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Claude Hartill with his son Tom Hartill at Millie Barrett`s place,Moonlight.1956.
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DescriptionTom Hartill.." I went with Dad shoeing horses up the Grey valley when I was about 11 or 12. We had been to a few places & had a cup of tea & scones after the shoeing. When we arrived at Millie & Sid's place she asked if she could cook some scones for us & I said I was full as we had just eaten at the last two houses so she didn't bother.
When we were on our way home Dad said don't you ever speak if we are offered a cup of tea again. About a month later we were up Moonlight way at Adam Perry's place when he asked us to stay for lunch. Dad said yes as Adam said he had some nice venison. I said I wasn't hungry & Dad was saying how nice it was. On the way home I was asked why I wasn't hungry.
I said when I followed Adam outside where the leg was hanging it was just crawling with maggots which he scraped most but not all off with the knife. Suddenly the car skidded to a halt & Dad was vomiting out the door. Why didn't you tell me he said. You told me to shut up if we were ever offered food I replied."
Date of Photo1956Map[1] ContributorHelen Burns
When we were on our way home Dad said don't you ever speak if we are offered a cup of tea again. About a month later we were up Moonlight way at Adam Perry's place when he asked us to stay for lunch. Dad said yes as Adam said he had some nice venison. I said I wasn't hungry & Dad was saying how nice it was. On the way home I was asked why I wasn't hungry.
I said when I followed Adam outside where the leg was hanging it was just crawling with maggots which he scraped most but not all off with the knife. Suddenly the car skidded to a halt & Dad was vomiting out the door. Why didn't you tell me he said. You told me to shut up if we were ever offered food I replied."
Date of Photo1956Map[1] ContributorHelen Burns
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Location (city or town)MoonlightPersonClaude HartillMillie BarrettTom Hartill EventClaude Hartill with his son Tom Hartill at Millie Barrett`s place.
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Date Created7th December 2019CommentsHelen Burns Think that you Tom Hartill
Tom Hartill What, the boy or the donkey, Helen? The boy is Don with Dad up at Millie Barrett's.
Mary Moffitt Claud probably worked on their horses as well. Millie was the only person (when I was a kid) who rode to the store on a horse. She was ahead of her time and wore a long hippie type of frock. She was angry with my mother, who asked her if she was just on her way home from a dance.
I loved Millie, and do not mean to embarrass her memory, just enhance it. She regaled us with stories of how she once chased a helicopter off her property waving a shotgun. I don't know if she fired it. She said she had to stop when she got to a fence. What a wonderful woman!
Tom Hartill I know two Stillwater boys who were spotlighting on the Barrett property when Millie came out & fired the shotgun over their heads then yelled the next time is for real.
Mary Moffitt Bet I know who they were!!!
Millie said that anyone who believed Stan Graham was a murderer would have to reckon with her. She had other ideas about whodunnit.
Tom Hartill I went with Dad shoeing horses up the Grey valley when I was about 11 or 12. We had been to a few places & had a cup of tea & scones after the shoeing. When we arrived at Millie & Sid's place she asked if she could cook some scones for us &I said I was full as we had just eaten at the last two houses so she didn't bother. When we were on our way home Dad said don't you ever speak if we are offered a cup of tea again. About a month later we were up Moonlight way at Adam Perry's place when he asked us to stay for lunch. Dad said yes as Adam said he had some nice venison. I said I wasn't hungry & Dad was saying how nice it was. On the way home I was asked why I wasn't hungry. I said when I followed Adam outside where the leg was hanging it was just crawling with maggots which he scraped most but not all off with the knife. Suddenly the car skidded to a halt & Dad was vomiting out the door. Why didn't you tell me he said. You told me to shut up if we were ever offered food I replied.
Anne Miller Mcmillan love that story . My mum olive and old gib beynon used to go up to visit them in moonlght a lot .
Cheryl Pinn When we lived at Blair Block we were directly in line with Millies place.There place was on a hill opposite Dr Moore?? [on the main road]Think they were above the Notown turnoff.Remember when they sold up for 295k and everyone saying none of us would ever see that sort of money in our lifetime! lol
Heather Newby wow.. that wouldnt even buy a modest house now
Joan Mclean Through Stilwater, cross the Arnold river and I think take the first road to the right to Candlelight where the Barratt family lived. The road to Notown is further on.The Symes family lived there.
Heather Newby is it Barratt or Barrett?
Val Peat Claude Hartill, wow thats a memory, shod my horse for many years. Would arrive in his Rover car and everything was in the boot!! Wonderful man, full of stories :)
Cheryl Pinn yep old Claude was the man when we were kids with our ponies!
