Personal Narrative, Hawke's Bay Earthquake
Production date
Circa 2000
Object detail
Brief Description
A undated and unsigned four page personal narrative of memories of the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
A newspaper clipping registration form, for Jim and Olive Trotter of Hastings, for the earthquake survivors afternoon tea at Colenso High School, on Saturday, 16 February from 2pm to 4pm. The registration form requests the name, address, age at the time of the earthquake, and a daytime telephone contact number of the registering person.
A piece of paper, with the details as requested in the registration form, in the name of Pearl Growden.
The narrative is headed: 3 February 1931. The author explains that it was the first day at High School and that in 1931, the present boys' school was co-educational. The author writes that upon leaving the school to head home, they saw numerous groups of people with small children and that many chimneys had fallen down. The author's father was in the General Post Office, and when the shaking began, he ran for his car, and witnessed the clock tower collapse. The author's brother Ray, was a pupil at the Napier Technical College. He had scaled a fence and begun to walk home before being given a lift in a car to Havelock North, from where he walked home.
The author's father fixed the chimney at their house, and the family cooked for themselves and neighbours on an old coal range. He, along with the author's brothers, also provided assistance at Paki Paki, where the freezing works had collapsed. As payment, they were given a sheep. A neighbour provided a paddock to sleep in, before fixing two sheds; one for the women and girls, and one for the men and boys. While sleeping in the paddock, they saw the lights of many cars heading south. On return to school, lessons were held in tents.
A newspaper clipping registration form, for Jim and Olive Trotter of Hastings, for the earthquake survivors afternoon tea at Colenso High School, on Saturday, 16 February from 2pm to 4pm. The registration form requests the name, address, age at the time of the earthquake, and a daytime telephone contact number of the registering person.
A piece of paper, with the details as requested in the registration form, in the name of Pearl Growden.
The narrative is headed: 3 February 1931. The author explains that it was the first day at High School and that in 1931, the present boys' school was co-educational. The author writes that upon leaving the school to head home, they saw numerous groups of people with small children and that many chimneys had fallen down. The author's father was in the General Post Office, and when the shaking began, he ran for his car, and witnessed the clock tower collapse. The author's brother Ray, was a pupil at the Napier Technical College. He had scaled a fence and begun to walk home before being given a lift in a car to Havelock North, from where he walked home.
The author's father fixed the chimney at their house, and the family cooked for themselves and neighbours on an old coal range. He, along with the author's brothers, also provided assistance at Paki Paki, where the freezing works had collapsed. As payment, they were given a sheep. A neighbour provided a paddock to sleep in, before fixing two sheds; one for the women and girls, and one for the men and boys. While sleeping in the paddock, they saw the lights of many cars heading south. On return to school, lessons were held in tents.
Production date
Circa 2000
Production place
Production period
Production technique
Media/Materials description
Handwritten on lined paper; handwritten on printed paper.
Media/Materials
Measurements
Narrative.: Height x Width: 202 x 127mm
Newspaper clipping.: Height x Width: 67 x 90mm
Paper.: Height x Width: 100 x 72mm
Newspaper clipping.: Height x Width: 67 x 90mm
Paper.: Height x Width: 100 x 72mm
Classification terms
Subject period
Subject date
03 Feb 1931
Post 03 Feb 1931
Post 03 Feb 1931
Other number(s)
73514
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