The Years Back - 2, The Twenties (Episode Two)

The ancient way of catching eels, by the eel weirs, which they built from the side of the Whanganui River, pretty well from Taumarunui down but you wouldn’t find any of them now. No-one worries about getting eels when they can get tinned fish.

– Mick Jones

To the morehu, or the survivors, as they called themselves, it seemed that the great Māori leaders lived in a world apart, a Pākehā world in which the morehu felt self-conscious and uneasy. When such a leader spoke to them, they felt that a shadowy Pākehā was peering condescendingly over his shoulder. The Ratana movement, on the other hand, gave voice to their own unspoken thoughts.

– Dr Pat Hohepa

There was one girl who had come back from England and who was looking very smart and she was walking along the street and woman stopped and looked at her and said ‘Painted Jezebel’ because she was wearing lipstick which was quite new. You see New Zealand was about 10 years behind everybody else. We were just a little provincial town and most of the women were still pretty suppressed.

– Marjorie Lee