Tales Told by an Early Pioneer

Lake County Mail, Issue 3, 11 June 1947, Page 1

Tales Told by an Early Pioneer

The Home Station —New Hands — It,utiding Mr* Rees House —Few’s Folly —Drowaiing' of John Gilbert —Tobacco Famine —Sunday Work, and Prayers.

, I'he buildings at the Home Station, -l^ A teh were situated where Queenstown nbw stands, were represented by a “ fritter ” and a long narrow hut, consisting of three rooms —a kitchen with a small bedroom off it, and a large room with bunks built all round it, after the fashion of the ’tween decks of an emigrant ship. A “ fatter/’ as everyone knows, is simply a storeroom built on top of posts on which sheets of tin have been nailed, in order to prevent the rats from climbing up to the destruction of the stores. Here we found four men mid a woman, who had been brought there by the south cud of the lake, and who had been engaged in the past few

-■■ months in building the house, in pre■j paring the vegetable garden, and in planting potatoes. Of these a married man answering to the euphonious name . of George Washington McGaw, and his wife occupied the small bedroom oil the kitchen, Mrs McGaw having been engaged to cook and look after the mens

hut, whilst McGaw himself, being a carpenter, was employed in making window sashes and doors for the house we were about to commence the building of, and which was intended to be the residence of Mr and Mrs Rees. The other three men were named respectively, Boh Fortune, Harry Posselthwaite and Chips, for 1 really forget the latter’s proper name, and he was known on the station by no other name than that of Chips. Boh Fortune was

the boat man, and his whole time was

.spent in navigating a whale boat which bad been brought from Invercargill for

the station use, and in tarring and painting her at intervals of a few weeks after our arrival, and I never heard of them again. Simon Harvey and Andrew Low also left about a week after we reached the lake.

The most important work in band after our arrival was the building of Mr Rees’s house, and everyone was em-

ployed at this except myself) but as I had been told off to the duty of looking after the sheep, it was seldom I could, give a hand to the others. The house being built of wattle and daub

necessitated the use of a great quau

tity of clay; for this purpose, an o]d fiArse, rejoicing in the name of floppy,' was broken into dray and sledge, and George, who had immediately on our arrival handed over to Mrs McGaw the duties of cooking, was appointed to the post of Jehu.

r have in my possession a sketch, taken at that time, of George and Hoppy - engaged in their daily vocation. Hoppy. is represented on his haunches, his forefeet snread out and his ears laid back, ■..indeed scarcely a novice could fail to ,• observe .that an air of “jibbing ” sceihs do have been happily caught by the ■it artist. Hanging on to, and dragging at .•the bridle, a masculine figure, with thunder^in bis eye and a three-foot saw i.ML one hand not engaged with the bridle, can easily be recognised by tho=e who know him as George Simpson. Why hand saw occupies the place of a i.rffeip/ T cannot say, and can only snpthat this weapon had been found more ~ likely to inquire the heart of f Soppy with fear than would a whip. wljen he felt disposed to exhibit any ~.signs of jibbing during his work. . Shortly after otJr arrival with Ho sheep, » Mr Few who had aH/u taken up country on the’ shdrbs of the lak£,

hearing that we had reached our destination in safety, started from Canterbury with a mob of cattle with which to htock up his run. Up the valley of the Cardrona he' followed our tracks; but struck off over the Crown Range somewhat too soon, and on descending on our side he found himself in the gorge of, the Arrow, and had a most arduous task before he got the cattle down on to the open country where Arrowtown now stands. The gorge of the Arrow was ever known to us by the name of “ Few’s Folly.”

Finding it more difficult than ho had anticipated to get the cattle on to his own run, he obtained Mr Rees’ consent to allow them to graze on the flat country lying between the Shotover and Arrow Rivers, and left a stockman in charge of them. This stockman, John Henry Stringer by name, accompanied John Gilbert to the iLindis soon after to bring up some milch cows to the station, and on their way home, when crossing the cattle over the Molyneux at Wilkin’s station, poor Gilbert was drowned. Being a splendid swimmer he threw himself out of the saddle when his horse got beyond its depth, and struck out for the opposite shore. Apparently, however, he was caught in one of the dangerous whirls of the river, and was sucked under the water, and when his body was found it was going around and around, the hands in position on the chest, as if ready for another stroke, showing that to the very last he continued to strike out for dear life.

The horse which : Gilbert had been riding Vita the one belonging to Stringer, and had for a long time been employed by the mailman on the road lietween Timaru and Moeraki, when it was accustomed to swim such rivers as the .Waitaki with the postman and the mailman on its back, and there can lie no doubt that if Gilbert had stuck to the saddle instead of depending; on his own powers as a swimmer he would have been brought safely to shore, for old Harry swam across without any effort, gave himself a shake, and began nibbling the grass as though nothing very particular had happened. For years afterwards poor Johnnie Gilbert’s grave was a conspicuous object on the spit of the land between the two branches of the Molyneux River which unite opposite Wilkin’s buildings. --’Stringer brought- on the cows to the station himself, and quite a little gloom was <?ast over our little community by the news of Gilbert's death. At this time there came to the station one called Duncan MacAusland, who had been.;engagpd by .Mr Roes, and no •better man could be found in the'colony for the. rough and hard work there was. to do.. Physically and constitutionally one of the strongest men: I have ever known, always in good spirits, as happy when he was camped out with neither food to cat nor shelter wherewith to cover him from the rain, as he, was in comfortable quarters with a first-class, menu before him. Although a most inveterate smoker, I never saw him with' a pipe in his mouth ..when he was at work, but ho sooner was the word-given to spell awhile and have a omoko than his was the . first pipe to be alight.

