Kevin O'Brien Family Connections

Duncan CAMERON⁽¹⁸⁹⁾ was born in 1838.⁽¹⁹⁰⁾ He died in 1909.⁽¹⁹¹⁾ Never married and no chldren. Parents: John ? CAMERON (Long John) and Isabella ? ELIZGMOTHER .

Eileen CAMERON (Private). Parents: Henry John CAMERON (John III) and Ann POWELL.

She was married to Peter THOMPSON.⁽¹⁹²⁾ Children were: Dale THOMPSON, Darryl THOMPSON , Christopher THOMPSON.

Elizabeth CAMERON (Lizzie) (photo) was born before 25 Sep 1852 in Urray Forest, Ross Shire, SCT.⁽¹⁹³⁾⁽¹⁹⁴⁾⁽¹⁹⁵⁾ She was living about 1908 in Taranaki, possibly Hawera/Stratford.⁽¹⁹⁶⁾ She died on 13 May 1927.⁽¹⁹⁷⁾ DEATH
__________
HAMMOND. -- Suddenly at York Road
Midhurst, on Friday, May 13, 1927,
Elizabeth, beloved wife of F.W. Ham-
mond.
--Interment at Marton. Marton papers
please copy.
WESTON BROS.,
Undertakers She was buried in Mount View, Marton NZL.⁽¹⁹⁸⁾⁽¹⁹⁹⁾ Mount View cemetery, on main State Highway 1, by Porewa:
ILMO Elizabeth
Beloved wife of
Fred. Wm Hammond
Died May 13, 1927
Aged 75 years
[Marble obelisk on family plot] Parents: John CAMERON (Sr) and Alice MCPHERSON.

She was married to John Moir DICKSON on 25 Sep 1871 in The Manse, Blenheim.⁽²⁰⁰⁾⁽²⁰¹⁾ Witnesses: John Cameron, Farmer, Okeramio & Willamina Shiriffs, Blenheim.
Officiating Minister: William Shirriffs
Notice of Intention to Marry shows his residence 1yr and hers 7 years, both of Okeramio and his age as 28 and hers as 19. Occupations labourer and spinster. John Cameron (father) consenting. Wises alpha directory 1878-79 lists 27 Dicksons including John M. at Kaituna. Among them are: Melville Dickson, Papanui and Melville Dickson, Selywn. One of JMD's daughters, Margaret's, children was named Lawrence Melville so a connection is possible.
In a picture of him he appears dressed in a uniform, possibly his Mates. He is not listed in any of the three Marlborough Rifles regiments in 1880. [NZNatArch]
See also: Court of Session Scotland, 1935 Petition. Copy of this is in scapbook for Alice McPherson. 'Took years to get money from estate' [GA]

1875: The Kaituna Accomodation House built. Ownership not yet established.
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Our Lesser Stars

The Half-way House Hotel, at Okaramio, so called because it was halfway between Havelock and Blenheim, was also known as the Kaituna Acommodation House, but is not to be confused with another Kaituna Accommodation House run and owned by the Green family from 1890 to 1957. Generally known as 'Green's', the original Kaituna Accommodation House was built about 1861 at the junction of the Kaituna Valley Road and the Tua Marina Track. At no time was Aaron Penney owner or licensee of this hotel.
The Half-way House Hotel was established in 1879 by John Dickson, on the site of the present Okaramio Hotel. He had earlier built an accommodation house further north, near the Okaramio bridge, and used the licence from this hotel for his new business. The old hotel was possibly leased and used as an unlicensed accommodation house. (In the early days leaseholders were expected to provide accommodation to travellers as part of the lease.)
A two-storeyed building, the Half-way House Hotel faced the main road. It had 13 rooms with accommodation for 20 people, a large dining room, and comfortable sitting-rooms. Connected to the hotel were 80 acres of cultivated farmland. The hotel was an important stop for passengers travelling by coach between Nelson and Blenheim, and the six-horse teams for Newman's coaches were changed there.
In 1880, despite the fact that he owned the Half-way House Hotel, John Dickson was licensee for John Gibson, owner of the Kaituna Accommodation House, but he had relinquished this by 1882. John Dickson died on 17 March 1887 and John Gibson was his executor. Aaron possibly bought the hotel and/or leased the unlicensed accommodation house after the death of Dickson in 1887. In December 1890 0. Haase was leasing the Half-way House Hotel, and in 1894 and 1895 (according to Wise's Post Office Directories) Aaron Penney was hotelkeeper of the Half-way House Hotel, Kaituna, and the Accommodation House, Okaramlo.
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Cullensville Mahakipawa gold field
Aug 1888: Mrs Elizabeth Dickson gave up the Halfway Accomodation House in the Kaituna and opened a small, single storied boarding house.
Oct 3 1888: First licenced premises at Cullensville. Boarding house became Cullenstown Hotel. 'Two hundred guests for breakfast and dinner, queing up in soup-kitchen line outside her marquee'.[GT] Roaring trade average weekly turnover of £400.
Nov 1888: Miner St Helena Bill sold his half-share in the Star of Mahakipawa terrace claim, above the Waihi claim to Mrs Dickso n for £140. Not much return initially with bad weather causing idle mines. Miners flocked into town to play billiards, pool, quoits, shoot or drink. Lease up for sale.
Dec 1888: Hotel now manged by Fred Hammond. Two storied extensions completed just before Xams and enlarged hotel re-named Miners' Arms. Large tent used as dining room during extensions. Meals of roast beef, roast or boiled mutton and vegetables considered extremely good value by clients.
April 1889: Officially opened the headrace and set the waterwheel turning to drive the pumps for the Lucky Hit and Te Ore Ore claims
About Sept 1889: bankrupted Elizabeth left Cullensville. Major flood halted mining and investments went sour. Had built up considerable debt in running Miners' Arms which she admitted to as Fred Hammond had kept his accounts in order. Hotel taken over on Sept 1889 by Patrick & Mary Maher.
Dec 24th 1889: Mary born.
Winter 1890: large slip covered the Elizabeth claim, formerly owned by Mrs Dickson. [GIATD vol 2]

1893-1894: FW Hammond managing Pelorus Hotel. FWH had also managed the Masonic Hotel at Havelock. [GIATD vol1]
Family moved to North Island when son, Will, aged 10 ( i.e. 1887) according to his obituary in 1950.

1889 must have been a difficult year as Mary Hammond was also born the same year. Birth regd at Palm North under Dickson name and re-registered a little later. Fred probably had to stay behind as he was shown managing hotels later at Havelock. Elizabeth may have come north to be with Cameron family at that time.

"Forfar, a royal burgh of considerable antiquity, and the county town of Angus, where the sheriff has held his court for upwards of two centuries, being pretty centrally situated for the administration of justice. It is governed by a provost, two bailies and 19 counselors, annually self elected. The streets are irregular ; but many of the houses are neat, and well built. The church is elegant and commodious, situated nearly in the centre of the town. The town-house is newly rebuilt; the front towards the market place has a good effect, but the rooms for prisoners are dark and uncomfortable, and the utility of the whole fabric seems to havebeen sacrificed to the attainment of a large upper room for public meetings and amusements. A considerable manufacture of osnabugs and coarse linens is carried on in Forfar; and the making of course linen shoes or brogues, as they are called, employs a considerable number of hands. The parish of Forfar extends about 6 miles in length from north to south and about 5 in breadth. The general appearance is level , with the exception of the hill of Balmashanner, which lies ot the south of the town. The soil towards the north and south extremity is light and sandy; about the middle of a spouty clay." (The Gazetteer of Scotland, W Chalmers, Dundee 1803) [INT]

A lot of Maher burials at Rangiwaea, Taihape. These could be related to the Camerons who are around Marton.

More info available from the Marborough Historical Society.
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The Cyclopedia of NZ pub 1905, p420
OKARAMIO
Is situated in the Kaituna Valley, on the main road between Blenheim and Havelock, and is about eleven miles from Blenheim. The country was at one time covered with dense forest, and sawmilling was the first industry that attracted Europeans. As the timber was exhausted, farming gradually took the place of saw-milling, and Okaramio is now a prosperous dairying and sheep and cattle district. It embraces a large area of fertile valley land, as well as a considerable amount of hilly country, and is suitable for varied farming. A creamery has recently (1905) been erected in the district. The township has an hotel, a gen-eral store, a hall, a public school, saleyards, and a post, telegraph, and telephone office. There is a daily mail coach from Blenheim and Havelock, and a tri-weekly service from Nelson. Okaramio is a
favourite resort for holiday makers, and there is game in the neigh-bourhood.
__________________________________________
There is now a Cameron' s Road at Okaramio named after the family, wheer they once lived.
Children were: Alice Cameron DICKSON, Margaret Moir DICKSON (Maggie), Helen Seton DICKSON (Nell), William John DICKSON (Will), Roderick John DICKSON (Rod), Mary Kate DICKSON (Kitty) , Isabella Barbara DICKSON (Belle), Donald Alexander DICKSON (Don).

