentials of Oral History Research is a two-day workshop coming up 4 May and 8 June, followed by Abstracting Oral History on 29 & 30 June. Both are sponsored by the Alexander Turnbull Library and taught by oral historians, Helen Frizzell and Judith Fyfe respectively. Here is a pdf on the workshops.

Collecting oral histories from Otautau & Districts identities has long been a goal here at the museum. If you'd like to receive top-notch training and do some oral histories for us, please contact us. Funding is available from the Jack Ilott Oral History Education Operating Fund which is administered by the Alexander Turnbull Library Endowment Trust.

We have the equipment - which just need people trained to conduct the interviews.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Family History - Miss Rimmer

This week, we had a couple from Auckland asking about their relative, Miss Alice Rimmer, a singer/musician/teacher from Auckland. Her forteit was opera and sacred music, and she came to Invercargill in 1912 to teach. She performed at the annual Otautau Methodist Church concert at the Town Hall in May of that year as well as at the Methodist Church in July. Interestingly she also taught singing and music in Otautau. She was not long in Invercargill and returned to Auckland. If you know anything about Miss Rimmer, please get in touch with us. Thanks!

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!

Family History

Just a reminder for those who email us about family history. Please check your junk mail as our replies may be going there until you denote that we're 'safe'. I've answered many family history questions only to never hear back again from the inquirer. I can only think they never got my email because they never checked their junk mail for a reply. So please check your junk mail.

We're open Wednesdays and Sundays, 2pm-4pm, and by request. Your comments are always welcome!