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Joe Gillman with Ben, skinning opossums.1978 .
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DescriptionLove this one...Ben and Joe Gillman 1978. Taken in the days when there were still possums to trap and Ben had a thriving business selling possum fur. He made what most kids would consider a fortune...it was certainly big money at the time. Love the happy, dirty face!! My kids just wouldn't have a clue about how wonderful life was back them...not a care in the world and free as a bird..."Get outside and don't come back till dinner time!" lolDate of Photo1978Map[1] ContributorMichelle Gillman
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Location (city or town)AhauraEventJoe Gillman with Ben, skinning oppossums.1978 .
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Category Taghunting
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LinkFacebook LinkDate Created28th June 2014Comments
JohnandKathleen Ranger
I remember those days!
Anne Hines
JohnandKathleen Ranger same here
Bronwen Skates
certainly remember my brothers from a young age doing exactly the same
Anne Hines
Michael Hines
Theresa Gibson
Kept the wolf from the door during the 7O’s.
Trish Rennie
I remember my brothers doing this also and me helping to hold the skins while they tacked them out to dry..
Anne Bruce
I hunted possums during the May school holidays, about 1965. I was not allowed to take a gun to kill them instead carried a tailing iron to whack them over the head. First one I totally botched but thought money, money. I also had to skin them and tack the skins on boards to dry. I used gin traps, these had to be sprung during the day and had to go around them all late in the day to re-set. Was it worth it, oh yes, I made a lot of money during those 2 weeks.
Sandra Skates
I remember these days lived next door to the Gillmans in Dobson and my brothers did it with them ,great days
Geoffrey King
Made good 'Road Kill Pies'. Arbie Panther Greymouth Pie Cart stationed outside the Argus building Taraphui St sold Possum Pies, customers would go in and ask for a 'Dressed Road Kill' ie. pie with mash spuds mashed peas and slice of beetroot.
Geoffrey Bell
My first payment for possum tokens, 1961. I was 13 at the time. Soon after skins became saleable which brought better money. I was able to buy my first rifle and watch from skin revenue. Frank Bell used to buy them.
No photo description available.
Kathryn Carty
Would have known alot more about the Bush than those pushing pens in Wellington.
Mary Moffitt
But some of them were raised on the Coast and other remote places. Heaps of evidence about that.
Dennis Gibbs
Made a dollar or 2 myself hunting and trapping possums.
Helen O'Dea
My play house got converted into a possum skin drying room when wet - otherwise they were boarded and hung to dry on our clothes line !
Can still smell that smell and how hard the skins were when completely dry.
Grant Smith
yep while at high school o was doing the same ,good money to be made
Bob Laing
I never chased possum skins. The mid 1960s was a great time selling red deer, wild pig, goat skins and flax cutting. That took up, with fishing and whiebaiting most of my spare time. I was still at high school
Pete Lusk
Yes, good prices in late 70s.
Trish Barry Andrews
Cousin Nigel Andrews and I trapped and shot them at Lake Kaniere during the school holidays in the early 70's and from memory averaged about $12/13 and even today that would be good money considering on our best day we got over 50. Baz
Carma Tressler
My dad used to opossum up there all the time,
Trevor Molloy
your brother Colin and I with the help of Colin's dog Towser made good money from possums in the school holidays , we trapped at Molloy's lookout at Kotuku
Pat Cooper
I bought a brand new 72 Ford Escort mostly funded by possum skins. Graham Jacob gave me the best ever price as a high school kid after Wilson and Neal ripped me off on a line of 80 first class skins.Trish Barry Andrews
Cousin Nigel Andrews and I trapped and shot them at Lake Kaniere during the school holidays in the early 70's and from memory averaged about $12/13 and even today that would be good money considering on our best day we got over 50. Baz
· Reply · 13h
Nigel Andrews
Trish Barry Andrews those were the days I remember when we were taught how to skin them like a sleeve and tack them out on a 6 x 1 or 4 x 1 ? Do you remember the guy who showed us ?
· Reply · 11h
Trish Barry Andrews
Nigel Andrews I think the boards where 12" wide - 4x1 where used for ones that were sleeve skinned like a rabbit. Jimmy Mehrtens was his name (he also gave us about 100 traps), lived next to Hasson's in Bealey St. He had a disabled daughter, Margert, who rode around in a large 3 wheel bike.
Trish Barry Andrews
I think we did try the sleeve way but mostly opened up along the stomach and sometimes going a bit deep with the cut !!!!
