Chapter 13

The Trek to Parkdale

Bess:
Yes, we did feel it many a time when father was downhearted, so we worked hard
and never wanted very much. However I think we're a very happy lot mostly.


About the Corries, there were six in the family besides the parents, Anny, Tom,
Mark, Kate, Maggie and Fanny. Annie and Tom were older than me I think,
then there was Maggie, she was married and ended up as a grandmother.
Kate was the youngest and still laughed at being an old maid. Fanny was
like the mother who was a dainty little lady.
Sam himself was a big man. What is left of the family lived in the Waitahuna
Township now, not on the farm. Fanny and Mark are dead now.

Fan:
Then there was the place with a pump and trough before we came to the Corries.
It was very frosty that morning also. The pump would did not work well for us and
I'm afraid had we had a very dry wash before running back under the tilt to keep warm.


Nell:
That was my first sight of a pump and I was amazed to see someone pour dirty water
from a hole nearby by into the pump. And almost immediately they came out clean
water for our kettle. I remember seeing that day or the previous one a man frying
chops on what I now believe to be a blacksmith's forge. I think it was a man called
Capstick, probably another carrier.


Fan:
Lawrence, when we passed through it seemed only a town of a few scattered houses.
We reached Evans Flat on a Saturday night and stayed over Sunday. It was a cold,
raw kind of day and if the boy who was minding Mrs Evans's baby had not made a
little fire on the ground to warm, we and the little baby he was minding would have
been miserable. Mother and baby Henry were in with Mrs Evans.

Father, Mary and Bess went to church in the afternoon.

Nell:
We saw a peacock at Evans Flat.

Bess:
Yes, and I thought the singing very beautiful at the church. We stopped at Evans
Flat on Sunday because father never would travel with his team on that day of the
week if he could possibly avoid it.

Fan:
We reach Raes Junction a little after dinner time, and the Bennetts who lived there
boiled the billy for us and we bought some chaff.

Nell:
We saw a range for the first time at Bennetts while at Raes Junction. Miss Bennett
was there with her black curls, the carriers called her the "Black Angel" and she was
a great favourite with them.

Fan:
We walked from Bennetts to the top of the Big Hill. In those days they did not go up
the Devil's Elbow and past Edies. It was dark before we reached the
accommodation house kept by Lomas. Mrs Lomas was a Miss Cotton from Waipori
and father had known them there. We were made very welcome, and Mrs Lomas
would have us woman folk sleep in the house.

Nell:
I remember we walked up the Big Hill.

Fan:
The next day 21st or 22nd of June after seeing the pet lambs at the sheep yards,
we started off to Swift Creek, the names names Parkdale and Heriot were not
used then. On the way down most of us preferred to walk. We passed Sherwood
Forest in a little gully to the right and arrived at Barclays on the left where there
was a hut and stable some men fencing and plowing a little further down.
Someone referred to them as "Sparks" . We called the blacksmith boys "Sparks"
and the carpenters "Chips" for a long time.

Bess:
Yes, that was the two Aitchison boys and a boy Eskvale from Tapanui.
Sam, Archie and Jim. They stood and stared at us newcomers. They and theirs
stood good friends to us for many a day.

Fan:
A few moments after passing them there were shouts of:
"There it is! There it is!" We all ran ahead of the wagon shouting:
"I can see it, that must be the house!"

I remember when we came to the place near Barclays where we looked over the
hill and saw the house. Henry was 2 years 1 month old at the time and always
maintained that he remembered seeing the house from that spot. Bess would no
doubt be carrying him on her hip as was her usual practice, when he was
young until mother had to stop her as she was going lopsided through doing so.

Henry was in the wagon with Mother. It was a lovely winter's day and in the early
morning, and coming down the hill from Dunrobin we had what I consider the the
finest view of Heriot in the district. On the left there was Crookston Flat-lying at the
foot of the beautiful blue mountains, and at that time all covered with natural grasses
and with only a few huts, and a little fencing, and no trace of homesteads.

The gullies of the mountain had the dark green of the native bush, with Tapanui
surrounded with it, and in the distance it was Wooded Hill with it's dark green
crown of native bush with wooded gullies and scattered cabbage trees.

In the immediate foreground there was Flaxy Hill. Leading from the back of this Hill
toward the right of the view was Swift Creek, with its banks green with native flax
making a trip through native swamp grasses to the Pomahaka river with it's low
gravel banks in the distance and beyond that again rolling down stretching as
far as the eye can see to the Hokanui Mountains, 30 miles away.

On the right, and nearer at hand were the ridges stretching away to a place called
Park Hill. We arrived on the site of Parkdale a little after midday but soon there
was a stir and the boiling of the billy and we soon had our first meal at the new
house.

