THE SOUTHERN RUNS

Southland Times, Issue 22999, 19 September 1936, Page 15

THE SOUTHERN RUNS

OTARAIA AND OTHERS

(Specially Written jor The Southland Times')

(By

H. BEATTIE)

(No. 12.)

Having outlined the history of Run 97, we come to No. 98, which was called Kauroo (early spelling of Kauru) in the Kakanui district. It was taken up by William H. Teschemaker and Edwin Rich near the end of 1854, and its history can be found related in W. H. S. Roberts’ “History of North Otago.” At the present time Run No. 98 denotes a run at Makarora in the Haast district. The next number 99 was a run selected by Mark Noble in the hinterland of the huge Oamaru Pastoral District, but the collector has no further details.

No, 100 was unknown to either Mr Roberts or the collector, but No. 101 was applied for by Octavius Harwood and adjoined No. 9, an early selection at Moeraki. It was called Bagdad Run, and must necessarily have been of a circumscribed area. No. 102 was the well-known Otaraia run and Thomas Trumble is usually stated to have been the original applicant in July 1856. That this is very unlikely seems to be shown by the numbering, so the collector delved into antiquity and unearthed two prior applicants. The locality is stated as “East Mataura” when A. C. Strode applied for it early in 1855 and as “Mataura East” when Alexander McNiel put in his application early in 1856. Neither of these gentlemen seems to have pursued the matter any further, so it was left to Mr Trumble to apply for it and to clinch his application by occupying and stocking. Thomas Trumble.

The run at Otaraia having been in the possession of only the one owner narrows the field of investigation and allows us to concentrate on the name and fame of that runholder. The first mention of the name the collector has is that Thomas Trumble selected 50 acres in the North Molyneux Survey District on March 28, 1850. This was near the property later called “The Gask” at Kaitangata. Later he was farming on the east coast, and in The Otago Witness, June 7, 1856, he advertised for sale or lease his Seafield Farm at Kuri Bush, within three miles of Taieri Mouth. It was about this time that he set out south “looking for country,” as the saying went then, and here he came within the circle of acquaintanceship of Mr W. H. S. Roberts who has the following references in his diary of that time. “June 11, 1856.—Near Waihola we passed several persons on foot, among them Mi - T. Trumble from the Kuri Bush. “June 12.—0 n the Tokomairiro Flam we came to a store belonging to Mr Toms, where Trumble was waiting for us. We put his swag on our other packhorse, Ginger, as he was going south also, and being a good walker, could, without a swag,, travel as fast on foot as we could on norseback oyer the rough country . . . We were ferried over the Molyneux by Mr McNeil. Mr Trumble, three sailors, and a black man came across soon after us.

“June 15.—Wairuna. T. Trumble returned having lost his way. “June 16. —We crossed the Waipahi and the Tamaipi. The country round here, especially the peat bogs, took Mr Trumble’s fancy (for he was an Irishman) and on his return to Dunedin he applied for it as a run, and built his homestead at the latter creek Trumble and the two sailors went to the small bush, the only one in the district, and brought down some firewood, and we soon had a billy of hot tea and supper. The weather was bitterly cold and the country looked bleak and wet, with its swamps and long snow grass, but there was a vast extent of pastoral country in every direction apparently unoccupied.”

A Lonely Stretch The reference to Mr Trumble having lost his way brings before us the fact that where there were no roads, and sometimes no tracks, it was easy to stray. The stretch from Clinton to Mataura was the worst portion of the route between Dunedin and Invercargill for people getting lost. Mr Roberts details the case of John Blacklock who had been to Invercargill to see about starting a drapery shop and was returning to Dunedin on foot in February 1857. He kept too far south and wandered for four days without food or blankets. On the fourth day he killed a lamb and was ravenously devouring it when a shepherd chanced to pass that way and put him on his horse and took him to Popotunoa. Othercases of wandering could also be narrated.

To help travellers who had to traverse the inhospitable stretch between Mataura Falls and Popotunoa, the Provincial Government erected a hut at Otaraia. Coming south in June 1856, Mr Roberts states that after leaving Popotunoa there was no track of any description. He says the whare had been erected not long before at a cost of £B. It was about 12 feet by 8 feet with walls three feet high, built of grass tied- to battens nailed to posts fixed in the ground and was already in a dilapidated condition with the ridge all open. Mr T. B. Gillies was appointed sole enumerator in the “return of cultivations and live stock for the southern portion of the province,” the return to be in by December 31, 1856, and later he contributed several articles of considerable literary charm under the heading “Pencillings by the Way,” to The Otago Witness. The extracts of interest to us proceed:—“lmmediately after crossing the Waipahee, we pass close to a large peat bog on our left . . . . We err in saying uninhabited, for we soon arrive at a little hut and stockyard, proclaiming that man has here already invaded Nature’s solitude . . . . We find ourselves at Oterio Warrie. Fancy a place like an overgrown, deserted dog kennel . , . the roof had once been thatched, but is now sadly dilapidated, thanks to the destroying hand of time and still more destructive hand of some traveller, who, too lazy to supply himself otherwise, had purloined a part of the thatch to make a bed for himself.” Some time after this the “Otaraia whare” fell to pieces or was burnt, and Trumble’s hut was the only refuge for wayfarers in this long lonely stretch of over 30 miles.