She was married to Frederick William HAMMOND in 1887.⁽²⁰²⁾⁽²⁰³⁾ About Sept 1889: bankrupted Elizabeth left Cullensville. Major flood halted mining and investments went sour. Had built up considerable debt in running Miners' Arms which she admitted to as Fred Hammond had kept his accounts in order. Hotel taken over on Sept 1889 by Patrick & Mary Maher.
Dec 24th 1889: Mary born.
Winter 1890: large slip covered the Elizabeth claim, formerly owned by Mrs Dickson. [GIATD vol 2]

1893-1894: FW Hammond managing Pelorus Hotel. FWH had also managed the Masonic Hotel at Havelock. [GIATD vol1]
Family moved to North Island when son, Will, aged 10 ( i.e. 1887) according to his obituary in 1950.

1889 must have been a difficult year as Mary Hammond was also born the same year. Birth regd at Palm North under Dickson name and re-registered a little later. Fred probably had to stay behind as he was shown managing hotels later at Havelock. Elizabeth may have come north to be with Cameron family at that time.

Vera Hunt, Rongotea (06 324 8813) is working on Hammond family history. Children were: Mary Hammond HAMMOND, Thomas Frederick HAMMOND.

Elizabeth Annie CAMERON (Lizzie) was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Palm Avenue Palmerston North NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

She was married to John MACGILVRAY (Jack).⁽²⁰⁾ 'He worked for NZR. They lived for many years in Palmerston North and then Okaramio. As a widower John moved to Australia to live with their son Jack'. {JW] Children were: John MACGILVRAY.

Euan CAMERON (Private). Parents: John CAMERON and Doreen MARFELL.

Grant CAMERON Parents: John CAMERON.

Helena Kate CAMERON (Kate) was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Kaituna, Marlborough, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

She was married to Wilfred MAHER.⁽²⁰⁾ A lot of burial for the Maher name at Taihape (Rangiwaea) [NZSocGen FLK03.19] Children were: Desmond MAHER, Maureen MAHER, Michael John MAHER, Patricia MAHER (Paddy).

Henry John CAMERON (John III) (Private). Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

He was married to Ann POWELL.⁽²⁰⁴⁾ 'Lived in Blenheim after having farmed at Fabian's Valley. Groundsman for Woodbourne Air Base. " [JW] Children were: Muriel CAMERON, Joyce CAMERON, John CAMERON, Eileen CAMERON.

Ian CAMERON died date unknown.⁽²⁰⁵⁾ Parents: Onslow Austin CAMERON and Olive HOCQUARD.

Ian CAMERON Parents: Murray CAMERON.

John CAMERON (Jr)⁽²⁰⁶⁾ was born before 8 Oct 1857 in "Leafield", Dillon's property, Waihopai.⁽²⁰⁷⁾⁽²⁰⁸⁾ He died on 8 Oct 1933.⁽²⁰⁹⁾ He was buried in Kaituna cemetery.⁽²¹⁰⁾ Last survivor in family Parents: John CAMERON (Sr) and Alice MCPHERSON.

He was married to Mary Ann O'BRIEN in 1881.⁽²¹¹⁾ "Marriage was bitterly opposed by Cameron Snr and wife on religous grounds". [JW] Children were: Michael Joseph CAMERON, Mary Alice CAMERON (Alice), Elizabeth Annie CAMERON (Lizzie), Roderick Donald CAMERON, Henry John CAMERON (John III), Helena Kate CAMERON (Kate), Onslow Austin CAMERON, Veronica CAMERON (Vronnie), Rhoda Rebecca CAMERON , Norah Magdalen CAMERON (Madge), Miriam Lauretta CAMERON.

John CAMERON (Sr) was born before 21 Apr 1822.⁽²¹²⁾⁽²¹³⁾ He was living on 25 Sep 1871 in Okeramio.⁽²¹⁴⁾ He died on 21 Apr 1891.⁽²¹⁵⁾⁽²¹⁶⁾ He was buried on 24 Apr 1891 in Kaituna cemetery.⁽²¹⁷⁾ He emigrated from Aboard "Maori", 1852 to Nelson.⁽²¹⁸⁾⁽²¹⁹⁾ Contd from John Cameron family notes
This station was part of the land originally held by the Hon. Constantine Dillon. When he was drowned in a river crossing the land passed to his widow. She would have needed a reliable handyman-gardener/shepherd on her estate. John and his family were a natural choice. They were still in this position in 1857 when their son John Cameron Jnr. was born.
It is at this point of our family story that we come to one of the mysteries. At some time between 1850 and 1855 the younger brother, Duncan Cameron, came to New Zealand. He did not come out with John but by1855 he was happily teamed up with his oldest brother, Donald, on sheep station in the Amuri. The search for Duncan's voyage details continues!
The price of produce being sent from Nelson to the Australian goldfields doubled in 1853-54. The wages of labourers/shepherds rose again. This was very much to the advantage of Donald and Duncan Cameron who had been hired by George Duppa to work on his new land holdings in the Amuri district. Duppa had originally applied for a vast area of four "runs" in 1852 but was limited to a smaller area, including "St Leonards" because he already held land (at Birch Hills in the Awatere) which he had failed to stock adequately. 11 George Duppa had very definite ideas about how a station should be operated and wrote extensive instructions to his manager.12 The manager, Thomas Hanmer, kept a meticulous diary and the sections for 1855-57 and for 1860-61 still survive.
During 1855, '56 and the early part of 1857 Donald and Duncan Cameron worked on this station. The diary gives a clear picture of station life and details of what Donald and Duncan were doing during those years. In summary it records that Donald was a senior shepherd (often with the "Isolation Hills" flock) and Duncan was much more a handyman or "rouseabout". He had the job of digging drains, planting gardens, fencing and mixing the tobacco dip among other things.13
Getting stock into the high country stations was no longer such a problem even though it involved long drives. Getting the wool and tallow out to market was another matter. This was the difficult and often dangerous task of the waggoners who with their horse or bullock teams forded many dangerous river-crossings and made long detours around swamp areas. The drier lands were not such as problem as the low wetlands surrounding the new Christchurch settlement. Waggon transport beyond the present Amberley and Rangiora meant the station produce was cut off from the natural export harbour of Lyttleton. The answer was to send wool and tallow by sea from suitable coastal ports.
The Cameron brothers (Donald and Duncan) had experience in sea transport of wool cargo (if not first-hand, at least by observation) on the lochs and canals of their home area of Scotland. They decided to pool their savings and in 1857 (August) they bought the "Halfway House" at Saltwater Creek from Henry Yates Miller.
In 1857 they bought together the goodwill of the small accommodation house at Saltwater Creek. No doubt they foresaw the importance of the place as a port for shipping North Canterbury wool. Donald was the wharfinger and had a woolshed there for storing wool. They were granted a (liquor) licence in '58 and made a good name for themselves by keeping their bar in an orderly way and selling good liquor. Hugh McLean, later of Amberley, was their barman.15

"The swamps and sandfills of the line of the road to the north of Kaiapoi made freight handling difficult. At Farquhar Creek, later known as Saltwater Creek, the road entered knee-deep swampland over which the incoming tide flowed fast. In 1857 a punt service was in operation nut land speculators could see the possibilities for building another coastal port to take advantage of the burgeoning wool and station trade from inland North Canterbury and the Amuri. Furthermore experience of English river ports was that they existed on most navigable creeks within a few miles of each other and as the emigrant ships continued to bring more settlers to Canterbury. It appeared that a second North Canterbury port would succeed."16

The move from shepherding and station work came at the right time and soon "D. & D. Cameron" of Saltwater Creek were fully involved in the development of the new Canterbury Province. Of course a good accommodation houses needed a woman's hand and Donald married Alicia, the daughter of John Crampton, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. The marriage took place at "Bloomfield" station on 18 November 1858.
"Aunt Donald's" name is given variously as Alice/Alicia and Alison but the correct form is Alicia and it is as such she signed her will.18
4. D. & D. Camerons of Saltwater Creek
The John Camerons of Marlborough knew very little of the life of Donald and Duncan. It was handed down that:

