SETTLEMENT OF OTAGO

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24254, 23 March 1940, Page 9

SETTLEMENT OF OTAGO

NINETY-SECOND ANNIVERSARY TO-DAY AN OCCASION OF REMEMBRANCE ONE SURVIVOR OF FIRST ARRIVALS The ninety-second anniversary of the establishment of the province of Otago by the company of Scottish emigrants who arrived at Port Chalmers by the ships John Wickliffe, Philip Laing, Blundell, Victory and Bernicia in 1848, will be celebrated to-day 'in ceremonies and functions long since rendered familiar by the constant recurrence in which those whose memories go back through the decades still rejoice. Of the 551 souls who landed in the port of Otago in 1848, only one has survived the relentless march of the years. This is Mrs Ann Fraser, of Timaru, now in her ninety-fourth year. She arrived in the ship Blundell with her parents on September 21, 1848, an Infant of less than one year, and spent her girlhood and young womanhood in this city until she went to live in the South Canterbury centre 40 years ago. Mrs Coombs, of North-East Valley, is the only survivor of the «ucceeding bands of colonists who arrived in 1849. Her ship was the Mariner, and this year she has completed her ninety-first year of residence in Dunedin, which has been her home town ever since her arrival in New Zealand. The commemorative functions arranged for this year follow the general lines of the celebrations of years past. There will be an informal gathering of old folk in the Early Settlers Hall in the afternoon which will take the form of a reunion, and in the evening there will be a concert and social evening. Special anniversary services will be held in First Church on Sunday.

MEMORIES OF PIONEERING DAYS COURAGE AND SELF-RELIANCE PRACTICAL HELP IN TIMES OF STRESS Mr W. Robertson, of Ocean View road, Northcote, Auckland, whose grandparents arrived in Dunedin by the ship Gala in 1860, and whose father landed in New Zealand about the same time and made for Gabriel’s Gully, has contributed some personal reminiscences of a time in the history of the Dominion which, though not a period of the early settlement, was yet one when very difficult conditions were encountered. The pioneers, Mr Robertson writes, were a mixed community—mostly Scots, a few English' and a few Irish and an odd German—but they were all like one family. There was no

ance, Mr Robertson recalls some instances. A farmer had the misfortune to get run over in an attempt to stop a runaway horse in a dray, and a leg was broken —in the harvest time, too; the busy season. A bush cooee went round, the harvest was completed for him, the grain was threshed and carted away, + he land was ploughed, the fresh crops out in for him, payment being never considered. A couple with a sipall family, all young, took up a farm in a new settlement. They had stout hearts, but not too much cash. They struggled along, working hard and looking forward to the day when they would have the farm free "or their family. The father took sick and passed away; the mother, poor soul, struggled on. till .eventually she took ill and also passed away, the farm, however, being free for the family. The neighbours helped them all through, especially after the father’s death, when they did all the ploughing, sowing and harvesting, and carted the grain away. Then the neighbors held a “ pow-pow,” and next morning there were half a dozen plough teams in the paddock, and others would keep coming in. and they kept at it till the grain was sown. To have offered them payment would have been to insult them.

