Frozen meat industry will be 100

Press, 13 November 1981, Page 14

Frozen meat industry will be 100

Leaders of Government, the meat industry, shipping and farming will gather on what remains of the famous Totara estate, six kilometres south of Oamaru in North Otago, on Monday, February 15, to commemorate the establishment of New Zealand’s greatest industry, the frozen meat export industry. They will include the Gov-ernor-General, Sir David Beattie, who will officially open the Totara estate centennial park to permanently mark the birthplace of an industry, which in the year to the end of June this year continued to be the country’s major earner of overseas exchange with meat exports worth J1661M and other earnings putting its total returns to the country over the two billion or two thousand million mark. The man who headed the organising committee for the celebrations held at Totara on the occasion of the 75th anniversary, Mr J. H. Mitchell, of Weston, noted this week the singular contri-

bution that the WaiarekaKakanui valley had made to the nation. Not only was it the district where the great export meat industry was started, but it was also at Corriedale where pioneer work was done on the development of New Zealand’s first distinctive sheep breed, the Corriedale, which is now one of the most important and numerous breeds in the world; and also at Windsor, the site of the country’s first rural water supply scheme — a type of scheme that is now common throughout the country. The park, with an area of about a hectare including access off the main south road where a wayside stop or halt was established in 1957 at the time of the 75th anniversary, will include a number of farm buildings dating back to the days when Totara was one of the country’s great stations. Among them are the carcase shed where sheep and lambs were hung after being killed for the first shipment of frozen

meat to ever leave the country on the sailing ship Dunedin from Port Chalmers in February, 1882, and the remains of the slaughter house where the animals were killed. As well as the carcase shed, the buildings being repaired and refurbished include the cookhouse and men’s quarters, the stables and harness room and the barn. This work has been going on under the auspices of the National Historic Places Trust, and Mrs Helen Stead, who is working part-time for the trust as project representative, says that the park, costing some $lOO,OOO to $150,000 to establish, will as well as the old buildings include displays and items of equipment dating back to the early days of the meat industry, and also old farming implements to help trace the development of the meat industry and farming in the district and on Totara itself. Totara came into the hands of the New Zealand

and Australian Land Company at the end of 1866, for the princely sum in those days of about $196,750 (£98,326) for 14,230 acres of freehold and 397 acres of leasehold, according to Mrs Stead. A report of the following year said that in no part of Scotland could be found a similar extent of fine land, lying altogether and having an equally good soil and climate. A few years later in 1878 William Soltau Davidson, who had so much to do with organising the company’s pioneer venture in the export of frozen meat from New Zealand in 1882, reported that Totara was well-known throughout the colony as being the gem of the company’s possessions, which then comprised in excess of 700,000 acres of freehold and leasehold land. He added that he did not know of an estate in New Zealand of equal size worth so much per acre. And of course then, as now, a feature of the property was the homestead, which Davidson described as an excellent stone edifice suitable for a country gentleman’s seat. Of Oamaru stone construction, it is of two storeys with more than 20 rooms and an area of about 7000 square feet. Tenders were apparently called for building the house in 1867 and timber for it — Baltic pine — arrived in Oamaru on the ill-fated Star of Tasmania in early 1868. As she lay in the roadstead a tremendous storm developed and when the chain by which she was attached to her moorings broke she was driven aground. As a result of heroic efforts under the most difficult of conditions most of those aboard were eventually saved but two small boys and two sailors lost their lives. A chair, made from wood recovered from the ship, for many years had a place in the homestead and just last year the present owner of Totara recovered it when an antique dealer brought its existence to his notice. According to Mrs Stead, it was estimated that the stately home would cost

