MEDICAL PRACTICE IN OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3455, 1 June 1920, Page 59

MEDICAL PRACTICE IN OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

By Robert Valpy Fulton, M.D,

TUDOR WILLIAMS OP TOKOMAIRIRO AND OAMARU.

Thomas John Tudor Williams was twelve years younger than his brother, Robert Williams, who had come to Otago before him. He was born at Sunnybank, . near Gloucester, in 1826, educated' in London, took the M.R.0.5., and came to Otago in 1851. He went out to Henley, on the Taieri and began practice with his biother, doing much of the up and across country work, while Dr Robert Williams came more towards the city. He soon moved into Waihoia, and later in 1856 to Tokomairiro. He had married in the North East Valley in 1855 Miss Flora Mackay, sister of Finlay Mackay, late of Tokomairiro, the officiating clergyman .being Rev. J. A. Fenton. Like his brother Robert, he was an active and energetiq man, fond of sport and games, and a great horseman. His name could always be ' found as steward and committee- man of ploughing matches, race meetings, anniversary sports. At one of these festivities, the Clarendon'Races, held at Waihoia, an event that excited great interest was a Maori canoe race. Dr Tudor Williams, as he was generally called, was the first doctor in the Tokomairiro district, and he had a long and rough tract of country to cover. In those days the Tokomairiro Plain, sparsely dotted with settlers, was almost a terra incognita to Dunedin people. It was about 14,000 acres in extent, and consisted of rolling downs covered with tussocks, snow grass, and' toitois. There was little or no swamp, but there were some fine streams, and the neighbouring hills, which were net high, quite clear of actual bush save in ari : occasional gully. In the- grassy plains abounded the .little native quail, now" quite the flax and toi toi-bordered streams were thickly populated with teal, grey and paradise ducks, and the graceful bird known as the crested grebe. The plain was entered from the north by a narrow pass known to the white' people as the Waihoia Gorge, and to the Maoris as Kapiti, "the narrow pass," and here for many years the only house was that of John Grev. The curiously shaped piece of bush called Horse Shoe Bush, William Valpy had his station, was one of the few places near where one could get standing timber. From Waihoia yotf could boat through to Taieri Ferry, thence up the river to the middle of the plain, or down to the mouth or heads, thence by open sea to Dunedin. Everyone knows the difficulty of getting at the meaning of Maori place names; some names are better untranslated, and others are simply names of minor chiefs or individuals, and when asked, the educated Maori shrugs his shoulders and says, "What does London mean? or Paris, or Exeter? Tokomairiro 1 is said to be "to walk with a pole" or sticky feeling one's way, possibly as a blind .maa does, or as a. person does walking in shallow! water, carefullv testing the depth in front, or "to pole oneself up a stream," as in a canoe, or a "pole brought hither." At any rate "toko" is a pole, and the number of streams and reaches of the lakes in the neighbourhood makes the use of "the pole" a common one and the adoption of such a name quite feasible. The first settler, Robert Martin, took up land in 1850. and John -Gillies, with his four sons—Thomas, Robert, William, arid John—soon followed. . John Grey settled near the Gorge, and many others quickly selected the finest sites available. The Salmonds, Alex. Dnthie, Henry Clarke, James Adam, Peter M'Gill, Elder Brown are among the names that come readily to mind, but those of many others are on record among the pioneers, and their pictures to be seen in the Donald Ileid" Hall. When Dr Williams arrived Peter M'Gill baa just started his flour mill, and the year following added an oatmeal. mill; and ill 1857 the settlers around erected a Presbyterian Church and school, the bush

