Southland Oral History Project
The Project
Southland’s stories define who we are as a people and a province. Our project aims to capture these stories as a collective memory of what it is to be part of this community.
The project covers a broad range of subjects, not only the defining events in our local history but also our traditions, our everyday way of life and what it means to be a Southlander.
The Project is a joint venture between Invercargill City Council and Heritage South and is proudly supported by Community Trust South, the Invercargill Licensing Trust, the ILT Foundation and the SDC Community Partnership Fund.
The Project is guided by a strategic plan that is reviewed and updated every 5 years. The current 2026-2030 plan is available here.
Accessing the collection
There are over 650 recordings in the collection. Most of the collection has been recorded since the early 1990s, plus a few earlier recordings. The collection includes both full life history interviews and topic-based interviews from around the Southland region.
You can find out what oral history interviews we hold by searching the Archive using the link below. You can search our collection using names, subjects, and keywords.
You can read abstracts of many of the recordings (a detailed time-coded index providing quick access to the content of the recording) and you can view photographs where these are available. In time we hope to further enrich the online experience by making audio extracts of the recordings available.
Recordings are accessed via the Archives Research Room, which is open by appointment (Monday – Friday, 9am-5pm).
Please call or e-mail Southland Oral History Project Staff ahead of time to arrange an appointment. We also off a remote reference service to assist researchers unable to visit.
Interviewees and their families can obtain copies for private use.
Use of the collection
The contents of the Southland Oral History Project collections are subject to the conditions of the Copyright Act 1994.
Please note that in accordance with the agreements held with interviewees, additional conditions regarding the reproduction (copying) and use of the items in the Southland Oral History Project collections may apply.
Get in touch
Please call or email Southland Oral History Project staff ahead of time to arrange an appointment. We also offer a remote reference service to assist researchers who are unable to visit.
Southland Oral History Project
- Email: sohp@ilibrary.co.nz
- Phone: (03) 211 8414
Or speak to one of the friendly team at any Help Desk the next time you are visiting the library.
Want to help?
Our project relies heavily on volunteer support. Most of our volunteers become interviewers. We also invite people to abstract recorded interviews; this involves listening to interviews and creating a time-kept index.
In both instances we provided thorough a thorough training programme and continue to support you throughout your time with us. If you are interested in getting involved simply complete the form linked below.
Interested in being interviewed?
The Project aims to record as many stories as possible from people who were born in Southland or who moved here at some point in their lives. We are interested in your personal experiences of everyday life (childhood, schooling, family life, work, leisure activities) as well as personal recollections and perceptions of particular history events.
If you would like to be interviewed or suggest someone else to be interviewed, then please complete the form linked below:
