William McLeod Part C - Akitio

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. 

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.

A Tutu plant which still grows profusely in New Zealand

 bushlands or often on the side of the road. 

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.