THE SOUTHERN RUNS

Southland Times, Issue 23408, 15 January 1938, Page 15

THE SOUTHERN RUNS

Mavora, West Eyre, Longwood and Pahees

(SPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR THE SOUTHLAND TIMES]

(By

H. BEATTIE)

(No. 44)

The last run we considered was No. 359 and was the Rockyside or Nevis run taken up by W. S. Trotter in 1859. The next run on the list, No. 360, was applied for in 1859 by Fairfax Fenwick, the locality being given as “Hekerarika Lake.” This name defines the application as one for Wakatipu country, for it is the descriptive term applied to the western side of Lake Wakatipu by David McKellar, through an error of identity. When he asked the southern Maoris the name of the lake he had seen, they thought he meant the Lower Mavora Lake and supplied their name for the latter, viz., Hikuraki. This got twisted into many forms as Hikiraki, Hickerakei, Hekeraraki and Hekerarika. The only item the collector has about this run is as follows:—“Mr Fenwick applied for an extension of time to stock runs Nos. 360 and 374. After discussion the board granted an extension of nine months. At the same meeting of the Waste Lands Board on May 2, 1860, a similar application by Mr Trotter was granted, as were also applications by Messrs Kenyon, Harper, Strode and Teschemaker, Messrs Filleul and Mr N. B. Von Turzelmaun.” If No. 360 had any further history it never became a prominent run, but must have had a short career or been tacked on to some other run as far as the collector can see.

THE MAVORA RUN The next southern run on our list is No. 389, an application made by Hamilton Bros, well on in the year 1859, the locality being stated as Mavora Lake. This name Mavora has caused much discussion and conjecture. It is not a Maori name, nor is it a corruption of a ’Maori word, and reading that the name had been brought from Victora by the Hamiltons, the collector fell into the error of imagining it was a native Australian name (of which we have several examples in Southland). Correspondents gleefully fell upon the collector and explained that “mavora” was a Gaelic word from the same root as the Erse “mavorneen” and meaning “darling or some such similar term of endearment,” and that the name evidently had been applied by some lovelorn Gael who had fallen in love with some beautiful little lake in Victoria, or perchance had named it in memory of some beauteous damsel he had left behind in the distant Highlands or Hebrides. John and Frank Hamilton took up Mount Nicholas run (No. 324) early in 1859 and soon after sold it to John and Taylor White. In their reconnoitring round the district Frank Hamilton came across the Mararoa River and following it up discovered the Mavora Lakes and the open valley beyond and he and his brother took up the new country as Run No. 389. North Mavora is also called Upper or Big Mavora, and South Mavora is also called Lower or Little Mavora. The Maori name of the former is Manawapore and of the latter Hikuraki, but they are never likely to oust the popular names out of favour. As remarked by the collector in dealing with Run 324, he knows very little about the Hamiltons, but he has a note that John Hamilton, esq., was one of the stewards at the Invercargill Races on February 10, 1860. Nor can the collector supply the official record about the Mavora Run, for it was not in the Southland Provincial District although it was included in the extended Southland Land District in 1870, but through the kindness of Mrs L. B. McKenzie, Woodlands, who forwards some writings of the late Thomas Waugh, the collector can supply a few details about the start of the run. MR WAUGH’S REMINISCENCES ‘‘Early in 1860 I obtained employment -as shepherd on a station, and about ’February 15 Mr Hamilton and party started up country for his Mavora Station; the party of 10 persons including Mrs Hamilton and her three children, and my wife and myself. The journey to Mavora took us 10 days. It was the first bullock wagon that had gone beyond Longridge. and Mr Hamilton had frequently to ride in front to find the best track. The first day’s journey was to Myross Bush, and the second day we reached Halfway Bush. The road was very roundabout, the tracks invariably following leading ridges. We sometimes got stuck in going through creeks and swamps and had to unload everything. We kept along the terraces all the way to Waimumu Creek, where there was a very bad ford. “In due course we reached Longridge and were entertained by Messrs McKellar. The whole of the best of the country was taken up before 1860, but, of course, it was not stocked. Mr Hamilton and the McKellars, however, had brought over some grand sheep from Australia and had taken them up to the runs before I was engaged. We got on pretty well as far as Longridge, for the weather had been good. We pitched the tent every night for the women and children and the men slept below the wagon. It came on to rain, about The Elbow (Lumsden) and we spread the blankets out to dry next day over the tilt of the wagon. There was a great scene at night when we camped near what is now called Mossburn, and for many a day we called it the ‘Maggoty Blanket Place.’ “We reached Mavora without accident, and at once set hopefully to work. We were all young and inclined to look on the bright side of things. The first job was to erect another log hut, there being only one small hut previously built. Mr Hamilton and I felled a lot of straight birch trees and the bullock-driver pulled them out, and very quickly put up a house. The roof was thatched with tussocks, and the logs were made airtight by means of moss stuffed in between them. A BACKBLOCKS STATION “We had only a piece of calico for a window and a sack for a door, but for all that the house was very comfortable, especially when a good black birch fire was roaring up the wide log chimney. I saw the old house again in 1889, but alas! it had only two or three logs in position and weeds were growing in the fireplace. The station had been moved to another part of the run, and the old buildings gradually tumbled down. The site was unsuitable owing to the want of water, which had to be carried up a high and steep race from the Mararoa River. The old station had the advantage of plenty of timber, being situated on the edge of the great birch bush. There are very few lawyers and little underwood among these birch trees and one can walk for miles with very little hindrance. , , , “The early settlers have been much blamed for the names given to these trees, such as black, red or white birch, but how were we to know that they were not birches at all, but beeches, or that what we called red birch would be called white birch in another part of New Zealand, and so lead to a

perishable timber being used instead of a durable kind.