Plenty of Visitors. From the foregoing information it will have been gathered that T. Trumble picked his “country” in June 1856, and on his return to civilization (Dimedin) applied for it as a run. From Mr Gillies’ description we note that the runholder had a hut and little stockyard erected before the end of 1856. From the popular opinion of the locality one would think the selector had made a poor choice, but one who‘was himself a runholder says the run proved to be a good one, the drawback or “fly in the ointment” being that the station (or homestead) was so near what was then the main road from Dunedin

to Invercargill that it was sadly plagued with hungry callers. Apropos of the last statement, the following is from Mr Roberts’ diary:— December 27, 1857—Started from Tuturau with five horses and three foals at 9.30. The track to Otaria was very little worn, so was difficult to follow, and the gullies were steep, swampy, and bad to cross. We reached Thomas Trumble’s station on the Tamaipi stream (22 miles) by 2.30 and asked him to give us some dinner. He took us into the house, which was a new three-roomed cottage, where he lived with his wife, three young daughters, and a son. They gave us dinner, but took care to charge us the full hotel price, 2/- each, a thing quite unknown among squatters in those days, but he said he could not afford to feed all the travellers, as his was the only house on the main road between Tuturau and Popotunoa, and so many called in. The track from Trumble’s to Popotunoa was better marked, but the little creeks were very bad to cross and the Kuriwao Gorge was particularly bad.” When the diggings broke out, some “tough” characters roamed Otago and there is a district tradition that one of these truculently demanded a meal. Mr Trumble had gone to Balclutha for supplies but Mrs Trumble, who was alone in the house, seized her husband’s revolver and bravely faced the intruder. The story proceeds that the swagger remarked that he could not harm a courageous woman and resumed his tramp. Reminiscences.

A writer whose identity is veiled (or revealed?) by the initials “G.L.D.’ wrote interestingly of a trip his people made to Invercargill when he was a boy in November 1862. The portion which fits in with our subject runs: — “When going down Popotunoa Gorge, the track was narrow for vehicles to cross, and we happened to meet a bullock driver, with whom was a lad, a son of Mr Trumble. When the passage was safely effected, we joined forces ovex - a ‘billy’ lunch. During this Master Trumble, addressing his bullock driver, drawled: ‘By jove, Bill, you did that job nicely,’ and my father (of the old school) said severely: ‘Yes, my boy, I agree with you, but you might have given us your opinion without an oath!’ Master Trumble looked astonished, but I think kept his feelings to himself.” For the benefit of a younger generation who might not fully understand the above anecdote, the collector would add that many of the pioneers had an abhorrence of slang and some had a decided religious objection to “jove” which they considered was merely a contraction of Jehovah. It would have been very interesting to have Mrs Trumble’s reminiscences to fall back on. It must oft-times have been a lonely existence without neighbours, and with scarcely any travellers but the sterner sex passing by. A lady in Australia wrote a book “Where No Roads Go By,” but at Otaraia a road, or rather a track, did go by and those who travelled between Dunedin and Invercargill and vice versa had perforce to go by it. Another unanswered question crops up: Where did the children get an education?