about $2600 (£1300) to build, but in fact this was exceeded by $l4OO ( £700) and the story has it that the manager of the property made up the difference. Over the years it has had relatively few changes in its occupants. The first was Robert McAulay, then John Macpherson, who became manager in 1879 and for a short time was owner of the homestead block before selling it in 1921. Before Mr G. L Berry acquired it in 1972 the occupants were the Ewing family. Mr Berry, who is a solicitor in Oamaru with a farming background — before he bought Totara he was farming, in partnership with a brother, a tussock run behind Waikouaiti — has sought to maintain the original character of the old home. Mr and Mrs Berry have done much painting and paper hanging and Mrs Berry says it has been found that some of the new papers have been remarkably similar to those used earlier. Concrete flooring has also been put through the old house, which sits amid old English oaks, elms and ashes and is a delight to see. Mr Berry says that they have become very attached to it. Just inside the front door is a plan of the original station of more than 14,000 acres, obtained from Edinburgh, the headquarters of the old company. Among places of interest identified is the site of the old totara tree, from which the district received its name and which disappeared in the course of overburden being removed at the Totara limeworks a number of years ago. On the big day next February the Meat Board will meet briefly in the dining room around a table, which with the chairs were all made in Scotland. The substantial sideboard in the room was also part of the original furnishings, but the fireplace has been replaced by an old fireplace from the old Bank of New Zealand building in Oamaru. One of the other members of the company’s staff who played a leading role in the frozen meat venture was

Thomas Brydone and one of the upstairs bedrooms is remembered as Brydone’s room, being the room that he occupied when he visited Totara. It has rounded windows and looks out across the lawns to a magnificent spreading elm. A wardrobe in the room is also part of the original furnishings, as is the carved Oamaru stone fireplace. Today the holding associated with the homestead is but a shadow of earlier days — it amounts to only 120 hectares or 300 acres. Mr Berry, who clearly has a deep interest in the notable history of the property, is gratified that with Meat Board assistance the Historic Places Trust has been able to take over the old farm buildings, which he said had been a source of concern to him because as far as the farm property was concerned they did not have any special value. He says that he is thrilled about the way that the Trust is going about its responsibilities and adds that they have been most considerate. The park will only be open to the public, he says, when a caretaker is present. While quite a lot still remains to be done before the big day next year, the re-

furbishing of the farm buildings, all of Oamaru stone ■ construction, has gone far ’ enough to indicate that they • are being given quite a new look, which does not mean that their original appearance is being changed but that they will soon all be looking more like they probably did years ago — trim and tidy and obviously well cared for. From the outside the cookhouse and men's quarters certainly looks trim and neat with barn red doors and window facings in similar colours. In the bunk rooms there are still some remains of the old wooden bunks and the names of some of the occu pants of earlier days are scratched into the stone walls. One is that of "E. Ryan, 1899.’’ It is said that grain cavings were used to fill Xhe palliasses used on the bunks — they were so hard that they resisted the attention of the mice. Above the cookhouse and dining room is a loft used to house stores and which also provided sleeping quarters for the Chinese, who somtimes worked on the station.

A team of workers was busy this week repairing the roof of the old stables, with a harness room at one end which still has some racks for holding saddles, and one of these was supporting a rather dilapidated looking collar for a draught horse of earlier days. In its earlier days the station had a lot of horses as the property was reputed to consist of some of the best land for growing wheat and mangolds in the colony. There is an old picture showing 10 reapers and binders working in one paddock on Totara in those days. An interesting feature of the old harness room is the cuttings from illustrated magazines of earlier days, of which there are still remnants on the walls. There are pictures of the Invercargill show from the “Weekly Press” of December 24, 1902. Other old photographs are of an English cricket team, at the time visiting New Zealand, of which the captain was P. F. Warner — some of the team members were wearing a type of panaipa hat — the golden wedding of Mr and Mrs Andrew Dawson, of Waterton, Jack Johnson, the boxer, and under the heading, “An Amusing Reunion,” an account of the United States Fat Men’s Association's annual reunion at Gregory Point in Connecticut. In the old stables it is stPJ possible to see the outline of the old stalls. In more recent times the building has been used as a shearing shed and there is a greasy “high water mark” around it attributable to that use. A further wing on this building has lately been used as a hay shed but in earlier times may have housed gigs and waggons and the like. The old barn, complete with new loft, has been restored to good shape and is now housing an old dray and waggon and some pieces of equipment of earlier davs. Unhappily little is left of the slaughter house where the sheep and lambs for the February, 1882, shipment were killed and those for some other consignments too. In fact there is only a part of the concrete floor and a drain for carrying away the blood. Mrs Stead says that the smoothness of the surface was said to be attributed to blood being mixed with water at the laying of the concrete. In those days there was not the preoccupation with hygiene standards that there is today and trotters and

