Barisa Antunovich

The two brothers Tony and Barisa arrived in NZ in 1908 and 1909 respectively. They laboured in the gumfields of the South Kaipara peninsula, and on the road and railway works, saving enough to buy their first fishing boat, the Rata, on Kaipara Harbour in 1914. They fished initially for the Masefield brothers of Maungaturoto who operated a mullet cannery at Batley . Working with set nets they could catch between 1500 to 2000 dozen mullet per week receiving about 3c per dozen. As the mullet catches diminished the canneries closed down. The brothers, financially solvent, each bought a 32ft (about 10m) fishing vessel- the Star and the Mascot. They continued fishing out of Helensville but switched to flounder which were sold to Sanford Ltd in the early 1920's. The brothers were based in Helensville for 21 years (1914-1935) as independent fishermen. ( from Page 224 From Distant Villages by Stephen A Jelicich)