The Conquerors

Southland Times, Issue 22133, 29 September 1933, Page 4

The Conquerors

Saga of the Stations

(By

the Wanderer.)

MERRIVALE. 1869—1885. JOHN CHUTE ELLISS. Up along the hostile mountains, where the hair-poised snow-slide shivers— Down and through the big fat marshes that the virgin ore-bed stains, Till I heard the mile-wide mutterings of the undiscovered rivers, And beyond the nameless timber I saw illimitable plains. (From The Explorer, by Rudyard Kipling.) In 1869 Mr Hugh Cameron came over from Australia to buy land for Captain Elliss, who desired to place his sons, John Chute Elliss, and Thomas Chute Elliss, on Stations in New Zealand. Captain Elliss lived in London, and was a very shrewd man of business. It is said of him that through the agency of the Bank of England he brought up New Zealand greenbacks for fifteen shillings and retained these notes till they were worth a pound, and he sent over this money to New Zealand for speculation purposes. Much earlier in the eighties he had speculated in land in Victoria and been quite successful in that venture, for his estate Mt. Gambier had been well and wisely managed by Hugh Cameron, a Highlander from Rannoch, the district in the North Highlands which lies around Lake Rannoch.

Mr Hugh Cameron came out to Australia at Captain Elliss’s request to manage Mount Gambier, and left Liverpool in the British Lion in 1857. He came over to Southland in 1869 and bought, on Captain Elliss’s behalf, at the low rate of eighteen shillings an acre Five Rivers, with 40,000 acres of freehold, and 70,000 leasehold, and Merrivale, with 26,000 acres freehold, arid he also purchased land at Forest . Hill. Mr Cameron, who was a cousin of the Camerons of Glendhu, brought with him from Mount Gambier 30,000 Merino sheep; but when later on he realized that Merinoes did not thrive in Southland he tried first one type of sheep after another until he found a suitable breed. When Mr Cameron purchased Merrivale, Connor Brothers still retained the pre-emptive right over a certain portion of the property, and when he was at Merrivale he had 4500 head of cattle belonging to Daniel Sinclair grazing on his land to keep down tire roughage, for the native grasses were far too rank and coarse for the sheep until the cattle had mown them down. When Mr Cameron took over Merrivale, Murray and Dalgleish were in charge of Connor Brothers’ interests and they, on behalf of Mr Sinclair, asked for permission to let these cattle remain. Mr Allen McDougall Carmichael was in charge of Mr Sinclair’s cattle and lived at Merrivale homestead. Afterwards Mr Ron Sinclair acquired Woodlands, and later on bought a place at Woodburn. When Mr Sinclair went over to Woodlands, Mr Allen McDougall Carmichael went over to Five Rivers, where he was one of the early managers of that station. Mr Hugh Cameron eventually returned to Mount Gambier, and sent over to Merrivale as manager a Highlander named Angus McNeil, and in the next boat came Mr and Mrs Duncan Stewart. The Stewarts had been at Mount Gambier for a couple of years, having left Glenlevit, Scotland, in 18G6 in the “British Lion” sailing for Adelaide. Mrs Stewart, who claims to be eighty five, tells the following, story of the early days. This old lady is still hale and hearty and clear minded and resides at Woodlaw with her daughter Mrs Mclntosh: “We left Glenlevit, Scotland as soon as we were married and from Liverpool sailed away in the British Lion bound for Australia. It was a very long, rough and uncomfortable journey and we were ninety-four days at sea before we reached Adelaide. From Adelaide we went over to Mount Gambier and if there was ever a beautiful country home, this was one. It was summer when we arrived, and the well laid-out garden was ablaze with English and tropical flowers, and then there was an orchard with grapes and oranges and all manner of fruit, and beautiful plantations of English and other trees. We spent a very happy two years there, and then we were asked to go over to New Zealand in the next boat after Mr McNeil had gone. We met on the boat a Mr and Mrs Cameron who were going to Mataura and we in our ignorance of New Zealand geography thought that we would both be going to the same part of Southland. We arrived at the Bluff in August of 1869 and went for dinner to Mrs De Smidtt’s Hotel and then caught the afternoon train to Invercargill. We found the weather very cold, both at Bluff and Invercargill, after living in Australia for some time. Invercargill we considered a very rough sort of place with weather-board buildings and tents, a lot of bush and swamp and streets battened down by boards. Mr Stewart and Mr Cameron needed collars, and Mrs Cameron and I volunteered to buy them from the store then held by Messrs Blacklock and Calder. We had bought new shoes before we left Australia and it was the fashion then to have fairly high heels and Mrs Cameron’s heels caught in.the battens and she would have fallen if it had not been for a kindly policeman who recognized that we were strangers in these parts. He escorted us to Blacklock and Calder’s store and waited until we had completed our purchases and then saw us back to the hotel.

“Next morning the Camerons and ourselves parted, each on our different ways. We left Invercargill in a horse and dray, or waggon, with all our worldly goods around us and that night arrived at the New River Ferry Hotel. Next day we travelled as far as Riverton and put up at Clode’s Hotel, and from there travelled to Otautau, where we spent the night at Walker’s accommodation house, which used to stand where the flourmill now is. It was a most comfortable place with a very big kitchen in which was an open fire and seats at the side and we sat inside the hearth. I remember that Dodds Brothers had a store nearby, where the new Presbyterian Church now stands. A bridge had been erected recently over the Otautau river and while we travelled up from Invercargill to Merrivale the weather was fine and clear, but cold. We arrived at the station the next night, and they were a real Highland crowd of men, from Mr McNeil to the shepherds who would talk the Gaelic between themselves. When we sat down to tea they began to talk the Gaelic and were making remarks about my husband and myself, when my husband began to laugh and said ‘Oh, I understand the Gaelic, but she does not.’ They had said ‘His wife is a very shy little thing, is she not?’ Whenever the Ellisses took up land they never rested till they made that place beautiful. When we went there it was only a four-roomed house built of slabs, and all the crevices were plastered up with clay; but they kept adding on to the house, and planted an orchard, a garden and beautiful plantations of English trees. I well remember Mr John Chute Ellis coming over from Australia to see his new property, and with him came his brother Challoner Chute Elliss, who was serving in the Army in India. Mr John Ellis had also been in the Army in England, and had received a com-