Carma Tressler
My dad used to opossum up there all the time,
Trevor Molloy
your brother Colin and I with the help of Colin's dog Towser made good money from possums in the school holidays , we trapped at Molloy's lookout at Kotuku
Pat Cooper
I bought a brand new 72 Ford Escort mostly funded by possum skins. Graham Jacob gave me the best ever price as a high school kid after Wilson and Neal ripped me off on a line of 80 first class skins.
Pat Cooper
great photo...capturing how it was in many households NZ wide.
Donald Levy
Made a good living off them those days in South Westland
Barb Turner
Used to do that with my brothers
James Cagney
The good old days
Ingrid Warren
Aww cousin Ben you are sadly missed by us all..always such a happy active boy..miss ya xx
Lyn Steppy
Geez remember those days. Jerry and Russel used to kill and skin them and my job was to tack them out, trim clean and grade them. Big money back in the day. No poison drops then and low numbers of possums in the end
Rhonda Glasson
That’s how we got our pocket money We we’re given 5 traps each and it was fun times
Alan Maitland
My twin brother Bruce and I used to help Tom Leonard in our school days, including doing the trap runs bringing out the skins. Used to tail them out on boards and freeze them too. Great days those were and very heavy packs when bringing them out of the bush.
Sheri Wright
Bens grin says it all..kids these days wouldn't have a bloody clue what to do outside daylight til dark
John Bennett
Great memories possum skins and venison
Peter McInroe
Yep my dad taught me how to skin and grade them dry them we used to send them to the Dunedin sales once we got a bale full good money back then.
Sharon Malloch
Yes, I enjoyed doing that too...with my Dad
George Gardner
Michelle, how well I remember hearing that directive!!!
Daaron Turton
possums everywhere when i moved to blackball 1998 and also a great deal of bird life ..not very many birds now..possum was good meat minced patties..pies..on a stick.. steaks..a rich red meat people you could live off..so they killed them off so everybody would have to line up like surfs and stand on a star..poison was never the answer for the people but it was for a politician in a suit who had never walked the bush..possums preyed on baby rats ..funny we a have a big rat problem now..
Anne Hines
I remember that handsome boy………hope joe has his dog jess back?……anyone know?
Shelley Waltho
My brother used to collect the tails from road kills and sell them. He had a sack in the boot of the car for them when we were out driving.
Al Sheehan
A Coast thing, my brother and I doing the same living at Otira, learning lots as kids.
Anne Bruce
I was about 14 when I spent the May school holidays trapping. I had to go around all my traps every morning, no matter what the weather was. Any traps without a victim had to be sprung and, in the evening, I went around them again to set. My killing weapon was a tailing iron . The first 'kill' was a disaster, the damn animal would not die so had to be delt with once home. My skinning skills improved and was pretty slick at it after a few days. Skins were tacked onto boards to dry. My trapping netted a lot of money, in pounds back then. It financed a trip to stay with an aunty in Chch in the Summer.
David Barford
How true
Loretta Donnelly
I used to help our Dad too. Mostly hanging up the boards & taking the staples out when the skins were dry. They helped to pay for me to go to boarding school in Christchurch.
John Paget
My old man trapped and poisoned possums during the winter back in the 1960/s in the Hunderlees near Kiakoura. It paid better than wages back then.
Paul Cheryl Culling
Used to tack out skins,you would get $20 for an A grade skin and average $10,bloody good money back then,early80's,around the same time you used to get 8 cents for an empty big coke bottle refund,there used to be the red sheds next to Z station that brought the skins
Jamie Vanderlinden
Is that the old owner of buccaneer2? Jackson's bay working boat
Geoffrey Collis
Jamie Vanderlinden yip,one and the same.
Alan Maitland
My twin Bru and I worked for Mr Tom Leonard a neighbour in Hokitika, in the 70s. carrying out the wet pelts for many miles in the bush - tough gig that when we were still at school the packs were a heavy as. Then (from memory) we would help strip them and tailor out onto boards before putting them in the freezers.
Michael Barron
Great memories.
Hell of a nice guy ole Joe.
Pete Lusk
Yes, good money in 1970s. Put in the work and you got a big cheque.
Steve Best
Back then it was a good earner I did well, Especially if you had a good Block
Mary Fenemor
Люблю Love It Sticker
Michael Joseph Spillane
How i made pocket money when I was a kid
Brent Gray
Shannen Gray show Matt
Kevin O'Regan
Great photo Papa Joe. How good is that
John Webster
there are and still will be possums to trap, the wet pants gov stopped it with their wet willy laws
Judy Smolen
So true
Helen O'Dea
So true Michelle, we had an amazing up bringing..... very lucky and we loved being away making our own fun all day.
