Whalers And Settlers.

Two or three years prior to 1840 a Mr. J. Jones, of Sydney, bought a large tract of land at Waikouaiti for a whaling station, whales then being plentiful at several points around the New Zealand coast. The station was in charge of Edward Palmer, who had with him John Foreman and Stephen Murphy as headmen, J. McLauch-lan, who was the cooper and had his wife with him, a Dr. Crocker, a blacksmith named McKenzie, two boat crews, and also a crew for the picking-up boat. The whalers were kept supplied with storespage 92 from Sydney, but Jones hit on the idea of starting a small European settlement alongside the station to raise stock and grow potatoes on the spot, in order to make the place as self-sustaining as possible.

At that time there happened to be in Sydney several South of England families, who had just come out, and found the heat of New South Wales too trying, so they gladly availed themselves of a chance to get to a cooler climate, by accepting Jones' suggestion that they should sign up with him and go to Waikouaiti. Mr. Murray G. Thomson, of Dunedin, wrote a pamphlet in 1884, giving an interesting account of this settlement, as he heard it from some old friends of his who settled at Murdering Beach in 1844.

There were thirty-three people concerned in this early migration from New South Wales, and the heads of the families agreed to stay with Jones for twelve months, the pay being £35 a year with rations. Oddly enough the names of all these families have been preserved in Thomson's little pamphlet, and though it is hardly worth while repeating them here it is interesting to know that there are still living two people who came over in that party—Mrs. Mary Woolsey (nee Coleman), aged 89, Port Chalmers; and Mrs. Eliza Burns (nee Kennard), aged 90, of Invercargill. Mrs. Woolsey was three years of age when she landed at Waikouaiti and Mrs. Burns was only a year older.

These very early Otago settlers sailed from Sydney in March, 1840, in the Magnet, Captain Bruce, a vessel that belonged to Jones, the owner of the whaling station, and traded regularly to New Zealand, bringing down stores and taking back whale-oil, etc. In the party there were twelve men, all but two being married, and having their wives with them, and there were eleven children. The Magnet took 21 days to reach Waikouaiti, having first made a call at the Bluff, where she landed stores. Before the newcomers built their own whares at Waikouaiti they lived in a big one-roomed shed with a thatched roof, bunks being ranged round the sides, shipboard fashion. Later, with the help of the Maoris, each family built for itself a whare, 40 feet long by 14 feet wide. Going into the bush they cut round logs for the uprights, smaller ones for the ridge-pole and plates, and thatched the frame with rushes made secure with flax.

Finding the climate of Waikouaiti very much more to their liking than the heat of Sydney, the English immigrants settled down with a will, and lost no time in starting cultivating the ground. Occasionally, during the busiest part of the season, they used to lend a hand at the whaling station. The whalers were a decidedly rum lot, and most whalers were the same in those wild times, comprising "runaway sailors, convict expirees from Sydney, men who were dodging their creditors, and some well-educated men attracted to the calling by love of adventure," to quote an old-time description. "They were a wild, mischievous lot, but very good-natured, and always ready to do a good turn to anyone, especially to new-comers."

On her next trip down from Sydney the Magnet brought Mr. and Mrs. Watkin, first Wesleyan missionaries, who had with them a large supply of books and also Bibles printed in Maori. Mr. Watkinspage 93 soon made his influence felt, and Sunday was observed by both brown and white. The natives were quick at picking up pakeha knowledge at the school established by this indefatigable couple.

When their engagement with Mr. Jones came to an end some of the settlers re-engaged, while some took other jobs, and some moved away to Otago Heads, where they joined a whaling station owned by Mr. Willers, of Sydney, and managed by a German named Schultz. There were six boats and about sixty men at this station at the Heads, and there was another one under the same ownership at the Taieri.

These Sydney-owned whaling stations were the first points at which pakeha and Maori came into touch. Each station generally had a barque or a brig attached to it, for the purpose of bringing stores and taking back the oil. At the time of which we are speaking Otago Harbour was a regular place of call for whaling ships, which put in for fresh water, potatoes and pork, and sometimes to effect repairs. As many as eleven vessels might have been seen lying in Otago Harbour at the one time. John Hunter, Richard Driver, and James Fowler were the pilots, and as it was "first on board gets the job" there were some exciting races between their well-manned boats when a sail hove in sight. The pilot fee was £5 in and £5 out. In addition to piloting, Hunter was a sort of merchant in the pork and potato line of business. He stood well with the Maoris, always treating them with strict honesty, so he had no difficulty in always being able to collect what quantity of supplies might be called for—no simple matter when dealing with the easy-going natives with their "taihoa" ways. When he got an order from a whaling skipper for so many tons of potatoes Hunter would inform the Maoris, who next morning would march down to the beach with the required quantity in kits. Tobacco was a favourite currency, and Hunter used to walk between the rows of kits, placing a plug on each as he passed. Then the Maoris would follow, pick up each plug, and the transaction was complete. Pigs were bought in much the same manner, but occasionally the payment would be in blankets or sugar—the Maoris being inordinately fond of this last-mentioned introduction of the pakeha.