A Tribute to Bullocks

A Tribute To Bullocks By Lial Bredin Contents Story 1 Pikau and Hiki Story 2 The First Team Story 3 Farming and Bullocks Story 4 Transport by Bullocks Story 5 In the Army Now Story 6 The Generals Story 7 Busy Bullock Teams Story 8 The Relationship of Driver and Beast Story 9 A Lady Bullocky Story 10 A Bullocky Talks Story 11 Tales of Animal Interest Information was provided by the following Alwys Owen F. E. Manning Alfred Blueth J. S. Tulloch Arthur Cannon Judith Brian Scanlon Marine Dept Charles Hursthouse Rutherford and Skinner Pikau and Hiki When the 148 passengers of the William Byran took their luggage and belongings down to the lighters for loading on board they used vehicles. Carts and wagons on wheels and pulled by horses. But when the Wiliam Byran anchored off Moturoa and landed the emigrants and their luggage on shore it was a different story. The boats were rowed through the surf and the bows grated on the sand. People were helped through the water and up onto the shore. Their many goods and packages were stacked on the sand above high water mark. The proposed sight for the town was two miles away on the other side of the Huatoki stream. It was nearly sunset and arrangements had to be made for everyone to sleep under cover. Tents for forty people were erected and Dicky Barret had arranged for the local Maoris to build three large whares. These were able to house the rest of the passengers. Mattresses touched mattresses and luggage was stacked in front. It was less room than they had on the ship. The local Maoris had cooked a meal of potatoes and vegetables. It was the wrong time of the year for killing pigs and pork was not available. When would the horses and carts arrive to shift their goods. Then they were told. There were no four legged beasts of burden in New Zealand. Before the Maoris came there were only birds in the bush. The Maoris brought dogs, rats and fleas. Visiting ships over the years had left pigs and these had multiplied. Potatoes had arrived in the same way. George Cutfield, the company agent and Frederick Carrington, the company surveyor walked across to the town sight on the other side of the river. The first job had to be the building of a bridge across the river. In the meantime the settlers could move their luggage down handy for when the bridge was finished. There were no carts or sledges and no animals to pull them it seemed that every thing would have to be done with human muscle. But how do the Maori move things? They obviously had found and moved timber for the whares. F. E. Manning in his book ‘Old New Zealand,’ tells of an incident which involved the Maori way of moving things and how it as restricted by their culture. I went on an excursion with some natives. We had two canoes and one of them left a short time before the other. I was in the second canoe and just as we were setting off it was discovered that of the twenty stout fellows with me no one had a back. No one could load the provisions into the canoe. They were rangatira and if they touched the provisions they would become tapu. And nobody else could touch them. All the lads, women and slaves who could have loaded the provisions were in the first canoe. There were several heavy baskets of potatoes, some dried shark and a large pig. We needed to keep going but if there was no food we could touch then we might as well give up and go back home. But we had a clever fellow with us who could drive a coach through an act of parliament. We will not carry pikau the provisions we will hiki them. Hiki means the act of carrying an infant in arms. This was how the provisions were loaded and we were able to set off after the other canoe. Next morning George Cutfield had a chat with Dickie Barrett about the way things were done in New Zealand. They used muscle power, but the results were better when the team worked in unison. George planned his work accordingly. A team of tree fellers and carpenters were to go into the bush to select poles and slabs for the bridge. The nearest bush was three miles away. Another team was to build a raft for moving heavy objects by sea the rest of the settlers were to identify their belongings and cover them from the weather. Oh, Richard Chilman would you find out whether any body has anything that has wheels. The Maoris don’t have any wheels and wheels will make things easier to move. The settlers and other helping hands got busy. Eleven days later the wooden bridge had been started. The company store on the other side of the Huatoki was half built. Each tradesman emigrant had an eighth of an acre section allotted to him for two years. The natives were helping the settlers to build raupo huts, which gave good shelter. Richard Chilman hadn’t been idle. He had found some wheels that helped move things down to the river. He produced a two-wheeled lumber trolley, two, two wheeled handcarts and six wheelbarrows. It was surprising how many smaller items had been shifted the two miles from the landing beach. The First Team The company store was open and Captain Cooke was leaving his order. Other farm settlers were waiting their turn. “Bullocks” said Captain Cooke. “Thats what we need.” He was always making positive statements. This time there were quiet mumbles of agreement. In fact one farmer replied “he is right you know. That heavy fern grows on land that the Maoris have over gardened. It will be no different from over farmed land in the old country. Clear the rubbish from the top, deep plough and then fallow for six months. It will be as good as new again.” “Probably need nine months fallow,” another farmer commented, “the winters are not hard here. Need bullocks for the ploughing though.” As Captain Cooke was leaving one of the farmers tapped him on the shoulder. “If you are thinking of getting bullocks you will need a driver. My son George used to be head bullock driver for the squire back home.” Captain Cooke realised that a bullock driver was a special sort of person who could get the best out of his beasts. He made arrangements to see George. George was a mine of information. He had been thinking of how he could get bullocks and gear. It was available in Australia but what would he use for money. George and the Captain worked things out. George would go to Sydney and get bullocks and their gear. The Captain would make arrangements for payment. At the same time he was to buy a riding horse for Mrs Cooke. By August 1842 there were twelve bullocks in New Plymouth. George had bought eight for the Captain and the other four turned up with Angus Cameron. He had walked them up from Petre or Wanganui. He had loaded a sledge up with a couple of ploughs and other contracting gear. He and his team had to make their own track as they went north. March 43 was the date of the first census and accurate figures were available. By this time there were eight working horses and forty-three working oxen. But hold on working bullocks are matched in pairs. So there were either one short or one to many. Most of the bullocks had been shipped to New Plymouth and offloaded at the open roadstead. Ships were offloaded using whaleboats. Some of these boats had wooden platforms built in their middle. It was not hard to build sides and make a pen but this would only handle small animals. In practice when large animals were to be unloaded a gate was made in the rails along the deck and the animals were pushed overboard. The animals could swim but it was important that there were several boats, to nudge them in the direction of the shore. Red was a very large and somewhat aggressive animal. With some difficulty he was cornered and pushed through the gate. He immediately started swimming strongly but in the wrong direction. He swam quickly through a gap between two boats. By the time that they had turned around red had too much of a start. Nobody was able to get in front of him and when last seen he was heading towards Australia. Farming and Bullocks Captain Cooke sold four of his bullocks to Captain King RN and his brother in law George Cutfield. They had adjoining farms in the area which is now known as Brooklyn. Captain Cooke was pleased to notice that in the first year seventy acres of ground was ploughed and sown on the farms. As he still employed George it was obvious that there was another bullock driver amongst the settlers. As more bullocks became available over the next couple of years they were used for deep ploughing the fern land and light ploughing ground previously in bush. It became recognised practice to deep plough the land that was in standing fern. First it was burnt and then cleared. In 1848 Charles Hursthouse published a book. Settlement of New Plymouth. In it he described the requirements of settlers who wished to develop land.

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