In the “fifties” and “sixties” such roads as there were in South Otago all lead to Port Molyneux. An outstanding example still exists in the hairpin bend on the Main Highway at Mr. Jackman's residence at Romahapa. To–day it is an awkward corner for cars going from Balclutha to Owaka, but when the roads were made no one visualised that “the Port” would cease to be the centre of the South Otago world.

Shipping at Port Molyneux jetty.

Until late in the “seventies,” when the railway came to Stirling and then across the river to Balclutha, all produce from the Kaitangata and Inchclutha district went down the river by boat to Port. Molyneux.

Good Land, But A Bad Harbour.

Tuckett had no delusions about the value of Molyneux Harbour. In a letter dated Otakou, August 16, 1844, written to Dr. Hodgkinson, Tuckett gives a glowing account of land, but is not satisfied with the river entrance: “The Matau district alone would afford all the land required for the settlement, and there I would have established it could I have entered the Matau with the schooner. But without the aid of steam power, neither this nor the other principal rivers on the East Coast can be entered. Here there is rather more than 12ft. of water at low water on the bar. No vessel can remain in the Bay with an easterly wind. With the aid of a steam tug, I consider it perfectly available and eligible for vessels drawing 15ft. of water.”

Sailing Down to the Port.

In all new countries rivers are naturally the main highways. The Clutha River was navigable for many miles, up to Tuapeka Mouth, while the Matau and the Koau branches served Inchclutha, Kaitangata, South Molyneux, and Otanomomo.

The young men of the day remember what heavy work it was—quite easy sailing down with the current, but a very heavy pull back against the stream. Here is a description of the river inside the bar: “The harbour formed a wide stretch of water 300 or 400 yards wide and stretching away up river towards the junction. It was a beautiful and animating sight to see as many as six or eight ships unloading or loading, others lying at anchor waiting their turn to unload, or to get a wind to carry them up the river to Kaitangata.” The principal exports from the district were grain and potatoes, and sometimes a cargo of black pine sleepers. There were no waterside workers; the members of the crews doing all the loading and unloading.

Little Ships—And Shipwrecks.

Early newspaper records disclose the names of some of these early ships. On February 18, 1849, we learn that the cutter “Catherine Johnstone,” 10 tons, and the cutter “Mercury” left Otago Harbour for the Molyneux. In March, 1849, the “Jumping Jackass” arrived at the Port with George Hay, his wife, and family. Other cutters mentioned in this month are the “Catherine Johnstone” and the “Mercury.” In 1852 we find mention of the schooner “Endeavour” (Captain Sinclair) bringing the Mosleys to their selection on Inchclutha. The schooner “star,” Captain Blackie, is mentioned in 1856. In 1857, page 64

Early View of Port Molyneux.

page 65 the “Endeavour,” a schooner known as the pioneer of the coastal trading fleet, was wrecked. The paddle steamer “Ada” suffered likewise in 1861.

The month of September, 1861, was a black one for the trading schooners, no less than three becoming total wrecks at Molyneux—the “Pioneer,” the “Ann Jane,” and the “Margaret.”

A paddle steamer, the Tairoa, 51 tons, was specially built for the Molyneux by Mr. Edward McGlashan in 1865. On May 27, 1871, “the master committed an error of judgment in entering the river after dark and against the ebb tide.” The vessel became a total loss.

Other vessels mentioned are the “Wallace,” Captain Edie, who stowed grain “in the hold, on the deck, and even in the cabin”; the “Storm Bird,” in command of Captain C. Fraser; and the “Lady of the Lake,” a steamer of 80 tons, which on December 29, 1876, became a total wreck in Molyneux Bay.

On more important occasions the s.s. “Geelong” came from Dunedin. In her travelled Captain Cargill on his famous visit to the river, when the settlers failed to appear, much to the disgust of the Superintendent of the Province!

On May 15, 1878, the schooner “Lloyd's Herald,” sailing from Catlins River to Port Molyneux, was wrecked in Willsher Bay.

Steamers On The River.

In an attempt to open up trade with the goldfields, the first steamer for up–river traffic, the “Tuapeka,” Captain Murray, reached Port Molyneux on August 11, 1863. She made trips as far as Tuapeka Mouth. In 1867, Sir George Grey, the Governor, used her to travel on the river, visiting Port Molyneux and the coalfields at Kaitangata.

The next steamer was not a success. The “Clutha” was a side paddle boat and was built at Clydevale in 1871. It is said that her engine was taken from a steam plough used at Clydevale.

The real successor to the “Tuapeka” was the “Balclutha.” The engine was taken out of the “Tuapeka” and put in the “Balclutha.” She was built at Port Molyneux, “opposite the Brick Cottage,” by Mr. Robert Mason from Dunedin.

The succeeding ships were the “Iona,” the “Matau,” and the “Clyde,” and the present steamer, the “Clutha.”

The Town Of Port Molyneux.