* They were brothers of John Cameron Snr;
* They were important and well regarded in their part of Canterbury;
Occasional visits were made to Marlborough;
* Donald married a Crampton but had no children;
* Duncan never married;
* The Donald Camerons brought up (fostered) a number of Crampton and Cameron nieces and nephews;
* The brothers suffered financially due to the mismanagement of their business affairs by some/one of their "managers";
* John Cameron went to his uncles for education, stayed at least two years and returned to Okaramio at the age of 19-20 years.1

Research since 1954 has shown that there was considerably more to the "D.& D. Camerons" as they were known.2 The Accomodation House which they owned had an excellent reputation and did a good business. The brothers were well known to the graziers of North Canterbury and Amuri and to the waggoners who carried wool southwards and "station goods" north. Soon the hotel (which was licensed in 1858) was the centre of an assortment of buildings - a wool store, sleep-outs, wharf sheds and a post office. Donald was appointed Postmaster on 24 December 1859 at a salary of œ10 per annum (raised to œ20 by 1868) and acted as such until retirement in 1880.3
The standards of the Accomodation House were high4 and as trade grew the brothers built livery stables and opened a general store. They also operated as wood and coal merchants.
C.E. Dampier (former solicitor to the Canterbury Proviicial Government) had extensive land holdings at Saltwater Creek and had the area surveyed and land laid out for a regular coastal shipping town to be known as "Northport". Shallow-draught sailing vessels had been using Saltwater Creek and the Ashley River mouth as a port during 1858-60 but in early November 1860 the Paddle steamer "Avon" entered Northport. " The opening of the navigation was duly celebrated at Cameron's (hotel), in a manner recognised by all Englishmen".6 The "Avon" was the first steam vesel to use the wharves and she loaded 73 bales of Saltwater Creek wool (from Cameron's store) and sailed for Lyttleton where the wool was loaded onto an England bound wool ship.
The main problem with Northport/Saltwater Creek as a reliable coastal shipping port was the changing nature of the Ashley River mouth and the channel into the wharves. Both droughts and floods changed shingle banks or alternatively brought too much debris or too little water for the draught of the vessels. Constant attention was required and Donald Cameron used gangs of men to mark and widen channels and to shift logs. The Provincial Government was reluctant to pour endless money into what they could forsee as an unsatisfactory port. In addition there was rivalry with the port at Kaiapoi, which seemed to have fewer problems than Saltwater Creek. However small ships continued to collect wool from Cameron's and to bring supplies from Lyttleton. 1858-1868, one short decade marked the the heyday of Northport which meant so much to the Cameron economy and which Donald watched over as pilot and harbour master.7
The following significant items relating to the brothers during the decade have been elicited mainly from " Beyond the Waimakariri" by D.N. Hawkesmith a few items from other sources:
1859 22 October, Cameron's (hotel) provided the "celebration site" for the opening of Dampier's Northport wharf by the arrival of the cutter "Industry".

1860 1. Built wharf on the south bank of Saltwater Creek.

2. Supplied 7000 ft. timber to G Duppa for building a new house and dipping facility.

1862 1. Donald Cameron listed as one of the Committee of Management of "The Saltwater Creek and Kaiapoi Coasting Steam Navigation Company Ltd."

2. 11 March, Duncan in Resident Magistrate's Court charging Isaac Levi with stealing 2 knives and 2 forks "to the value of 10s. sterling from the Saltwater Creek Hotel".

3. 14 November, Donald Cameron recorded as staking outnavigation channel for "Gazelle" ???? which was leaving with 110 bales of wool.

1863 October, Donald Cameron voted œ50 for each of two years to help clear Saltwater Creek. (This follows the sinking of the "Gypsy" which struck an obstruction inside the bar.)

1864 1. TSV Waipara berthed at Cameron's wharf.

2. One of the brothers was elected to the Kowhai Road Board.

1866 1. January, Donald judged five horse races at the Saltwater Creek meeting.

2. 11 October, Camerons' Accomodation House the venue for inaugural meeting of the Northern Agricultural and Pastoral Association.

3. Saltwater Creek and Kaiapoi Coasting Steam Navigation Company Ltd went into liquidation.

1867 Duncan Cameron is recorded as having a farm "under crop" in the area between Kowai and Ashley rivers in addition to their business establishment at Saltwater Creek.

1868 Was a crisis year for Donald and Duncan Cameron, a year of disaster and yet of opportunity. Unfortunately the opportunity was offset by circumstances of Provincial development over which they had no control. They seized opportunity by developing new shipping ventures at Saltwater Creek but in the end were defeated by the railway.
Exceptionally high rainfall on the eastern coasts of the South Island produced massive floods. On 3 / 4 February 1868 Cameron's store with stock and another house nearby were washed away. New sand bars had to be cleared away with wheelbarrows. A new strength woolstore was built but in August a tsunami (which followed a massive earthquake in Peru) soaked the lower two layer wool bales with brackish water.
The floods of 1868 had deepened the Ashley-Saltwater Creek channel and the Cameron brothers decided to recoup their losses by redoubling their involvement in the coastal shipping trade. This was the wrong time to do so. The railway, creeping now from Christchurch was almost at Leithfield and soon the trade which had sustained the Camerons could be carried more cheaply and reliably by rail.
The final dates and events recorded are a tale of gradual decline for the Cameron brothers' fortunes.

1870 Duncan was re-elected to the Kowai Road Board.

1871 D. &. D. Cameron purchased the old "Avon" (which was refitted and converted from a paddle steamer to stern screw vessel). She was renamed the "Clyde". This venture cost the brothers œ900.
Between 26 September 1871 and the end of 1872 they ran the "Clyde" taking wool and flax cargoes to Lyttleton.

1872 "Clyde" sold to Frederick Banks. D. &. D. Cameron went into a 50/50 partnership to buy the 50ton schooner, "William and Mary".

1873 February, Duncan was appointed overseer to the Kowai Road Board.

1874 "William and Mary" sold. Saltwater Creek ceased to be a coastal port. The railway had passed Balcairn and Leithfield. It was obvious it would soon reach Amberley and the "station" trade would end.

1875-1876 Both brothers are still listed in Wise's Directory as owners/operators of the Saltwater Hotel but they have lost money on each of their shipping ventures and they were growing older.

1876 Duncan and Donald opened a general store in Amberley.

1883-1888 The brothers are both listed as farmers of Saltwater Creek. There is no longer any mention of the hotel or other businesses at the Creek. It is possible that they had to sell these to pay debts, and also unpaid wages to their manager, Hugh McLean.

1898-1899 It is unclear whether both brothers are still farming, possibly Duncan was living in Amberley and overseeing the general store. Donald is registered as a farmer.

1905 On 30 June Donald died at his niece's house in St Alban's, Christchurch. He was 86 years old and was buried in the Balcairn cemetery. Donald was survived by his wife.

1908 Alicia Cameron died on 29 July. Buried at Balcairn.

1909 On 14 September, Duncan died at the age of 71 years. He was also buried in the "Cameron" plot of the Balcairn cemetery.

5. From the Wairau to Okaramio

John Cameron is the key figure in the family story as he is the father of Elizabeth (from whom the Dickson/Hammond family are descended), of John Cameron Jnr, and of Kate (from whom the Nees family section trace their maternal origin.
He was born in Scotland in 1822 and grew up at the time of Highland history when sheep ruled the glens. John became a skilled shepherd, probably following his brother Donald into employment on the Lochiel estates and at "Blairich" in Sutherlandshire. There he became known as and trusted as a shepherd by the McRae family.
In 1850 or 1851 he married Alice McPherson whose family came from Badenoch. At this time George McRae, who had already established himself in New Zealand, was making efforts to sponsor John Cameron and his wife to emigrate. However Alice was expecting their first child and it was not until 1852 that John, Alice and their one year old daughter Elizabeth sailed for New Zealand.
They travelled on the "Maori" as assisted immigrants and are listed on the passenger list as "Cameleon". The "Maori" was a 703 ton schooner which left from Gravesend London2 and arrived in Nelson on 8 June 1853.3
There is no direct evidence as yet of what the John Cameron family did immediately following their arrival in June 1853 but it reasonable to suppose that they lived on one of the McRae properties - either at Wairau South or 88 Valley. John may have travelled on sheep drives to the Wairau and Awatea for George McRae. Perhaps at the prompting of Thomas Renwick, John and little family the found settled employment with the widow of the Hon. Constantine Dillon in the Wairau Valley. Their home was at "Cowslip Farm" on Leefield station near Waihopai. "Leefield" was originally an extensive sheep station of 32 000 acres (13 000ha), much of it hill country, but Cowslip farm was a fertile lowland area suitable for breeding, crop growing and dairying.4
John and Alice's second child, also named John, was born there in 1857 and their third child, Kate in 1863.
Living only 11 miles from Renwicktown (or Upper Wairau as it was then known), it is it is unlikely that the John Camerons were not caught up in the agitation for Marlborough's separation from Nelson Province. The Wairau Hotel (better known as the "Sheepskin Tavern") in Renwicktown was the centre of independence meetings and of separation feeling. So strong was the feeling, which even hinted at armed rebellion, that Marlborough became a separate Province on 1 November 1859.
Elizabeth and John Cameron may also have attended the early school which was opened in Renwicktown in early 1861.5 This is not proven but is highly probable as both as both John Cameron Snr. And Alice were literate and valued education. (Kate may not have started her education until they moved to Okaramio.)
The open plains of the Wairau and the surrounding tussock hill country were allotted to graziers between 1847 and 1860. The later immigrants who wanted land had to look elsewhere.
"The whole of the district north of the Wairau River ... was originally covered in thick bush. The principal varieties of timber were rimu, kahikitea, matai, totara, and tawa. There was a large amount of birch on the higher hills ... while pukatea and cedar (kohekohe) grew in plenty along the shore of the sounds." 6

