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AddBy: Barbara Inch nee Fleming16th May 2019 6:33PMI remember spending a lot of time at Beverley Johnstones home in Sewell Street watching their new television. It was in 1967 when I was 14 years old. This put pressure on my parents to also purchase a TV. Winston Reynolds used to come and fix the TV when things went wrong. The reception was terrible with ghosting however we loved it. I remember watching all the news reels about the 2nd World War with my father. Of course it closed at 11pm with the kiwi going to bed down the lift and into his dish!!
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First TV in Hokitika,ca.1965.
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DescriptionI was told today that the first TV in Hokitika was down at the wharf. My brother remembers going down there to watch it. There was a large aerial on the shed at the wharf. Does anyone else remember that?Map[1] ContributorJune Williams
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LinkFacebookCommentsDavid Grundy I believe a kit set tv built by Winston Reynolds, who became mayor, was likely to be the first in Hokitika.
Timo Costelloe
Timo Costelloe 1965 was the year TV came to the Coast not 1972 as stated in the article. I do remember listening to FM stations from Aussie as a kid; and later as an adult working at Heaphy Hut north of Karamea. I also remember the funny double picture ghosting on th...See More
Geoffrey King Timo Costelloe Are you sure Tim, I can recall the only tv signal we could obtain was from Australia from1964, Bill Wilde Mount Street Greymouth was able to receive singals from Brisbane Sydney Melbourne depending on the weather conditions and the direction he turned the aerial, Ian Barrow from Cobden set up an aerial system similar to Bills for us and we could not get NZ television channels until around early 1970's perhaps 72 as per the article states and that was when the Mt Sewell transmitter was erected. I can remember watching Winston Churchills funeral at Bill Wildes home and that was early 1965 and that signal came from channel 0 Melbourne
Timo Costelloe So why did my folks say that we had a TV from the year I was born?
Timo Costelloe I'm not actually sure, but I don't remember there not being TV and I was born in 1965.
Glenn Johnston We didn't get TV in Hoki at our place till 1969 but some other families had TV several years before this. Some of us kids would watch TV at Breezes in Rolleston Street. They were early TV adopters. I was also shown TV early on at Reynolds; Winston Reyn...See More
Lynnette Beirne I think it was 1966 we got ours
Glenn Johnston Lynnette Beirne You didn't invite us boys from your class around to watch. Mind you when we watched at Breezes there wouldn't have been any girls from our class there.
Lynnette Beirne Glenn Johnston
Robert Williams was at our house most days to watch tv
Glenn Johnston He was a class ahead of us. Haven't seen Robert for many years!
Lynnette Beirne Glenn Johnston he is in Australia
Geoffrey King Timo Costelloe its a saying lol
Geoffrey King Glenn Johnston reception was better in the winter from the Oz Channels too much interference during the summer.
Geoffrey King Televison first aired in NZ in 1960 from Auckland followed by Christchurch in 61 then Wellington a month after and Dunedin the following year. Mt Sewell translator came in to existence around 1972 and was in time for the 1974 Commonweaelth games when c...See More
Bev Kelly June I most certainly do remember that. I remember looking in the wharf building window, along with heaps of other local kids for a glimpse of this wonderful thing!! LOL
Marilyn Paterson Yes, I remember being in the wharf and seeing Olympic Games swimming!
Lynnette Beirne We were the first in our block in Sewell street to get TV and all the neighbours used to come watch it especially Robert Williams
I remember the blue plastic across the screen to cut out the snow and the Aussie channels sometimes were stronger than the NZ channel
June Williams I remember most of my childhood on the coast but I cannot remember TV at the wharf. We didn’t get a TV until we moved to Darfield in 1968. I remember mum getting off the railcar from Hokitika at 10.20pm and we had surprised her and bought a TV while she was away.
Gordon McIntosh Winston Reynolds in Hampden Street and Ron Philpot in Revell Street both had early television sets before the wharf shed set up with CHTV coming in with a translator by the shed. I watched on all three early sets.
