CENTRAL OTAGO TO 1862

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21918, 1 April 1933, Page 2

CENTRAL OTAGO TO 1862

Specially written for the Otago Daily Times. g By H. Beattie. lI.—EXPLORATIONS. The first expedition into Central Otago that I know of is one of which little appears to be recorded. W. H. Pearson, in company with James and William Saunders, came from Victoria to Otago in March, 1855. Shortly after this Die two first-named pioneers, with Peter Napier, explored a large part of the Maniototo Plains, being the second party who, up to that time, had been so far inland. [The account does not name the first party. Docs anyone know anything about it?] Later in 1855 the two Saunders brothers and W. H. Pearson bought the Waipori run with stock from Peter M. Napier. Not relishing run life, Mr Pearson entered the public service and in October, 1857, was promoted to the charge of the Invercargill branch of the Lands Office —a position which he held for many years. P. M. Napier early in 1858 took up a run in the Rock and Pillar district below Filly Burn. The movements of James Saunders are unknown to me, but his brother William was on the Waipori run until January, 1859, when ho went exploring to Lake Wakatipu. He then applied for a run, the application reading “ No. 330, Wakatip Lake East.” The country being unknown, however, he did not occupy it, but settled at East Taieri and later in South Canterbury. An early exploration of the top end of the Maniototo, perhaps in 1856, was made by W. H. Dansey, W. Morley, G, Hopkinson (who was a Swede), and H. C. Robison. After their return a boy heard a chance remark of one of them, “The man who gets the tableland gets the best,” and he often wondered what tableland this could be. When he afterwards went up Central Otago the only land like tables he could see was at Longlands. But perhaps the tableland referred to was in North Otago, for the party set out from there and pushed their way. in through Dansey’s Pass. They had a mule and a donkey with them, and the latter was lost somewhere in the gullies round the Pass, and was not found until the vicinity was taken up as a run two or three years later. Harrie Carr Robison was a brother of Hugh Robison, who took up the Oamaru run in 1853, and he owned Omarama run, while Charles Hopkinson owned a run in Shag Valley. William Morley and W. H. Dansey were partners in the Otekaike run for a time. They were university men, and came out from Home with money to invest in land, but, though they both bore the brunt of pioneering, their fortunes were not enhanced thereby, but rather sadly diminished. They parted about the end of 1858, when Morley shifted into the Manuherikia, taking up a run about Drybread, while Dansey continued at Otekaike until well on in the sixties. Dansey and Morley in partnership owned 7500 sheep in 1861, but next year Dansey was again “on his own,” stocking over 11,000 sheep. J. T. Thomson, chief surveyor, executed a reconnaissance survey of Central Otago in November, 1857. Here is the itinerary of his trip, giving dates, localities, and also a brief reference to the weather he experienced:—

November 11, 1857. —Lower Shag Valley, rain. November 12. —Upper Shag Valley, snow. November 13.—Highlay Hills, frost. November 14. —Taieri Lake, slight hall. November 15. —Upper Plain, showers. November 16.— Taieri, West Head, rain. November 17.—Biackstone Hill, showers. November 18.—Tiger Hill, showers. November 19.—Tiger Hill, showers. November 20.—Roughridge East, showers. November 21.—Taieri Lake, fair. November 22-. —Mid Taieri Plain, fair. November 23.—Highlay Hill, fair. November 24. —Barewood, fair. November 25.—Goodwood, back run, wet. November 26.—Goodwood, fair. November 27. —Goodwood, fair. November 28.—Waikouaiti, fair. November 29.—Clump of trees. November 30.—Mlhiwaka. As there were then no runholders to name the natural features it is to be presumed that Mr Thomson conferred all the place-names mentioned in his report. In December he made a return trip up Hie Waitaki (where there were runholders far inland) and then through the Ahuriri Pass to Grandview Mount and the Lindis Hum. Then he turned north up to Ohau Lake and “ Waitaki Elbow,” and in January, 1858, he came down the Waitaki Gorge to “Otiak” and Awamoko, thence to Otepopo, Horse Range, and Shag Valley. After this burst of quick and efficient pioneering work, he returned to Dunedin, leaving to his subordinates the task of more detailed surveying. In May, 1858, J. T. Thomson issued from the Survey Office, Dunedin, his “ Report of the Reconnaissance Survey of the North-Eastern and Interior Districts of the Province of Otago, executed during October, November, December, 1857, and January, 1858,” and the following is his summary of the capabilities of that portion of the Central which he had inspected. Upper Taieri Plains.—Extensive, eminently adapted for pastoral purposes and bear good grasses until bordering highlands are reached. Ida Burn Valley.—More circumscribed, higher and somewhat colder than above, yet bears generally good grasses. Manuherikia Valley. Extensive and lower than Ida Burn—possesses at lower end much fine pasture; deteriorates to the head of the valley as high regions of Dunstan Mountains are reached. Upper Clutha Valley.—More extensive and somewhat higher than Manuherikia Valley; possesses a large extent of good pasture—north and west of Lakes Wanaka .and Hawea mountainous and barren. Note. —Since the above was written the whole country has been applied for or taken up for sheep country. The next exploration after J. T. Thomson’s in November, 1857, seems to have been that of W. and A. Shennan in December, 1857. They came up from the south through uninhabited country to as far north as Biackstone Hill, but as an account of their arduous journey has been published it will not be detailed here. They considered they were the first white men to reach the Manuherikia. About the same time Murison Bros, and party were exploring from the east. In the “Reminiscences of South Otago,” page 64, Alexander Petrie gives an account of this trip. He reckoned he was the first white man to set foot on the Maniototo. In the case of most districts in Otago unless one marked trees, erected cairns, burnt the vegetation, or left the ashes of camp fires in conspicuous places, there was nothing to tell the next comer that one or more parties had preceded him, and hence we might get a succession of several pioneers all claiming in good faith to have been the first to visit a particular locality. Such a thing happened in regard to the discovery of Lake Wakatipu, and such seems to be the case in respect to Manuherikia and Maniototo. A suggestion was made in the first article of this series that runholders round the fringes of Central Otaao must j have acquired some sort of knowledge of 1 the land lying on the other side of the j mountain chains bordering their runs. I That this was so seems borne out by the fact that some of them were among the 1 earliest applicants for runs in Central Otago. In any case, it appears likely that some of these applicants had explored portions of Central Otago at an earlier date than is usually supposed. It may seem strange to classify the original runholders among the explorers, but every, man who went through the country in search of runs at a time when there was neither house nor fence must be considered as actually more or less of an explorer. During the years 1855, 1856, and 1857 the encircling ring of occupation around the outside boundaries of the Central became more pronounced. In 1856 white men stood on the southern shore of Lake Wakatipu, but this had no effect on the early settlement of Central Otago. The extension of runs along the Waitaki had taken pioneers inland to Omarama, the northern gateway of Central Otago, but settlement did not come that way. On the south-west runs had been occupied at Tapanui and northward, and Davy and Bowler were pioneering a run in the south near Beaumont. On the east a run or two had been applied for in the Shag Valley, and so in these last two quarters we see laid the train of occupation that led settlement into the vacant Central. I Late in 1857 two of the southern runholders, Cargill and Miller, explored some of the territory lying north of them, and appear to have been the first to apply for runs in Central Otago.