Memoir takes a look at pre-TV Dunedin
Posted: Friday May 12, 2023
Author and heritage advocate Lois Galer reminisces about "pre-TV era" Dunedin in A Memoir ... But I Digress.
The memoir was a lockdown project for Ms Galer that was prompted by her daughter Jo Galer urging her to compile her stories.
It was launched on Wednesday in Dunedin.
Ms Galer said she forged her way through life and chose not to be advised by anyone.
"I guess as an only child I was doing my own thing from an early age."
Her self-reliant and resilient attitude has seen her lead a colourful life.
She went from owning and operating a hair salon to fulfilling her dream of becoming a journalist.
In the memoir she details her career at the Otago Daily Times where she advocated for Dunedin’s heritage with her weekly feature series, "Houses and Homes".
"It got up my nose that houses were being pulled down and no-one knew the history of them.
"So I thought if I do the research and write up a history of these buildings they might get more public appreciation and there would be a fuss if the bulldozers come there."
She eventually wrote four books for the ODT about Dunedin's built heritage.
Ms Galer said one of her proudest achievements that she talks about in the memoir was saving the Dunedin Municipal Chambers from demolition.
"A few of us went to the mayor and he wasn’t going to have a bar of it, so we set up a petition.
"Because of the popularity of the petition and people writing letters to the editor they had a change of council and decided they’d keep it and they’d restore it," she said.
The memoir included little bits and well-known parts of Dunedin she had been involved with, Ms Galer said.
"It is chronological and it sort of moves from one move to another and then to a different job and so on.
"But it’s very Dunedin, and I’ve kept it purposely very Dunedin because I love Dunedin."
Ms Galer said the memoir recounted an era of Dunedin that was "pre-TV" and should jog the memories of many of her contemporaries.
"The man across the road who is reading it said, ‘Oh, it’s made myself young again. I’m remembering all these places that you’re talking about where we used to hang out in those days’."