SETTLEMENT OF OTAGO

Taranaki Daily News, 30 March 1932, Page 9

SETTLEMENT OF OTAGO

EIGHTY-FOUR YEARS AGO.

ARRIVAL OF THE WELLERS.

References to the early days of Otago were made by the Mayor of Dunedin, Mr. R. S. Black, at the celebrations of the eighty-fourth anniversary of the settlement of the province last week. Mr. IJlack said he had to accept, on behalf of the city, a trypot, harpoons and lances, presented by residents at Otago Heads, and to hand over to the Early Settlers’ Association those historic articles for safe keeping in its museum. The trypot, he added, was used by tho first white man who settled on the shores of Otago Harbour, and it would be a constant reminder of their first commerce and their pioneer settlers. New Zealand was first settled by trading stations, and the men of these outposts of Empire, by intercourse with the Maori and by their business enterprise, first drew the attention of the outerworld to Otago and made possible the coming of the missionary to the New Edinburgh settlement, the anniversary of which they were celebrating that day. “The first white man recorded as arriving in our harbour 'was Captain Fowler, who, in 1813, was driven there for-shelter, without food, and water, and the strength of his men sapped by attacks of scurvy and disease,” continued the Mayor. s ‘They were well received by the Maoris, their rigging was repaired and the men were treated to good food and Maori remedies. In October, 1831, George Joseph and Edward Weller formed a settlement in Otakou. This trypot and these harpoons and lances may have been part of that first cargo. Before three years had passed the settlement was 80 strong and from that first day of settlement the locality has been iff constant occupation. Some of the descendants of Edward Weller to-day live within half a mile of the original landing place. “In earliest years the first ship built in Otago was constructed by the Wellers and in 183'4, owing to a misunderstanding with the Maoris, it was necessary to arm it with one long gun and six swivel guns. On the marriage of Edward Weller to the daughter of the great warrior Taiaroa, and the niece of, the Chief Karetai, all trouble ceased, and Weller’s influence with the Maoris enabled the New Zealand Company, after considerable trouble, to complete the purchase in 1844 of the large Otakou block from Dunedin to the Molyneux (400,000\acres) for £2400. <c The Wellers were more than whalers. They owned the supply station and were constant exporters of large quantities of potatoes, for which even in the early ’thirties the Otago Peninsula was famous. Shiploads of timber and flax were sent to Sydney and iu 1835 at least one cargo of local fish was sent to'Mauritius. In 1840 a French exploring and colonising expedition was in our harbour and—it afterwards proved a most important point—found there a long-estab-lished British settlement. Weller’s influence with Taiaroa, his father-in-law, after, he had sold Akaroa to the French, and at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, should not be forgotten. .The early surveyors speak of ■ the neat gardens, with their European flowers, the wheat and the cattle of these early pioneers. To-day, 100 years later, a grandson, Mr. John Ellison, has presented to the city this trypot, these lancet and harpoons in memory of his grandfather, who has been and will always be recognised as the first white settler in these parts. At his request, and on behalf of the city, I now hand them over to the care of the Otago Early Settlers’ Association.”