At that time my father, who had come out from England as a youth via Australia
and was now was 20-21 years old, had been working on farms in the Mataura
and Gore areas and after the nationwide call for men to help in the reconstruction
both he and Hector Baxter left for Murchison in August 1929. They travelled to
Christchurch, to Blenheim, Nelson, to Murchison, spending a few days in each
place.

When they arrived in Murchison, they asked Bill Swannie,
the storekeeper if they could get a job. They were told that
Jack White the foreman would be in that afternoon. When
he arrived they signed on with the Public Works Department and received a tent fly, an axe, a shovel etc.

They went to the PWD camp site at Dellow's Bluff. He
worked on the bridle track used by Sir Charles Fergusson,
the Governor-General on his visit, making cages for the
Maruia River and repairing bridges.  When they needed to build a bridge over the Newton River he was taken off the road works. The foreman said, "He's the only one who knows how to handle a shovel."

No farmers were allowed back to their farms and the PWD workers were
working on their own. Nothing was taken from any of the houses although the
PWD workers were allowed to slaughter the farm pigs and eat them.