A frustrated engineering apprentice George Mutch left Scotland in search for work overseas after Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party began shelling jobs at industrial sites across the UK.
That experience and the attitude of the then Prime Minister, dubbed the Iron Lady, reinforced his belief that Scotland should fend for itself rather than relying on politicians in London to fix its problems.
As a referendum on whether Scotland should be an independent country looms, the Waipu resident said it is one of the best things that has ever happened in his homeland. "I am very much in the Yes camp because I think we've been penalised too much over many years. We certainly couldn't do any worse by going alone," he said.
With the right leadership and sound economic policies, he reckons Scotland has the ability to look after itself.
He left Scotland 40 years ago.
"The only reason I left Scotland in the first place was because there were no jobs. All the engineering works were being closed down by [Margaret] Thatcher and when I finished an engineering apprentice, I needed to get a job," he recalled.
"I didn't want to particularly go to England for work so I looked overseas. It took steel mills and shipyards in Scotland 40 years to recover but the downside of the current political arrangement is that politicians make promises from Westminster which they don't fulfil."
Another Northland-based Scot, Ross Watters, a maritime officer, is also supporting independence because he thinks his country had not been properly represented in the British Parliament in the last 300 years.
"It [independence vote] has gained a lot of momentum in the last few years, especially since the first Scottish Parliament was formed, which gave its people more encouragement to go further," he said.