sawyers supplying the timber, some | settlers carting" the timber to the site, others giving their labour, and the Duildings were soon an accomplished i'act. Anglican services were held in the Courthouse, and Eoman Catholic in the house of Mr Wm. Popple-well, the well-known pioneer who had brought the first -wheeled vehicle through from Dunedin in 1855, though it took him nine days to do the journey. Most of the track was through flax and scrub; any part that was beaten into a pathway soon became a quagmire, and journeys were very difficult until a satisfactory* road was made in 1860. Tudor Williams had experiences of travel just as had Crocome, of Waikouaiti, he had also many Maoris to attend to at the junction of the two lakes, Waipori and Waihola, and elsewhere. There were several pahs in the neighbourhood oE Henley in those days. Mr W. H. S. Roberts refers to one on the hill behind M'Kegg's called Te Moua, "the back of the neck," and another on the bend of the river just above Henley Bridge, where native whares could be seen within recent yearc. This pah was called Taki ahi tan, and a • third one was at Otokia, "the Tne Maoris were thickly clustered near the lakes, and here they often made great sport for the pakehas —eel fishing, duck snaring, bathins, holding canoe races, etc. Dr Williams had the same trials among them as had the pioneer medicos in other places. A good many deaths by drowning took place °an occasional -stabbing affray required after treatment, and tremendous lacerated wounds from battles with wild pigs gave him a good deal of trouble. In the intervals of his practice Dr Williams would _ go away for days pig hunting with William Berney, a- wellknown w, 'Early Settler." They would stay away from home for so long that considerable inconvenience was experienced _ by those who needed the doctor's services. Old settlers still living describe life at that time as rough and trying, _ but always tempered with that friendliness and feeling of brotherhood which pervaded the whole community. A visitor was always welcome, and given whatever food was available —a cup .of hot tea or a tot of .something stronger, a couple of scones or damper, a dish of kaka or wood hen stew, a blanket and corner of the kitchen for the night, and in the morning a hearty handshake and good-bye. Br Williams had to go as far South as the Clvitha, and many miles inland, for there was at this time no doctor at either Lawrence or Balolutha, for those places did not then exist. The roads and bridges were shocking or non-existent, and a novel method was used as a means of providing further improvement. The names of the different creeks to be bridged and culverts to be constructed were put into one h'at, and the names of the settlers into another, and by this means, with a number, of blanks, it was arranged that those settlers who drew blanks had to give their assistance to those who drew the heaviest bridges or the worst stretches of roads and culverts. Mr John Wilson, in his interesting book on "Reminiscences of the Early Settlers of South Otago," tells some good stories of the difficulty of travel in the "fifties." On one occasion John Cargill, James Macandrew, W. H. Perkins, and W. H. Cutten went south to obtain signatures to a petition to the authorities to grant the settlers self government. The Tokomairiro River was in flood, and the water up to the .ton of the banks. Cargill plunged in without any hesitation and swam his horse across, though the water was at times foaming over the horse's ears, and he himself was often submerged. Perkins followed, and got over, but Cutten thought it wiser to "strip off," fasten his clothes to the saddle, and, swimming- beside his horse, he successfully negotiated the torrent. Now, alas, for poor Macandrew, he could not swim and was afraid to trust his horse; and he had heard Cutten's reasons for deciding to keep clear of the animal so as to be quite independent of it if it failed to make a crossing. He therefore found himself in a terrible predicament. Finally he agreed* to be pulled over by rope if the others would help, and so by means of the various "tethers" tied end to end 5 he was hauled through the flood, sopping, spluttering, • and half drowned. Then the fun began. Macandrew did not fancy riding in wet clothes, so he stripped off everything except hat, shirt, and boots, and hanging his trousers, coat, and waistcoat on either side of the saddle to dry made an extraordinary spectacle, with his bare legs exposed to the elements, and his shirt tails flapping behind. His companions, who preferred riding "wet," were fairly convulsed with laughter, and when they came in sight of Cameron's hut, with Mrs Cameron working about the front door with some other woman, Cutten, who was always a bit of a wag, shouted, "Come on, boys," clapping in his heels, and so to the hut. "No, no. wait on till I put on ray trousers." yelled Macandrew, but it was no good: the other horses vigorously galloped and poor Macandrew's as determinedly followed. The inhabitants of the cottage were amazed at what they took to be a Maori in full "rig out." but when thev saw Macandrew's plight they burst into laughter and fled into the hut, leaving the embnrassecl rider to don his wretchedly uncomfortable clothing, as the only thing he could do. A family living near Waihola Gorge. at- a place which is now known as Milburn, had verv. trying times so far as travel was concerned. On Sund'avs the mother of the family would start off to walk the seven miles to the Tokomairiro Church. Slie did this year in and year out. summer -and winter, and manv was the time that she had to change her shoes on nirrivinf at the church, the tlrrmnch the Gorge and across the plain being; little 'better than a quagmire. When kirk was over she had to toil home again through the clay. After a time a bullock drav wrs purchased, and in this the mother, father, and daughters sallied forth oT a Sabbath dav to cross the rough roads before reaching; the church. One dav thev met some swacjgers. and these "rude" men simply rocked with laughter and finally

lay down--on the ground, so overcome were | they at the quaint sight of these "gude foil!" in their primitive equipage. One of the daughters wdio recently described the occasion said that she well remembered their embarrassment, if not annoyance, at being thus laughed at, and how it had never been effaced from her memory, but seemed like a story of yesterday.