mission, but he preferred the land. They were splendid shots and fishermen. Many of the other station people came around and they had great shooting parties, when they made havoc of the wild pigs and dogs. The Cuthbertsons would come into Merrivale on their way to or from Otahu, and Mr Williams from the Gap, Otautau, Mr Daniel Durbridge, Captain and Lady Brown and their sons, Aleck and James, from Belmont, and Dr. Monkton and Dr. Hodgkinson from Mount Pleasant. . remember one time when Mr John Elliss and his brother rode down to Riverton and, returning at night, they did not notice that opposite Mount Fairfax, because the culverts were flooded, trees and branches had been put across the road, and the consequence was that Mr Elliss’s horse fell down and Mr Elliss was badly cut about the head. Mr Elliss said, ‘Oh, Dr. Hodgkinson is always asking us to visit him, what about dropping in now and getting him to dress my wounds. And they went into the Mount Fairfax home and the good old doctor fixed Mr Elliss up with stitches and bandages, and they returned to Merrivale, but somehow or other the next day something went wrong, and the wound burst open and with home-made methods they managed to staunch the bleeding until they had sent to Riverton for Dr. Monkton, who told them that their emergency measures had saved the patient’s life. We had been told great stories in Australia and in New Zealand too, concerning the Maori race and how wild and savage they were, and one day when all the men were away from the homestead, some shooting and the others shepherding, no fewer than eight Maoris arrived and demanded food. I put meat, bread and butter on the table and when I brought in a teapot of tea, one very fierce-looking Maori man was sharp r ening the carving-knife. I was so fearfully frightened that I ran away and hid in the bush until I heard the men of the house returning, and calling out to me. They thought it a great joke, my taking these Maoris for the wild Maoris from the bush, and said that these natives were very civilized and had farms further on up country. They kept this joke up, and told everybody and one night . about midnight Dr. Monkton knocked at the door. He was on his way to Blackmount and beyond, and he called out in his witty way, ‘Tell Mrs Stewart that I am a white man, not a wild Maori.’ After Mr Elliss went Home Merrivale still continued to be a half-way house and all the station people would stop to rest whether going to or coming from town. When Jessie was born, Thad to get a nursegirl for I was so busy. A great pet all the men made of Jessie, especially Captain Brown, and she would toddle round after him all the time when he came to Merrivale. One time when he returned from Invercargill he was riding, and carried in front of his saddle was a huge cardboard box containing a lovely wax doll for wee Jessie. How excited she was! They were a happy good-looking family. Captain Brown had a real military air, and was a fine upstanding man, and Lady Brown was very handsome and distinguishedlooking, and was always beautifully dressed. Aleck and Jimmy were like their father, tall and handsome, and brimming over with fun and nonsense. When they had been at Belmont for awhile Captain and Lady Brown took a trip to the Old Country and left Aleck and Jimmy with Mr and Mrs Borwick, who were shepherd-managers at Sunnyside. Captain Brown had also an interest in Blackmount with a Mr Stuart, who lived there. When the Browns went Home they stayed for a few days at Merrivale on their way to Invercargill, and Lady Brown had a very well-bred little toy spaniel which she gave to my daughter, Jessie, as a present when she was leaving. Such very kind people they were, the whole family, and it was very sad about them being quite ruined and losing all their stock in the Old Man Flood of 1878. Then they left Belmont and Sunnyside and returned to England on the very little money they had saved from their misfortunes. I remember Mr Aitken of Clifden riding in and telling us the sad news about his house being burnt to the ground at 4 o’clock in the morning, and how the family had only escaped in their night-clothes. He was on his way down, to Otautau to take over the house at the Gap until he could build again, and Mr McNeil, told him to bring his family into Merrivale on his way down. Mrs Aitken and the children stopped at the station for about ten days, and Mr Aitken went down and put everything ready before he returned to take her to her new home.

“I remember Mr Elliss getting married to Miss White, a half-sister of the Connor Brothers. She had been staying with her half-brothers, and at Clifden with the Aitkens, and had her home in Dunedin. Mr John Elliss took his bride a trip to the Old Country for a honeymoon, and when they came back the house had been altered and enlarged. They brought very handsome furniture and also a glassed-in carriage and a spanking pair of horses. Mrs Elliss was very charming and kind to everybody, and after we left, Jessie stayed on with them for years. Mrs Elliss was also very fond of gardening and two gardeners would be working all the time at the green-houses where they grew grapes and tomatoes and tropical flowers. Both Mr and Mrs Elliss were extremely hospitable and Merrivale continued to be a half-way house where country people stayed for a few days,’ or a few weeks on their way to and fro. They also had great parties of people from Invercargill, Dr. and Mrs Young being very frequent visitors, and in the summer there would be visitors from Australia and other parts. In 1885 an English company, under the name of Asbury, took over Merrivale and as Mr Asbury was reputed to be a very rich man, Mr Elliss was congratulated on selling at a good price when times were rather bad for the man on the land.” Well I know who’ll take the credit—all the clever chaps that followed— Came a dozen men together, never knew our outback fears; Tracked us by the compass we’d quitted, and the water-holes all hollowed. They’ll go back and do the talking. They’ll be called the pioneers! (From The Explorer, by Rudyard Kipling.)