OLD OTAGO

Evening Star, Issue 20558, 9 August 1930, Page 20

OLD OTAGO

—■— A DRAMA OF THE HAST [Written by Algol, for the ‘ Evening Star/'] Try to imagine Otago Harbour as it was 120 years ago. Dunedin will nob be born for nearly forty years, and the upper harbour is a solitude, except, perhaps, for a few scattered wharos blending inconspicuously with the landscape ; but down near the Heads, where stands the village of Otakou, is a swarming population. Dark green buna runs down to the water’s edge am. up to the crests of the hills; clear streams babble unimpeded and uiibridwl into tiny curving bays; the w a tellies smooth and shining, relic .• ing the slopes above. Perhaps some great war canoe comes sht.o.ing in from sea, fifty dripping paddle,, flashing in the sun, while the wild rhythmic chant goes heating up among the hills as the feathered Tieads bend as one—a savage yet inspiring sight. Such was Otago of the days befovo the settlement, before even the shore stations of the whalers had been established. New Zealanders owe a deep debt of gratitude to the late Dr Robert M‘Nab, whose researches have thrown much light on a period otherwise completely dark. WHY PORT DANIEL? It was about 1811 that Otago first became known. Who the discoverer was is a mystery; all we know is that in 1818 it was said that the place had been known to Europeans lor about seven years. It was then called Port Daniel; if wo knew the origin of the name perhaps wo should have a clue to the discoverer of the harbour. The only vessels frequenting these coasts in those days were sealers from Sydney or Hobart. Now in August, 1809, the schooner Unity, under Captain Daniel Cooper, left Sydney for the south of New Zealand on a sealing cruise, but was back in October. She returned from a second voyage in August, 1810, and wo know that sho spent most .other time in Foveaux Strait and its neighbourhood. On October 20 she again sailed from Sydney, and reached Gravesend on June 12, 1811. The normal sailing route from Australia to England was past New Zealand and round Cape Horn. The length of the voyage would indicate that sho spent some time on the sealing grounds on her way. The writer puts forward the suggestion that the Unity was the first European vessel in Otago Harbour, and that her captain attached to it his Christian name. The evidence is, of course, very slight, but the theory is at any rate a possible one. In the limited information at our disposal there is no trace of any other “ Daniel ” connected with any of the comparatively small number of vessels then working on the southern coasts of New Zealand, and the movements of tho Unity support the idea. Otago Harbour had still another name. On the chart of Captain Herd, who visited it in 1826, it is called “Otago Harbour or Port Oxley.” This name may be derived from John Oxley, Surveyor-General of New South Wales, who in 1817 explored the valleys of tho Lachlan and Macquarie Rivers, and whose name would be in the mouths of all Sydney people at that time. KINDNESS AND MURDER. The first visitor to Otago of whom we have definite information, however, was Captain Fowler, in the Matilda, who, while on a voyage from Sydney to Tahiti in 1813, was driven in a distressed state to seek relief there. Tho lascar crew had suffered greatly from fatigue and shortage of fresh food and water. Fowler’s report of the Natives makes pleasant reading. The chief Papui, a splendid type of < his race, exerted himself to be hospitable and kindly. A party was sent to procure fish, tho tapu on interfering with halfgrown potatoes was broken on the visitors’ behalf, water casks were filled and rolled a mile over rough, flax-covered ground, and tho rigging was repaired with ropes made by the Natives. Altogether everything that was possible to be done for the relief of tho “stranger within the gates” was performed by these savages. What happened subsequently was in sad contrast. Somewhere close to Otago six lascars stole a boat and deserted. Three of them met their death at tho hands of the Maoris, while the rest were kept to teach their captors what they knew of the arts of the white man. Another boat was stolen by tho Natives. But this did not conclude the Matilda’s misfortunes. The first mate, Brown, with a boat’s crew of two Europeans and five lascars, went missing. Fowler concluded that tho boat had been swamped, but it was learned later that the men had been murdered by the Maoris. It is not known where those tragedies occurred. It is inconceivable that the friendly Natives of Otago should have so suddenly reversed their previous attitude, unless, indeed, some act of the crew gave them reason to do so. It was always easy for tho while man in his ignorance to transgress tho laws of tapu, or to perform some of the numerous acts which demanded utu; nor were deliberate deeds of cruelty and bad faith wanting on tho part of the reckless sailormen who frequented the ports of these islands in those days, However that may be, it is certain that the Matilda’s men wore killed not very far from Otago, for one of tho lascars was living there four years later. CAPTAIN KELLY’S ADVENTURE. One day in the summer of 1817 ther© sailed into the harbour the sealer Sophia, under the command of Captain Kelly. She anchored just inside the heads off the Maori settlement, and entered into friendly relations with the Natives. Among the crew of the Sophia was a seaman named Tucker, who had been with Fowler on the Matilda, and who was at once recognised by tho Maoris. On tho next day Kelly, with six men, including Tucker, rowed over to the little beach outside the harbour mouth—a spot which that day was to earn its present name of Murdering Beach. The white men were unarmed, relying probably on Tucker’s account