PIONEERS.

Evening Star, Issue 23527, 16 March 1940, Page 14

PIONEERS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—We descendants of the Magnet may well look back with pride when wo think of our forefathers, that gallant little band of pioneers who landed on these shores on March 16, 1840. We can claim the proud distinction of the first white child born in Otago, and it was a pioneer of the Magnet, the late Mr David Carey, father of the first white child, who piloted the John Wickliffe and Philip Laing up the harbour in 1848. The appearance of these vessels caused great excitement among the Maoris, who thought that these new arrivals had come to take possession of their lands and goods. It was only through the intervention of Mr Carey, who had great influence with ; the Maoris, that a massacre did not take place. Mr Carey acquired laud at Carey’s Bay, which is named after him, also at Pulling Point, Burkes, St. Leonards, and an area on the Peninsula, where Larnaah’s Castle now stands. St. Leonards he named after the birthplace of his wife in Sussex. During his residence at Carey’s Bay he owned lighters, and provided ballast and water for overseas ships. Among Mr Carey’s many qualifications he_ was the first lime-burner in the province, the first shearer of Mr Jones’s sheep, the first lighterman and stevedore in Otago, the first to pilot a vessel up the harbour to Dunedin, and the first brewer, while he and Mr Roebuck made the first whisky in Otago out of cabbage' tree. During his residence at Otago Heads he hunted wild pigs over the land where Dunedin now stands and sold the pork to the whalers at the Heads. The only surviving member of the late Mr Carey’s family of 10 children is Mrs" Wilson, now in her eightyfifth year, at present residing with her daughter, Mrs Prouse, at Invercargill. As the Centennial celebrations of the landing of the Magnet take place during Easter week, I trust there will be a good rally of descendants. —I am, etc., Magnet Descendant. March 15. f