Akitio
Soon after their arrival in New Zealand in 1855 William and
James were sent to Akitio a 7-800 acre property belonging to Alex Sutherland up
the east coast. William was manager.
Back in the early 1850s Alex Sutherland had gone on an
exploratory trip with a friend looking at land, first at Foxton, then across
the country to the East Coast. They took a Maori guide and travelled by canoe
some of the way and walked through dense bush the rest of the way. They
eventually came out at Akitio where they found some clear ground. From Akitio
the two men took several weeks to walk back to Wellington following the
coast. This must have been an extremely
demanding trip, but not to be put off Alex Sutherland applied for and bought 7
– 800 acres of flats along the coast at Akitio. The plan was to drive his
cattle from Lyall’s Bay to Akitio to be fattened and then drive them back again
to Wellington to be sold.
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| Akitio river mouth |
Lyall's Bay to Akitio
At least four mobs of cattle and one mob of sheep were sent
from Lyalls’ Bay to Akitio.
Wellington to Akitio was a 250 mile dangerous walk with a
packhorse loaded with stores and droving cattle around an almost uninhabited
trackless coast. Keeping cattle under control especially while droving was
nearly impossible with no fences and the deadly poisonous plant Tutu growing
abundantly. One night a mob of cattle on their way to Akitio were camped near
Cape Palliser and were all found dead the next morning having eaten Tutu during
the night.
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A Tutu plant which still grows profusely in New Zealand
bushlands or often on the side of the road.
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Deadly river crossings
On another occasion on a long ride from Akitio to Lyall’s
Bay Alex Sutherland and his companion Murch were negotiating the Devil’s Mile –
a dangerous part of the coast near the mouth of the Pahaua River - when poor Mr
Murch was washed off his horse and drowned, his body never being found.
Not so comfortably off
Alex Sutherland’s letter to John McLeod describes his
nephews as being ‘comfortably’ settled at Akitio. The dwelling house was
probably a simple clay house furnished with only the barest of essentials so to
say they were ‘comfortably’ situated was probably a bit of a stretch but may
have been of some comfort to their parents back in Scotland. To keep dry and
fed as well as manage the stock must have been a challenge especially for these
two Scottish men who had farmed on the flat grassy lands of the Scottish Highlands
and Orkney. They worked long, hard and lonely hours.
Akitio sold
The Akitio venture was not successful. In late 1856 Akitio
was sold and Alex Sutherland bought a property 12 miles from the river mouth up
the Pahaua Valley which was nearer Lyall’s Bay.
“There are many exciting experiences told about the McLeods
on their numerous long walks along the coast to and from Wellington and Akitio.
Usually they drove some cattle, mostly weaners. On one occasion the two
brothers arrived at the mouth of the Pahaua River when the current out to sea
was running very strong. Willie was leading a pack horse loaded with stores and
Jim was following. Halfway across they were swept off their feet. Willie stuck
to the reins and the horse pulled him ashore. He looked round, expecting to see
his brother swept out to seas, as he could not swim, but was relieved to see
him holding fast to the horse’s tail and being pulled safely ashore.”
“When the Akitio property was sold Sandy Sutherland and the
McLeods several times mustered the cattle there to drive to Pahaua. They were
very quiet when once mustered but during the night they would go back into the
bush and were hard to locate the next morning.”
Even today there is no direct route all the way round the
coast from Wellington. The Google Earth pictures show how steep and inhospitable
the terrain is. In the 1850s the steep hills were mostly covered in dense bush
interspered by a few river flats.
Information about William and James McLeod’s first years in
New Zealand is taken from Sutherlands of
Ngaipu by Alex Sutherland, published in 1947. This book is out of print but
is available in libraries.