The Kaituna valley (which included Okaramio) was opened up for milling and for land applications. There had always been a well defined walking track from the Wairau to Havelock, used first by Maori travellers and then, after 1850, by new settlers. This track became very busy following gold discovery at Wakamarina on 28 April 1864 for those miners who did not take the sea route to the sounds.
Timber milling began from both ends of the valley and tram lines and bullock roads followed the progress of the mills. Land was allotted and sold to those still seeking it and some time between 30 May 1863 (the date of Kate's birth, which is known to have been at the Wairau8 ,and 1871 (when Elizabeth married John Dickson.9 )
Perhaps it was curiosity about their brother's new land which brought about a visit from the Saltwater Creek Camerons. Either as a result of this visit or later letters John and Alice were persuaded to allow their son to go south for further education.
"Grandfather Cameron (John Jnr.) went to his uncles' and attended a private school for boys run by a Mr Chapman. He was there at least two years. Then he came back to Okaramio aged about 19-20. He took up farming with his father on the Valley property."10
Charles Chapman had become Principal of the "Anglican Boy's School" in Rangiora in 1871. On 13 October 1873 this became the boy's section of Rangiora District School and four months later Chapman left to set up his own private boys' school, the Earnley Academy.11 It is not yet known which school John Cameron Jnr. attended but it is likely to have been the Earnley Academy as this would correlate with his age of 16 at the time of enrolment.
John and Alice's house was built between 1864-1871, It was made of timber sawn on or near the site and had a wooden shingle roof. The remainder of this building (known in the family as "The Top Place" is now a woolshed re-roofed with iron). To the right of the homestead was an orchard and below the bank at the back of the house was the cowshed and an adjoining gear shed and minor smithy. It was also at this time that the (now specimen) oak was planted.
Also in 1869 the Brownlee mills moved from Mahakipawa to the Kaituna and began to cut their way towards Havelock. They were not however the first millers in the district.
"There was a pit-saw mill which milled mainly white pine near where Kim Lovell lives now. (On the Wairau side of the present school.) McLean was at the mill when Great-grandfather (John Cameron Snr.) came to the valley. There was another mill at Leslie's Paddocks and another at the Nees and Thompson property. Kenningtons had the big mill." 12
Until she married in 1871, Elizabeth helped her mother and father establish the valley farm, and probably helped with the education of her younger sister Kate. At some time in the 1870's a "dame school" called Birchwood was established near where the present Okaramio church stands.
John Cameron Snr. Lived at Okaramio until his death in 1891 (21 April). After her husband died Alice (McPherson) Cameron lived with her daughter Kate (Cameron) Nees. Alice died on 12 March 1900. Both these members of the first New Zealand generation were buried in the Kaituna Cemetery.

Notes 1. Clan Cameron
1. Donaldson, William. The Jacobite Song, Aberdeen UP. 1988
2. Brander, Michael. The Making of the Highlands. London 1980
3. Fraser, Charles. The Clan Cameron: A Patrimony Beset. Johnston and Bacon, Edinburgh 1953. P7
4. Ibid. p10.
5. Brander, Michael. The Emigrant Scots. Constable, London 1982. P7.
6. McNie, Alan. Clan Cameron. Cascade. Jedburgh. 1988
7. Cameron, John The Clan Cameron a Brief Sketch of its History And Traditions. Kickintilloch, 1894.

Notes 2. The Land They Left Behind
1. Fraser, Charles. Clan Cameron: A Patrimony Beset. Edin. 1953. P11
2. Brown, Callum G. The Social History of Religion in Scotland Since 1730. P39
3. Thompson, E. V. God's Highlanders. Macmillan, London Pp34-35
4. Ibid. pp231-232
5. Brander, Michael. The Emigrant Scots. Constable, London 1982
6. Brown, Callum G. p112.
7. Thompson, E. V. p10.
8. Brown, Callum G. p101.
9. Brander, Michael.
10. Brown, Callum G. p93
11. Ibid. p97
12. Donaldson, William. The Jacobite Song. Aberdeen U.P. 1985 p105.
13. Brander, Michael. P66.
14. Ibid. p71.
Additional Reading:
Drummond, J. Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel
Broster, D. K. The Flight of the Heron
The Gleam in The North
Levitt, Ian & Smout, Christopher The State of the Scottish Working Class in 1843. Pub Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh 1979.

Notes 3. On the Sheep's Back
1. Lyttleton Times 15 August 1870, Obituary William McRae
2. Letter 5 May 1852. Renwick/McRae to Superintendent, Nelson. NZNAT ARCH SSD/1/5/102
3. See "division of labour" between Donald/Duncan in NZ joint experiences.
4. McAloon, J. Nelson a Regional History, Cape Catley, NZ 1997 , p49 et seq.
5. Mary (O'Brien) Cameron oral information to JWW.
6. Mariner Emigration Register
7. McAloon, J. p49 et seq.
8. McAloon, J. p49 et seq.
9. Nelson Examiner 11. 6. 1853 Shipping Intelligence.
10. McAloon, J.
11. The Amuri: a county history, pp 93-94.
12. Crawford, S. Sheep and Sheepmen in Canterbury, pp46-48.
13. MS. Copy-micro-0148. Alexander Turnbull Library. "St. Leonard's" Station, diary of Thomas Hanmer 1855-57, 1860-1861
14.
15. McDonald, G.R., Dictionary of Early Canterbury Biographies. Card from Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.
16. Amadeo, Colin., Unpublished MS made available to JWW.
17. St. Andrew's parish, Marriage Register.
18. NZ NAT ARCH CHCH CH/171/5301/1905

Notes 4. D. & D. Camerons of Saltwater Creek
1. Mary (O'Brien) Cameron to JWW 1954
2. Cylopedia of New Zealand, 1905 (Canterbury) p.527
3. Startys, R. M., Quill and Wax: Men and Women of the New Zealand Post Office
4. Bruce, Selwyn, The Early Days of Canterbury
5. Wises Post Office Directory
6. Lyttleton Times 7. 11.60
7. Amadeo, C.F., Northport a Fast-Fading Memory, article in "NZ Marine"

Notes 5. From the Wairau to Okaramio
1. Archives SSD 1/5/102. Letter from T. Renwick & G McRae to the Superintendent, Nelson, 5 May 1852.
2. Lloyd's Register of British and Foreign Shipping, 1856. (Ship number 118.)
3. Shipping Intelligence, "Nelson Examiner" Saturday 11 June 1853.
4. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand 1905 (Nelson, Marlborough, Westland Vol. P427)
5. Marlborough Express, 18 October 1861. Note: the History of Education in Marlborough, a series of articles by H. Olham began in the M. E. 24 June 1939.
6. The Cyclopedia of New Zealand 1905 (Nelson, Marlborough, Westland p.293)
7. .
8. Marriage Certificate Charles Nees/Kate Cameron, 1886
9. Marriage Certificate John Dickson/Elizabeth Cameron, 1871
10. Mary (O'Brien) Cameron to JWW, 22 January 1954.
11. Hawkins, D.N. "Beyond the Waimakariri", pp364-365.
12. Mary (O'Brien) Cameron to JWW, 17 January 1954.

