MEDICAL PRACTICE IN OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 61

MEDICAL PRACTICE IN OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND IN THE EARLY DAYS.

BY

ROBERT VALPY FULTUN, M.D.

LXXXV.—M'BREARTY AND INGLIS ON THE TALERI PLAIN. Joseph Robertson, of Kaitangata, was one of the very first settlers in what is now known as Outram. He and Alexander Chisholm built the first blacksmith’s shop for Forbes. Donald Horne was the only settler close by, occupying his spare time in ferrying people acioss the river in a canoe. Robertson had the first grocer’s shop, and first baker was a coloured man, who had much difficulty in getting journeymen bakers. When Bewley came the darkie said to him, “I shall have to sell out, for I have had seven bakers, and they were all swipers.” Bewley bought him out aud carried on for many years. W hen Hie gold rush came a police camp was established under Sergeant Hagerty or Hegarty, and close by a little wooden building, or drill shed, in which was held the Resident Magistrate’s Court. E urther West houses began to go up, Thomas Dick having a store on the rise beyond the Big Turn, and next to him Haw's, where, we remember, graceful tendrils of hop plants used to add a beautiful appearance to the front of his cottage. Still further on was Baxter's store, almost opposite the church. This store had a roo» thatched with rushes, and had been built by Bruce Mackintosh, a clever Scotsman, who was called the Wizard of the North, on account of his legerdemain performances. Nearer the township was the hill referred to as the Buckeye. Later Tom George, the noted horsebreaker, was installed here, and it is a moot question whether his name originated from the hotel or was a punning reference to his cleverness in dealing with the highest buckjumpers on the plain. He was an excellent rider and trainer, and we we. 1 remember his alert figure and erect seat upon his horse. Like, all good horsemen, he was always exceedingly kind to his horses. The coaches started from this hostelry, as the following advertisement, culled from the little news sheet of 1862, states :—“Hurrah for the _ Dunstan. Buckeye Hotel, late Mac’s, West Taieri, 18 miles from town on the Dunstan Toad. Good accommodation for travellers and horses. Coach leaves Cobb and Co.’s daily at 2 p.tn. for the above hotel, returning from there daily at 8 a.m.; fare, 15s. John More. Robertson and Chisholm, who were busy erecting the West Taieri Church manse, saw the diggers streaming past, and, thinking their steady 12s a day not good enough, decided they would have a shot the diggings, but after several weeks’ trial at’work which was unfamiliar, went back to their ordinary trade, at which they prospered exceedingly. Like many of the searchers for gold, their methods veie crude and clumsy. They lost threequarters of the metal, and it was not until the arrival of scores of expert Y ictorian diggers that the unsophisticated Otago settlers learned how to extract the “grains of sunshine” from the clay and gravel in which they were embeuded. Robertson sold out his store to “Night and Day” Smith, and he in turn transferred to William Snow. Murray started bootmaking, first near the church, and then in the main road close to the drill shed, and Smyth began his saddlers business further along the street. Sherriff opened a second boot and shoemaker’s shop, and Alexander Chisholm, who was the eldest of the four brothers in Dunedin, launched out into a more extensive carpentering business, which included that of undertaking. The Snows—William (who had the store in Outram), Jonathan (who worked with him, and afterwards had the hotel at Mosgiel;, and Dick (who had a hotel at the Lee Stream) —came from Victoria in 1862 and lived all their lives in the district, and were well known in all the activities of West Taieri. r l he Hannah Brothers, carters and roadmakers, constructed a great many of the roads in the neighbourhood, living down near the river. The road which is now the main street continued straight on at first, light down to the river, where there was a punt, with a ford a little lower down. In the early sixties the main road was taken round at an angle, skirting the liill and coming back to the river, where stood the tollgate and the West Taieri Hotel. George Christie and Thomas Broadway, two ” early residents of Outram, had previously “run’’ licensed accommodation houses on the Strath Taieri, Christie half a mile south of the Sutton, and Broadway at the Sutton crossing. This was about 1864, and in 1866 Broadway bought out Waterman and moved to Clarke’s Junction. and later to the Buckeye at Outram. Christie sold out to Cinnamon, the carrier, in 1863. and also moved down to Outram. where he had an extensive business. He v,-;i. a commission agent, had livery stables, and was a dealer in horses, vehicle.-, etc., had a stationery store or shop, and a newspaper run. in 1869 he bad a serious accident, with a chest injury which laid him up for a twelvemonth, but about 1870 he began to run a four horse coach to Waipori, in the summer time even a far as Lawrence. In 1874 the Provincial Government leased the tollgate;, and Christie paid £6OO for the We.-t Taiei i t 41. but only held it for one yc r. a- lie found so many travellers defaulting, and he had constantly to sue for his money. His takings were often over £2O a week, but the court cases required caused him to relinquish the toll, a "1 the Government Inter moved it up t<> “West l.iieri (lit til ’ W< have hem told !h ,! the.pW**! paid for the toll on Sadd'e Hill was £IOOO. and at the Plough Inn on Hillside £2OOO, so it is evident the tells were a source of considerable revenue to the authorities. Christie also ran coin-lies to Dunedin from 1871 to 1873. and in

