Stories of past sought by group

Posted: Monday Jul 29, 2024

South Dunedin Oral History Project members hope to capture homespun tales of people from the area

Stories of past sought by group | Otago Daily Times Online News (odt.co.nz)

Ordinary people’s voices of the past are the focus of a new endeavour.

The South Dunedin Oral History Project aims to bring to life the voices of those who had connections to South Dunedin’s King Edward St.

The group is a sub-committee of the Southern Heritage Trust and the project is the recipient of an oral history grant from Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 

Project member Jill Bowie said the hope is by recording oral histories now they can be featured in the new South Dunedin library and community complex, currently under construction in King Edward St.

The aim was to "capture those stories of the past, to see where we have come from", she said.

A focus is to find people who were living and working in the area in the 1960s and ’70s, who can share their experiences of the area at that time.

Group members hope  to find people who can talk about visiting or working at department store Wolfenden & Russell, which was situated where the new library is being constructed.

Project member Lynn Benson said the store was a big employer in the area and they were keen to talk to former employees.

The group is also hoping to speak to people who had a connection to the Mayfair theatre.

First opened as the King Edward Picture Theatre in 1914, it was bought by the Dunedin Opera Company in 1967 at a time when local cinemas were declining due to the impact of television.

The opera company converted it to a live venue and it is now operated by the Mayfair Theatre Charitable Trust.

The group is hoping to hear from people who participated in various activities at the theatre, whether by performing or working behind the scenes, or even working at the theatre when it was still showing movies.

Project member Ruth Barton said she was interested in the South City Mall, which opened in the 1970s.

It was a "big deal" when it opened, ushering a new type of indoor shopping.

"It was really quite different from how we see it today.

People who are willing to be interviewed will have an initial conversation with a trained oral historian, and then will take part in a recorded interview of about 90 minutes.

The interviews will be stored in the Dunedin Public Libraries’ Scattered Seeds online archive, and participants will receive a professionally recorded copy of their interview.

Those interested in being involved can get in touch with the project team at events@southernheritage.org.nz.