MEDICAL PRACTICE IN OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3495, 8 March 1921, Page 53

MEDICAL PRACTICE IN OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

By

Robert Valpy Fulton, M.D.

LIII.—WHAKATIPU AND WANAKA IN THE SIXTIES. Wo have been greatly favoured with a criticism which we gladly print from the pen of Mr W. J. Williams, of St. Kilda, with regal'd to the early history of the Lake district. Mr Williams says : I do not wieh to detract in the least from the valuable, painstaking work accomplished by the late Dr Hocken in recording the early history of the province, but, in the interest of that accuracy which is so essential in the recording of history, I wish to direct attention to the old tradition about Messrs Rees and von Tunzleman having been the first to discover and explore Laka Wakatipu, as mentioned in this week’s Mr H. Beattie, of Gore, in his second series of “Pioneer Recollections,’’ goes exhaustively into this matter, and states that several persons had been at the lake prior to the end of the year 1859, while Messrs Reee and von Tunzleman did! not reach it until the end of January or beginning of February, 1860. The evidence on this subject collected by Mr Beattie makes interesting reading. He sums up by giving to Mr Nathaniel Chalmers the credit of being the first known white man to gaze upon its waters, he having seen a portion of it from the Slate Mountains in November, 1853, and to Mr Donald Hay the credit of being the first to explore any extent of its shores. Mr rray is credited with having explored a considerable portion of the lake in August, 1859, about six months before Messrs Rees and von Tunzleman arrived). It is not clear that Mr Rees ever claimed to be the discoverer of the lake; that credit appears to have been first assigned to him by the writer of an article in the Otago Witness of March 24, 1860. Dr George Hassing whose interesting articles delight us all, kindly writes as follows in response to our request for information about the water of the inland lakes of Otago: In your article appearing in the Witness of the 15th inst., I notice your query re the buoyancy of a body swimming or floating in Lake Wakatipu. Let me first state here that the deepest soundings ascertained in Wakatipu, about 16 miles from Kingston, was 1400 ft., Lake Wanaka 1085 ft., and Lake Hawea 1200 ft. The height above sea level is: Wakatipu 1070 ft., Wanaka 928 ft., and Hawea 10C2ft.; Hawea’s sea level is therefore 134 ft. above that of Wanaka. [Note. —Mr McKerrow, chief surveyor of Otago, gives the following figures which can bo found in the Survey Records, and the surface acres of the lakes are taken from measurements of the official survey map of Otago, 1871. The surface cf Lake Wanaka is 928 ft. above sea level and its deepest part 157 ft. below sea level. Its area is 90 square miles, being about 30 miles in length and three in width. Hawea’s surface is 1062 ft. above sea level, ar.d its deepest 223 ft. below sea level, and its size 20 miles by three miles. Bake Wakatipu’s depth and area are not here given.] I have never swum in Lake Wakatipu, but very frequently in Lake Wanaka. The difference between the summer and winter temeperutures—say at 10 fathoms depth—is scarcely measurable or perceptible. On one occasion with a wedding party, I acted as duck in a game known as “Catching the Duck.” I then swam, and frequently dived to avoid being caught, for about 45 minutes. The intense coldness of the water congealed the wax in my ears, causing complete deafness for more 'than a week, when it suddenly burst and restored my hearing. It is, of course, much harder work swimming in these lakes than in the dense salt water of the sea or ocean. Constant swimming activity is required, or down you go. Floating is almost impossible The “Plate iSfory’’ of your d i ve r seems to me an exaggeration. I have frequently dived to a considerable depth, and "though I had to work my way up again to the surface, I experienced no undue pressure or unpleasant feeling. <r With reference to persons drowned in the lakes and whose bodies have never rfssen to the surface again, that is quite true. The reason for that I ascribe to the fact that a body sunk below the surface in water above a certain temperature will, in due time, decompose and rise to the surface; whereas the low temperature cf the water in the lakes does not decompose the body of a human being nor of anv animal. As proof of this theory, I may state that since the year 1860, I have never heard or read of a dead body being washed ashore on any one qf the three large lakes, excepting - in an instance which occurred in Queenstown Bay alx>ut 50 years ago. Then a small boat, containing two men, one named Asher Smith, known as Yankee Smith, a carpenter, and another man capsized in the boat a short distance out from shore abreast of Queenstown. Smith managed to scramble on to the bottom of the boat and was saved; but the other man went to the bottom. Through the prevailing northerly winds and the confined action of the water in tthe hay, the body of the dead man was eventually washed up on the 1) ;uh in the course of about three weeks. His body was then found) to be fresh and sound ns the moment when death took place, with absolutely no trace or appearance of decomposition. I have known of three cases of drowning in Lake Wanaka. but in no case did the body rise to the surface again. Dr Richard Norman, of Oamaru. the first white child to he taken to the Wanaka district, gives ns the following account of two of Jiie pioneer doctors whose verv names would otherwise have been lost to us : JOHN DALOLEISH, M.D., WANAKA. Dr Dalgleish ca-rno to Wanaka Station in ’66, and remained there till about ’69. Be was a native of Yorkshire, and before coming to Wanaka practiced) In Christchurch, and I think he walked the hospital there for a while. It was understood that he came to Wanaka for the benefit of his health and took up the position of bookkeeper, storeman, and suh-njanager. He looked in good health, and he was only middile-aged at the time. Very few oases cropped up, fevers were unknown, there were a few child-births, and a little kwh pulling, and onoe two men, at Cardrona, had a big fight., and one got his r badly hurt and strained, and camo to Dalgleish, who soon had it right. Then one of the shearers stuck the point of his shears through his hand, inside the thumb, and the doctor attended to that. He never would make a direct charge, but the early timers did not place any value on money, and were always liberal. He was in

