PIONEERS’ DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24227, 20 February 1940, Page 2

PIONEERS’ DAY

GATHERING OF EARLY SETTLERS AN INSPIRING OCCASION “COURAGE, VISION, AND FAITH ” REWARDED There were only a few representatives of the younger generation to fill the roles of lookers-on when early settlers of Otago and descendants took part in a reunion at Logan Park yesterday afternoon. The occasion was part of the centennial celebrations programme, and to the few present who were of comparatively tender years and experience, the gathering of nearly 700 pioneers, and particularly the agedefying spirit of the oldest among them, were something to inspire wonder and admiration. A cold wind was

not capable of deterring these veterans, and the afternoon passed quickly in listening to an address by the Rev. W. Allen Stevely, having photographs taken, and chatting over afternoon tea. The chairman for the afternoon, which was organised by a sub-com-mittee of the Otago Early Settlers’ Association, working under the Otago Provincial Centennial Council, was Mr D, J. Calder, with whom was associated the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen). Mr Allen welcomed the visitors on behalf of the city and of the Provincial Centennial Council, of which he is chairman, and briefly congratulated them on the record of service of which they had every possible reason to be proud. Mr Calder spoke in the same strain. “Who are the aristocracy of New Zealand? ”he asked “ The pioneers are, and we are proud to be the descendants of such an aristocracy.”

Words Enriched

These short welcomes followed the singing of the National Anthem and the hymn “ O God Our Help in Ages Past” and a prayer led by Mr Stevely, and they led up to the address of the afternoon. Mr Stevely’s subject was “ Words Enriched by the Pioneers,’’ and he attacked it by recalling that a committee was get up not long ago to ascertain, if possible, the most popular words in the English language at the present time. After much thought and careful investigation, he said, that committee decided to classify the words into a cross-section of current popular literature. It examined representative parts of all the literature in which the present day was constantly interested. It counted and tabulated more than 4.000,000 words, and the result disclosed the first six words in the following order:—Time, day, man, place, year, and work.

“ That list contains food for thought,” he went on. “It .is not frivolous. It Is not evil. It is an index of our day. It reflects our eager, restless, harrying age. Its omissions are as impressive as its inclusions.

“ If we apply this test to what has been written and spoken about the pioneers of our Dominion—by our Governor-General, the Marquis of Wiilingdon, Lord Bledisloe, and many others—we find that there are certain words always used and which are central in their speeches. “ These are the words: Courage, vision, and faith. These three, and they are great words.” The Courage of the Pioneers No one could read and hear the story of the early days without being profoundly impressed by the magnificent courage of the men and women who settled in this land. It meant for them the leaving of home and kindred and familiar scenes, facing a voyage much longer than was known to-day. and establishing themselves in an unknown and tractless region. When the pioneers came to these shores, there were no roads, bridges, railways or means of transport. With splendid courage they faced the task of constructing all these things. When one remembered the limited means at their disposal, one recognised it as a brave enterprise. The word “ courage ” was enshrined in the story of the pioneers. "We honour the heroism of the men and women who laid the foundations of our national life and developed our country, and the benefit of whose labours and sacrifice we enjoy to-day,” Mr Stevely continued. "Pioneering in every department of life has ever demanded courage," and he quoted the courage of Dr Manson and his companion, who allowed themselves to be bitten by infected mosquitoes in order to test Sir Ronald Ross’s theory of the cause of malaria, to illustrate that courage was an essential quality of the pioneer

“This spirit is needed to-day,” he went one. “That it lives on is seen in the response of our gallant men to the challenge of the present crisis. It is the snirit which has inspired our men. the descendants of the pioneers, to go forth in the great crusade for freedom and truth. It is the spirit which will enable our generation to he the pioneers of a greater and better national life."

Another word associated with the story of the pioneers was “ vision.” The privileges and benefits we enjoyed today we owed to the vision and imagination of the early settlers. They planned cities and townships, they laid the foundations of institutions and movements that had grown and developed through the century. One aspect of their vision, and one that was typical of the others, was the early interest of the pioneers in the important matter of education. If the educational system of New Zealand compared creditably with that of older countries, the fact was due to the vision of the first settlers. Their Vision It was thrilling to read in a very early record contained in the Kirk Session minutes of First Church (in the handwriting of Dr Thomas Burns) of the eager and practical interest taken in education from the very outset of the settlement. Speaking at a later date Dr Burns himself fell he must pay a tribute to the vision of the pioneers, and he remarked: ‘What, a wise provision it was that early we should have the tax on the sale of Crown lands, and that we did not allow the initial difficulties of the settlement to cause any delay.' So today our university, colleges, and schools in city and country were the living harvest of their sowing, and constituted a noble tribute to the vision of the pioneers. In other matters besides education they tolled and sacrificed for the development of the colony with splendid foresight and laudable ambitions Their Faith “ Faith is another word much used when the pioneers arc recalled,” Mr Stevely said. ‘‘That is why instinct-

ively we turn to that great chapter in Hebrews (ch. xi), when we think of the men and women whom we delight to honour at this time. ‘By faith ’ is the refrain of that impressive chapter. And faith is the secret of all that is noblest and most inspiring in the life and service of the pioneers. It has been reported from an authentic source that German soldiers are not allowed to carry a copy of the New Testament. When faith dies and moral restraints are banished, and the Bible is banned, the door is opened to paganism with all its cruelty, oppression, falsehood, and terror. “Great spiritual values are involved in the present crisis. The Christian principles and faith that adorned the lives of the pioneers and which inspired the progress of the century of the Dominion’s history are being challenged and imperilled. The answer of our Empire is that they shall be vindicated and saved for humanity. That is the vital connection between past and present. With gratitude we honour the memory of the pioneers for their courage and vision and faith,” he concluded. “These qualities are urgently needed to-day to save civilisation and to guide it along the road of abiding prosperity, progress, and peace. I give you this toast; ‘To the memory of the pioneers, and may their spirit be ours! ’ ”