Jacqui Crozier Claude shoed my pony
Great memories of him
Heather Newby Tom Hartill Don Hartill
Tom Hartill Would have been about 1956 Heather Newby
Anne Miller Mcmillan love that story . My mum olive and old gib beynon used to go up to visit them in moonlght a lot .
Cheryl Pinn When we lived at Blair Block we were directly in line with Millies place.There place was on a hill opposite Dr Moore?? [on the main road]Think they were above the Notown turnoff.Remember when they sold up for 295k and everyone saying none of us would ever see that sort of money in our lifetime! lol
Heather Newby wow.. that wouldnt even buy a modest house now
Joan Mclean Through Stilwater, cross the Arnold river and I think take the first road to the right to Candlelight where the Barratt family lived. The road to Notown is further on.The Symes family lived there.
Heather Newby is it Barratt or Barrett?
Vern Pattinson Joan Mclean yes that's write Joan
Val Peat Claude Hartill, wow thats a memory, shod my horse for many years. Would arrive in his Rover car and everything was in the boot!! Wonderful man, full of stories :)
Cheryl Pinn yep old Claude was the man when we were kids with our ponies!
Jacqui Crozier Claude shoed my pony
Great memories of him
Trish Barry Tom Harthill... You still have great hair and tell a good yarn
Joy Devereux Trust you tommy
Steve Jones Great story,loved it,fantastic history & photos,
Denise Bradley Of course Tom I knew your family well and we were entertained many a time by your father while shoeing our horses. Also visited the Barrats many times as all involved were true WestCoast identities.
Wendy Gilmour Think they had a wee band
Debbie Ansett they did
Mary Moffitt Millie was an amazing person, and an excelllent horsewoman. For many years, when I was a child, she rode a horse to Stillwater for groceries. I could not take my eyes off her. She was beautiful and dressed like a Romany traveller. Her husband was called Sydney and he built chimneys and fireplaces amongst many other things. He reminded me of Old Steptoe - in a nice way, quiet and smiling. My father said that he was the only man around who could build the arched brick fireplaces he wanted.
In their later years, this family, which had always lived remotely, operated a drilling rig throughout the Coast.
And in great contradiction to that, they performed as the band 'Moonshiners' at dances throughout the Coast. Millie's sister, Violet was on the piano, I think Millie played a wind instrument, and Sid played the drums. They had two sons, Tony, and Sid Jnr.
The family had an amazing collection of old vehicles. One I remember was a single cylinder Bulldog tractor which had to be started with a blowtorch. I could hear it coming from two miles away. They supplied vehicles for the Stanley Graham movie. They knew him from when they lived further south. I heard that Millie told the film makers that if they were going to show Stan as a bad man they could not have the machinery for the film.
Millie loved her farm animals. There is a wonderful story about how a helicopter kept hovering over their farm and terrifying the animals. She snatched up her gun and set off across the paddocks after the chopper. She probably fired the gun but I doubt that she was aiming at it - just scaring the pilot like he was scaring her animals. If she had been aiming, the chopper would have been history.
I loved Millie. She called a spade a spade, and was always lovely to me.
Tom Hartill What, the boy or the donkey, Helen? The boy is Don with Dad up at Millie Barrett's.
Mary Moffitt Claud probably worked on their horses as well. Millie was the only person (when I was a kid) who rode to the store on a horse. She was ahead of her time and wore a long hippie type of frock. She was angry with my mother, who asked her if she was just on her way home from a dance.
I loved Millie, and do not mean to embarrass her memory, just enhance it. She regaled us with stories of how she once chased a helicopter off her property waving a shotgun. I don't know if she fired it. She said she had to stop when she got to a fence. What a wonderful woman!
Tom Hartill I know two Stillwater boys who were spotlighting on the Barrett property when Millie came out & fired the shotgun over their heads then yelled the next time is for real.
Mary Moffitt Bet I know who they were!!!
Millie said that anyone who believed Stan Graham was a murderer would have to reckon with her. She had other ideas about whodunnit.
Tom Hartill I went with Dad shoeing horses up the Grey valley when I was about 11 or 12. We had been to a few places & had a cup of tea & scones after the shoeing. When we arrived at Millie & Sid's place she asked if she could cook some scones for us &I said I was full as we had just eaten at the last two houses so she didn't bother. When we were on our way home Dad said don't you ever speak if we are offered a cup of tea again. About a month later we were up Moonlight way at Adam Perry's place when he asked us to stay for lunch. Dad said yes as Adam said he had some nice venison. I said I wasn't hungry & Dad was saying how nice it was. On the way home I was asked why I wasn't hungry. I said when I followed Adam outside where the leg was hanging it was just crawling with maggots which he scraped most but not all off with the knife. Suddenly the car skidded to a halt & Dad was vomiting out the door. Why didn't you tell me he said. You told me to shut up if we were ever offered food I replied.