There was no doctor within twenty miles of Mr Robertson’s home. On one occasion his mother sent him on a message to his grandmother, about three miles away. He was about six years old at the time. When he arrived at his grandmother’s, there was only a voung aunt about fifteen at home besides her. His grandmother was digging potatoes, when a girl about ten came in to say, “ Mrs B is sick and wants you to come.” His grandmother dropped the fork she was digging with started for the house at the run. and when she got in the door she kicked off her boots, had a wash, ran to the bedroom, unfastening her clothes as she ran. In no time she came out with her skirt on. her arms through her body jacket, her sunbonnet under her arm and her elastic-side boots in her hand. She pulled them on. and was off at the run. buttoning her body jacket as she ran and giving the yourv aunt instructions what to do —they were milking a dozen cows. As she went out of the door she said, Gie Wullie some o’ they tatties for his mither. and get Jimmy L tae gie vou a hand wi’ the coo’s the night.” “Jimmy” was a workman who rode past night and morning. Mr Robertson went home with the “tatties,’ and was sent back to stay with his aunt. As “Jimmy” was passing he was told how things were. He was off his horse in a twinkling and his coat off. and was there again in the morning to help. The grandmother returned about 8 o’clock, and when how Mrs B— was, replied: “ She s fine and got a bonnie dochter." She then changed into her working clothes and went back to the potato-digging. Another case was that of a farmer’s wife who received an urgent message to see a friend through her trouble. The distance was 10 miles,the time was dusk and Sunday evening. She mounted a farm horse, an active one with a very white face, and set off. On the Monday morning in the grey dawn she was on her way back. When passing the place of a neighbour, he was just getting his horses in to feed them. As she was passing, he said, “Good morning, Mrs . That horse of yours looks white in the face this morning.” “Is it any wonder? ” she replied. “ I’ve straddled him 10 miles there and back since dusk and brocht a wee yin intae the world, and noo I’m just hurrying hame tae dae ma washing. Tell the guid wife I was speering. for her. I haven’t time tae stop.” In another case, the husband had to do the job, and made a success of it.

distinction of class or creed. They were stout-hearted and self-reliant, and helped one another. “ But to the women pioneers I take off my hat. They could beat the men hollow when it came to real courage. How they cheered their men in adversity with kindly advice though their own hearts might be near breaking! ” The first year was the worst for the pioneers. After their first crop was harvested, they were better off. They grew most things that were necessary for their sustenance. They grew wheat, and got it ground into flour. This was in the days* of stone flour, before the roller process. They grew plenty of potatoes, had a few cows, and made butter and cheese. They made a cheese every third day. as it took three days to put it through the pressing process, and they panned the milk in between and made butter. They also had a few fowls. Eggs were 4d a dozen, and butter 4d per lb and chee'se 4d. Mr Robertson holds that the pioneers made better butter, cheese and bread than is made to-day, with all the machinery that is available. The storekeepers bought their general produce, except grain, and as a rule there was a squaring up only once a year. The pioneers kept a pass book and knew how they stood from month to month. When they sold their grain they squared their accounts and started afresh. Needless to say they practised economy, but they always had plenty to eat, mostly grown on the farm. They kept a few pigs and cured their own bacon, and now and again they killed a steer and it was shared by so many that they kept a brine barrel and put some in pickle. Then the next one would do the same. Their first houses were sod walls and thatched roofs and a big open chimney. Some brought a sway-bar on which to hang their pots, which in those days had oval handles. The swaybar was an upright iron stanchion, fastened through the side of the chimney, the swaying part was attached to the upright on the principle of a gate hinge, with links and hooks that could be shifted, as was required, and swayed back or forth to suit the fire. Some of the houses were built of wattle and daub. The corner and intermediate posts were put in, according to size required, and saplings were interlaced between the posts. Then earth and clay were puddled with water and plastered on the scrub, inside and out, and smoothed over w ih white clay; and with a thatched roof, they were warm houses, in which you could not hear the rain. It was in one of those houses, just a wee but and ben, that Mr Robertson was born. Those pioneers reared big families, and the women folk taught their daughters all that was hecessarv to fit them to fill their place in life. When they finished school days they were proficient in housekeeping, could make their own clothes, and knit socks for tjie family. The men folk took charge of the boys, and some of them could themselves knit socks. Of the way in which they helped each other in trouble, or sickness. and rallied to each other’s assist-

The pioneers had a sublime faith in a Divine Providence. They had big hearts and were so Hospitable that their doors were open to everyone, friend or stranger. Mr Robertson recalls that when he was at his grandmother’s place his youngest aunt came in to say that a Chinaman was coming in the gate. His grandmother said: "Aye, weel. just ask him in tae hae a cup o’ tea; he's yin o’ God’s creatures as weel as oorsels.” As a matter of fact, the Chinaman wanted to buy a dozen of eggs, and intended to boil them in his tea billy by the roadside. Needless to say, he got the eggs gratis. Mr Robertson retains a lively recollection of the parties that were held in the evenings, when neighbours would drop in. of the ploughing matches, and Caledonian sports_ which were held, and of the celebrations of Hogmanay.