Captain Cook’s Oversight

His listeners were told by Mr A. W. Mulligan, general secretary to the New Zealand Centennial Council, something of the history of Otago long before even the oldest of them had made acquaintance with life. Mr Mulligan now hails from Wellington, but he is a Dunedin boy. In fact, the chairman introduced him as a descendant of Captain Cargill. He had made something of a study of early Otago history, and he commented first on the surnrising fact that such a good harbour as that of Otakou, or Otago, should have escaped the vigilant eve of Captain Cook when he cruised down the east coast of the South Island in February, 1770. But Cook passed the entrance to the harbour in hazy weather, though he looked back from off Cane Saunders, which he named, and noticed some bays which he did not have time to explore

The Matilda. 1813

Scalers had combed the coasts or Otago, and whalers were beginning to work in Otago waters when the first shin of which there was certain record entered the harbour. This was the Matilda, which scent a few days in the harbour during September. 1813. The Natives were friendly, and supplied the ship with fresh provisions. The first New Zealand Company expedition, under Captain Herd, made the earliest known chart of the Lower Harbour in 1826. The company’s two ships, the Rosanna and the Lambton. reached New Zealand early in 1826 and cruised up the coast from Stewart Island in leisurely fashion, charting the most important havens—Otago. Port Underwood, and Port Nicholson—before thev sailed on-north to buy land at the Thames and. Kokianga. For some reason, possibly cowardice, the expedition sailed away to Sydney early in 1827 without founding the colony of sawyers it had brought out to exploit the wonderful New Zealand forests. “Probably in 1832 Weller Brothers founded their whaling station at Port Otago,” Mr Mulligan went on. “In later years they and Johnny Jones, of Waikouaiti, practically divided the whaling trade between them. The latter deserves credit for his pioneering of land development in Otago on more than a one-man scale. He imported considerbale numbers of stock, as well as people to work his land, in 1840, the same year as the New Zealand Company brought out the first settlers to Port Nicholson. The year 1840 was eventful for Otago, as it was for the rest of New Zealand. First, the two ships of Dumont d’Urville’s exploring expedition. L’Astrolabe and La Zelee, reached Otago Harbour from the Antarctic. His party stayed a few days at the beginning of April, charting the anchorage and penetrating up the harbour to the furthest limit of navigation. D’Urville had been several years out from France, and had no knowledge of the British decision to add New Zealand to the Empire. It was not till June 13, 1840. that H.M.S. Herald heaved to off Otago Harbour to enable Major Bunbury to go ashore for a few hours to secure the signatures of the local chiefs to a copy of the Treaty of Waitangi. This was the first contact that Otago had with the new Government of New Zealand, and the next was to be in 1843. when Edward Shortland, Sub-protector of Aborigines, and Colonel Godfrey, Commissioner of Land Claims, arrived in September to hear the of local white men to own land in the neighbouring country."

“ Vague Aspiration ” Realised

In October, 1842, Captain W. Mein Smith, chief surveyor to the New Zear land Company, had picked an eligible site for a town on the shores of Otago Harbour. It was not till April, 1844, however, that the Quaker surveyor, Frederick Tuckett, a survivor of the Wairau Massacre, arrived and definitely chose Otago as the site of the New Edinburgh settlement, projected by the Free Church of Scotland. On July 31, 1844, the Otakou Block was purchased at Port Chalmers by Captain J. J. Symonds, as agent for the Government. On May 16, 1845, the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland was formed at Glasgow to carry into effect the vague aspiration for a Scots settlement at this end of the South Island—the settlement actually founded 'in 1848 under the excellent leadership of Captain Cargill. “It is interesting to note that although the first substantial settlement of Otago was carried out by the Free Church of Scotland, other denominations had preceded it in this field,” Mr Mulligan concluded. “In 1840 Johnny Jones, that rough diamond with some surprisingly smooth facets, had brought to Waikouaiti the Rev. James Watkin, a Wesleyan, the first missionary to reside in the South Island. In November of the same year the Roman Catholic Bishop Pomnallier had visited Otago Harbour. Then in January, 1844, Bishop Selwyn had toured the province, and in May of the same year the German missionary. Wohlers, had begun his work at Ruapuke Island. This did not prevent the dominance of the Presbyterian creed among the settlers who were to battle so heroically with nature and circumstance in a corner of New Zealand that had been neglected earlier by settlers seeking the easiest row to hoe, where the climate itself promoted an industrious mode of life.”

Three Wonderful Pioneers This was the end of the speechmaking of the afternoon. It had been interspersed with items, mostly old favourites, by an orchestra under the baton of Mr J. F. Himburg, and it merged into a conversazione. The gathering included so many notable pioneers that a summary cannot do justice to them; but it is appropriate that pride of place in the group for the official photograph should have been given to three wonderful old ladies, representatives of everything that is to be admired in those who built the foundations of the province. They are Mrs J. Coombs, aged 94 who came out in the Mariner in 1849; Mrs D. Auld, aged 96J, who came out in the George Cannon, in 1858; and Mrs J. Sparrow, aged 93. They were a remarkable trio, all hale and hearty and thoroughly enjoying their chats with many friends. But they were only three of a gathering that could tell much of the effort that has gone into the making of Otago.