ARRIVAL OF SAILING SHIP JURA

Southland Times, Issue 24243, 28 September 1940, Page 11

ARRIVAL OF SAILING SHIP JURA

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED The eighty-second anniversary of the arrival at Port Chalmers of the sailing ship Jura was celebrated on Monday by a reunion of passengers and descendants of passengers. Of the nine surviving passengers only two —Messrs George Clark, of Roslyn, and G. Clark, of Oamaru —were able to be present, but about 60 descendants attended the social gathering in the Early Settlers’ Hall. The chairman was Mr J. A. Patterson, and he extended special greetings to the last nine of the Jura’s 375 passengers—Messrs George Clark (Roslyn), D. Clark (Milton), G. Clark (Oamaru), W. Paterson (Roslyn), John Affleck (Invercargill), Mrs A. Morton (Mosgiel), Mrs Dickie (Dunedin), Mrs Williams (Dunedin) and Mrs Dallas (Te Houka).

A tribute was paid by the Rev. D. C. Herron, the main speaker of the afternoon, to the magnificent courage of the men and women who set out on the Jura, a “cockle shell” of 750 tons, to adventure on the other side of the world. There were 375 of them, of whom 124 were children, 18 of them less than 12 months old. There were mothers and fathers with nine, seven and' five children, while families of three were common. Those people were inspired by the resourcefulness and pluck that had been developed in the spirit of New Zealand. “That was the spirit which made the New Zealanders such valuable soldiers in the last war,” Mr Herron said, “and it is

the spirit which will distinguish them again this time.” The president of the Otago Early Settlers’ Association (Mr W. J. Strong) and the Mayor (Mr A. H. Allen) also spoke briefly before the gathering resolved itself into a conversazione over afternoon tea.