There are some good stories told of pig hunting in those days, in many of which Berney" and Tudor Williams took part. The pigs were very fierce and soon became bold, coming among districts at lambing time and devouring" the new born lambs; consequently, it was practically everyone's business to kill them. One Alex Petrie, a sort of surveyor's assistant, was out one day marking lines with pegs and string through the fern gullies, when he saw coming slowly along the track towards him an enormous boar, with very big ears, and he fcolishlv imagined he would give it th.e "fright o"f its life." He hid in the rerub till the animal came within a short distance of him, then suddenly leapt out at it, yelling loudly at the same time. To his surprise the animal was not the least perturbed, but came at him "full belt." Petrie it was who got the "fright of his life," so he turned tail and ran as though "Auld Hornie" was after ,him, looking back every now and again to find to his horror the boar, keeping close by, canter-in-T easily in his wake. Fear lent such speed to "his heels that he at length outdistanced his pursuer, and getting safely home narrated the tale of having been hunted, by a monstrous pig. To his surprise he found others had had similar experiences of this "man-hunting" boar, among them being Berney the doctor's friend before mentioned. Another time Mahono and Blatch were engaged by Maedonald, of Breadalbane, near North Taieri, to go and kill some young wild pigs for him to salt down. They got the pigs and sent them back by one of their party to Breadalbane, but (ihey themselves camped at the back of the Silver Peaks. Getting ready to return home they had everything packed, dogs tied up, etc., when they saw three men approaching. Mahone civilly spoke to them saying, "Hullo! have you been hunting wild pigs" ? "Yes, and tame ones, too," said the man, instantly shooting one of the dogs tied by the tent. Mahone picked up in his arms another dog which had been lent to him, and ran saying, "You shan't shoot my dog anyway." The man followed closely and deliberately shot the dog in his arms. The pig hunters went straight to town and complained to Magistrate 'Strode, but he said nothing could be done to the dog shooters, as they were only protecting the runholders, and the men who complained were practically trespassing -on sheep runs and "might have injured the sheep." The place where this occurred is called Powder Hill to--day. The other side of the. story is told in the following: "One day George Slawson and John Crawford went, shooting wood pigeons. Coming on a pig and thinking it Avas a wild one, they shot it, and then found they had made a mistake, for the pig belonged to Sandy Hall, who used to pit-saw in the bush. They did the only thing they could, covered the body over carefully with branches, and then ran for their lives, putting as many miles between themselves and Sandy's pig as they could. Hall hunted high and low for that nig, but never found it, and needless to say the hunters never breathed a word as to their unfortunate mistake."

After four years in this extremely healthy district, with duck shooting, pig killing, eel fishing, and occasionally a week or more at a country settler's house when a new addition was expected in the family, Williams decided to move to Oamaru, a new and thriving district, with more settlers, bigger stations, perhaps more ready money, a town .just laid out and with no doctor. His brother Robert no doubt influenced him, he was interested in a run in that district, and had had frequent experiences of long and trying journeys from Dunedin to the Waitaki, and knew that there was a really good opening for a local medical man. Whatever the reason. Tudor Williams emigrated north in 1860, for we find the following interesting note in Mr W. H. S. Roberts' Early History of Oamaru. It is an account of a visit of William Falconer to Oamaru on June 16, I860: —"I walked a considerable distance along the beach and thence struck across the fiat to the hills north of the town, from which I enjoyed a magnificent view of the surrounding country and ocean. Skirting the base I stumbled across the surveyors' camp. There was a party of six or seven men driving in section pegs and cutting street lines through the flax and tomataguru, the survey of that part of Oamaru north of the creek not being completed. Further up the glen a number of men were quarrying limestone and erecting a limekiln under the superintendence of Mr D. Hutcheson, the postman, who carried the mails fortnightly between Dunedin and Oamaru. Crossing this srullv. I ascended the hill upon which the hospital now stands, and noticed that I had not before observed, a square wattle and daub house with thatched roof, surrounded by a plot of land in which were planted a number of native shrubs, and nestling close under the hill. This was the? residence of Dr Thomas John Tudor Williams, the medico of the district, who' had moved here from Tokomairiro, where he had been practising as early as 1856. I was 'informed the house had been built by Mr Joseph Borton. At a short distance from Dr Williams' house a tent had been pitched close to the creek, and was the residence of a German couple. When the town of Oamaru was first surveyed one or more of the sections were purchased hv a Dr King;, but we can get.no particulars as to his settling; in the town."