Anne Miller Mcmillan love that story . My mum olive and old gib beynon used to go up to visit them in moonlght a lot .
Cheryl Pinn When we lived at Blair Block we were directly in line with Millies place.There place was on a hill opposite Dr Moore?? [on the main road]Think they were above the Notown turnoff.Remember when they sold up for 295k and everyone saying none of us would ever see that sort of money in our lifetime! lol
Heather Newby wow.. that wouldnt even buy a modest house now
Joan Mclean Through Stilwater, cross the Arnold river and I think take the first road to the right to Candlelight where the Barratt family lived. The road to Notown is further on.The Symes family lived there.
Heather Newby is it Barratt or Barrett?
Val Peat Claude Hartill, wow thats a memory, shod my horse for many years. Would arrive in his Rover car and everything was in the boot!! Wonderful man, full of stories :)
Cheryl Pinn yep old Claude was the man when we were kids with our ponies!
Jacqui Crozier Claude shoed my pony
Great memories of him
Heather Newby Tom Hartill Don Hartill
Tom Hartill Would have been about 1956 Heather Newby
Anne Miller Mcmillan love that story . My mum olive and old gib beynon used to go up to visit them in moonlght a lot .
Cheryl Pinn When we lived at Blair Block we were directly in line with Millies place.There place was on a hill opposite Dr Moore?? [on the main road]Think they were above the Notown turnoff.Remember when they sold up for 295k and everyone saying none of us would ever see that sort of money in our lifetime! lol
Heather Newby wow.. that wouldnt even buy a modest house now
Joan Mclean Through Stilwater, cross the Arnold river and I think take the first road to the right to Candlelight where the Barratt family lived. The road to Notown is further on.The Symes family lived there.
Heather Newby is it Barratt or Barrett?
Vern Pattinson Joan Mclean yes that's write Joan
Val Peat Claude Hartill, wow thats a memory, shod my horse for many years. Would arrive in his Rover car and everything was in the boot!! Wonderful man, full of stories :)
Cheryl Pinn yep old Claude was the man when we were kids with our ponies!
Jacqui Crozier Claude shoed my pony
Great memories of him
Trish Barry Tom Harthill... You still have great hair and tell a good yarn
Joy Devereux Trust you tommy
Steve Jones Great story,loved it,fantastic history & photos,
Denise Bradley Of course Tom I knew your family well and we were entertained many a time by your father while shoeing our horses. Also visited the Barrats many times as all involved were true WestCoast identities.
Wendy Gilmour Think they had a wee band
Debbie Ansett they did
Mary Moffitt Millie was an amazing person, and an excelllent horsewoman. For many years, when I was a child, she rode a horse to Stillwater for groceries. I could not take my eyes off her. She was beautiful and dressed like a Romany traveller. Her husband was called Sydney and he built chimneys and fireplaces amongst many other things. He reminded me of Old Steptoe - in a nice way, quiet and smiling. My father said that he was the only man around who could build the arched brick fireplaces he wanted.
In their later years, this family, which had always lived remotely, operated a drilling rig throughout the Coast.
And in great contradiction to that, they performed as the band 'Moonshiners' at dances throughout the Coast. Millie's sister, Violet was on the piano, I think Millie played a wind instrument, and Sid played the drums. They had two sons, Tony, and Sid Jnr.
The family had an amazing collection of old vehicles. One I remember was a single cylinder Bulldog tractor which had to be started with a blowtorch. I could hear it coming from two miles away. They supplied vehicles for the Stanley Graham movie. They knew him from when they lived further south. I heard that Millie told the film makers that if they were going to show Stan as a bad man they could not have the machinery for the film.
Millie loved her farm animals. There is a wonderful story about how a helicopter kept hovering over their farm and terrifying the animals. She snatched up her gun and set off across the paddocks after the chopper. She probably fired the gun but I doubt that she was aiming at it - just scaring the pilot like he was scaring her animals. If she had been aiming, the chopper would have been history.
I loved Millie. She called a spade a spade, and was always lovely to me.
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West Coast New Zealand History (10th Dec 2019). Claude Hartill with his son Tom Hartill at Millie Barrett`s place,Moonlight.1956.. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 26th Apr 2026 14:52, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/26622