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Port Molyneux : the story of Maori and pakeha in South Otago : a centennial history : commemorating the landing of George Willsher and his companions at Willsher Bay, June 28, 1840 : with a programme for the unveiling of the centennial cairn, erected by the Clutha County Council, June 28, 1940

Chapter XII. — Survey And Selection Of South Molyneux

Chapter XII.
Survey And Selection Of South Molyneux.

Coming after Tuckett, who made the exploratory survey of the Otago Block, Mr. C. H. Kettle was responsible for the definite survey of the area.

After working as a surveyor for the New Zealand Company in the Wellington and Hutt districts, he returned to England, and in 1845 he was appointed a surveyor to carry out the New Edinburgh surveys. He arrived in Otago on February 23, 1846. In 1851 he became Government Surveyor and Registrar of Deeds, and in 1854 took up a run in the Kaihiku district. In 1860 he was elected to the House of Representatives for the Bruce Electorate.

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Kettle's first child was born on March 3, 1847, the first white girl born in Dunedin, and the second child. The first child born on the site of Dunedin was a boy, John Anderson, born at Pelichet Bay on December 10, 1846. He was well–known later as the greatly respected John Anderson, of “Carol,” Waiwera South.

Before leaving Wellington for Otago, Kettle advertised that “tenders are required for the survey of over 100,000 acres of land, chiefly unwooded, at New Edinburgh, at prices per acre, per ten acre, and per fifty acre sections …”

After a ten–day walk right down through the block from Port Chalmers to the Molyneux, Mr. Kettle decided to split the survey into five contracts.

The first contract: The land on the right of the river, including the areas now known at Molyneux, Balclutha, Inchclutha, Puerua, Kaihiku, and Waiwera. This block was allotted to Messrs. Wylie, Wills, and Jollie, a surveying partnership.

The second contract: The area between the Molyneux and the Tokomairiro Rivers. Surveyors: Messrs. Thomas and Harrison.

The third contract: Land between the Tokomairiro and Taieri Rivers, Waihola and Waipori. Surveyors: Messrs. Drake and Tully.

The fourth contract: North from the Taieri River, including the Taieri Plain. Surveyors: Messrs. Scrogg and Abbott.

The fifth contract: Anderson's Bay, the Otago Peninsula, and the Lower Kaikorai. Surveyor: Mr. Charlton.

The town of Dunedin had previously been surveyed by Messrs. Park and Davidson.

The South Molyneux surveyors—Edward Jollie, Andrew Wylie, and A. C. Wills—chartered a brig called the “Bee” in Wellington, and after calling at Port Chalmers, sailed for the Molyneux, but bad weather forced them to the Bluff for shelter. After two days there, they returned to Molyneux and landed in a heavy surf, with snow falling.

The North Molyneux survey party—Thomson and Harrison—also came by boat to Molyneux, which they used as a base.

The South Molyneux survey took the best part of a year, and was completed about the end of June, 1847.

First Sections Selected At Home.

All these sections were selected, either in London or Edinburgh, on November 16, 1847:—

Section 1, Block I, South Molyneux, 50 acres, selected by George Ross and Andrew Mercer. The land between the Lock Bridge and the other bridge. This section was the old Alexandra Hotel property. Now owned by Mrs. Shiels.

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Section 3, Block I, South Molyneux, selected by John Brown and Sons. Now owned by Otago Presbyterian Church Board of Property, Dunedin. Now occupied by Mr. Aitkenhead.

Section 4, Block I, South Molyneux, 50 acres. Selected by John McDermid. Now occupied by Stanley McColl.

Section 5, Block I, South Molyneux, 50 acres. Selected by W. H. Cutten. Now occupied by George Watson.

Section 1, Block II, South Molyneux, 50 acres. Selected by David Garrick. Now occupied by Telford Tilson.

Section 2, Block II, South Molyneux, 50 acres. Selected by W. A. Mosley. Now occupied by Miss Bates.

Section 3, Block II, South Molyneux, 50 acres. Selected by Charles Smith. This is the section on which the township of Kaka Point commences.

It will be noticed that Section 2, Block I, is not included in the above list. Section 2 came between Sections 1 and 3, and obviously was the section on whcih the harbour end of the town was laid out.

The Memories Of A Pioneer.

Mr. John McNeil, the first man to settle on the Balclutha Flat, the first Mayor of Balclutha, and the first Chairman of the Clutha County Council, arrived in Otago in 1849. Here is his story of the first settlers: “In the spring of 1852 I was sent by my father to the Clutha with his cattle from Blanket Bay … on arriving at that part of the Clutha River where the town of Balclutha now stands, there was no habitation of any sort in sight. There were only a few people in the Clutha district then. On the south side of the Clutha Mr. Willsher was settled … He had brought a few cattle with him, which had increased to a considerable mob… There was also a Mr. Russell settled in Molyneux Bay. The first settlers were the late Mr. William Mosley and Mr. Burrell, who took up land near the mouth of the River. The next settlers were Mr. Fuller and Mr. George Hay, who settled at what is now called Romahapa. Alexander and Nathaniel Chalmers settled in the same locality about the same time. Thomas, Andrew, and Alexander Archibald were the next to settle. They took up land close to the Awikiki Bush, in the South Clutha district. Mr. Wallace and Mr. Andrew Mercer also settled about the same time in that locality… Mr. Thomas Redpath was the first to settle on Inchclutha. Mr. John Shaw settled shortly afterwards on the south bank of the river, opposite Mr. Redpath's place…”