Title: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Author: Cyclopedia Company Limited

Publication details: The Cyclopedia Company, Limited, 1905, Christchurch

Part of: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand

License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence

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Mr. Joseph Moss , Old Colonist, who has been settled in Oamaru for over forty years, and who was for some time a member of the Borough Council, was born in 1839 in London. At an early age he was apprenticed to a tobacconist, but ran away to sea when twelve years old. For about eighteen months he served on the barque ‘Sibella,” which he left in the East Indies to join the brig “Hermione,” in which he worked his passage to Melbourne, where he commenced his colonial career at the age of fourteen. After a year in Melbourne he went off to the gold-fields, which he followed for eight years. In 1861 he was attracted to Otago, spent nine months at Gabriel's Gully and settled in Oamaru in 1862. With Mr. S. E. Shrimski, after wards a member of the Legislative Council, he founded the firm of Shrimski and Moss, and they erected the first stone business premises in Oamaru. After the senior partner of the firm entered political life, Mr. Moss conducted business on his own account. Mr. Moss has always taken a keen interest in sport, is one of the oldest directors of the Caledonian Society, and has been a member of the North Otago Jockey Club for over thirty years.