Pioneers' Night at 4YA

Radio Record, Volume III, Issue 23, 20 December 1929, Page 8

Pioneers' Night at 4YA

I nteresting History. Reculled 3: aa ‘s i. . a HE broadcasting of "A Night With the -Pioneers," by 4YA on Saturday, December 21, when a particularly interesting and entertaining programme will be presented, will give a radio picture of life on the emigrant ships, and of life in thé early days of the Otago settlement, Some historic musical instruments ‘will be played-the first organ, the first piano,an oboe used by Robert Burns and: bagpipes which were played*at ‘the’ Relief of Lucknow. Old sea captains ‘will sing chanties. In connéction|,with the founding of Otago, "an interesting incident is recalled. .On March 21, 1848, the "John Wickliffe," the. first of the immigrant ships to. reach Otago, dropped anchor off Taiaroa:- Heads, .In answer to their signal guns, out: fron. _the harbour mouth shot two whale-boats, one bringing Richard Driver, the pilot,.and the other Mr. Kettle, the surveyor in charge of the laying-out of the settlement. Pulled by. their. stalwart: Maori crews, who: in.the whaling days of the previous decade had-learnt to rival. their BHuropean teachers: in the handling of small craft, the boats raced: across the sunlit waters. Imagine the eagerness of the immigrants as they‘sought knowledge of the land oftheir dreams from their new-found friends; picture their half-credulous: bewilderment. .as they listened ‘to the banter and tall tales ‘of Dick Driver and his grinning dusky comrades. oo

That night the "John. Wickliffe" lay off the land and, to.while away the time, several of the new arrivals produced.the ‘very latest: in fishing tackle and, vainly sought-to land the barracouta that teemed in the silvery waters. With good-humoured. contempt, the Maoris split up an old cask stave into pieces, which they decorated with.a bit of red rag,-a-flax string and a hook, and. soon caught:a-boatload. © Incidentally, amongst the Maoris who are’ taking: part in. the radio representation, are several descendants of Karetai and Taiaroa,-the chiefs of Otakou in the days before the coming of the whites. ; a Early on the. following morning, March 22, the "John Wickliffe". entered the harbour, sailed past the little. village of Otakou, Port Daniel, which even at that early date contained thirty-four white families, and finally cast anchor in Koputai Bay, as Port Chalmers was called in those days. . Before the disembarkation. of passengers and stores had been completed, the weather changed. Those who came by the "Phillip Laing," some three weeks later, commenced their néw .Jife-under conditions that must have recalled vividly to them the misty moorlands of their old homes in far-off Scotland. | ,