Interview with Sir Robert Owens

Broadcaster and Village Radio volunteer, James Hartstonge, founded the Tauranga District Museum Oral History Unit in 1988. The unit recorded 66 interviews in three years. This interview with Sir Robert Owens is one of these. It was recorded in Robert Owens' office in Tauranga. The length of the initial recording is 46:28 minutes and continues onto a second recording that is 16:35 minutes.

Sir Robert Owens, born in 1921, was originally from Manchester. He immigrated to New Zealand in 1946 and settled in Tauranga in 1953 where he established his stevedoring business, Tauranga and Mt Maunganui Stevedores. He entered local politics and was Mayor of Mount Maunganui Borough and Tauranga City Council. In 1991 Owens was awarded a CBE for his services to the transport industry, local government and the community and in 1997 he was awarded a knighthood in the Queens Birthday Honours list.