This is a view on the road from Dunrobin to Heriot, looking towards the Blue Mountains:



This is a view on the road from Dunrobin to Heriot, looking towards Heriot,
there is a Kempthorne Road at the bottom of this hill.



Bess:
When father, Alf, Charlie and Wattie Grey first came to Parkdale, Mrs Ritchie across
the road stopped in the middle of her washing, took the boiler off the fire, and put
the kettle on to make tea and welcome the strangers.

Nell:
There was a terrific wind shortly after we went to Swift Creek,. A dray on the hill was
blown over and ended up with it's wheels in the air, bows broken and tilt torn.
Just tussock for miles, and the wind gained great speed and power. Nowadays
the force is broken by the plantations.

Chapter 12

The Trek to Parkdale

In giving the following account of the journey to Parkdale from Harveys flat,

I cannot be do better than use the words of Bess, Fan and Nell. Each

contribute the quota of memories of the second journey.

(Editor's note: There appears to be no location on modern maps for Harveys Flat.

I can only think it is somewhere near the Taieri River, fairly close to Dunedin.

Just need a Kempthorne to put me right! The maps shown here give a rough

idea of the journey. In the story below, the first night was spent at Outram, so

Harveys Flat would have been close to Outram)

This is modern day Heriot:

This map shows the relationship of Kelso to Heriot:

I will depart from their own words only in as much as necessary to give

continuity to the story, as we know full well that the descriptions of eyewitnesses

and the participants of any proceedings are more likely to be interesting.

I will arrange the tales of the three of them as if they were seated in our

midst and giving us their recollections directly.

Bess:

Father, Walter Grey and Alf and Charlie went to Heriot from Harveys Flat

before us, with the cattle sheep a few fowls and a Rover the dog.

Mary Jack and I helped them on their way with the cattle and sheep. The

sheep did not go too well with the cattle. We went so far. and stayed with them

all night and came home the next day. One cow was giving a small quantity of

milk, so they had milk for the tea on the way. She was very quiet.

Nell:

Lucy was her name and she must have come in again and gone dry recently,

and it was thought that the frosty weather in May and June was responsible.

It was very disappointing for the family on arrival at Parkdale to find there was

no milk. It is to be understood that father, Alf, Charlie and Walter Grey went to

Parkdale in the January previously. Father came back for us, and we arrived at

Swift Swift Creek on the shortest day June 1876.

Fan:

We were interested to learn when we knew we were going that Walter Grey was

to go with us to drive the cattle and do the fencing. He had his own horse called

"Dumper". Alf had the big dray loaded with the hand chaff cutter, the swing plough

etc and father had in the wagon wire for the fences and feed for the horses.

They slept in the wagon. Charlie had the little dray with horse in it, or it was tied to

one of the other vehicles. They had to put in the pet lambs aboard one of the

carts on the second day as they could not travel fast enough on foot. I think

Charlie drove the dray with the lambs. They went via Waipori on this trip and

had fine weather. The lambs were left at Mr McKays at Dunrobbin until we

arrived at Heriot, or Swift Creek as it was then called then.

While at Parkdale father engaged the carpenters and carted the timber

from Tapanui, and left Walter Grey, Alf and Charlie to make fences and look

after the cattle. Some of the horses were sold, as their feed was very dear

and only five we kept when he came back for us.

Nell:

They lived in the wagon bows for a time but it got burnt down and I suppose

by that time part of the house was ready.

Bess:

The Cook shop it was, and for many a day did Watty's fingermark stay on a

milk pan he pulled out. Poor Watties hand must have been sore. They did

not lose much in the fire.

Fan:

Prior to loading up, father made a trip to Dunedin for the roofing for the new house

and carted it to Heriot. The morning of the day we set out sun was shining and

we were all dressed in our Sunday best and mother send us to say goodbye to

the Fergusons, our neighbours who had built the house on the hill. We met our

wagon at the bottom of the road.

The month was June and father was afraid to go via Waipori as it was higher country

and there were likely to be snow storms that way so we went via Milton this time.

It was dark before we reached Outram.

Nell:

We traveled as far as Broadway's boarding house and stayed there the night. That

was my first experience of a full-length looking glass, in which I saw a girl with a

very a dress very much like mine, walking up to me.

Bess:

I shouldn't ever forget the many roosters that crowed at day-break. Next day was

the longest day, we went 22 miles, the longest stage we did.

I expect father thought that the road was good and he could move on a bit.

Jack and I had to see old "Hoppy" the horse and when evening came at Outram

we were rather out of sight and back beyond the corner, and old "Hoppy" stood still

on the road and would not budge.

By and by, father came back for us and gave her a few smacks with the whip and on

she went. I remember that the camping ground was all muddy, but "Hoppy" would

have a lie down somewhere. She gave no further trouble in the succeeding days.

Fan.

