A FAMOUS CANNON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23857, 11 July 1939, Page 4

A FAMOUS CANNON

DEFENCE FROM BELL HILL CHAPTER OF DUNEDIN HISTORY -RUSSIAN SCARE" RECALLED Many years .ago, the citizens of Dunedin were justly proud of their cannon, the community's only ma- * chine of defence. "Our redoubtable and renowned piece of ordnance* oh Bell Hill," is the description given to it by one writer of old times; From .its eminence on Bell Hill, the protuberance which was annihilated to make way for First Church and the Otago Daily Times building, this cannon was designed to discourage marauders from coming up the harbour. There is no record that it was ever of any prac■Heal us 6 '.'i. Where did the cannon come from in.the first place, and where is it are questions to; which , there does' not' appear, to ;be any - definite answer. Does it lie.buried somewhere in Bond,.Crawford,;or 'High street? Is'; it a, cannon that Tuhawaiki (sometimesknown as" Bloody Jack") brought over from Sydney? Perhaps that is information that will never now be unearthed; -. A Successful Hoax In any event, there is evidence of the part played in Dunedin's early community life by this instrument of warfare. For example, there is the record that "On August 28, 1858, the - screw steamer Queen, of 182'tons;' was seen gracefully steaming up the harbour and anchoring about half a mile from, the jetty, . . . On ; heaving in sight of*the town, she was greeted with a salute of 21 giihs from the cannon on Church Hill." " - '. ; The following extract no doubt refers to the. famous. '*Russian scare" of the early days:-—"Was it not a fact that at dead of night the cannon's roar was heard, along all the affrighted shore, and yet when the brave defenders turned out in battle array, they found themselves the-subjects of a laughable hoax? " During the " Russian scare," it is said, th- cannon was kept loaded and in charge of Sandy Law, the town crier. On that particular night, however, some practical jokers thought it an excellent idea to give the community a scare. They ,flrecl the cannon—and certainly distributed a scare! Rejoicinirs Another historian, writing in 1879 of Dunedin in the early days, refers to;Bell Hill—Vwhere the bell was hung and where: was. mounted our one cannon, placed in position to command, the harbour/' He also records, regarding the positive an-, noiincement that the Act of Parliament granting a constitution to New Zealand had received the Royal Assent that "about 3 o'clock on Friday, November 5, 1852, the news ran' through, the listless community that the" Endeavour, from Port Cooper,' had arrived - with ' the announcement: Instantly all inertness vanished, A crier dashed around vociferously calling upon, the good citizens of Dunedin to illuminate, There w&s ho powder in town to fire the gun, but some volunteers took a boat and*jn spite of.ttie; rahvwhich fell' constantly and' occasionally in torrents, started for the port to get a barrel : :frdm>the",:bonded store:" ';' %, ,': •■ ;' : ExpeMive;'Saiuie»?r'"v ; .,

Recording a : visit by the,Governor, Colonel'-Sir Thoriias Gore Browne, the, same'writer states:-r" His Excellency arrived • bn,:£he Sunday. Wednesday he -directed should be observed as ,'a;: general holiday- in commeriWatioriofthefaiUof SebastOpql, arid though on the week previous, we had iriade a feint of rejoicing on that : glorious news having reached us~ringirig bur bell and firing our gun, which, really was no small ebullition, of. loyalty and enthusiasm seeing th*t: powder. *eost then 4s 6d perpound, ■'■'■.as in duty bound, we obeyed his 'Excellency's orders arid this thrift; riotwith'standing the high price of powder;'cdntriyed to fire a decent salute of 21 ffuris." " The arrival of .the screw steamer Queen evoked the description that " she hove to, in, sight "Of the town. y and was greeted by a royal salute of 21 guns fr,om the redoubtable arid renowned'piece of ordnance on Bell Hill, which'was responded to by a display of fireworks from the steamer". • The photograph of this famous cannon, Published on this page, does.not represent- it as an unusually formidable machine; but apparently it "had its day."