Newsletter 46 - February 2018
Mary and I are looking forward to welcoming you all to the Ayson National Reunion/Gathering in October.
It will be a marvellous time to renew friendships and to meet those who are coming for the first time. Notwithstanding the fact that it is a real buzz for us North Islanders to again visit this spectacular part of New Zealand.
The last reunion was held in Dunedin March 2013, which recognised 160 years since 1853 when our ancestors settled in that area. This reunion was attended by some 116 Ayson descendants and their families which in reflection for me was somewhat of a life-changing experience to realise that so many of these people along with about 700 active members share the same DNA! In addition, the Family Tree (on the internet) records over 6500 names back to 1575 AD. Therefore, it can be seen that the Clan is still growing from strength to strength along with its proud history that includes being one of the early pioneer families who shaped the development of the South Otago area.
I must congratulate the members of the reunion organising committee headed by Sub-Chief Bevin Watt. They have put together an interesting programme to cater for all “tastes” which I am sure you will enjoy, especially being in the area where our ancestors first settled in NZ.
Lastly, a personal plea to you all. I sincerely do hope you can make that extra special effort to attend and support this National Reunion along with your family. Children who are seen to be the next generation to carry on our “Ayson Mantle” are most welcome too. It is anticipated that our Australian cousins and others from overseas will be coming and whose company we can enjoy. Hopefully, we can get the attendance numbers well over the 116 mark – so please do not hesitate and leave it until the last moment – register right now.
If you have not been to an Ayson Reunion before this is now the time to do it!
Yours Aye and Best Wishes,
Clan Chief Hugh
From the National Secretary.
In 1903 an Early Settlers Anniversary Reunion was held in Dunedin where passengers of the first ships gathered to remember their voyage 50 years earlier, and to share stories of settlement in their new country. The Otago Daily Times records the following being present; Peter Ayson, Toiro; Mr James Fraser Ayson, Kaihiku; Mrs John Watt (Ann Ayson), Kaihiku; Mr William Ayson, Waikaka; Mr John Ayson, Christchurch; Mr Alexander Ayson, Gore; Mrs John Low (Elspeth Fraser Ayson), Balclutha; and Mr Robert Ayson, Toiro.
This group of Aysons travelled long distances back to Dunedin, a journey probably only slightly improved after fifty years. Horse and carriage, muddy roads, streams and lakes to cross again, but they really wanted to be with their ship companions again.
(Dunedin1903 photo: Te Ara, The Encyclopedia of NZ)
Just three years later, in November 1906, the first meeting of the Warepa Pioneers Association was held and Robert Ayson was elected to the Committee. Forty eight members paid one shilling subscription. Today that would be over fifteen pounds and almost thirty dollars. (we currently pay only fifteen dollars.)
I have been re-reading the book “Thomas” the story of Thomas Ayson, first son of Alexander and Joan Ayson. First published in 1937 this excerpt is just as important today especially for our young folk to know the background to the lifestyle we enjoy today.
“The present generation owes to the pioneer mothers and fathers of New Zealand a debt which it can never repay. To their grit and determination are due the comforts enjoyed today in this most habitable and hospitable land.”
The tradition of gathering our family together continues. Thank you to those of you who have registered your interest already for our reunion in October. It was most helpful to us. We now have the full registration package available for you so please secure your booking now so that we know you are definite and so we have numbers for catering and transport etc. Click on our banners.
Come and join us as we celebrate 165 years in New Zealand. Our Clan is one of just a few in New Zealand with regular five yearly national gatherings. Long may they continue with you being part of it.
All Roads Lead to Gore 2018. See you in October.
Lindy Daniell
National Secretary.
From Our Archives.
The first ALEXANDER AYSON SCHOLARSHIP valued at $1000.00 was presented at the Tokomairiro High School Assembly on the 9th May 2005.
Headmaster at that time, Lindsay Laing, spoke of the up and coming 150th celebrations.
“In 1856 schooling commenced in our district. The Provincial Government had sent word back to Edinburgh and Glasgow requesting suitable teachers be selected for teaching duties in Otago. These teachers were to be offered annual salaries of not less than One Hundred Pounds but not to exceed Three Hundred Pounds. The salary paid to the teacher was conditional on the teacher:
• displaying good behaviour
• being loyal and faithful to the Provincial Government
• Setting and charging school fees to recover the teacher’s salary
• And should the teacher decide to discontinue the duties of a teacher they had to refund, in full, their boat passage money of seventy-five pounds.
