Biddy McCoy - NZ Woman of the Wild West: In celebration of International Women's Day, 2019

Land & Family history information from Otautau District:

EARLY LANDOWNERS 1.

William and Agnes Johnston farmed one of the largest sheep runs in the Otautau District - Wrey's Bush run 153 (approx. 30,000 acres), around 1869. They purchased the freehold land (around 10,000 acres) and signed up for the rest of the leasehold land (another 20,000 acres) and then named this run "Annandale", after the valley of the Annan, south of Moffat, where William and Agnes had lived in their early days in Scotland. In 1871, the records show that Annandale ran 10,500 sheep and that in 1875 this had increased to 15,000 sheep.

The boundaries of this huge Annandale block were:
on the north - the boundary between Wairio and Wairaki (an extension of Crampton Rd);
on the west, run 143 (Birchwood Estate) and run 133 (Waicola Estate), including the Wairio stream in the north as part of that boundary;
to the south - more or less a straight line from Wairio Hill to the Allenby Settlement on the Jacob's (now Aprarima) River;
and to the east - the Aparima River.
 

See above "Annandale" land boundaries on map below:

(map reproduced from the book Pasture, Coal Seam and Settlement, with permission)

However, all was not plain sailing. After 3 years of heavy snow falls in 1876-1878, the Johnston's lost a lot of stock. Some other large farming estates were ruined, one who lost over 30,000 sheep, while others like Mt. Linton lost over 10,000 sheep and struggled.

Then in 1875, the Waste Land Board bought into being an Act that required pastoral lands that were leased to be cancelled and used for closer settlement by newcomers to the district. So due to this, the Johnston's lost a large portion of their land by 1880 (so did all the other large sheep runs and huge estates around the district, including Birchwood). They were forced to sell stock at low prices as they lost large tracts of their land and many of the run holders gave up as farming was no longer viable and either moved away to another cheaper block, or even went back to their native lands.

The land at Annandale was sold to many farmers who lived for a lot of years there, and a few are still in the district, the Becks at "Hartwood" being one of the ones that have withstood the test of time, now having their 6th generation and still living on the same land their forebears did. This is quite a feat considering all the pioneer hardships.

The list of sales of the Annandale block feature many well-known names in our district, especially from the past days. Some of those who bought Annandale blocks of land were:
- Groves
- Sinclair
- Bradley
- Sullivan
- Smith
- Stevens
- Booth
- O'Donnell
- Palmer
- Prendergast
- O'Dowd
- Cassidy
- Cournane
- Gutsell
- Valli
- Clifford
- Prendeville
- Hall
- Sutherland
- Pyper
- O'Meara
- Manson
- Craig
- Finn
- Hogan
- White
- Duggan
- Ford
- Miller
- Campbell
- Knight
- Forde
- Williams
- Ronald
- Halloran
- Gallaher
- Beck
- Ward
- Martin
- Clifford
- Belotti
- Kirkpatrick
- Cregan
- Shepherd
- Birchall
- Keveney
- Murphy
- Egan
- Power
- Flynn
- Liggett
- Cupples
- Dodds
- Dingwall
- Nickolls
- Davanney
- O'Halleran
- Prendergast
- Hawthorn
- Ayton
- McDonald
- Brown
- Morris
- Crockett
- Robson
- James
- Hogan
- Martin
- Hamlyn
- Walker
- Fielder
- Blandford
- Watson (Jnr.)
** apologies to any I have missed, there are pages and pages! If anyone would like a full list of all the names/block numbers for their own family history, please contact me and I will get this to you.

ABOVE: William & Agnes Johnston
of "Annandale"

The Johnston's however, went in a different direction. After Captain Howell (the first known settler from Riverton who married into the local Ngai Tahu iwi and became a wealthy land-owner for a time) had found coal seams in the Wairio Stream, William Johnston got into a partnership with the two Moncrieff brothers and they used Annandale homestead as a base to prospect for coal on his property, which saw the coal industry come in the area and the birth of the township of Nightcaps. And so here the story starts!

BELOW: Wrey's Bush Convent - now closed. See part of the original Annandale Homestead in this photo (the piece on the right of the covered walkway with a lot of small paned windows):

SOURCES: much of the information contained in the above post was gleaned from the John Thomson's book "Pasture,Coal Seam and Settlement", with other family information gained from personal interviews and family history sources, also from local Archives, Southland Archives & Archives NZ. Photos are mostly from family members. Compiled by Suzie Best - Researcher/Historian, ph: 027-211-4675 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The content within this blog is Copyright: Photos - if stipulated above; Research/text - to the author in the form it is written here, unless stipulated otherwise (contact on: riverstream@xtra.co.nz)