Tn eonneetinn with tin's f nr’v rnenfmn Hat on one Occasion tn ra snnrdV tvf' tobacco .ran op thesHt'ori, arid when His hannened the', drays Avere ’not due , to arrive at'the foot of the like’ for 'some ' time..,. Every., substitute was tried bv ■ ' I r'-'“ d „ •. the smokers" df otir community to ap-

pease their craving, such as tea leaves and the bark of manuka scrub; even black cutty pipes were powdered up and mixed with some combustible or other, but still the craving would not be satisfied.

I can remember still how Mr Rees and I —the two non-smokers of the station —argued in favour of patience and forebearance to the others, pointing out what a good thing it would be to them all, as teaching them how to control their tastes, but the only answer that was vouchsafed was a groan. When we tried to distract their thoughts from tobacco, and pointed out the beauty of the scenery around us and to the grandeur of the waves as they broke over the rocks on' the shore of the lake, they only looked at us as if they would faiu iiave smote us where we stood. The beauties of the world palled on their tastes: the wonders of creation seemed as naught to them. If we drew their attention to the luxuries of the table which we were enjoying—the broth, the gigot of mutton or the inevitable cur-

rant pudding on Sunday, their only answer was “ Take the whole blooming ‘ duff,’ but give us a plug of tobacco.” Had I not had a witness to the misery created by that tobacco famine I would never have believed that men could be such slaves to the weed, but that these, my fellow-workers, actually became ill with the longing desire to indulge in a smoke is a positive fact, and Mr Roes was obliged to allow MacAusland to ride to Wilkin's station, a distance of 50 miles, in order to get a little tobacco to

carry them on until the arrival of our

own dray

Amongst the number of our domestic animals was one to whigh I have made no allusion; this was a small terrier dog owned by Mrs MacGaw, which was the source of some considerable amusement on one occasion at any rate. It so happened that one of the milch cows went astray, and it was some time before we were able to account for its absence. One day, however, as I was looking for the horses up “Blow Ho’” Gully, when crossing the creek which empties itself into the lake near the men’s hut, I found the carcase of the lost cow iu the creek, where it evidently had been bogged, and must have been lying for days. I told Mr Rees of my discovery, and pointed out to him that the water in the stream would be unfit for use, and that we better have the carcase taken out at once. He, however, put off doing so, as we were so busy at the time, and it was not till about a week afterwards when the water become unfit to drink, and we had been obliged to build a small pier out into the lake in order to get the water from there, that he saw the absolute necessity of removing the dead cow. Calling all hands together, on a Sunday afternoon we were marched up to where the remains of the cow were, and, tying a rope around the horns, the main hody of us laid hold on to it, whilst Mr Rees and MacGaw took hold of the tail, and then with a one, two, and three, we all pulled together, but alas! the carcase was gone the way of all flesh, aud

the tail giving way, precipitated Mr Rees and MacGaw into the creek. Although it was a far from pleasant bath, they both joined in the laugh at their own expense, and then, having succeeded in getting the body of the cow out, and having buried it, we adjourned to the men’s hut. Shortly Mr Rees came in, and announced his intention of holding service, so we all seated ourselves round the room, and opening the Bible he read to us the 14th chapter of St. Luke. When he had reached the fifth verse, which says, tu Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straight way pull him out on the Sabbath Day,” we glanced furtively at each other, and, if I rightly remember, a few knowing winks passed between us, as we thought of how apropos this chapter fitted into this unpleasant job we had been engaged in just shortly previous to this. Having finished the chapter, Mr Rees proceeded to read the prayers belonging to the Episcopal Church, but as we happened, one and all, to be of Presbyterian persuasion, this form of worship was a great mystery to us, and a good bit ,of jumping up and kneeling down was performed by our little congregation not in accordance with the rules laid down for the guidance of members of the Episcopal Church, till, in one of those scrambles, George Simpson stood heavily on the tail of Mrs MacGaw’s dog, which set up a wonderfully strong howl for such a little fellow. Mrs McGaw rose from her knees and hurried to its rescue, whilst George prostrated himself, and amidst the suppressed laughter of the others, some standing and some kneeling, Mr Rees closed his book and left the hut. Speaking to me afterwards on the subjest, he said he was much shocked at our behaviour, but when I explained that none of us knew that form of worship at all, and that our apparently bad behaviour was unintentional, he was appeased, and after that date his services were reduced to a simpler form, in which we all gladly joined. (To be continued)