16

Parents: John ? CAMERON (Long John) and Isabella ? ELIZGMOTHER.

He was married to Alice MCPHERSON.⁽²²⁰⁾ "They apparently delayed their emmigration to allow for the birth of daughter Elizabeth and so came to NZ two years after Donald Cameron" [JW]
"According to Mary O'Brien (Cameron), Roderick and Mary were diptheria victims. They were originally buried on the hillside above the original homestead and graves were marked with timber 'headstones' (pers obs JWW0 . Their bodies were re-interred later in Kaituna cemetery." [JW]
The Notice of Intention to Marry for Elizabeth say she was 7 years at Okeramio or thereabouts giving 1864 as the latest year for migration. There is a ref to John & family on the 'Maori': LS-N 71/1 No.3 [NZNATARCH]. There is a family cemetery at Kaituna [JC-R]. John and Alexander Cameron listed in Wises for Wairau, Lower 1872-76. J. Cameron listed at Kaituna, M. Karamio Valley 1878.
A lot of burials under this family name at Turakina. & Marton but John Wilson believes they are unconnected.

1. Clan Cameron
Those family members who seek truth, and value only the here and now, who have little or no interest in family history may well agree with the writer1 who said"
".... The real past is quite irrecoverable . It is now gone and nobody can recover it, any more than they can relive earlier stages of their own lives.
They (the Scots) had an alternative history... made up of a tissue of myth and legend... and (it) provided an heroic backdrop against which they viewed themselves ... They called it 'Auld Lang Syne'."
The origins of the Clan Cameron belong to 'Auld Lang Syne' and are certainly woven around with myth and legend. But hidden within are things which we can accept as probable facts - and even the myths and legend are our inheritance and help to make who we are.
Camerons probably have a reasonable claim to be descendants of the Picts (a Celtic people who settled in Scotia during the 7th - 6th centuries BC) and may have been know to the Romans as the Cerones.
"The Clan Chattan was an ancient and loose federation originally composed of some seventeen clans which claimed Pictish origins ... The Clan Cameron in Lochaber was originally reputed to have belonged to the Clan Chattan but to have broken away."2
It seems that the Camerons, by marriage and the absorption of smaller groups gradually grew in size and importance. Of these marriages the most important was that of the leading Cameron with the Heiress of the McMartins of Letterfinlay, whereby the McMartins became the senior sept (sub-clan) of Cameron. Throughout history the Camerons supported the claim of McPherson to be the rightful leader of Clan Chattan. There was also intermarriage (and fighting at times!) with the neighbours of McLean, and McRae and McIntosh.
Lochaber, traditionally the Cameron district, lay in area which was much fought over by the greater lords of Scotland and was in danger at different times of being swamped by Huntly, Atholl or the Lord of the Isles as history progressed. That the Camerons survived was due to the strong leadership of the Clan 'Captain' and to the development of a very fit and effective warrior spirit.
"Sentiment and self-interest were at one in making them so. It was adversity, not choice, that tempered them into warriors. Clan McGregor alone excepted, no major Highland clan trod a more troubled path, or was so harassed from without."3
The fighting men were armed with bows and well-barbed arrows, broadswords and shields (targes) of leather. In addition many carried the great battle-axes known as 'lochabers'. They were lightly armed and could range over great distances at high speed.
The clansmen were fierce warriors but all the Camerons (including the Women) were also fisher folk, traders, and farmers. It was difficult to feed the inhabitants of the clan district. Land and sea productivity was low and the clan probably lived just on the edge of hunger from crop failures. Cattle raids over a wide area were common and often led to clan feuds and ambushes. However the Camerons had a reputation for 'lifting' other people's livestock!4 The work of feeding the clan had to be combined with defending the clan lands. In order to survive the clan recognised not-only family ties - by blood or marriage, but also ties of locality. Clan boundaries were defended to the death because the possession of a fertile glen or field could mean survival or disaster in times of famine.
The hold of Clan Cameron on the lands in Lochaber was cemented in the 11th century AD by the marriage of of the Clan Captain (Angus) to Marion, the daughter of Kenneth, Thane of Lochaber. From that time onwards, the clan and its captain played a more public and recorded role in Scotland's history.
In addition to the Lochaber lands, there are historical records which show that the clan held lands around Cameron (Cam brun, the crooked hill) in the ancient 'Kingdom of Fife') and that the clan group from this area was part of the Clan McDuff. Robert of Cameron (Cambrun) was granted the lands of Ballegarno (in the Carse of Gowrie) by King William the Lyon (1165-1214) and with the rise to power of the Earls of Atholl, the Camerons rose also to prominence in that area. In 1296 Sir Robert Cameron (Cambron) was Sheriff of Atholl and lived in the clan castle of Ballegarno. (This castle was unusual in that it was built of red stone). King Edward of England, "the Hammer of the Scots" occupied Ballegarno Castle overnight on 7 August 1296 as he sought to subdue the lands round about.
The Camerons supported King Robert Bruce and in 1320 Sir John of Cameron (Cambron) signed the Declaration of Arbroath.
"For as long as long as a hundred of us remain alive we are resolved never to submit to the domination of the English. It is not for glory, wealth or honour that we are fighting, but for freedom and freedom only, which no true man ever surrenders except with his life".5
By 1385 the lands in the Carse of Gowrie and the Ballegarno estates had passed to others through inheritance and after this time Clan Cameron was centred solely on the traditional Lochaber lands. It is arguable whether the union with the McMartins took place after this or at a much earlier date. In following years, the McGillonies and the McSorleys joined Clan Cameron. In 1528 the lands of the clan captain were recognised as the 'Barony of Lochiel' and this has been the name used ever since. The lairds of Lochiel moved from Torcastle to Achnacarry which has from that time been his home and the clan centre.
The Camerons were renowned as warriors but above all else were respected for the fact that once they gave their word they kept it. Honouring the word once given cost the clan dearly many times.
They supported the MacWilliam claim to the throne of Scotland against Alexander I and his descendants - and lost. Later, support was sworn to the Stuarts and this led to conflict with the army of Oliver Cromwell - another loss. Loyalty to the Stuarts (Jacobites) brought the clan "out" in 1715 and again in 1745. The last of these risings ended with the loss of Culloden on 16 April 1746 where the Clan Cameron had committed 800 of the soldiers to the 5000 strong force of "Bonny Prince Charlie". The defeat at Culloden brought death and wounding to many and Lochiel ('the Gentle Lochiel') was forced to escape to France to save his life. Even after this defeat, Clan Cameron remained faithful to the Stuart cause and aided the Prince's secret escape through the Cameron lands in the glens along Loch Arkaig.6
It has become the romantic view that the Battle of Culloden brought an end to clan life in the Highlands. It was in fact only one factor in the great changes of 1750-1850.. Probably more important were construction (which opened up the remote glens to transport and rapid communications) and sheep farming (which changed the whole economy of the Highlands). New towns were established along the new roads and Fort William was built "to keep an eye on the Camerons". The fighting qualities of the Highland men was channelled off by the establishment of specific regiments in the British Army and they were soon at war again, this time against Napoleon.
From the brief summary of Clan Cameron history it would be easy to believe that the clan produced only soldiers. All Highlanders (indeed all Scots) valued education and Clan Cameron produced its share of monks and ministers (one became Bishop of Glasgow in 1462 and Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and another held a bishopric in the times of Mary Queen of Scots.; of men who were knowledgeable in arts and letters, sciences and crafts.7
Family traits that have come down to us in the New Zealand generations reflect this value on formal education and the Cameron descendants are well represented in Science (especially, botany, animal husbandry, gardening and chemistry) either professionally or as gifted amateurs. Teaching , nursing, commerce, forestry and farming - are all well-represented in the family. There is a quiet determination to succeed, a fierce spirit of individual independence, an ability to seize opportunities and develop new approaches. Camerons seem to display strong traditional links coupled with innovation. In case these observations make the family seem serious and dour it must also be noted that we have a love of music and theatre and no one likes a good party like a Cameron!
2. The Land They Left Behind
The Highlands as we think of them are very different from the Highlands which the Cameron brothers left in the 1850's. Our view is likely to be romantic and filled with heather, the sound of pipes and happy family gatherings. Visitors of today can drive through the glens, stay at cosy hotels filled with memorabilia of the Clan, and admire a landscape of heather slopes, forests and sparkling lochs. While we take our photographs or buy our postcards and tartan souvenirs we ask ourselves "why did they leave all of this? How could they give it all up for an unknown future in the furthermost of the colonies?"
The answer to our questions lie in knowing what life was really like in the Lochaber area, in Ross-shire and Invernessshire in 100 years which followed the battle of Culloden.
Road building which opened up the glens began soon after the first Stuart rebellion in 1715 and went on a fast pace between 1725 and the late 1730's.
"There was no means of taking a wheeled vehicle through the Lochaber country before 1732 when General Wade completed the road from Fort William to Inverness. Before 1732 the Cameron's existed in splendid isolation served only by bridle paths or worse and fords were sometimes impassable or dangerous."1
Even before Culloden in 1746, great changes in how land was worked had begun in the Lowlands of Scotland.
"Between the 1660's and 1770's, agriculture and rural industry in the Lowlands were infused with commercial values and capitalist forms of organisation , and similar process in the Highlands and Hebrides caused dismemberment of archaic clan society..."2
In 1762 Admiral Sir George Lockhart introduced sheep in Ross-shire (at Balnagowan). This proved profitable and soon other Landowners copied the methods tried at Balnagowan and thus began the long association of the Camerons with the pastoral sheep industry. The Disarming Acts which followed the collapse of the '45 rebellion changed Cameron warriors into Cameron shepherds. The Highland "Clearances" had begun and the ancient clan system collapsed for all practical purposes.
In the early stages of the pastoral industry, the great Landowners appointed '"factors" to manage their estates. The factors sublet to tenants (who were the clan families great hatred as the tenants again sublet to the "Cottars" and in this way independent clan families were reduced to the lowest level of peasant farming.
The factors arranged contracts with owners of a flock (who were often Lowland investors) for rights to graze a "sheep walk". These tenants paid money rent to the factor. The cottars rented their cots from the tenants in exchange for labour and a percentage of their crops.
A Lowland cot (in a moderately fertile glen in the Lochaber area is described:
" A sod-and-stone cot, its thatched roof held down with weighty stones strung together like a giant necklace...smoke hung heavily in the air.4 Light as filtered through from outside entered through two small four-pane windows weakly supplemented by light from a peat fire burning between stone slabs in the centre of the room. An upturned bucket set in the thatch at an angle against the prevailing wind served as a chimney, but the smoke was reluctant to leave drifting about soot-blackened beams. The living room was divided from the remainder of the house by a screen of rough hewn boards, but there would be little privacy for the occupants of a house."3
Around the cot would have been small plantings of vegetables and beyond these, the larger fields of hay and grain crops.
Life was not easy for the cottar in the glen provided the crops and vegetables grew well. In the high hill areas (where the clan families had once occupied the "shielings" only in the late spring to early autumn) life was harsh and dangerous now that they were forced to live there all year round.
"In the high mountains in a harsh winter such as this life was reduced to to a basic determination to survive, and the provision of sufficient food and warmth for humans and animals. Both suffered the hardships of Highland living, and both shared the minimal comforts of a Highland cot.
Outside the back door, if there was one, peat was piled to the level of the roof, and stacked as deep as a castle wall. Above the door turfs came together in the manner of a badly built igloo. The occupants could keep their fire alight by reducing the width of the peat walls, even when snow lay about the cot deeper than a man.
Part of the cot was partitioned off from the family. In here lived the cows and pigs that would provide the heart of next summer's stock. Sometimes there would be a sheep or two, but they were not intended to survive the winter snows. They would be killed and eaten when the time was right.
Other sheep remained outside, taking their chances with the weather. Most would survive in the shallow glens to which instinct had driven them. They sheltered from the icy blast in tunnels and holes formed in the snow by the heat of their bodies. When the weather improved the cottars would go in search of them, hoisting them from their life-saving prisons, by which time they would be no more than fleece-hung skeletons. Inside the cot, if the occupants had calculated correctly, they would survive on a monotonous diet of salted meats and fish, used to flavour oatmeal cooked in as many ways as ingenuity would allow.
If the calculations had been seriously wrong, or the winter exceptionally harsh and long, it might be necessary to bleed the cattle. The blood would give extra nourishment to the mess of oatmeal that by now would be the sole food left to the beleaguered crofters and cottars. If the weather had not relented by the time the cattle were weakened to the point where they could no longer stand, then lean and tough beef was added to the menu. If, as had been known to happen, there was still no let-up in the weather, one of the household would need to set out through the deep snow to seek help. The remainder of the family would sit with hunger gnawing at their entrails, awaiting succour. If none came... they perished.4

