CHARLIE GLASS (Hari Hari)
Sneaking a kiss from his wife,
playing tricks on colleagues
and finding the odd cat in
the cream barrel are fond
memories Charlie Glass shares as he
takes a stroll around what remains
of the Inter-Wanganui Co-op dairy
factory. Charlie and his late wife Joan
both worked in the factory at Hari
Hari during the Second World War.
There was a labour shortage, and
Charlie joined the workforce at 15
years old, making butter for the West
Coast of New Zealand. The dairy
factory, which opened in 1908, has
vivid memories for the 88- year-old,
who remembers the joys of working
alongside his wife and explains the
specifics of the job like it was yesterday.
“Butter was made differently
in those days. It was all in a churner,
and then we had to pull it all out by
hand,” says Charlie. “We would produce
between 200-300 tonnes of
butter a year, and there were only six
or seven of us working there. We’d
send the butter away twice a week;
the dairy factory actually supplied all
of the West Coast. The first-grade
butter was exported overseas and the
second-grade butter, where perhaps
the cream was off a bit, was for the
locals - but I thought it was better.”
Charlie spent seven years at the dairy
factory and worked the occasional
off-season at a factory down the
road, building the boxes butter was
delivered in. Charlie’s whole life has
revolved around the dairy industry in
one way or another. After leaving the
dairy factory he worked for the road
service and was on the cream run for
nine years. “I’d cart the cream to the
dairy company, and my runs included
heading to places like Franz Josef
every second day, with 5am starts,”
Charlie says. His cream run came to
an end when he had an offer from an
uncle that was too good to refuse. He
had a knack for farming, and with the
help of his uncle managed to buy his
first farm on the outskirts of Hari Hari.
Charlie and Joan raised their three
children on their dairy farm, managing
between 40 to 120 cows over the
years, all while taking opportunities to
buy land and expand the farm. Charlie
later sold his farm to his daughter and
son-in-law, who manage around 600
cows. Though Charlie’s family farm
is nearby, he only recently returned
to the dairy factory to have a proper
look at what remains of the building.
Memories flood Charlie as he walks
around, speaking fondly of his late
wife and his colleagues. Charlie gives
a glimpse into what life was like more
than seven decades ago, sharing all
of his stories with a cheeky smile.
“You know, back then it was nothing
to find a friendly cat drowned in the
cream,” says Charlie. “The lids of
the cream would be left off, the old
cat would come in, and the next day
you’d go to stir it and there’d be a
cat - don’t worry, we’d only throw out
the cat, and not waste the cream.”
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