The Pioneers

 

Towards the end of 1852, Peter Ayson, of Glenshee, farmer and builder by trade, set out for New Zealand with his wife, Douglas, and their 10 children.

 

Peter Ayson was the eldest son of William Ayson, of Glenshee, and was born at Cray, Glenshee, on 14 June 1807.   He had served an apprenticeship as a carpenter and became a builder, but he had also obtained a good knowledge of farming.   Both of these occupations were to stand him in good stead in later life.

 

In 1832 Peter had married Douglas Lamond, a daughter of John Lamond, of Braemar, who had married Anne Mackintosh.   Douglas was born at Bingzeon Scotland on 12 February 1811.

 

By the time Peter and Douglas had their 10th child they seriously considered making a change in order to keep their family together, and also to give them more opportunities.   The disruption of the established Church of Scotland had made conditions difficult in the Glen and at this time the New Zealand Company was also encouraging Highland people to migrate to the new Colony.

 

When the decision was finally made, then began the preparations which included procuring bedding, cooking utensils and tools suitable for building and cultivation.   Douglas was busy with her spinning wheel, and a tailor was employed making clothes for the family of 10 and the parents.    Before leaving Scotland Peter secured an option on 50 acres in the Warepa District in South Otago,10 acres of suburban land at Green Island and a quarter acre section on the corner of Princes and Rattray Streets,Dunedin, later to become a valuable commercial site.   He retained only the Warepa land.

 

The first part of the journey from Glenshee was made by coaches kindly lent by Mr Grant, owner of the Spittal Hotel where Douglas had worked before her marriage.   About a mile down the road a neighbour stopped the coaches to give Peter 20 sovereigns saying “This will help pay your way to New Zealand”.

 

They spent the first night at Cooper Angus with Douglas’s sister and the next day proceeded to Edinburgh by train.   A severe storm in the North Sea kept them there for a week, before they could sail in the small paddle steamer to London.   On arrival there so late, they found their ship to New Zealand, the “Royal Albert” departing from St Catherine’s Dock.   Mr John Johnstone, of Kaihiku, recalled in 1905 his first meeting with Mr and Mrs Ayson and family at the London Docks.   As the “Royal Albert” was being towed out, a party of emigrants was” unceremoniously” bundled aboard while she waited half an hour.   In that party where the Aysons.   It is not difficult to imagine the hardships endured by these early settlers, cooped up for such a long time in such a small vessel.   They lived on a diet of oatmeal porridge, bully soup, pea soup, salt beef and pork.   In place of bread they had very hard ships’ biscuits and potatoes preserved by slicing and drying.

 

On arriving near the Southern coast of New Zealand, after a voyage of nearly 5 months they sighted the Snares Islands from where they drifted off course as far north as the Waitaki River.   Eventually the “Royal Albert” anchored by the Otago Heads.   The pilot came aboard and took them inside the harbour entrance, but as the ship was drawing too much water to go up to Port Chalmers  they anchored in deep water opposite the Maori Kaik, now the settlement of Otakou.   The family had reached their destination.   The date was 6 March 1853.

 

Says William Ayson in “Pioneering in Otago”: “We all thought it was beautiful.   The hills on each side of the harbour were covered with bush to the water’s edge.   As soon as we anchored several boatloads of Maori paid us a visit, selling fish and potatoes."

 

Peter went by boat up to Dunedin and arranged accommodation for his family in Rattray Street.   He then engaged Mr James Adams to convey Douglas and the family to Dunedin.    It was a fine night, and the journey took about five hours, but when they came near the landing jetty the tide was out, so the boat was beached, and the party with their luggage had to be carried ashore near the site of the present  Exchange corner.   By the time all the gear was safe above high water mark it was 1 a.m.

 

Then came the work of getting the children to bed in their new home.   Dunedin was only five years old at that time, and the land was still fairly well covered in scrub and bush. It must have been fascinating for the family to wake up in the morning in their new country.   While making arrangements to go to Warepa to take up this selection of rural land, Peter worked at his trade as a carpenter in Dunedin.

 

When a surveyor’s track had been formed he and his eldest son, Peter, set out on foot on the 60 mile journey.   Carrying their clothing, provisions and tools on their backs.  They were at Corydon ( Peter named his new home after his old home in Glenshee ) for seven months, building a two roomed hut, grub hoeing ground and planting potatoes.

 

Once a fortnight, on a Saturday, they visited Finegand, Shaw’s home, where the Sunday was spent.   They were the first to mark out what is still known as Shaw’s Track.

 

They made one trip, on foot, to Dunedin, during this period to get more provisions and articles needed on the new farm.   In November Peter Ayson went to Dunedin to bring his wife and the younger members of his family to Warepa.   Several of the older children had secured work in the Clutha district.   They left Dunedin on a Monday and were taken to Mr Culling’s farm on the Taieri in Mr Culling’s dray, drawn by two horses.

 

The next day they reached Scrogg’s Creek, now known as Allanton, where they were taken across the Taieri River at Harrold’s Ferry and stayed at Mr Harrold’s hotel that night.   On the Wednesday they reached the head of Lake Waihola by boat where they were met by Messrs Salmon and John Cargill, each with a sledge and a pair of bullocks and taken to Mr Smith’s house at Tokomairiro (now called Milton).   Thursday was very wet but on the Friday night they camped it a shepherd’s hut belonging to Mr Lovell, at what is now known as Lovell’s Flat.  

 

The next day turned out to be very rough with snow falling, but circumstances compelled them to push on to Balclutha where Mr James McNeil made them as comfortable as he possibly could.    Mr John Shaw, an old friend who left Glenshee the previous year, then took them to Finegand where they stayed until the following Wednesday.   Mr John McNeil who later married Peter’s eldest daughter Margaret, then took them to Warepa in a larger sledge drawn by four bullocks, and so ended a long and arduous journey from the Highlands of Scotland to the wilds of a new country.

 

The Aysons were the first settlers in Warepa.   All their heavy luggage had been sent to Port Molyneux in the little coastal ship “Endeavour” but it was three months before she could land the goods and in the meantime Douglas and her children suffered many hardships.

 

Peter and his sons often visited Dunedin on the anniversary of the landing.   How many of us today, making the journey from Dunedin to Balclutha in a comfortable car in one hour can have any idea of the hardship endured by the pioneers who blazed the trail for us to follow.

 

 

ALEXANDER'S STORY

The Children of Alexander and Joan

1. Margaret Ayson (Doull)
2. Thomas Ayson
3. Joan Ayson (Renton)
4. William Ayson
5. Anne Ayson (Robinson)
6. Magdaline Ayson (Robinson)