From a family of many talents

Press, 23 September 1987, Page 38

From a family of many talents

Robert Blair Denniston, founder of R. B. Denniston and Company Ltd, belonged to a family with many talents. Son of a shipping company owner, he was born in Glasgow in 1840. He sailed to Dunedin on the “Nelson” in 1862, accompanied by an uncle and several cousins. His uncle, Thomas Denniston, later become editor of the “Southland Times,” and one cousin, G. L. Denniston, became an important merchant, opening his business in Bond Street, Dunedin. On his retirement, his company was purchased by his manager, and the name changed to Donald Stuart Ltd. Mr Denniston also served as a mayor of Dunedin.

Another cousin, T. F. Denniston, owned the Ida Valley station in Central Otago and was a member of the Vincent County Council, while a third cousin became a well - nown judge in New Zealand.

Robert Denniston became a mining engineer and was employed by the New Zealand Government during the era of coal exploration. He accompanied Dr Hector during one of his explorations of the West Coast and opened up the

coal face of what later became the township of Denniston. This town is on a plateau high up from the coast.

The means of getting coal trucks down to the coast was designed by Robert Denniston and build by Young Brothers, engineers. Known as the Denniston incline, it is still visible today, and stands as a monument to its designer. In 1878, with a capital of 100,000 pounds, Robert Denniston was instrumental in forming the Westport Colliery Co. In 1881 he reorganised the company with a capital of 400,000 pounds in five pound shares under the new name of the Westport Coal Co. Three years later in 1884 he returned to Dunedin to live, with a "country house” at Brighton.

He opened an office in the Ross building in the Octagon and practised as a consulting mining engineer until 1886 when he moVed his office to the corner of Princes and Dowling Streets. At this time he acquired several agencies in both engineering and mining products, the start of his merchant business. Robert Denniston returned to Scotland several times to acquaint himself with the latest technology and products in the mining industry. As he needed to carry more stock, he moved once again to larger premises, this time on the corner of Stuart and Bath Streets.

Products sold during those early days included explosives, oil, belting, miners’ helmets and lamps and all the usual requirements of the rapidly expanding mining business. There were few mines in the South Island that did not call on R. B. Denniston’s expertise at some time.

After his death in 1904, a fellow Scot, Peter Gray, became general manager, an appointment which had been willed by Robert Denniston. For the next 40 years Peter Gray managed the company through World War I, the Depression and

World War 11. When he died in 1944, Martin Mackinnon became general manager, a position he held until his retirement in 1979, when he was appointed to the board of directors. Martin Mackinnon’s successor, Fred Galbraith, has been general manager since 1979.