Milford resident helps with oral history

Janet Beech has only ever walked on the famous Marlborough Oval at Hobsonville Point twice in her life. Once, when she was bitten by a wasp, and the other occasion, when she was carrying pot of crayfish, one tried to climb up her arm.

Now in her 80s, Janet (nee Wilson) is one of sixteen former Hobsonville Point residents who have been interviewed for the Te Onekiritea Hobsonville Point History Project by oral historian Sue Gee.

Growing up the 1930s, the Milford resident lived at the Point in one of the four Officers’ houses with her parents and brother until 1942.

‘‘It went down to a beautiful little beach, which is now enclosed by mangroves. There was a big lawn, and there were fruit trees,’’ she said.

Her family originally lived in the Watchmaker’s Cottage but moved to an Officer’s House before her brother, Graeme, was born in 1936. Janet’s father, Hugh Gordon Wilson, was a Flight Lieutenant at Hobsonville and later a Squadron Leader in Te Rapa.

She went to the local school situated beside a family farm, before being sent as a weekly border to St Cuthbert’s in Epsom.

During World War II, Janet said she clearly remembers the ‘dug outs’ at the Point to guard against invasion. Houses were sprayed in camouflage paint and bracken put over the roof.

‘‘There was no daylight in our houses when the Japanese came into the war,’’ she said.

After 1940, she was educated on the station at Hobsonville in the mornings before the family moved to the Waikato region in 1942.

Fascinated by aviation, Janet initially wanted to be a pilot but her father was against her going into the Air Force, so she became an air hostess instead and flew with TEAL (which later became Air New Zealand).

Flying was also how Janet met her future husband, Tom, a New Zealand Airways pilot.

Gee described Janet as a feminist and ’’independent thinker’’.

‘‘Janet’s had such an interesting life,’’ she said. The pair have met on four occasions since 2015, where they recorded their first interview at Janet’s old house at the Marlborough Oval.

Recordings for the Te Onekiritea Hobsonville Point History Project are available at the West Auckland Research Centre at Henderson Library.

KATHLEEN WALDOCK The pair met for their first interview at Janet’s former home in Hobsonville Point. It was one of four Officer’s Houses which has since been renovated.