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Janet Sutton
Janet Sutton I do remember going into the big building down by the Hoki river and watching a TV with my parents and little brother. Couldn't tell you what it was we watched but I remember lots of people being in there too.
What was that big building?
Gordon McIntosh The building was a warehouse from previous days when Hokitika was a post. You could still see the wharf remains all along the riverside in the 1960's. The Greenstone factory operates out of the same building before moving to Tancred Street.
Warren Lee Yes there was - I have a feeling that Winston Reynolds organised it and managed to cop a freak signal bouncing of Mount Whitcomb ? The reception wasn't great because we often got interference from Australian channels - remember watching early Dr Who in the Hokitika Harbour Board Building (I think it was called)
Kevin Voigt No but can remember Russell egar
Mike Hutchison And did you see the blue cellophane plastic in front of the screen to cut down the effect of snow on the screen
Gary Keown Sure do the old wharf shed tony graham had a lot to do with it
Heather Munro I must have been well before 1965
Jeanette Sandri Yes I do.we used to go and watch the news each night.think Ed keown had something to do with it.
Margi Adamson We had one.
Peter Campion Yes I remember going down also few rotton boards on the shed bloody cold in the winter
Rollo Tomasi proudly made in NZ , no remote control needed as only 1 TV station
Peter Lambert Yes. Travelled from Greymouth to view. . . . My Dad had a joke about taking an apple box into town and sitting outside an appliance store to watch. . . .
Margaret Trail My uncle ed keown set that up.
Mike Hutchison Dave Jelly & Frank Low also
John Forde The first one I remember one in Greymouth was around 1965. Dudley Rathbun installed one in the hall attached to his grocery store/milk bar on High Street and the kids from all around came to watch.
Meg McCarthy Phyl Powell when do you think uncle Alan keown first got a tv ? You said you were one of the first?
Phyl Powell Meg McCarthy one of the first with a radiogram. Not living in Grey early 60,s
John Nancekivell My grandfather Bill Lakin took me to watch it doubling me on the bar of his old balloon tyred bike, was blurry a bit, but we got a freak tv signal where we lived at Woodstock straight from ChCh and it was 90%better
Patricia Heveldt I can remember that. I remember, for a small cost (probably something like 2 Shillings) I used to love going down to watch "The Munsters"
Steve Lowe Think it was Winston Reynolds who built the first TV on the Coast... There was a freak phenomenon that you could pick up the TV signal direct from Christchurch at Hokitika... only three places on the Coast could do that. Was the same when FM came in. …See More
Mary Moffitt Steve Lowe this is what I remember. The word had gone out that TV would be impossible on the West Coast, but then we heard something which surprised nobody who knows Coasters. This group of men found a freak bounce of the signal and tracked it around. Brilliant chaps. The tower was built on a hill opposite Stillwater that we called Baldy. (Its proper name is Mount Sewell.)
Craig Norman In the early '60s a common sight nightly in any town would be a gaggle of people rugged up sitting on camping chairs huddle outside electrical appliance stores watcing TV. A new status symbol arrived in the form of a TV ariel on the house roof. A TV c…See More
Bonnie Stretton I remember - reception so snowy could hardly make out a picture!
Lesley Ashby I remember that too. My dad took me there..
Heather Munro Des Philpott made his own one quite some time before that...as did Winston Reynolds
Heather Munro I don't remember going but my brother Gordon McIntosh told me that our dad took us
Kim Scott-Dolinsky Omg my parents had one exactly the same bought when they came out too
Kevin Bell Used to go down and watch.Used to sit on hay bales.
Mike Keenan It was Des Philpott from Revell Street who set up the first TV - in the old Whaft shed in Gibson Quay I remember as a kid watching the TV- shows screened from Australia
Vaughan Smith Mike Keenan before under arm cricket
Megan Wilson Our dad got our first TV when I was 3 months old in 1964
Robin Gibbens Love all the story’s . I remember going to I think it was Peter Frank Pitts home around 63/64 to watch programs he picked up from Australia . Had a massive Ariel at his home in Paroa . I was only 9/10 at the time so l maybe a little out . Still recall the excitement of the time
Brent Duggan If my memory is correct the first TV in Dobson was owned by Colin Pattinson. As a young child I remember watching the Sonny Liston Vs Cassius Clay on it. In those days the reception was very “snowy”.