As land became more valuable because of the improving agriculture and industry, rents rose and many cottars were evicted. The men were forced to leave the Highlands in search of work in Lowland towns or to leave Scotland altogether. Between 1763-1775 it is estimated that 24 000 Highlanders left for North America alone.5
Hundreds of planned villages were set up by the landowners to absorb dispossessed small tenant farmers (cottars). These villages became centres of the hand weaving industry. (Scatwell was one of these villages.)16
By the turn of the century, landowners had realised that more money could be made by getting rid of tenants of any and all kinds, and by raising sheep by grazing both hills and glens.7 "Soon flocks of bleating woolly creatures were being driven north in their thousands and tens of thousands."
The advance of larger-scale sheep farming coupled with the enticement of work in industry induced rural depopulation in many hill country districts, and left the remaining population with feelings of bitterness and alienation.8
Replacement of people with sheep was only one of the pressures placed on the western Highlands in the second half of the 18th century.
Before 1715 the Highland clans (apart from the Campbells) were predominantly Catholic or Episcopalian rather than Presbyterian. After 1715 Lowland ministers were sent to the Highlands to spread education in Presbyterianism and the English language.9 The Evangelical movement spread rapidly and by late in the century, a narrow puritanical religious view bound disillusioned communities of Rossshire. Elders were often assigned portions of the parish to supervise, and they acted as "searchers" or patrols to look-out for instances of "Sabbath desecration".10
In over a thousand parish theocracies, Kirk sessions imposed a compulsory culture of conformism.11 In Rossshire 70% of the clergy left the established Church of Scotland and took part in the movement which became the "Free Church".
On smaller and smaller plots of land, and despite continued heavy emigration to overseas colonies, the population of the Highlands continued to rise. This was due to three separate factors: the introduction of the potato, the rise of the military (new) roads to supply relief in times of famine or shortages and the introduction of vaccination against small-pox. At first the increased population was absorbed by emigration by migration to the wool weaving villages (where fine cloth was hand-loomed) and by migration to Lowland and even English cities. From 1793-1815 large numbers were also absorbed into the army fighting the wars against Napoleon. The Cameron regiments made their name at this time.
As we approach the decades in which our New Zealand Cameron ancestors were born, Donald (1819), John (1822) and Duncan (1838) it might seem that Highland society was reaching a certain stability that this society could avoid any further major blows. Unhappily this was not top be.