"Hoppy's" foal was sold at the sale and that was why she did not want to come along.

She was the mother of a lot of our plough horses later at Parkdale.

Nell:

We were eight days in the wagon. There were father, mother, Mary, Jack, Bess,

Fan, Lily and the baby Henry. The wagon was piled with goods and there was just

room for the small ones to stand up a girl. A girl called Helen Chisholm gave us a

book to read on the way, and what a boon it was.

Fan:

Mother wished very much that that we had some good books to read on the journey.

We little girls saw a train for the first time when on the first evening. Two bright lights

and the noise nearly frightened us, as the engine seem to be coming straight for us,

until someone has told us that it would not come off the rails. Then another thing

was the humming noise from the Telegraph wires, which was new to us.

Nell:

I remember we stayed that night near Lake Waihola. Years after, when travelling by

train, I was able to say to my companion that I was 6 when we camped just there on

the way to Swift Creek.

Fan:

We camped by the lake and saw it next morning. Mother and the young ones were in

the wagon with the tilt down to keep warm. Father knew the good camping places and

boiled the billy at midday. We were all ready for a cup of tea, especially mother.

There were no puddings or cream sponges, but we thought the new bread that we

were getting was very lovely. Father kept us well out of sight when going through towns

and only mother was allowed to peep through an opening in the tilt.

We used to tell father afterwards that he was ashamed of such a large family, but he

only laughed and said that they would only have stared at us. When going through

Milton mother said it was not much of a town. In the sunny part of the afternoon the

tilt was thrown back when we were in open country and we had a look around.

One day father heard that Eb Kingsford and Pat Lynch would likely be on the road.

They were mates, and they over took us and we camped at the same place that night.

Next day we traveled the same road for a time, and Mary and Bess had rides in their

wagons. In the afternoon father went to yarn with Eb Kingsford, so he told one of the

smaller girls to drive, as it was a long straight road, but mother was nervous.

However father went forward and mother kept telling the driver to keep in the middle

of the road. After a time the horses became slower and slower, knowing full well that

there was a New Chum driver on the seat, and the other teams were getting a long

way in front, so father sent Jack back to hurry the laggards and there was an

argument as to who was to drive. Then other teams turned on to another road

and we picked up father and the older girls.

Jack rode the old mare for a while, I think they said it was the white leader in Eb

Kingsford's team, called Fan, one of the old greys of the escort team that father had.

Bess:

Ebenezer Kingsford afterwards kept the Parkside hotel in Dunedin for many years.

Pat Lynch nearly made me sick by paring his corns. I thought he was really cutting

his flesh. No wonder their mother was frightened at the wagon being left in charge

of such a young driver.

Nell:

Have you ever heard that Sir Charles Kingsford Smith is a relation of the Ebenezer

Kingsford? He was a carrier when our father was on the road. Someone told me a

few years ago when Mrs Kingsford died.

Fan:

There was no road up the Manuka Gorge in those days and we went away on a road

to the left of Mount Stuart. One night we camped at Corrie's over the hill on the Milton

side of the Waitahuna. How they made us welcome, nothing was too good for us.

After ten, we all sat around a good fire and the were not many long pauses in the

conversation.

"How are you getting along with the ploughing?" Sam Corey was asked.

"I'm alright, I am not much of a ploughman but I tell them that a crooked

furrow makes a straight loaf!" he replied.

Bess:

We laughed many a time about this reply afterwards.

Fan.

Sam Corrie said is this is all the children you have Kemp? I thought you had a large

family. I can nearly beat you myself. He received the answer that two boys have been

left on on the new place on a previous trip. Then father said that he thought Sam Corrie

had some bigger children and got the reply that he had the girls are milking and the

boys just in with the team.

It was good for us children to hear father and mother laughing and joking, is father

felt very much downhearted leaving the Taierei. I have heard him say that children

have no worries but he was wrong we did have, when our parents were worried,

we were downhearted too.

Chapter 11

Reasons for going to Parkdale and preparations for starting

Nell explains the reason for making a shift from Harveys Flat where they had been

living for eight years prior to the move to Heriot.

Father was doing well enough and carrying, and Alf was provided for, but there

were a big lot of children coming on and he and mother were determined not to

let boys or girls go from home to make a living, for that was not why they left the

homeland where the little holdings had to be divided for each generation, compared

to such large spaces over the seas.

Also Mr Donald Reid's deferred payment system of land settlement made it

possible to acquire land on easy terms, and to allow the little man to get

onto the land.

Fan now supplies reasons why Harvey's Flat was not satisfactory and gives

information about the section of Parkdale.

Harveys Flat, part of it anyway, was rough land covered with flax, tree tutu,

fern, fuschias, speargrass, etcetera. Only a few acres of it were fit for the plough.

