A PIONEER OF OHURA

Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1932, Page 12 (Supplement)

A PIONEER OF OHURA

OUT WITH SURVEY PARTY

FLOOD-TIME EXPERIENCES.

TALES OF A COUNTY CHAIRMAN

Mr. G. Dennison, who has been a member of the Ohura County Council for many years and is now chairman of that body, has had a very long association ’with the district, having taken up the section on which he resides as one of the pioneer settlers in 1904, when he settled in the district with his wife. Since then he has succeeded in converting the property into a pleasant and prosperous looking homestead, ,in marked contrast with the tract of virgin bush that he first took up. The farm is situated about three miles out of Ohura township on the Main Trunk to Stratford, the homestead occupying a very commanding position on a fertile hill.

Mr. Dennison’s connection with the district goes further back than that, as he visited the Ohura first in 1901, as one of the party that came. in to survey for settlement the whole country from Ongarue through to the Wanganui River, as far as the Tangarakau district in another direction and to Waitaanga and the Waitara River. He was attached to Mr. J. F. Frilk’s party, Mr. W. T.- Morpeth being in charge of another party. There were only two settlers where the Ohura township is now, Messrs. W. K. Williams and D. J. Bruce, while Mr. C. J. Ryan was on his property 'at Niho Niho. All the country was in bush excepting a- small area, owned by Mr. Ellis, that had been filled at Ohura. During the surveying, said Mr. Dennison, the eyes of the country were picked out for what was known as improved farm sections. These were not to exceed 200 acres, and were to be open for selection by men working on the Main Trunk railway line. Mr. Dennison remained on the survey until he met with an accident which incapacitated him in Auckland for six weeks. He-was then, in 1903, transferred to the roads department at Whangamomona, under Mr. G. P. Murray, district engineer. While on the survey he had picked out two sections, and at the ballot he was successful in drawing one of them. Residence on the section was one of the conditions of selection. In 1904 he came back to Ohura as road inspector in charge of the district, and built a small house of split timber on the flat near the Mangaroa stream. -Mrs. Dennison was the first lady to ride through the Tangarakau Gorge, riding a beautiful hack over what was practically a pig track, there being no formation, while big slips had to be negotiated and in one place a fallen tree was an obstacle to be overcome. All the way she carried a little black cat on her arm to her new home. Near the close of the journey they came over the hills on a farm where their neighbour had just felled and burnt some bush, the ashes in some places being still hot under foot. Their introduction to their new home was not very propitious, as in April of. the same year they were flooded out, the water being over six fqet deep in the whare. There had been considerable rain, and ■ Mr. Dennison had been watching the river closely. As it appeared to drop and the rain had ceased he thought that it was safe to retire about 10 p.m. About 3 o’clock in the morning his wife woke him up and said

that she thought the water was running through the place. Sure enough it was. . The flood waters, from higher up had come down the main river and had backed the water up the smaller stream, which had flooded them out. Mr. Dennison and his wife sat on the table shivering, with the water rising all the time, until daylight, when Mr. Dennison carried Mrs. Dennison to safety on higher ground. To give the fowls a chance they were let go but all were drowned. The water continued to rise, reaching the eaves of the whare. In endeavour to save some of hie possessions Mr. Dennison, with three other men, felled a white pine and hollowed it out to form a rough canoe. In this they floated down to the whare, and making an opening in the roof Mr. Dennison got through and stood on the table, which had. been nailed to stakes driven in the ground. The water was just awash of the shelves, and thereafter it did not rise'an inch. He saved his tools and instruments, but lost goods, etc., to the value of £l5O, having unfortunately just the day previously received 12 pack-horse loads of supplies from Ohura.

However it took more than that to daunt the stout hearts of the pioneer settlers, and the next house was. built higher up the hill, this time of timber pit-sawn in the district. Later Mr. Dennison built the • homestead on its present site. He had to clear the whole of the section, the bush being tawa, white pine and rimu, with a small portion manuka. For some years he was dairy farming, - but latterly he has concentrated on sheep. He has used slag and super for top-dressing. Mr. Dennison is of the opinion that the'land in the Ohura is certainly coming back, and that it is not so difficult now to keep the fern down as it was a few years ago.