An elaborate plan of the Port Molyneux township is preserved in the office of the Clutha County Council. The main part of the town was on both sides of that road which now leads from the old jetty up to Romahapa. This street was called Pendennis Street. About page 66 60 chains up the present main road, the layout culminated in an elaborate octagon, which ran round the area on which Mr. Andrew Wylie's house now stands.

The first road to the left was known as Flatholm Street, and this now serves as the road to Kaka Point and the Nuggets. Very few of the old sections are now distinguishable, the area now being grazing land.

Horse and Buggy Days: Picnic Party at Karoro Creek.

A Description Of The Town.

We are fortunate in that some years ago Mr. William Paterson set down details of the Port Molyneux in its heyday. With the help of the view printed on page 64, this description by Mr. Paterson enables us to visualise the Port Molyneux of the “sixties,” before the great flood of 1878 finally wrote “Ichabod” over the port:—

“When we went to Port Molyneux in 1863 it was a busy place. Standing on the jetty looking up the main road (Pendennis Street) on the left–hand side going up towards Balclutha, next the jetty was Allan Gault's timber yard, and the remains of Scott's shanty, where it is said they sold something stronger than tea. Going up Pendennis Street, the first building on the left was Allan Gault's ironmongery shop, now Adam Paterson's dwelling house. Next to that was Thomson and Mailler's general store; Robert Miller bought them out about 1865; then he failed, and my father (James Paterson) took over page 67 the business about 1866, and now it is my brother Adam A. Paterson's shop. The next building, about two chains further up the street, was R. L. Begg's general store. I think about 1870 my father bought him out. The old building of R. L. Begg's was for many years used as the hall; it was later removed, and is now a barn and stable on a farm. Next to R. L. Begg's was the Government bond, in charge of Edmund Rich, Customs officer, a son–in–law of Major Richardson. A little further up was Walter Nicol's dwelling house. He was a carpenter. That was all on the left–hand side.

“Then back again to the jetty on the right–hand side, over near the Puerua River, was A. C. Begg's big general store and grain and wool shed. Between that and the Main Road was the Alexandra Hotel. Sockley was the first landlord, then Ancell, and then John Paterson (he was no relation of ours). Between the Alexandra Hotel and the Main Road was the police office and lockup—Albert was the policeman.

“We are now back to Pendennis Street. The first building on the right–hand side was Brewer and Levison's general store, late William Brown and Co., and somewhere about 1870 was bought out by my father, who removed the stock to his own shop. The old building was transformed into a residence, and for many years John L. Wylie lived in it. In later years the building was removed to Puerua, and was my home for many years. It was built at Port in 1861. Behind the shop, in two small huts, was a butcher and a painter and paperhanger.

“Farther up Pendennis Street was the Commercial Hotel. Robert McLay was proprietor, afterwards John Hartley Jenkinson. Next to the Commercial Hotel was John Colvin, carpenter, then Dan. McIntosh's blacksmith shop, and next his dwelling place. Then a little farther up, C. Finlayson, bootmaker, afterwards W. Glass.

At the top of the street, on the point of the ridge, was the old building, the first school and church. I attended the school as a boy when the school was first opened; we had no desks, and we had to go down on our knees and write on the forms. That building is now the Oddfellows’ Lodge, M.U.I.O.O.F. It was removed to its present position about 1874.

“What a change has taken place! Of all those buildings I have mentioned, only Allan Gault', Thomson and Mailer',^* Walter Nicol's and the Lodge Room remain. And my brother Adam is the only one left alive of those who were in Port Molyneux in 1854.

page 68

“The stern–wheel steamer “Tuapeka,” Captain Murray, reached Port Molyneux on August 11, 1863. John Brown was signal master at the pilot station at the mouth of the river.”

Early Fishing Days at the Nuggets before the Breakwater was built.

An “Octagon” That Was Not To Be.

“The best laid schemes … gang aft agley.” The Big Flood in the river in 1878 broke two new mouths through the sandspit—one at the Kaitangata end and one in the centre. The water scouring out these two new outlets caused the silting up of the old mouth. About the same time the railway to Balclutha from Dunedin was opened. So the glory of Port Molyneux diminished. In the few scattered buildings and the open paddocks of to–day it is hard to realise the old township, all laid out in small sections just as for Dunedin, with Pendennis Street as Stuart Street, and up at the top of Pendennis Street a Port Molyneux Octagon. To–day cows graze on a paddock which was designed to be the centre of a busy town. And the piles of the old jetty now stick up boldly enough just about two feet higher than the level of the dry land.

To–day Port Molyneux is neither a port nor a town. But a little farther on is Kaka Point, a summer resort which grows in popularity.

And the sports meeting held on New Year's Day at the Willsher Bay Domain is perhaps the oldest and most successful function of its page 69 kind in New Zealand. Generation after generation has gone there on New Year's Day—first in sledges, then in drays and traps, and now in motor cars. Here, where in 1841 Willsher and Russell spent a very lonely New Year, one hundred years afterwards a thousand motor cars arrive from fifty miles away, and get home again that night. One wonders what John Tuhawaiki would think of it all. But most likely his thoughts would be with the soldier boy in Egypt.