very high repute, and much regret was expressed when he went away. He had a fine hair reviver. He would take a bottle of ' refined castor oil, and emptying some out to make a space, would warm up the remainder and put in a preparation of some kind, most likely oantharides, to give it body, and bergamot to perfume it; anyhow it was better than anything else on the market. He bad some chemicals with him for emergencies. His cousin was the late 8. Mead Dalgleish, the popular clerk of the Court at Cromwell, and afterwards S.M. and warden at Naseby, where he died; He told me that the doctor inherited some property in Yorkshire, and he went Home and. got married, and settled down on it, leading a quiet and retired life. DR HENRY A. BRANSON. Dr Henry A. Branson practised for some years either in Devonshire or Dorsetshire, and came out to Australia in the early seventies. Then he came to Jackson’s Bay, possibly as medical officer, when the Government of the day squandered vast sums in the way of making a settlement there. Tnis would be in the early seventies. About ’76 or ’77, he walked through the Haast Pass to Albert Town in Wanaka, He was just about “on bis uppers” at this time, still he had the appearance that indicated a better class of man. Then he joined Wm McKay and his son from East Hawkesbury, who also arrived from Jackson’s Bay, but who had worked as miners at Matatapa, and other parts of Wanaka since the first discovery of gold. For three or four months they prospected for gold near the head of Quartz Creek, which flows into the lake below East Wanaka. During this period they lived mostly on Maori hens and soda and acid scones, possibly of an odd time they went to one of the lakes and! secured an eel. They camped in a small hut belonging to the Van aka. Station, and which was used at mustering time, and when they left, it was found that the floor was some in dice deep with feathers. The McKays went back to East Hawkesbury, and Dr Branson stayed in Albert Town for over a month, but everyone was so healthy that there was scarcely any need of his services, and he had no surgical outfit. Once he prescribed for an anaemic lady, and the prescription was written in a most beautiful clerky band, the medicine was prepared in Dunedin and did the lady much good. Afterwards he wrote out a prescription for a man who had a swelling under his arm, to be applied outwardly, this also was sa’jsfactory, and he sent in a hill for £3 3s, but he never got paid 1 . Many people in the early days were always hard up, and spent their money before they earned it. Then Dr Branson met Andreas Andreassen Westborg, commonly called Andrew Anderson, who had a schooner on Lake Hawea, and was also engaged in bush work in the Hawea Bush. Then he got hold of Jas. Barry, a no-account shearer, and the doctor told them of some hidden treasure somewhere about Preservation Inlet. Barry and the doctor walked to Dunedin, carrying their swags, and waited till Anderson leased hie boat for a year and collected bis accounts, and overtook them in Dunedin and financed the whole show to search for this treasure. Barry and Anderson came back to Wanaka over a year afterwards, but were not the least bit communicative about their mission, and the thought of it soon died cut. Dr Branson went to Jackson’s Bay from Preservation Inlet, and a- year or two afterwards we read in the papers that he was drowned there. Note. — So many inquiries have reached ns with regard to these articles, and so widespread appears to be the desire that they should appear in book form, that we have decided to issue a slip, which those anxious to see the book appear are requested to cut out. sign and return to the author without delay. If a sufficient number of copies are bespoken, we shall feel justified in asking the Daily Times Printing Company to proceed with the work. It is proposed to print a small edition veH bound in cloth. There will be about 300 pages, and they will he illustrated with photographs of the early doctors, and of scenes of town and eountrv life in those interesting days. See advertisement in another page of this issue of the Witness.