Chapter 7

Mrs Blaikie continues:

None of the family have told the story of father’s accident which resulted
in the splitting of his nose and cheek. Mother told us that on one Sunday,
the family had gone with father to put the horses in their paddock for the
night. The paddock was at the top of a hill, so she and the children waited
at the bottom while father went up alone. When, after a long time he did
not return, she sent Alf out to see what had become of him, and Alf met
him coming back, holding his hand to the side of his face. On the other
side was a gaping wound with flesh exposed, the hurt side was deadened.

He could not remember what had happened, but supposed that he had
gone too near the last horse that went through the gate, and it had kicked
up it's heel, not at him, but in the joy of the moment.

When he came to, he found himself in the gateway in a pool of blood.
Dr McBrearty put in several stitches. Sometime after, a lump arose on 
the side of his nose, and he went to the doctor again, and the doctor
told him that it was a tumor and he must get it removed. He could not
get a man to take his team for that trip, and on the Rock and Pillar
he got a cold, and the lump gathered, and a piece of bone came out.
When in after years father had trouble on his lip, we thought it was
the result of that accident.’

The Great Flood of February 1868

The time is somewhere between 1900 and 1910. it is Harvest time. It was
at the interval for lunch, when hunger and thirst have been satisfied, pipes
were brought out, and conversation became general. The group was
composed of young men of the farming class, and they were all
New Zealanders with one exception, a quiet Scotsman of dry wit,
who had been in the dominion for a few years. The topic of conversation
was something that happened in the year of the great flood.

One of the young men, thinking to take a rise out of the Scotsman, remarked:

“You would not know when that was, Sandy.”

Without hesitation Sandy replied:

“Och aye, that would be in the year of the short corn.”

His listeners were so taken aback that there was a chorus of:

“When was that Sandy?”

Quickly came the rejoinder:

“Yon was the year that the corn was so short that the sparrows had
 to get down on their knees to peck it.”

Included in that group was one of the man in his 40s, who had more than
a passing acquaintance with the great flood of 1868 for he had been
through it, and was lucky to have been present that day, for he was one
of the family consisting of a mother and several small children that had
been flooded out of house and home on that occasion.

The mother of course was Priscilla Kempthorne.

At the time, this family was living on the banks of the Taieri River at a point in
line with the main street of Outram. The township of Outram was
non-existent at that time, but there was a police camp at this particular
spot, with several cottages in the vicinity.

The floods were general throughout the province but had its worst effects
on the Taieri plain, then in its early settled state, following the gold rush
of 1862 and the next few years.

Father was away at the time, and mother and her children, all small, being
left in a small cottage on the banks of the river. Father and mother and some
of the children are now dead but three remain to tell the tale:

Let Mrs McGuckin now of “Parkhill” , Heriot, start the story:

The family went to live in a two roomed house on the bank of the Taieri 
River at Outram, and while there the flood of 1868 came down.

Father was away up country with his team at the time. It had been raining a
lot, and mother had put us children to bed, and she was sitting sewing when
she heard a swish swish at the door. She opened the door and looked out,
and saw the the water was up to the doorstep.

She lifted all that she was able onto the table,  and was wondering what to
do next when she heard steps come splashing to the door, and Mr McLeod
 who lived higher up the bank called out:

“Are you there Mrs Kempthorne?  Why, you will soon all be
 drowned, come up to our place, you and the children.”

She replied:

“I was just just wondering what to do.  If you could lift those heavy
 boxes on to the bed I will come.”

So they put the boxes up and having collected the children's clothes and
a loaf of bread and some other food, and followed Mr McLeod, who had
picked up Charlie.

Mr McLeod had just built a two room weather board house, with a brick
chimney. On arrival at the house, they sat talking about the rain while
they were having a cup of tea.  Mr Macleod went out at intervals to
see if it was still raining. Taking a long pole he tried to check the depth
of the water at the corner next to the chimney

He rushed back inside and said:

“We must get out of here, the water is undermining the house,
and we will be down the river soon.”

They all bundled out and went up to a haystack at the back.
It was a fine rain, and not cold, and there was a small moon.

Mr McLeod and his son carried all that was in the house up to the haystack,
and they pulled down three sides of the building and dragged them
out of danger, but the other side and the brick chimney fell into the
river the shifting sand, covered them.

They all stayed by the haystack until the morning, when they boiled
the billy and had tea. The first cup Mr McLeod gave to mother,
and she put it down beside her. Charlie put his little hands round it and said:

“I will watch this.”  

Mr McLeod laughed heartily at this.

Father used to say afterwards that John could still laugh when he
had all these troubles.

As the daylight came, they could see the dirty yellow water rushing past,
carrying all sorts of things. All that was visible was flax bushes and bits
the fence that had not been washed down the river. They saw two
horses in the water across the river, and then they swam towards them.
One had a stick and a piece of rope tied to it's neck. They disappeared
for a time, then one came toward them and scrambled up the bank
near to where they were. The other they never saw again.

Then they saw two men dragging an old canoe to the river, and got
into it and disappeared upstream. After a while they came down the
 bank to them. They must have crossed further up. 

They said:

‘We have come to take you across”.

Mother said:

“Across in that old thing, why I would sooner die here than venture in that.”

It was rolling about, and the water was nearly coming in over the sides.

She must have been persuaded, because they all crossed back over the river.

Bess is said to have cried all the way over, and Alf held onto the basket
with the little dog in it. They landed safe, and people were very good to
them. I think they saw the lock-up go down the river bank a little way
but it did not fall over.

When we were living in the House on the hill looking out over the plain
all in the flood, mother would tell us younger ones the tale of the flood,
with a faraway look in her eyes.

“ I was there!”  from one of the boys,

“So was I!”

“And me too!”  from the others.

“No you wasn't.”

“Yes I was, wasn't a mum?”

“Of course you were.”  from mother.

“Was your house all covered up and washed away?”  from one
 of the younger ones “No, but it was up to the eaves.”

“Oh golly, over the door,”  from one of the boys

“If we had stayed, how could we have got out?”

“Your boxes would be all wet, even if Mr McLeod did put them
 on the table.”  from a little girl.

Wet, yes it was some time before I got them to them to turn them out.
The fine white sand and the dirty yellow water stained all of white things,
and it was years before they were a good colour again and a lot of things
were ruined.

“Did you go back there to live?”  was the next question.

“No.” Was the answer. The house was at leased one.  I wonder how
anyone ever built it in such a place. My little garden was covered with
sand I had put in some pumpkin seeds, and they did well in the sand,
and Mr Robertson used to laugh at them and ask when they're going
to stop growing. They were a new thing there at the time, they ran
through the fence and down the bank. I gave him one and he said it
looked better than it tasted. I think mother bought the seeds from Australia.

Father had heard of the flood, and that there were no lives lost when he
was well up the country, and as a week or two before he arrived
back mother and us children stayed with Mr Robertson.

Mother used to say how extra good Mrs Robertson was to take
her family in and we were told that if ever opportunity came our
way we were to go out of our way to repay her. She had little
children of her own and it was not a big house that she lived in.