The "Clearances" caused by sheep-raising continued until it was said:
"By 1820 considerable tracts of the Highlands which had once supported a numerous population contained little except a handful of low-country shepherds and a great many Cheviot sheep." 12
"The 1820's and 1830's were years of considerable poverty and distress in many parts of Scotland but the year 1826-27 was particularly grim. It became known as 'the year of the short corn'. Autumn drought affected the crops and semi-starvation aggravated the commercial depression in many districts."13
The end of the Napoleonic Wars meant that there were many returning soldiers looking for work in an already over-supplied labour market. Highlanders searching for work in the Lowland English towns found that lower paid Irish labourers were filling the jobs. (This caused not only cultural hatred but intense religious division between Catholicism and the fundamentalist "Free Church" Highland groups, echoes of religious/ethic division was carried to the colonies.)
To add to the commercial difficulties of the Highlanders in the ten years from 1830-1840, the hand loom weaving industry collapsed. It could not meet the competition from the machine loom factories of the "wool cities". Thousands from the hand loom villages which had been set up by the landowners were forced to look elsewhere for work and there was simply none.
The religious life of the Highlanders reached crisis point. "The Disruption" of the established church occurred in 1842-43. At the Church Convocation of 1842, 423 ministers out of the 474 present voted to "dissent" and in 1843 the Free Church of Scotland was formed. The rivalry between established church members and the Free Church dissenters caused riots which were particularly vicious in Ross-shire; and similar outbreaks also occurred in Sunart and in Ardnomurchan (where smaller numbers of Camerons lived.)
Many Highlanders were barely managing to survive on their small vegetable and potato crops but when the potato blight reached the Highland glens in the 1840's there was no alternative left but emigration.
"During 1840s - 1850s very considerable numbers of nearly destitute Highlanders were also assisted to emigrate by landlords. Subsidised passages helped far many more to emigrate than (the earlier) evictions or 'clearances'".14
The true picture of the land they left behind is far from the "romantic Highlands" view of today's tourists. The 100 years between Culloden and emigration developed in the Cameron ancestors some characteristics which they brought with them and which can be observed in the first and second generations of the family here. (Some characteristics have lasted much longer.)
Each of the brothers could read and write, as could Alice (McPherson) Cameron, and they were strong promoters of education in early New Zealand. They all had skills in shepherding, wool-handling, and all the minor skills associated with sheep raising in the mid-century. In character they were strongly independent, hardworking and loyal to Presbyterian principles (although perhaps not so fundamentalist in outlook as Alice was). John and Duncan (and Donald to a less degree) were knowledgeable about plants and gardens. Perhaps the gardens, orchards and constantly refilled store rooms of Okaramio and Saltwater Creek were a natural reaction to the hungry days of the 1830s - 184s; and perhaps that all of the brothers could "turn their hand to anything" reflect the never-ending search for employment in those earlier times. Underlying all the aspirations of the first Cameron generation in New Zealand was a driving "land hunger" which could only be satisfied by ownership of an economic unit of land which would support the family with security of tenure and food supply.
3. On the Sheep's Back
With the rapid expansion of sheep farming in the highlands came stock improvement programmes and the need to breed flocks as quickly and efficiently as possible.
A parallel development was the growth of villages given over entirely to wool processing (washing, carding, spinning) and the hand looming of tweed cloth.
Our Cameron ancestors were involved in both these developments. Although specific evidence has not been found it is probable that Donald Cameron (born 1819) and John Cameron (born 1822) joined their father as apprentice sheep men on the Lochiel lands as soon as they were old enough. Duncan Cameron (born 1838) is recorded as having been from Scatwell, a village in Rossshire which existed only for wool-processing.
A high-quality sheep flock had been established at Blarich (or Blairich) in the parish of Rogart, Sutherland by George McRae1 and it seems reasonable to presume (because of the proximity of the Clan McRae lands to Lochiel) that the laird made the best of this improvement programme. The young Cameron sheep-men may have been trained at Blarich, they were certainly known to the McRae family and Donald and John's expertise was respected.2 Duncan, much younger, probably visited his brothers and learnt about sheep first-hand but in addition he seems to be more experienced in village life, transport and machinery. 3
The story of the Cameron migration now shifts to Nelson, New Zealand. In 1842 the "Wakefield Settlement" of Nelson was founded and a number of prospective landowners were recruited to the scheme. Two such men were George McRae and George Duppa. Both were looking to make a fortune from sheep-raising in the colony Using sheep imported from New South Wales and Tasmania they set about breeding stock in the Nelson vicinity.
Good grazing ("depasturing") land was scarce in the environs of Nelson itself. The sheep industry needed large open spaces and the sheepmen looked to the Wairau valley and beyond to graze their increasing flocks. But sheep were difficult and expensive to shift by sea. In 1843, Tuckett, England and Davis proved there was a land route (via the Kaituna valley) from Havelock to the Wairau but this was of no use to the sheepmen as it was covered with heavy bush.
However enough sheep were transported by sea ot establish good acreages of sheep farming in the Wairau by 1847 and (from the sea) the Kaikoura and Amuri district potential was also discovered. Land exploration by Dashwood and Weld revealed the grazing potential of the great Awatere valley. The first Wairau wool was sent by coaster to Nelson and exported from there in 1851.4
The McRae's had sent back reports to Blarich in Scotland about the great sheep farming possibilities in New Zealand. These letters would have aroused great interest among the Scotch shepherds to whom the news was passed. According to family tradition the McRae's also wanted quality stud rams brought out and a shepherd to travel with them.5 Donald Cameron was the one who chose to come out "and if he was going to travel that far he was going to stay".
Donald Cameron came to New Zealand on the MARINER, a full rigged sailing ship of 683 tons which sailed from Gravesend docks in London on 4 April 1850. Captain Robert Harland brought the "Mariner" safely to Port Chalmers on 6 August 1850. The ship then proceeded to Wellington, Nelson and New Plymouth. Donald is listed as an "assisted immigrant", shepherd, 30 years of age; Application number 6991 (NZ Company) and embarkation number 4092.6 There is no indication that he brought sheep with him.
The Nelson to which Donald came in 1850 was a town of wooden buildings; one acre home sections; vacant lots. The town was a dirty as it was thriving. Cattle still frequently wandered in the streets. The sewer in Trafalgar Street was uncovered. There was no town planning and therefore residential cottages and houses jostled amongst business buildings and small manufacturers. 7 No doubt Donald was glad to get out of town and onto the sheep farm which had sent for him.
For the next two years (1850-52) Donald was moving around the grazing and breeding areas of Nelson and possibly the Awatere where the NZ "Blarich: station had been established by William McRae in early 1848.
In 1851 the discovery of gold in Victoria, Australia had marked effect on Nelson. The value of exported oats, barley, timber, potatoes and vegetables rose sharply. The men and women who had been brought out by the New Zealand Company (and whom according to Wakefield would form a semi-permanent "working class") found they could make a good living off their small holdings. This led to a crisis on the sheep stations who were suddenly faced with a lack of labour and higher wages. 8
The year of 1851 was not however all bad news for graziers. This was the year when a drivable stock route from the Awatere, upper Clarence and the low passes behind Hanmer Springs (what is now the Molesworth road) was found. The Nelson Provincial Government moved promptly and annexed large areas of what is now the Hurunui District (the Amuri). Soon there was a grazier "rush" to obtain depasturage licences and to stock these new huge "runs". Shepherds and drovers were worth their weight in gold. Donald Cameron further enhanced his reputation as a skilled sheep man at this time. It would be interesting to know, but probably impossible to prove, whether Donald was in Nelson to welcome his brother's arrival in 1852.
John Cameron came to New Zealand in 1852 on the ship "Maori". He would have probably come out with his elder brother, Donald, but by the time Donald was due to leave in 1850, John had decided on marriage first. When he eventually arrived in Nelson on 8 June,1852 he was accompanied by his wife Alice (McPherson) Cameron and his one year old daughter Elizabeth. The "Maori" is described as a ship of 900 tons.9 The Lloyds Register however lists the "Maori" as having been built in 1851 and being of 799 tons. Due to a handwriting error the Camerons are listed as "J. Camelon, wife and child".9 The passenger list shows the child to be 1 year old and female. This is consistent with the place of Elizabeth Cameron in the family of John Cameron and Alice McPherson. John Cameron was 30 years of age at that time.
Whether assisted or advised by his brother, or as more probable, by his sponsors George McRae and Thomas Renwick, John and his family made their way to the Wairau. Their exact movements are untraced but by1855 they were settled at Cowslip farm on "Leefield" station near Waihopai on the Wairau plains.
Cont.. see John Cameron Children were: Elizabeth CAMERON (Lizzie), John CAMERON (Jr), Kate CAMERON, Roderick CAMERON, Mary CAMERON.

John CAMERON (Private). Parents: Henry John CAMERON (John III) and Ann POWELL.

He was married to Heather TOMBS.⁽²²¹⁾

He was married to Doreen MARFELL.⁽²²²⁾ Children were: Dean CAMERON, Euan CAMERON.

John CAMERON Parents: Onslow Austin CAMERON and Olive HOCQUARD.

Children were: Peter CAMERON , Louise CAMERON, Grant CAMERON , Donna CAMERON.

John CAMERON. Parents: Murray CAMERON.

John ? CAMERON (Long John).

He was married to Isabella ? ELIZGMOTHER.⁽²²³⁾ Children were: John CAMERON (Sr), Donald CAMERON, Duncan CAMERON.

Joyce CAMERON (Private). Parents: Henry John CAMERON (John III) and Ann POWELL.

She was married to Douglas CLUNIES-ROSS.⁽²²⁴⁾ Children were: Karilyn CLUNIES-ROSS, Patricia CLUNIES-ROSS, Barbara CLUNIES-ROSS.

Judith CAMERON Parents: Murray CAMERON.

Julie CAMERON (step dau) Parents: Douglas John CAMERON and Ethra BUTTERS.

Kate CAMERON⁽²⁰⁾ was born before 30 May 1863.⁽²²⁵⁾ She died on 30 May 1919.⁽²²⁶⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Sr) and Alice MCPHERSON.