Scott Mitchell
True use 2 check my traps b4 school and again b4 tea use 2sell them hole 2 jim bidingtin taylorville
Nicola Bourke
We ended up with baby ones to raise when the mother died.
Amon Greening
Use to possum trap when i was young fella' had to hide your traps well or kids would nick them off you' h8ted skinning them
Gael Kitchin
I sat there like that as kid while dad skinned them. Special times and precious memories, will never forget the stench though lol
Michelle Gillman
There's lots of good old west Coast dirt there on those two! Ummm...can see why people call us feral Coasters lol
JohnandKathleen Ranger
I remember those days!
Anne Hines
JohnandKathleen Ranger same here
Bronwen Skates
certainly remember my brothers from a young age doing exactly the same
Anne Hines
Michael Hines
Theresa Gibson
Kept the wolf from the door during the 7O’s.
Trish Rennie
I remember my brothers doing this also and me helping to hold the skins while they tacked them out to dry..
Anne Bruce
I hunted possums during the May school holidays, about 1965. I was not allowed to take a gun to kill them instead carried a tailing iron to whack them over the head. First one I totally botched but thought money, money. I also had to skin them and tack the skins on boards to dry. I used gin traps, these had to be sprung during the day and had to go around them all late in the day to re-set. Was it worth it, oh yes, I made a lot of money during those 2 weeks.
Sandra Skates
I remember these days lived next door to the Gillmans in Dobson and my brothers did it with them ,great days
Geoffrey King
Made good 'Road Kill Pies'. Arbie Panther Greymouth Pie Cart stationed outside the Argus building Taraphui St sold Possum Pies, customers would go in and ask for a 'Dressed Road Kill' ie. pie with mash spuds mashed peas and slice of beetroot.
Geoffrey Bell
My first payment for possum tokens, 1961. I was 13 at the time. Soon after skins became saleable which brought better money. I was able to buy my first rifle and watch from skin revenue. Frank Bell used to buy them.
No photo description available.
Kathryn Carty
Would have known alot more about the Bush than those pushing pens in Wellington.
Mary Moffitt
But some of them were raised on the Coast and other remote places. Heaps of evidence about that.
Dennis Gibbs
Made a dollar or 2 myself hunting and trapping possums.
Helen O'Dea
My play house got converted into a possum skin drying room when wet - otherwise they were boarded and hung to dry on our clothes line !
Can still smell that smell and how hard the skins were when completely dry.
Grant Smith
yep while at high school o was doing the same ,good money to be made
Bob Laing
I never chased possum skins. The mid 1960s was a great time selling red deer, wild pig, goat skins and flax cutting. That took up, with fishing and whiebaiting most of my spare time. I was still at high school
Pete Lusk
Yes, good prices in late 70s.
Trish Barry Andrews
Cousin Nigel Andrews and I trapped and shot them at Lake Kaniere during the school holidays in the early 70's and from memory averaged about $12/13 and even today that would be good money considering on our best day we got over 50. Baz
Carma Tressler
My dad used to opossum up there all the time,
Trevor Molloy
your brother Colin and I with the help of Colin's dog Towser made good money from possums in the school holidays , we trapped at Molloy's lookout at Kotuku
Pat Cooper
I bought a brand new 72 Ford Escort mostly funded by possum skins. Graham Jacob gave me the best ever price as a high school kid after Wilson and Neal ripped me off on a line of 80 first class skins.Trish Barry Andrews
Cousin Nigel Andrews and I trapped and shot them at Lake Kaniere during the school holidays in the early 70's and from memory averaged about $12/13 and even today that would be good money considering on our best day we got over 50. Baz
· Reply · 13h
Nigel Andrews
Trish Barry Andrews those were the days I remember when we were taught how to skin them like a sleeve and tack them out on a 6 x 1 or 4 x 1 ? Do you remember the guy who showed us ?
· Reply · 11h
Trish Barry Andrews
Nigel Andrews I think the boards where 12" wide - 4x1 where used for ones that were sleeve skinned like a rabbit. Jimmy Mehrtens was his name (he also gave us about 100 traps), lived next to Hasson's in Bealey St. He had a disabled daughter, Margert, who rode around in a large 3 wheel bike.
Trish Barry Andrews
I think we did try the sleeve way but mostly opened up along the stomach and sometimes going a bit deep with the cut !!!!
Carma Tressler
My dad used to opossum up there all the time,
Trevor Molloy
your brother Colin and I with the help of Colin's dog Towser made good money from possums in the school holidays , we trapped at Molloy's lookout at Kotuku
Pat Cooper
I bought a brand new 72 Ford Escort mostly funded by possum skins. Graham Jacob gave me the best ever price as a high school kid after Wilson and Neal ripped me off on a line of 80 first class skins.
