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Oral Histories

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Riverside Community Oral Histories

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DescriptionFounded by Christian Pacifists in 1941, Riverside Community is located in Lower Moutere near Motueka and is New Zealand’s oldest intentional community.

In the face of World War II, Riverside’s earliest members saw equality and social justice as the main pillars of peace and were eager to practice ways of communal living that were based on cooperation, sustainability and the repudiation of war.

Both the Riverside Trust and Riverside Community have come a long way from the original religious focus, and both entities now consider themselves secular and pluralist. However, Riverside’s members and trustees still see their strength in adherence to the founders’ basic principal: ‘If a group of individuals pool their resources, co-operate and live simply, they can create a resource and surplus income to be used for the greater good of society’ (Hubert Holdaway, founding member).

This collection of interviews with people living at Riverside (one non-member and four members) was created with the intention of providing a record of some of the people living at Riverside during the interview period (late 2021-early 2022), their backgrounds, the reasons they choose to live at Riverside, their experiences of living at Riverside, and some insight into how Riverside operates – including both challenges and benefits.

The interviews were all conducted by Pania Walton for Tasman District Libraries with NZLPP Covid recovery funding. The views expressed by the interviewees are theirs alone and do not represent the views or experiences of other Riverside residents. TypeIntentional communityDate2021-2022Geo Coordinates^[1]Geo Address289,Main Road,Lower MoutereSubject/KeywordRiverside CommunityIntentional communitiesLower Moutere (N.Z.)

Audio

Merle Hyland

Kathy Francis

Klaus Wendlandt-Gruner

Daisy Cole

Che Vincent

Damara Sylvester

Image

The Peace Caravan

Hubert Holdaway Grafting the First Tree, 1959

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Oral Histories

Merle Hyland on her birthday in 2017 with Riverside residents. For her birthday, Riverside member Huw Cole built some benches for Merle along the Riverside roads where she would go for a walk every day. Everyone is pointing to her to say she is the centre here; the most important person at Riverside.

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Riverside Community Oral Histories