We had a few milking cows and some stores cattle and could run the young

ones and the stores on the Crown land at the back for two shillings per head

per year.

There was word of this Crown Land being sold. It was not suitable for mixed
farming and father and some other men were talking about some good land
they had heard of in the Tapanui district or Heriot Hundreds as it was called
at that time. You had to go to Lawrence to draw a section or get someone
to draw it for you.

This was in January 1876. Father borrowed a cobby little hack and rode to

Lawrence via Waipori, and got maps etc, and rode on to Dunrobin and

Heriot to pick a section.

He left one pound deposit per section with a Mr Thompson of Lawrence

with authority to draw for him and came back home within a week.

One of the sections he picked was Parkdale.

In time we heard we had a section and mother began to pack.

Nell says the following:

I have heard that father was very downhearted when he came to

Swift Creek (a.k.a. Heriot) first, and really it was a big undertaking to leave what

he was more or less a steady job and go out back, where there was no

church or school. At that time our father though not old in years,

was feeling the strain, and his family the large was small in years and size

and again he was 51 years of age, a broken man in health, with a family

of ten, the oldest only 16, a girl and one boy 15 and one boy of 12. He had

600 Pounds, a small fortune in those days. A small holding for such a family

and that was yet to be paid for built on, and fenced and ploughed.

They were giants in those days, giants of self-denial and persistent effort.

Carrying in those days was a comparatively lucrative business, but the calls

of the needs of the family, had to be the first consideration.

It is a matter for thought to as to how much influence was exerted by the

older children of the family who it is reasonable to assume were imbued

with a pioneering instinct and may have influenced the decision of the

parents, by the youthful outlook and aspirations which may have been

communicated to their elders.

In those days the breaking up of land into small holdings for close settlement

was very unpopular with the holders of the land or run holders who grazed sheep

and cattle over large areas of the country. At no time however did this feeling go

to such thing as we are led to believe it did in Western America where the "Nestor"

actually took his life into his hands when making a selection on the ranges of

the cattle kings.

Fan and Nell mentioned this undercurrent of hostility:

Donald Reid met with a lot of opposition from the big men who ran their sheep

on the Heriot Hundreds and even an our own case tried to frighten the small

farmers or cockatoos as they are called, away.

So when coming to a town or township when we all wanted to do to get out,

father said to keep out of sight as they pass such remarks about these cockies

Fan has this to say:

Mother began to pack. She made jam of all the fruits she had and packed it into

boxes. She had all the bees smoked except one box, and put the honey in

kerosene tins. She made clothes for the boys and dresses for the girls, and

knitted stockings for everyone and made us wear our old clothes. She gathered

flower seeds and at the last dug up the roots of all the flowers she had, and put

them with a few strawberry plants and a raspberry cane and roots for the of

rhubarb. There were also a dozen or more young trees that she had grafted

herself from Joe Cookston, and a cutting from this and a cutting from that.

She gathered up hundreds of young Hawthorns, she had grown from pips

that the boys had gathered out on the road from school, the year before.

Bess says:

The dresses mother made for us before we left Harvey's flat I thought most

beautiful and they did last.

Nell says:

I remember the black and red woman dresses that mother made for us just

before we left Harveys Flat.

The box of bees that was not smoked, a tarpaulin was wrapped around it and

it was placed on the bottom of the wagon and it provided the nucleus of the the

flock that thrived and multiplied for many years, until foul brood or some bee

disease got into them and ended their career. It was this box of bees, when

seen by Alex Ritchie after it's arrival and unpacking that caused him to run home

and tell his mother the new people have brought a box of flies with them.

Mother was a great knitter of stockings and kept the whole family supplied

throughout a period of 30 years at least and during that time must have knitted

hundreds of pairs of them, if not thousands. She could knit without looking

at the wool, and could talk away and do other things at the same time,

while still carrying on with the knitting.

The new young trees and seeds started the vegetable and fruit garden that

was always a feature of Parkdale, while the young Hawthorns provided

a shelter when made into a hedge around the house.

Fan says:

When they heard we were leaving some of the older children schoolmates

came to visit us and say goodbye, and we thought it was great fun showing

them around our place and romping in the Supple Jack's that grew on the

flax bushes. Then they invited us to go and see them before we left and

the younger ones went as well. Then came the last days. Things were

looking wintry, the house empty, the calves an the lambs gone, and even the

little coloured lizards that we played with on the sunny side of the hedge

had gone to the hide for the winter.

Our good neighbour, Joe Cookston, came to help father to load.

First, the bees in a box with the heaviest things. Then came the furniture

and on top of that the bedding. We were on top of that again.

The cat was in the box on the tail board and the branches of the young

trees were sticking out behind. I don't remember getting any meals

in those last days I think we must have only had pieces and drinks.