“The sheep got very little shepherding; we did not go near them for weeks at a time, and no fences were required for there were no neighbours nearer than 10 miles. On the approach of winter we had to keep driving them round to the sunny side of Bald Hill, for fear of their being smothered in the snow.

“When we wanted mutton I used to ride to the foot of the hill, bring down a few sheep, catch one and kill it and bring it home on the horse’s back. Part of our time was employed in building a wool shed and making hurdles, and better timber for the purpose could not be found in any country than what we had dos? at hand.”

[Mr Waugh’s remarks on trees and timber come from one with authority on this subject as his subsequent career as borough gardener at Invercargill proved. He resumes:—] THE SEVERE WINTER OF 1860 “The snow came on sooner than we expected, and the bullock-driver having left us by this time, I had to fossick for firewood for the two houses for the ten weeks during which the snow lay upon the ground. The sheep were not badly off, for the hills were so rough in those days that they had only *to scrape away the snow to get some feed. The frost was very hard for a while, and at night one could walk on top of the snow. If the snow had not been bearing I would have been out all night on one occasion. “I had gone bn horseback after a few cattle which had wandered away where there was no feed, but the hofse having knocked up I was obliged to leave him in a little piece of bush and walk home, about ten miles, wading through the Oreti on the way. Walking was a great deal safer than riding, for the little creeks were drifted over, and the horse nearly fell on top of me in crossing over one of them. We could not do without horses altogether, for the distances were so great, but they were a never-ending nuisance. We had no paddocks and they used to wander away and when they were got into the stockyard they would try to rush out again. There was one little wretch that no one could ride except Black Harry—it would buck saddle and all off. This Black Harry was an Australian native who was brought up the second season by Mr Hamilton. He was quite a superior specimen, having been brought up by whites. He lived in the hut with us, and we soon became great friends. He was killed a few years later at Waimea or Wantwood when breaking horses. “We had very little communication with the outer world and were much astonished at hearing of the agitation in Invercargill for the separation of Southland from Otago.” This is the end of Mr Waugh’s recollections as submitted to me, although there are more of them extant. A remarkable feature is the sequence of tens, viz., 10 persons, 10 days trip, 10 miles from neighbours, 10 weeks of snow and a 10 miles walk. LATER OWNERS After the Hamiltons had been in Mavora some years they sold out to McKellar Bros., and it was through th(» wording of this sale that the six years’ lawsuit between McKellar Bros, and White Bros, began. McKellar Bros, sold Mavora to Captain Russell. Scab broke out among the sheep, and an Invercargill firm later on foreclosed on the property by deed of mortgage. The next occupier of the run was William Low. This Mr Low was apparently the father of the two other Lows who were runholders. His three sons, William Anderson Low, Thomas Low and Andrew Low apparently arrived in Otago in 1859. The old man having made a bit of money through the construction of a railway in the Highlands, left his native heath accompanied by his wife and daughter, and came out to rejoin his sons in Otago. They arrived at Port Chalmers by the ship Cheviot in August 1862, and soon thereafter found their way down to the Riverton district. Miss Low married John McGregor, who had come out from Home in the ship Equator in 1859, and who was a partner of her brother Thomas Low. The family became identified with various runs—W. A. Low with Galloway, Thomas Low and McGregor with Burwood and W. Low with a Waikaia run, and then with Mavora. When at Mavora Mr and Mrs Low used to make periodical trips to see their oldest son at the Manuherikia and these united trips continued until her death in the seventies. One who knew him wrote:— “The old man was very quaint and liked travelling; he was of a good old type extinct during the last 40 or 50 years.” One of the shepherds under him at Mavora was William Arklay. who died at Gore in June 1933, aged 81. It is said that after the old man’s occupancy of the run, it was carried on by his son and son-in-law, Low and McGregor, and the collector knows nothing further of the run history, except it has been identified with the name of Hazlett for years past. WEST EYRE The next run on our list, No. 391, was applied for by E. B. Cargill in 1859, the district being defined as “West Coast.” The country allotted on this vague definition was west of the Eyre Mountains and as this lofty range was the old provincial boundary it lay outside Southland, so the official record is a-wanting. The run, however, was included in the enlarged Southland Land District in 1870 and is still a leasehold. The run early came under the sway of the Wentworth family and if all reports be true this family’s connection with New Zealand was rather romantic. Some time about 1838-39 William Charles Wentworth bought the whole of the South Island and 200,000,000 acres in the North Island for £4OO and some prospective annuities to certain Maori chiefs. Sir George Gipps disallowed the bargain and the claimant was heard at the Bar of the Legislative Council. A Court of Claims held that, in 1839, the British Government had made New Zealand a dependency of New South Wales, consequently the alleged purchase was too late to be valid. An act was passed ousting the claimant and forbidding persons to form colonies without the consent of the Crown. Had Mr Wentworth’s claim remained good he would have held the world’s record as a landlord, as he would have had in his possession more of the earth’s surface than any other private individual, says an Australian account of the episode. W. C. Wentworth became Premier of New South Wales and seems to have abandoned his visions of a vast New Zealand estate, but his son, Fitzwilliam Wentworth, attempted to accomplish a little, at least, of his father’s ambition. He came over on a visit to Southland and took a great fancy to settle here and combine Croydon, Reaby and Wantwood in one run. Pending the