The first teacher to our district and Principal of Tokomairiro District High School was Alexander Ayson.
The records state that Alexandra Ayson was a thoroughly competent teacher of high character. He was also an adventurer prepared to give up his principal’s appointment in Scotland and travel for some five months by sailing ship and to then to live for a while in a fern tree whare. This says something of the family and what they were prepared to tolerate to establish a school in our district.
The Ayson family are to present a plaque to the school as part of their family celebrations in 2006. In addition, they are to offer a one off $1000 scholarship to a 2005 senior student.”
Clan Chief Hugh Francis has recently been in contact with the winner, Ingrid Vollweiler, and she writes:
“Thank you very much for the scholarship. I was in my first year Physical Education School at the time so the $1000 dollars went towards general course fees and books, so it was much appreciated! After four years at Physical Education School I went over to Brisbane to study physiotherapy at Queensland University. I worked in Brisbane for a few years, went traveling, then returned home and worked at the Milton and Balclutha physio practices for two years. I am currently working at ‘Back In Motion Centre City’ in Dunedin.”
{Editor notes from Papers Past: Mrs Joan Ayson was appointed sewing mistress and exhibited some specimens of needlework and knitting.}
From Lorna Neame in Tauranga.
On the 3rd of July 2017 the family of our 8th Chief, Ace Neame, travelled to Warepa Pioneer Cemetery to unveil a plaque and to scatter his ashes close to his mother Mabel. Lorna was pleased to have her children, Richard, Andrew and Ingrid, and her grandchildren, Angus and Eliza with her and the children read their special messages 
to their grandfather and great grandmother. It was a very special day. The lovely vibrant flowers echoed the epitaph “A life lived with challenge, enthusiasm, adventure and achievement.”
While in the South Island they included in their sightseeing a visit to the Dunedin Early Settlers Museum and stopped at Milton to visit Tokomairiro high School to view the plaque and photo of Alexander Ayson displayed in the front foyer.
Celebrating Family Achievements
Congratulations to Neville PEAT (great great grandson of Peter and Douglas Ayson) who became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to conservation. Neville has been involved in nature conservation and environmental advocacy for more than 30 years.
His books on the natural environment include ‘Forever the Forest’ (1987), ‘The Falcon and the Lark’ (1992), ‘Wild Dunedin’ (1995), ‘Seabird Genius’ (2011), and ‘Rivers Rare’ (2016). He established the Dunedin Environmental Business Network in 1993 and was its Chair for five years. He has been a Trustee of the New Zealand Sea Lion Trust, Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Trust and Hereweka Harbour Cone Trust, and for six years chaired the Otago Natural History Trust, which established Orokonui Ecosanctuary. He has chaired the Pukekura (Taiaroa Head) Reserves Co-Management Trust Board since its inception in 2015. He wrote the Government nomination of the New Zealand Subantarctic Islands as a UNESCO World Heritage Area, which was listed in 1998. In 2007 he was awarded the Creative New Zealand Michael King Writers’ Fellowship to write ‘The Tasman – Biography of an Ocean’ (2010). During three terms on the Otago Regional Council until 2007, he chaired the Environment and Science Committee. He was elected to the Dunedin City Council in 2013 and has been Deputy Chair of the Community and Environment Committee. Neville was a member of the Government-appointed South-East Marine Protection Forum from 2014 to 2017.
Source-Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Congratulations to Di Buchan who is the great grand-daughter of Elspeth Low nee Ayson (the 9th child of Peter and Douglas Ayson).
Di has published a very important history of the Otaki Health Camp which ran from 1931 to the present day. Many of us will remember children from our school having time away to improve their health and this book gives us a diverse insight into camp life — from times of malnutrition and the TB epidemic, through the war, and to the reappearance of child poverty and the camps increasing focus on psychological wellbeing with a whole-of-family approach. We also get snippets of Otaki’s history and hear about the involvement of local residents, market gardeners, farmers, retailers and community groups.
(Photo from Di Buchan (left) with Dr Fiona Inkpen, CEO for Stand Children's Services (as the Health Camp Federation is now called),
Di Buchan spent her working life as a social and environmental impact assessor and researcher on projects and programmes throughout New Zealand and the Pacific. She has recently retired and, in addition to being a board member of the Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand, and of the DB Environmental Trust which she established, she is the primary caretaker of a two-acre garden and a family of chooks just down the road from the Stand Children’s Village at Otaki Beach.