She was married to Frederick William Charles NEES (Okaramio Charlie) JP on 14 Mar 1886.⁽²⁰⁾⁽²²⁷⁾ Children were: Albert Henry NEES MBE JP (Bert), Charles John Cameron NEES (John), Albertina Alice NEES (Tina), Violet Kate NEES, Flora McPherson NEES, Edmund Herbert NEES (Herby), Donald Ernest NEES , Phyllis Ross NEES, Wilhelm Carl NEES (Carl).

Louise CAMERON Parents: John CAMERON.

Mary CAMERON died on 8 Jul 1869.⁽²²⁸⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Sr) and Alice MCPHERSON.

Mary Alice CAMERON (Alice) was living on 7 Nov 1935 in 7 Harris Street , Feilding, NZL.⁽²²⁹⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

She was married to Arthur Thomas HEALY on 29 Aug 1912.⁽²³⁰⁾ Children were: Arthur John HEALY.

Michael Joseph CAMERON⁽²³¹⁾⁽²³²⁾ was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Okaramio, Marlborough, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ He died on 9 Dec 1972.⁽²³³⁾ He was buried on 11 Dec 1973 in Kaituna cemetery.⁽²³⁴⁾ Never married. No children.

Interview with John Wilson 17 Jan 1954. Reproduced by permission.

MILLING AT OKARAMIO AND DISTRICT
"There was a pit saw mill which milled mainly white pine near where Ken Lovell's live now.
Maclean was at this mill when Great Grandfather Cameron (John Cameron Snr) came to the valley.
There was another mill on the Leslies's paddocks and one more at Nees - Thompson's property. Kenningtons had the 'Big Mill'.
Brownlees were milling at Fern Flat (?). It may however have been Hornby who had this mill but Brownlee had all the land in Long Valley and all the surrounding area. If Hornby did have this mill it was probable that the timber was 'trammed ' to Brownlee Town to be shipped on the scows. Brownlees later began milling at Black Ball just around from the present Havelock doctor's residence.
The lower valley timber was mainly white pine, but there was rimu and matai as well. There being a predominance of matai on the Nees - thompson area.
The timber for the valley houses was mostly all milled here in the valley.
Bob Neumann lived where the Leslies now live and had a large mill. It may have been near there house there or it may have been that one, the shed of which forms the cowshed at Smarts's today. There was or is a big hole in the floor of that shed where the pit-saw used to stand. Perhaps this is the last relic of Okaramio milling.
Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

Miriam Lauretta CAMERON was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Rural Mail Delivery, Kaikoura, Marlborough, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

She was married to Alfred William WILSON (William).⁽²⁰⁾ 'She was temporarily a school teacher and the Post Mistress, Okaramio P.O. A. W. Wilson was a framer of Hapuku, Kaikoura.' [JW] Children were: John William WILSON, Julianne Marie WILSON, Raymond Paul WILSON.

Morris John Fulton CAMERON⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾ was born.

He was married to Mavis Esther CHRISTOPHERSEN.

Muriel CAMERON (Private). Parents: Henry John CAMERON (John III) and Ann POWELL.

She was married to D'arcy SIMPSON.⁽²³⁵⁾ Children were: Annette Joy SIMPSON, Judyne SIMPSON.

Murray CAMERON Parents: Onslow Austin CAMERON and Olive HOCQUARD.

Children were: Ian CAMERON , John CAMERON, Anne CAMERON , Judith CAMERON.

Norah Magdalen CAMERON (Madge) was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Private Bag, Te Puru, Pelorus Sound, Marlborough, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

She was married to Phillip John HOCQUARD (Son).⁽²⁰⁾ ' She was a school teacher but after marriage became farmer. Noted breeder of Southdown sheep. Lived mainly in Marlborough Sounds. (Te Puru and the Beatrix Bay) ' [JW] Children were: John Phillip Francis HOCQUARD (Jack) , Audrey HOCQUARD, Elizabeth HOCQUARD (Betty), Geoffrey HOCQUARD.

Olive Hilda CAMERON (Private). Parents: Roderick Donald CAMERON and Olive May SCHNEIDER.

Onslow Austin CAMERON was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Havelock, Marlborough, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

He was married to Olive HOCQUARD.⁽²³⁶⁾ His wife Olive was a 'sister of Phillip John Hocquard who later married Magdalen Norah Cameron. Farm manager. ' [JW] Children were: Brian CAMERON, Ian CAMERON, Murray CAMERON, Peter CAMERON, John CAMERON.

Peter CAMERON Parents: Onslow Austin CAMERON and Olive HOCQUARD.

Peter CAMERON Parents: John CAMERON.

Rhoda Rebecca CAMERON⁽²³⁷⁾ was living on 7 Nov 1935 in c/-Mortgage Corporation, State Fire Buildings, Wellington, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ She died on 23 Aug 1981.⁽²³⁸⁾ Never married. No children. 'Business woman State Advances, Welleington. Nursed mary O'Brien until Mary Died'. [JW]

Interview with Rhoda Cameron by John Wilson 18 Jan 1954. Included with his permission.

OLD DAYS AT THE VALLEY HOUSE
"Our fun in those days had to be made mostly by ourselves. The wet days were mostly spent in the upstairs lumber-room, at the head of the stairs and situated between our bedroom and that of the boys.
Outside we used to play in the oak, the laurel and the pine tree. They were our castles and we used to play 'visits ' to one another.
Onslow, Kate and myself were the main players at this game.
The boys played cricket and rounders in the front paddock and we used to gather up all the children 'round about to play, though I fancy we did not get a bat very often as the boys had the monopoly of that.
Down the back of the house there was a grassy bank on which we used to slide - with boards as toboggans. In the long Sunday hours we played -of all things- 'funerals'. We buried everything that happened to be dead and if nothing was dead then we buried a doll or something.
Even after I went to Wellington, I would sometimes see one of the old 'graves' when I was home on holiday. We had funeral processions and everything!
In the days before we understood banking we 'banked' all our money in an old clay bank - Rolly Polly Bank- behind the house. There must still be some money there now.
So much for the games at the old valley house where we were all born - it was mostly homemade fun.
I used to love horses and Uncle John (John Cameron III) used always to have a lovely horse so I cleaned his boots for the dances in order to get a ride on his horse. All I ever got though was a ride across the back paddock to get the cows - and to think, I cleaned his boots for that!" Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

Roderick CAMERON died on 27 Jul 1869.⁽²³⁹⁾ Parents: John CAMERON (Sr) and Alice MCPHERSON.

Roderick Donald CAMERON⁽²⁴⁰⁾ was born on 14 Jan 1890.⁽²⁴¹⁾ He was living on 7 Nov 1935 in Okaramio, Marlborough, NZL.⁽²⁰⁾ He died on 14 Jan 1974.⁽²⁴²⁾ He was buried on 16 Jan 1974 in Kaituna cemetery.⁽²⁴³⁾⁽²⁴⁴⁾ RSA plaque:
Ist NZEF 43155 lpr R.D. Cameron Mounted Rifles died 14. 1. 1974 a. 84 He served in the military WW1.⁽²⁴⁵⁾ Ist NZEF 43155 lpr Mounted Rifles Twin with Henry John. [JW] Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

He was married to Olive May SCHNEIDER.⁽²⁴⁶⁾ 'He was a skilled dairy farmer and a jersey breeder. The y lived in (a) Fabians Valley, (b) Lower Kaituna and (c) on section of original farm' [JW] Children were: Douglas John CAMERON, Olive Hilda CAMERON.

Russell David CAMERON⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾ was born.

He was married to Lynne Marie HODGSON.

Sue CAMERON (step dau) Parents: Douglas John CAMERON and Ethra BUTTERS.

Veronica CAMERON (Vronnie)⁽²⁴⁷⁾ died date unknown.⁽²⁴⁸⁾ Never married . No children Parents: John CAMERON (Jr) and Mary Ann O'BRIEN.

4 Daughters CAMPBELL⁽²⁴⁹⁾⁽²⁵⁰⁾ Parents: Patrick CAMPBELL. Parents: Patrick CAMPBELL and Catherine INNES.

Alex CAMPBELL⁽²⁵¹⁾

He was married to Janet SUTHERLAND.⁽²⁵²⁾ Children were: Janet CAMPBELL.

Blair CAMPBELL (Private). Parents: Gary CAMPBELL and Susan Dorothy MURRELL.

Elizabeth CAMPBELL - dau of Wm C, Brubster

She was married to Robert INNES - Eldest rightful 5th laird on 14 Feb 1762.⁽²⁵³⁾⁽²⁵⁴⁾ Children were: Elizabeth ? INNES, William INNES, George of Isauld INNES - would have been 6th laird, Christina INNES, Catherine INNES, Mary INNES.