Ngā Taonga Sound Archives: Bluff oysters

The Bluff oyster season is heading into its final month, after getting off to a rocky start in March when the season opening coincided with the arrival of Covid-19. 

Photo: Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision

Lockdown meant the famous oyster festival had to be cancelled, but oysters were still able to be harvested as an ‘essential service.’ 

In today’s visit to the Sound Archives of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Sarah Johnston plays us some recordings about the famous 'taste of the South'.

Mr P Focus, manager of Port Nicholson Fisheries Ltd, holding tins of Foveaux Strait oysters, 1975. [Evening Post newspaper courtesy Alexander Turnbull Library]

Oyster dredge boats at Bluff, 1933 [N.Z. Railways magazine via NZETC]

Cartoon of family complaining about the price of oysters, 1906. [The N.Z. Observer newspaper, courtesy Papaes Past]

Oysters on the shell