Quite a number of those who journeyed via Otaraia, particularly in the winter time, describe snowstorms on the route, so one might be pardoned for thinking it was a cold locality. One gentleman relates how in July 1861, six inches of snow fell and how they were snowed up for a week. Other wayfarers relate frequent heavy falls of rain—bleak weather in a bleak valley. It would have been of meteorogical interest to have Mr and Mrs Trumble’s opinion of the climate from 1856 to 1876. Stock and Stockmen. The boundaries of the Otaraia run are not known to the collector, except that one reference to it casually mentions that it ran from the river to the Kaiwera stream. The northern and southern boundaries would probably be hills or ridges. The mention of a stockyard in December 1856, implies that cattle were stocked then, but the sheep returns show a remarkably steady increase on this run and for this reason are worth quoting. In round figures they run: — 1859—400; 1860—700; 1861—2200; 1862— 3400; 1863—4000; 1864—5000; 1868—7000; 1870—8000. These are all the years the collector jotted down, but they constitute the most uniform advance he noticed. A common sight to the dwellers on Trumble’s station was mobs of cattle, and flocks of sheep being driven westward to the southern runs and in those days of unfenced runs it was also a familiar sight to see horses and cattle straying back to their former homes. A fair amount of time was put in by runholders and station hands in recovering strayed stock. John Mclntyre, for some fifty years before his death a respected farmer at Thornbury, landed at Port Chalmers in October 1860, and found employment on Trumble’s run, but could not withstand the lure of the diggings and left the run for Gabriel’s Gully rush in June 1861. Samuel Rogerson who died at Gore in May 1927, was another who worked on Trumble’s run as a shepherd and when the run was cut up he acquired Craigdale Farm and worked it with success. The run was cut up and thrown open for settlement on the deferred payment system in 1875, the size of the farms being 200 acres. One of the surveyors was Mr Maben, and his chainman, Denis Kean, secured two sections, a farm of 400 acres, on which he resided for 32 years. Quite a considerable number of settlers came into the Otaraia district and the old run days ceased. In June 1889, Thomas Trumble died at Invercargill, having nearly attained the age of 79 years, and leaving a widow and grownup family of two sons and seven daughters. Runs 103 to 106.

The next application on the register after the original application for Otaraia, was No. 103 and the locality was Awamoko Forks. Mr Roberts says this was applied for by Joseph and John Borton who were given a lease dated from February 20, 1856. The application was in 1855 and in September of that year J. B. Borton is advertised as owner. This run formed one of those which came into line with a number of others to comprise the huge holdings of Messrs Borton and McMaster. Of the next two runs the collector knows nothing save these two brief sentences:—lo4, West of Shag River, Thomas Fraser in 1855. 105, East of Shag River, Alexander Fraser in 1855. The next run, No. 106, was designated as in the North Molyneux district and was applied for by R. A. Wight in 1855. This is the gentleman who took up Run 90 at Waipahi already mentioned. In the “Reminiscences of South Otago,” at page 220, Matthew Marshall relates his connection with Wight, one of the incidents being of a rather diverting character. The narrative proceeds: — “Early in 1855 Marshall came to shepherd for Wight, who was the first to

take up from the Crown what is now the Greenfield Estate. His first job was to go to Waikouaiti and pick out 300 ewes which Wight had brought from Johnny Jones in 1854. He brought the sheep down, and they throve splendidly. To this day Matthew’s boast is that he weaned 145 per cent, of lambs. Wight was a bit of a character and Marshall well remembers the time he christened the big rock by the roadside near Carruthers’ place. The two met there, and Wight had a bottle of rum in his pocket. ‘Here, have a swig, said he to Marshall. ‘Very well, but after you,’ said the latter. ‘Be it so, said Wight, ‘and then we’ll christen this rock.’ After Marshall had his drink he handed the bottle back to Wight, who smashed it on the rock, christening it ‘Dumbarton Rock.” This was in 1855 and after being with Wight a year, Marshall went shepherding for Anderson.” There is an intriguing touch about this relation that makes one regret that more is not recorded about Wight. William Shand came into possession of No. 106, Waitahuna Run, in 1856. Runs 107 to 110.

Run No. 107 is localized as West Taieri and was applied for by W. C. Young in 1855. No. 108 seems slightly tangled in the records as Mi- Roberts says it was “Clydevale, Pomahaka, applied for by Archibald 8r05.,” while the collector’s memorandum runs: “South of Molyneux, applied for by W. Pinkerton in 1855.” The collector has read somewhere that there was a mixup over Pinkerton’s application and he was awarded Brooksdale instead, so in the circumstances Mr Roberts’ note is probably correct and can stand. No. 109 is another run with a somewhat tortuous (or tortured!) record. Mr Roberts puts it straight away in Captain Fraser’s name but the collector’s notes read that about the middle of 1855 J. M. Saunders applied for run 109 and part of 110. (See the remarks about No. 110). Then in 1856 Charles Hopkinson (who was a Swede) is named as the owner, and later Captain Fraser and still later Messrs Rowley, Hamilton and Wayne (whose histories can be read in the articles written by the present writer, “Central Otago to 1862”). The locality of No. 110 is said to have been Napier’s Plain, the applicant, W. H. Pearson, and the year 1855. This is an interesting item. How many readers can say where Napier’s Plain is? Messrs W. H. Pearson and James and William Saunders came from Victoria to Otago in March 1855. Shortly after in company with Peter M. Napier they went inland and explored a large part of the Maniototo Plains, which they named Napier’s Plain, a name it retained for two or three years until it was replaced by the Maori name. This exploration accounts for J. M. Saunders applying for No. 109 and part of 110 and W. H. Pearson for 110 Neither of these pioneers seemed to have developed these runs, but later in 1855 they bought the Waipori run from P. M. Napier. Not relishing run life, W. H. Pearson relinquished it and entered the public service, being appointed officer in charge of the Lands Office at. Invercargill in Octobei’ 1857, a position he held for many years. Clydevale Run.