If you would like to buy a copy please contact Di with your order.
312 pages • softcover • 165 × 230 mm portrait
Illustrated throughout with photos and memorabilia
ISBN 978-0-947493-55-4 • RRP $40.00 • AVAILABLE NOW from
DI BUCHAN, 21 Atkinson Avenue, Otaki Beach 5512
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Grave Restoration.
The descendants of Lake Falconer and Alice Ayson wish to place a plaque recording the names of their six sons. They have obtained a quote for $1400.00 to engrave and erect a black marble plaque. If you are a descendant or would like to contribute to the cost please make contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Thank you.
In Loving Memory of the Six Children of Lake and Alice Ayson.
William Douglas Ayson 10/11/1880 – 01/11/1971
Charles Lake Ayson 10/02/1883 – 28/06/1970
Hugh Fraser Ayson 16/11/1884 – 01/02/1948
George Dabinett Ayson 19/04/1888 – 08/04/1971
Leslie Duncan Ayson 09/03/1894 – 29/05/1971
Francis Catlins Ayson 07/05/1897 – 28/10/1946
Planning your reunion travels - some of the Great Southland Icons http://www.atoz-nz.com
Be sure to get a selfie at the Gore trout or with some of the other icons before leaving town. The famous trout statue celebrating our world capital of brown trout fishing fame, is right in the centre of town. Our Clan Chief, the late Peter Ayson, was very much involved with this project by the Gore Lions Club marking their 25th Anniversary.
Just nearby is the Country Music Hands of Fame statue. Each year during country music festivities at Queens Birthday weekend someone new is inducted and has their hand prints set in concrete.
On the left side of the main street heading south you will find the Gore Ram Statue and just behind it over the railway line is the historic Flemings Creamoata Mill, with Sgt Dan on the side. Find out about Sgt Dan at the Gore Museum.
Eastern Southland Art Gallery - Nicknamed the ‘Goreggenheim’ by Saatchi & Saatchi boss Kevin Roberts, the Eastern Southland Gallery is a regional public art museum, situated in the Arts and Heritage Precinct of Gore’s CBD. Established in a former Carnegie Library building, the Gallery includes the John Money Wing, which features the remarkable and internationally renowned collection of expatriate New Zealander Dr John Money. A great patron of the arts, his collection includes works by Theo Schoon, Rita Angus (NZ), Lowell Nesbitt (USA), Bambarra, Dogon and Baga carvings from West Africa, and paintings and carving from Elcho Island (Australia). The Gallery is also home to one of the largest collections of works by major contemporary NZ artist Ralph Hotere.
Gore Aquatic Centre, Hokonui Moonshine Museum, Hokonui Heritage Centre, East Gore Arts Centre, Mataura Museum
Part of our reunion programme is a visit to the Croydon Aviation Heritage Centre at Mandeville. On a sunny day, you may do a double take when you’re sure you’ve seen a yellow tiger moth and pilot dressed in leather jacket and flying goggles turning the propeller about to go for a fly.
This is a nationally significant museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating New Zealand’s light civil aviation heritage. On display are some of the country’s most important vintage aircraft and the largest collection of de Havilland aircraft in the southern hemisphere. The beauty is that almost all of the aircraft dating from the 1920s and 30s still fly.
Invercargill. Fifty five minutes from Gore, it’s a gateway to wilderness areas including Stewart Island, with its Rakiura Track. In town, the Southland Museum and Art Gallery has natural history collections and live tuatara reptiles. Queens Park features flower displays and sports facilities. To the southeast, Waituna Lagoon is home to abundant birdlife and trout populations. Visit the recently completed Bill Richardson Transport Museum in Invercargill and the most extensive collection of motorbikes in the world.
If you are travelling from Dunedin to Gore you will travel past Milton where Alexander Ayson was the first teacher and Headmaster at Tokomairiro School. Thank you to Dot Johnson who has put together a self-drive tour which was part of the Milton Gathering back in 2014. Please email Dot who can give you a copy of the map. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
The Principal of the School is always welcoming of any Aysons who call by and there is a framed picture of Alexander in the reception area foyer remembering him as the first Headmaster of the School, he never taught on the present sight though. The school would be open on the Friday 19th October but would be closed for Labour Day on the 22nd October if you are travelling through Milton on these days.
www.tokohigh.school.nz You can also send a message through the website to the school