Vaughan Bradley Hokitika is also the home of NZ’s oldest TV - owner by Elva Reynolds - it’s in the Museum collection
Timo Costelloe
Timo Costelloe 1965 was the year TV came to the Coast not 1972 as stated in the article. I do remember listening to FM stations from Aussie as a kid; and later as an adult working at Heaphy Hut north of Karamea. I also remember the funny double picture ghosting on th...See More
Geoffrey King Timo Costelloe Are you sure Tim, I can recall the only tv signal we could obtain was from Australia from1964, Bill Wilde Mount Street Greymouth was able to receive singals from Brisbane Sydney Melbourne depending on the weather conditions and the direction he turned the aerial, Ian Barrow from Cobden set up an aerial system similar to Bills for us and we could not get NZ television channels until around early 1970's perhaps 72 as per the article states and that was when the Mt Sewell transmitter was erected. I can remember watching Winston Churchills funeral at Bill Wildes home and that was early 1965 and that signal came from channel 0 Melbourne
Timo Costelloe So why did my folks say that we had a TV from the year I was born?
Timo Costelloe I'm not actually sure, but I don't remember there not being TV and I was born in 1965.
Glenn Johnston We didn't get TV in Hoki at our place till 1969 but some other families had TV several years before this. Some of us kids would watch TV at Breezes in Rolleston Street. They were early TV adopters. I was also shown TV early on at Reynolds; Winston Reyn...See More
Lynnette Beirne I think it was 1966 we got ours
Glenn Johnston Lynnette Beirne You didn't invite us boys from your class around to watch. Mind you when we watched at Breezes there wouldn't have been any girls from our class there.
Lynnette Beirne Glenn Johnston
Robert Williams was at our house most days to watch tv
Glenn Johnston He was a class ahead of us. Haven't seen Robert for many years!
Lynnette Beirne Glenn Johnston he is in Australia
Geoffrey King Timo Costelloe its a saying lol
Geoffrey King Glenn Johnston reception was better in the winter from the Oz Channels too much interference during the summer.
Geoffrey King Televison first aired in NZ in 1960 from Auckland followed by Christchurch in 61 then Wellington a month after and Dunedin the following year. Mt Sewell translator came in to existence around 1972 and was in time for the 1974 Commonweaelth games when c...See More
Bev Kelly June I most certainly do remember that. I remember looking in the wharf building window, along with heaps of other local kids for a glimpse of this wonderful thing!! LOL
Marilyn Paterson Yes, I remember being in the wharf and seeing Olympic Games swimming!
Lynnette Beirne We were the first in our block in Sewell street to get TV and all the neighbours used to come watch it especially Robert Williams
I remember the blue plastic across the screen to cut out the snow and the Aussie channels sometimes were stronger than the NZ channel
June Williams I remember most of my childhood on the coast but I cannot remember TV at the wharf. We didn’t get a TV until we moved to Darfield in 1968. I remember mum getting off the railcar from Hokitika at 10.20pm and we had surprised her and bought a TV while she was away.
Gordon McIntosh Winston Reynolds in Hampden Street and Ron Philpot in Revell Street both had early television sets before the wharf shed set up with CHTV coming in with a translator by the shed. I watched on all three early sets.
2
Manage
Like · Reply · 3h
Janet Sutton
Janet Sutton I do remember going into the big building down by the Hoki river and watching a TV with my parents and little brother. Couldn't tell you what it was we watched but I remember lots of people being in there too.
What was that big building?
Gordon McIntosh The building was a warehouse from previous days when Hokitika was a post. You could still see the wharf remains all along the riverside in the 1960's. The Greenstone factory operates out of the same building before moving to Tancred Street.