Pat Cooper
great photo...capturing how it was in many households NZ wide.
Donald Levy
Made a good living off them those days in South Westland
Barb Turner
Used to do that with my brothers
James Cagney
The good old days
Ingrid Warren
Aww cousin Ben you are sadly missed by us all..always such a happy active boy..miss ya xx
Lyn Steppy
Geez remember those days. Jerry and Russel used to kill and skin them and my job was to tack them out, trim clean and grade them. Big money back in the day. No poison drops then and low numbers of possums in the end
Rhonda Glasson
That’s how we got our pocket money We we’re given 5 traps each and it was fun times
Alan Maitland
My twin brother Bruce and I used to help Tom Leonard in our school days, including doing the trap runs bringing out the skins. Used to tail them out on boards and freeze them too. Great days those were and very heavy packs when bringing them out of the bush.
Sheri Wright
Bens grin says it all..kids these days wouldn't have a bloody clue what to do outside daylight til dark
John Bennett
Great memories possum skins and venison
Peter McInroe
Yep my dad taught me how to skin and grade them dry them we used to send them to the Dunedin sales once we got a bale full good money back then.
Sharon Malloch
Yes, I enjoyed doing that too...with my Dad
George Gardner
Michelle, how well I remember hearing that directive!!!
Daaron Turton
possums everywhere when i moved to blackball 1998 and also a great deal of bird life ..not very many birds now..possum was good meat minced patties..pies..on a stick.. steaks..a rich red meat people you could live off..so they killed them off so everybody would have to line up like surfs and stand on a star..poison was never the answer for the people but it was for a politician in a suit who had never walked the bush..possums preyed on baby rats ..funny we a have a big rat problem now..
Anne Hines
I remember that handsome boy………hope joe has his dog jess back?……anyone know?
Shelley Waltho
My brother used to collect the tails from road kills and sell them. He had a sack in the boot of the car for them when we were out driving.
Al Sheehan
A Coast thing, my brother and I doing the same living at Otira, learning lots as kids.
Anne Bruce
I was about 14 when I spent the May school holidays trapping. I had to go around all my traps every morning, no matter what the weather was. Any traps without a victim had to be sprung and, in the evening, I went around them again to set. My killing weapon was a tailing iron . The first 'kill' was a disaster, the damn animal would not die so had to be delt with once home. My skinning skills improved and was pretty slick at it after a few days. Skins were tacked onto boards to dry. My trapping netted a lot of money, in pounds back then. It financed a trip to stay with an aunty in Chch in the Summer.
David Barford
How true
Loretta Donnelly
I used to help our Dad too. Mostly hanging up the boards & taking the staples out when the skins were dry. They helped to pay for me to go to boarding school in Christchurch.
John Paget
My old man trapped and poisoned possums during the winter back in the 1960/s in the Hunderlees near Kiakoura. It paid better than wages back then.
Paul Cheryl Culling
Used to tack out skins,you would get $20 for an A grade skin and average $10,bloody good money back then,early80's,around the same time you used to get 8 cents for an empty big coke bottle refund,there used to be the red sheds next to Z station that brought the skins
Jamie Vanderlinden
Is that the old owner of buccaneer2? Jackson's bay working boat
Geoffrey Collis
Jamie Vanderlinden yip,one and the same.
Alan Maitland
My twin Bru and I worked for Mr Tom Leonard a neighbour in Hokitika, in the 70s. carrying out the wet pelts for many miles in the bush - tough gig that when we were still at school the packs were a heavy as. Then (from memory) we would help strip them and tailor out onto boards before putting them in the freezers.
Michael Barron
Great memories.
Hell of a nice guy ole Joe.
Pete Lusk
Yes, good money in 1970s. Put in the work and you got a big cheque.
Steve Best
Back then it was a good earner I did well, Especially if you had a good Block
Mary Fenemor
Люблю Love It Sticker
Michael Joseph Spillane
How i made pocket money when I was a kid
Brent Gray
Shannen Gray show Matt
Kevin O'Regan
Great photo Papa Joe. How good is that
John Webster
there are and still will be possums to trap, the wet pants gov stopped it with their wet willy laws
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West Coast New Zealand History (11th Jan 2026). Joe Gillman with Ben, skinning opossums.1978 .. In Website West Coast New Zealand History. Retrieved 1st May 2026 03:25, from https://westcoast.recollect.co.nz/nodes/view/9710