This is No. 108 on the list and as the collector has a few notes about it these had better be given here before passing on. The Archibald Bros, who owned this run were very early arrivals in Otago and settled at Puerua in the early fifties but applied for a run between the Pomahaka and Molyneux rivers in 1855. Mr Nathaniel Chalmers has recorded that in 1853 Alexander Archibald showed him gold in small quartz specimens which he had got out of the ranges between the Waitahuna and Tuapeka streams, so evidently the brothers had roamed the country-a bit before taking up the rim. The collector has no information about the building of the station or the opening up of the run, but one of the men who assisted in the pioneering work on it was Mr Alexander Petrie who worked on it until 1858 when he left for Central Otago and later was farming at Waitapeka. In 1858 Mr Thomas Mac Gibbon visited the run in search of a strayed team of bullocks, but he gave the collector no description of the station there at that early period. The collector has several allusions to parties of diggers in 1861 and 1862 calling at the station or passing over the run, but no details of the place are given. One of the hands on the run in 1863 was Alexander Allen, who in later years became a well-known farmer at Pukerau. Another well-known farmer, Mr Alexander Dickie, of Tuturau, has left the following record of this run about 1864-65:—“One summer with three mates (viz. Matthew Paterson, for long engineer to the Clutha County; Thomas Blacklock, later a retired farmer at Oamaru; and my brother Robert) I went flax-chipping on the Clydevale Estate. This was the poorest job ever I tried. An old shepherd who came along when we were starting spoke quite pityingly. ‘lndeed, it will be a poor job at any price,’ he said. On New Year’s Day all hands had a holiday and Caledonian sports were arranged. About 70 men turned out. I don’t think there was a woman on the station. (I never saw one). There was a bread famine for a day or two after, as the cook had got thirsty and had used himself, or shouted for others, his whole stock of yeast.” Most of the old station cooks were of a doughty disposition. A friend of the collector’s was an exception to the rule and. at one station where he refused a drink the boss reflectively said, “I only knew one cook who did not drink and he hanged himself!” The Old Order Changes.

Writing about Clydevale, Mr W. H. S. Roberts gave the following information. “The Pomahaka Hundred, between the Pomahaka and Molyneux rivers, was proclaimed on December 7, 1861, it being then held by Archibald Bros, as a cattle run. A large portion of it was purchased by the wealthy New Zealand and Australian Land Co., and is now (1895) known as the Clydevale Estate. Government land at that time after being open for sale at 20/- per acre for seven years, without finding a purchaser, could be offered at public auction with an upset price of 10/- an acre. The unsold portions of the Popotunoa and Pomahaka Hundreds were offered at auction under the power thus given, and on February 27, 1869, a large area was purchased by Mr John Douglas of Mount Royal as a speculation, at 10/an acre. He afterwards sold most of the low ground along the Pomahaka to the ‘Land Company,’ who added it to the Clydevale Estate, and it is now all laid down in excellent English grasses, making it one of the most magnificent properties in Otago.” It will be noticed that Mr Roberts says that Clydevale was a cattle run, but a certain number of sheep were also stocked, for in the sheep returns for the year 1861 Archibald Bros, on Run No. 108 had 1100 sheep. F. W. Mackenzie is given as having 8520 sheep on Run 108 in 1864, but it is probable that the run number 108 is a misprint for No. 168 which was Captain Mackenzie’s own run “Glenkenich.” Of the three Archibald brothers who were concerned in the pastoral history of Otago, Thomas returned to Scotland, and Alexander with his family removed to New South Wales, talcing up land for the purpose of orange growing. There is a photograph of Mr and Mrs Alexander Archibald and son, shown at page 70 of “Reminiscences of the Early Settlement of Dunedin and South Otago.” The third brother, Andrew, remained in Otago and died at Awakiki Bush, Puerua. Although the New Zealand and Australian Land Co., may be said to have kept on a large part of the Clydevale Run as one property, the history of the real old run terminated when it was proclaimed a Hundred and the Archibald Bros, had to leave it.