THE FIRST OYSTER
FOUNDATION OF LUCRATIVE INDUSTRY. A good deal of discussion has at times centred round the question as to how the oysters were introduced to this part of the world. About 1837, shortly after the whaling station was established at Riverton, Captain Howell, who. was manager at the time, decided to bring across some cattle from New South Wales which was looked to as New Zealand’s headquarters. The schooner Otago was chartered and she took aboard at Sydney some livestock and several sacks of oysters. Particularly rough weather was encountered on the return trip and she could not make Jacob’s River, as Riverton was then known, but decided to run for Bluff. The storm continued in fury, however, and at one stage the sacks of oysters were heaved overboard some distance out from Dog Island. .Some of the descendants of (he early settlers are firm in the belief that these few sacks formed the nucleus of the. present extensive beds in the straits between Dog Island and Ruapuke. This explanation is quite a feasible one, as the oyster is noted for the rapidity with which it multiplies.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19300903.2.100
Bibliographic details
Southland Times, Issue 21178, 3 September 1930, Page 14
Word Count
189THE FIRST OYSTER Southland Times, Issue 21178, 3 September 1930, Page 14
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Southland Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.