On August 1. 1861. Oamaru was proclaimed a port of entry, and seeing that the town raid rural lands were being rapidlv sold, and the town was not represented in the Provincial Council, nor had any local body to manage its affairs, a number of tlie residents formed them-

selves into a Vigilance Committee to watch over the interests of the town. The names of the committee were Michael Grenfell, Samuel Gibbs, William Sewell, Thomas Glass, John Lemon, John Barraclough, George Taylor, John Thompson, George Qnarrie, Henry France, William Falconer. William Deiiitt, Thomas John Tudor Williams, J. G. Ward, secretary. In October, 1861, another doctor, Richard Grant, made his appearance, but he only stayed a few months and then decided to go further north. Among the "complaints" often treated by the early doctors was tutu poisoning, and a rather amusing story is told by Mr W. Falconer about "Yorky," the bullock driver from Wanaka Lake Station. Yorky was a big, bony, - muscular man, of • unprepossessing appearance, but witty and voluble, especially in anathematising his bullocks on occasions. One night hie bullocks .wandered and he started early in the morning in search of them, got benighted in the ranges, and lay clown to sleep, faint with hunger, bavins tested no food all that day as it was usual to go off as he had done, without any breakfast to look for the bullocks first thing. Next clay he found a patch of tutu, and aterather freely of the ripe berries, becoming ill in consequence, and imagining he was going the way of all flesh who partake of that poisonous fruit, he planted firmly in the ground a long piece of manuka scrub, and slipping off all his clothes, hung them upon the branches to" attract attention of some benevolent passer-by who would give his bones Christian burial, and then lay quietly down to die. Greatly to his disgust he did not succeed in dying, and finding the ill effects of eating the forbidden fruit gradually passing off, he resumed his garments and managed to find his way back to the station, having been two days and one night in the • ranges without any food. When' his brother died, Dr. _ Tudor Williams came down to the Taieri for a ■ short time, and we find an account of an inquest held at the Taieri Ferry, January 25, 1862, when he gave skilled evidence. The Chariot of Fame, in which his brother had booked the passages of himself and family, sailed soon after for England, and was specially noted .as the first ship to take gold direct to the London market. She carried "fifteen thousand ounces. The year 1862 was also remembered for the severity of the winter, the frost being so hard that .Waihola was frozen completely over on July 12. By this time the name of the township on the Tokomairiro Plain had become Milton, for it had grown up in the centre of the plain around the mills, and the name mill town was used as distinguished from Tokomairiro village, which was at the far end of the plain. . Gradually Milltown or Milton merged into and absorbed the old village, the name of which has almost disappeared save for the title of the district still clung tq by the real "old timers." A Town Board was elected for Oamaru in 1863, and in February 2, 1864, Dr Thomas' Williams was elected a member, and took his seat for the first time on March 3. The meetings were held at different places, generallv the Courthouse, but sometimes in the Star and Garter. Hotel, sometimes in the office of the secretary. J. G. Ward. At the meeting of March 24 it was decided to make an estimate of the probable cost of a breakwater and a survey of Oamaru Harbour! April 15 decided that the old roadman's "warrie" be sold by public auction. (This novel spelling of whare may be Mr Falconer's). May 16 resolved to petition the Government to .grant a piece of land for the purpose of erecting a hospital, and that a meeting of the Public Works Committee be called for the purpose of taking into consideration the selection of a site for the proposed hospital, with the cooperation of Messrs Williams, Wait, and Mills.

Later meetings '-showed that Sections 10-18, Block XIX were selected by Drs Wait and Williams and approved of, and set aside as a reserve by the Provincial Council. On February 5, 1864, John Stnhb« Wait submitted his • diplomas, M.R.C.S., etc., and was appointed vaccination officer for Northern Oamaru on August 29, and William Reynolds Havne, M.D., for the southern portion and Otenopo and Hampden. In this year also a Dr Hutchison came, and had' his name entered in the local directory, but did not settle in the town. On August 30, 1865, Dr Williams, who had maw long trying journeys to distant stations far north of the Waitalci, was washed off his. horse in endeavoiusinsr to cross the river in flood time. He was carried some distance down, but managed to istruggle on to one of the gravel banks. Here he was found in an almost dying condition ana taken home, where he lay very ill for some days. A most urgent message came for him while lie lay suffering, and he dressed and insisted on going out, saving £o his wife. "I am far more unwell than the person I am eroinG: to visit." He never returned, but his body was found in a lagoon by the side of the road into which his horse must have thrown him. It is practically certain that he was suffering from pneumonia at the time when he left his home on his errand of mercy. Tn appearance Tudor Williams was of medium heiVht. fair hair inclined to reddHi, slighter in build than his brother "Robert, but iust as wiry and vigorous. He was extremely clever with pen and nencil, .and did manv fine sketches and etchings. He was craiet and unassuming and very well liked bv all persons in the community, and died at the early age of ?9. On Ainrust 14. 1865, the- Town Board met and the following resolution to<s carried : "That in consequence of the death of Dr Williams, a member of the board, the board do now adiourn until Tuesday next, and that the clerk write a letter of condolence to Mrs Williams and fami.lv." His widow and five children returned to the Tokomairiro district and settled there.