other waste material were pushed through a moving wooden door situated in the wall out into the yard to be devoured by a greedy herd of pigs, reputed to number about 200. Early each morning the 240 carcases from the previous day's kill were carted to the railway siding, situated within the station's boundaries, for transport to Port Chalmers for loading on the Dunedin. It is reported that the carcases averaged 85 to 901 b with several over 1401 b and 30 or 40 which would have turned the scales at about 2001 b. It must have been quite a job carrying these carcases into the carcase shed, which has largely been rebuilt. It is complete with its three ventilators in the roof, as in earlier days, but only one is genuine. The slats, which formed one end of the shed to promote circulation of air are there, but this end has been filled in behind the slats for the sake of preserving the shed. Some of the rails on which the carcases were hung are back in place and there is the hole in the wall through which trimmings were disposed of. At the time of the centenary the Railways will be mounting a display of old waggons in the yards at Oamaru to mark their association with the pioneer shipment. About the time of the first shipment there were about 10,000 sheep on Totara, which were crossbred Lincolns and Leicesters and on February 15 there will be a display in the old yards of sheep breeds, and later this area may be used for an exhibition of distinctive New Zealand fencing systems. It may not be realised but some dairy produce was included in the cargo that the Dunedin took to Britain and Totara also had its dairy herd and some of the Oamaru stone from the old dairy shed with some eight to 10 bails has been used in the restoration programme. According to Mr J. G. (Jack) Mitchell, supervisor of the restoration work for the Historic Places Trust, the work has been going on now since about November of last year, although for a start with only two men. and in recent months the team has included two stonemasons. In some cases stone walls have had to be pulled down and rebuilt. New foundations

have also had to be put in. In many cases, because of the uses to which some of the buildings were put, the walls tended ■to move outwards and it has been necessary to correct this. Almost without exception roofs .have had to be rebuilt and old timber and roofing iron has been used to give an old look to the buildings. Where freshly cut surfaces of Oamaru stone have been exposed to the light of day they have had a mixture of sheep manure and old straw brushed into them to give an aged appearance. Door frames and joinery have had to be replaced and new flooring has been put down in the cookhouse and men’s quarters. If the weather on February 15 is favourable the scene should be a colourful one. It is planned to fly some 100 flags in recognition of the diversity and range of markets to which New Zealand meat goes. The memorial cairn to Brydone on Mount Sebastopol, overlooking the park and homestead, will also be floodlit at night. On the day before the ceremony at Totara — on the Sunday afternoon — there will be a thanksgiving service in St Paul’s Presbyterian Church where the preacher or speaker will be Sir Arnold Nordmeyer, who was a Presbyterian minister in the district before he embarked on a political career. Godfrey Bowen will have his performing sheep at Totara on the Monday and there will also be displays ol vintage cars and machinery, and a post office will be set up in one of the buildings in the park for the sale of first day covers. Later in the day, after the loading of a container ol meat on to a motor truck, the focus of interest will move south. It will be taken to Maheno, where it will go on a special train for the journey to Port Chalmers to go on board a container ship for London — a modern-day version of the voyage of the sailing ship Dunedin 10C years ago. It is planned that the consignment will include a gift of meat for the Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital in Hackney Road, East London. A local organising committee, under the chairmanship of Mr C. G. Hurst, and embracing a range of local organisations, has been working for some time on the details of the celebrations.