consumation of this ideal he interested himself in acquiring various pastoral properties such as Five Rivers, West Dome and West Eyre. As far as the collector knows the last-named run (No. 391) was worked from the West Dome station, but of its subsequent history he knows nothing.

THE LONGWOOD RUN No. 393 was an application by George Green in 1859 for country at “Waiau East.” The official record preserved at the Invercargill Land Office proceeds: “No. 393. George Green, of Dunedin, applies for a run in the Southern District. Boundaries. —north, to be fixed; east, bush; south, No. 395; west, by the ocean, or to be fixed, reserving all native claims and land belonging to the natives. Term to be 14 years from December 8, 1860. Fee £ll 18/-. W. H. Cutten, commissioner. Transferred to Duncan Cameron, of Dunedin, on February 18, 1861, and transferred back to George Green on February 8, 1862.’ It seems strange that on November 22, 1859 Commissioner Cutten should in his official notifications state: “No. 393, Waiau east —George Green —no country,” and yet later proceed to issue a licence for 14 years, from December 1860. Perhaps in the interim Green had shifted the location from Waiau east to the Longwoods and found a spare piece of country. Be that as it may, the application evidently did not produce a run which had a run for its money, because we never hear of it and the official postscript is “Longwood—subdivided for settlement later.” It would be interesting to know if the applicant was the George Green who made such phenomenal land claims in 1838 for land alleged to be purchased from the Maoris at Jacob’s River, West Coast and elsewhere. It will have been noticed that this Longwood run was to be bounded on the south by Run No. 395. This was the well-known Pahees Run applied for by William Saunders in 1859. The origin of the name is that the district was called after the Maori chief Pahi (pronounced Pahee) and thus we get tire early-time rendering Pahees. Although it was only a small run the track from Riverton to Orepuki ran for five and a-half miles through it. It was a great contract getting the first cattle through the dense bush from Colac Bay to the run, but once there the cattle flourished splendidly. THE PAHEES RUN The official record is, No. 395 William Saunders, of Dunedin, applied for a run in the South West District. Boundaries —north, line drawn from the north boundary of the Maori Reserve at Pahia, thence by the bush; east, to be fixed; south, the Maori Reserve or to be fixed; west, the ocean or to be fixed. Term 14 years from April 28, 1860. Fee £8 6/-. Transferred . to Thomas Newton of Ida Burn Station on September 4, 1860 (and signed for Thomas Newton by Malcolm Graham, his agent). Transferred on September 18, 1867, to Francis Alexander Monckton. Transferred on July 19, 1870 to Edmund Gillow. There is a note beneath the above information and this states: “Lease sold by auction on June 2, 1873 at IJd an acre in advance of the upset price £63 15/-.” William Saunders apparently did not develop the run at all but transferred it to Thomas Newton, manager of Ida Bum run, and he sent cattle to it, and arranged to follow, but unfortunately was drowned when crossing the Taieri river near Sow Bum. His brother-in-law, Daniel Durbridge, had gone down to represent his interests and is said

to have taken the first horse through the bush from Riverton to Orepuki, this being in January 1860. His sister, the widowed Mrs Newton, married Dr Monckton and the latter occupied the run from 1867 to 1870. In later years Dr Monckton wrote various papers about his pastoral experiences, and a son of his gained a literary reputation with the book entitled “Experiences of a New Guinea Magistrate.” Mr Henry Watson tells me that the next occupant of the run after the doctor was Whitley, then Gillow and Sutton, followed by Albert Cassels and lastly by McPherson and Kingswill in whose time it was cut up into farms—perhaps 53 or 54 years ago. The Orepuki goldfield was to one side of it, but this did not affect the run to any extent, except to provide a local market for some of its fat stock. It was the growth of settlement which saw the run cut up into farms.

During the past year some valuable trials with different types of subterranean clover seed, imported from Australia, have been laid down in Hawke’s Bay by the Department of Agriculture. Since this clover became so popular the strain generally recommended for use has been Mount Barker, and it would seem from a statement published in an authoritative Australian journal that the choice has been the correct one.