1874 from Green Island to Out-ram. He was always an active, energetic man until alter his illness, which seemed to cripple him. His four or five-horse coach tearing down the “Cutting” at West Taieri in snow or rain, the old man, as he was called, well wrapped in his opossum coat, handling the ribbons, and his long whip, were all a feature of the district for many years. He died at Outram in 1878 at the age of 47, and was buried in West Taieri Churchyard. Iveson’s coach also ran regularly, first to Dunedin to the Bull and Mouth, a’hd later from Green Island to Outram and back. On one occasion Donaldson, his driver, who had a fair load aboard, going Taieri-wards, picked up half a dozen Chinamen on the Fairlield hill, intending to convey them to the plain, where they were employed on a job of cutting and straightening part of the Siiverstream. The load proved too top-heavy for the coach, and over she went at the water trough on the descent into Mosgiel, and one of the Chinamen was fatally injured and the others badly knocked about. “Bill” Donaldson got off with a severely injured arm or wrist. He was an export driver, and for. a long time drove the coach from Woodside to Green Island and back daily. He is still living near Burnside, though he has retired from the active work of farming, which he carried on for many years on the Peninsula. Iveson was a man who was immensely popular in the district, and he always did his best to interest people and to help in public entertainments and amusements. In addition t-o running his licensed accommodation house at Woodside and controlling a number of coaches, he organised and kept going for many years an excellent brass band. This band was a source of interest and occupation to many of the Woodside residents and an absolute joy to the youngsters, who watched with fascinated eyes big, red-bearded Miko Morgan “lungeing” in and out on his mighty trombone, Mueller walloping the big ' drum, and Gibb M'Diarmid marvellously “rolling ’ his kettle-drum. lii the very early days Dr Shirlaw had the whole district to attend to, and, on account of sawmill accidents, many cases of drowning in the Taieri River, falls from horses, and frequent outbreaks of fever lie was kept busy. He traversed Outram, Woodside, Maungatua, and Berwick, and many the time he stopped for the night in an out-of-the-way hut, waiting till his horse had rested and fed, or the weather had abated, streams become passable, or the light sufficient to discern the atrocious tracks which took the place of roads. \Ve shall take the opportunity of recording in another article the names and residences of as many of the early settlers as we _ can obtain information of. Kind friends have assisted us, hut we fear we may miss some in the list we publish. Mr George Crockett, the second schoolmaster in the old West Taieri School, who is happily still with us, taking an interest in all that pertains to his old home, says that there was in the early days a Dr Creelman in the district,' but it seems he soon moved on to the West Coast.' and we can find no trace of him. In 1865 there came to Outram James M'Brearty, a genial Irishman, wljo had arrived by the Viola from Glasgow. He was born in 1837, and had studied for marine engineering, passing all the necessary examinations in due course. Hu wished to go abroad, but his parents persuaded him to start the study of medicine, and, finally agreeing to this, he proceeded to Glasgow University and College and eventually became L.F.P.S., etc. After practising for three years in Glasgow he came to New Zealand, and settled in Outram. Some of his trips through the snow and over the mountains were indeed terrible, many of the tracks being almost imperceptible. To get up tho Cutting to Harvey’s Flat and further on past the “Stone Man” through clay and snow was a superhuman task. Wo have seen snow hanlced on each side of the road in that locality over 10 feet deep, many portions of Maungatua mountain bridletracks being impassable. To have to toil on past the Deep Stream to Middlemarch or to various shanties and accommodation houses on the road where infants came into tho world and suffering aged passed out was frequently M'Brearty’s daily task. At these shanties diggers congregated, much had liquor was consumed, fights were frequent, suicides and even murders were not unknown. The writer can remember one such, when, after M'Brearty had toiled to Hindon, the body of the murdered man was brought to Outram. The local tailor, rather a “big bug” in the town, a leader of various societies, and a prominent talker, was on the jury, and undoubtedly expected to be made foreman at the inquest. Mr D. Harris Hastings, we think, was present in the capacity of a reporter. Mr Snip was inclined ‘to be squeamish, and would not go in to view the body, and an irresponsible young devil of a medical student who was helping M'Brearty gave the tip to the local constable, who, being fond of a joke, in turn informed the Cox-oner that “some of the jury had not yet seen the body.” The Coroner in tones of majestydirected the constable—eve think it was M'Kenzie —to “take Mr Snip to view the body.” Mr Snip, was “very ill,” and quite unfit to be foreman of the jury, but he had his knife into Dr M'Brearty’s post mortem assistant from that day- on. In 1874 M'Brearty was called to a had accident at the flaxnxill close to the \\ est Taieri Bridge. One of the owners of the mill was what is known as “scutching,” and, trying a new machine for the first time, took a turn of the flax round his wrist instead of holding it loosely in his hand. In ;ji instant liis arm was drawn in and mangled. M'Brearty administered first aid. the sufferer being then driven post haste to Dunedin. This case will be referred to in anothoi article.