Warren Lee Yes there was - I have a feeling that Winston Reynolds organised it and managed to cop a freak signal bouncing of Mount Whitcomb ? The reception wasn't great because we often got interference from Australian channels - remember watching early Dr Who in the Hokitika Harbour Board Building (I think it was called)
Kevin Voigt No but can remember Russell egar
Mike Hutchison And did you see the blue cellophane plastic in front of the screen to cut down the effect of snow on the screen
Gary Keown Sure do the old wharf shed tony graham had a lot to do with it
Heather Munro I must have been well before 1965
Jeanette Sandri Yes I do.we used to go and watch the news each night.think Ed keown had something to do with it.
Margi Adamson We had one.
Peter Campion Yes I remember going down also few rotton boards on the shed bloody cold in the winter
Rollo Tomasi proudly made in NZ , no remote control needed as only 1 TV station
Peter Lambert Yes. Travelled from Greymouth to view. . . . My Dad had a joke about taking an apple box into town and sitting outside an appliance store to watch. . . .
Margaret Trail My uncle ed keown set that up.
Mike Hutchison Dave Jelly & Frank Low also
John Forde The first one I remember one in Greymouth was around 1965. Dudley Rathbun installed one in the hall attached to his grocery store/milk bar on High Street and the kids from all around came to watch.
Meg McCarthy Phyl Powell when do you think uncle Alan keown first got a tv ? You said you were one of the first?
Phyl Powell Meg McCarthy one of the first with a radiogram. Not living in Grey early 60,s
John Nancekivell My grandfather Bill Lakin took me to watch it doubling me on the bar of his old balloon tyred bike, was blurry a bit, but we got a freak tv signal where we lived at Woodstock straight from ChCh and it was 90%better
Patricia Heveldt I can remember that. I remember, for a small cost (probably something like 2 Shillings) I used to love going down to watch "The Munsters"
Steve Lowe Think it was Winston Reynolds who built the first TV on the Coast... There was a freak phenomenon that you could pick up the TV signal direct from Christchurch at Hokitika... only three places on the Coast could do that. Was the same when FM came in. …See More
Mary Moffitt Steve Lowe this is what I remember. The word had gone out that TV would be impossible on the West Coast, but then we heard something which surprised nobody who knows Coasters. This group of men found a freak bounce of the signal and tracked it around. Brilliant chaps. The tower was built on a hill opposite Stillwater that we called Baldy. (Its proper name is Mount Sewell.)
Craig Norman In the early '60s a common sight nightly in any town would be a gaggle of people rugged up sitting on camping chairs huddle outside electrical appliance stores watcing TV. A new status symbol arrived in the form of a TV ariel on the house roof. A TV c…See More
Bonnie Stretton I remember - reception so snowy could hardly make out a picture!
Lesley Ashby I remember that too. My dad took me there..
Heather Munro Des Philpott made his own one quite some time before that...as did Winston Reynolds
Heather Munro I don't remember going but my brother Gordon McIntosh told me that our dad took us
Kim Scott-Dolinsky Omg my parents had one exactly the same bought when they came out too
Kevin Bell Used to go down and watch.Used to sit on hay bales.
Mike Keenan It was Des Philpott from Revell Street who set up the first TV - in the old Whaft shed in Gibson Quay I remember as a kid watching the TV- shows screened from Australia
Vaughan Smith Mike Keenan before under arm cricket
Megan Wilson Our dad got our first TV when I was 3 months old in 1964
Robin Gibbens Love all the story’s . I remember going to I think it was Peter Frank Pitts home around 63/64 to watch programs he picked up from Australia . Had a massive Ariel at his home in Paroa . I was only 9/10 at the time so l maybe a little out . Still recall the excitement of the time
Brent Duggan If my memory is correct the first TV in Dobson was owned by Colin Pattinson. As a young child I remember watching the Sonny Liston Vs Cassius Clay on it. In those days the reception was very “snowy”.
Vaughan Bradley Hokitika is also the home of NZ’s oldest TV - owner by Elva Reynolds - it’s in the Museum collection
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West Coast New Zealand History (26th Dec 2019). First TV in Hokitika,ca.1965.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 5th Apr 2026 10:35, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/23111