Old identities and new iniquities : the Taieri Plain in Otago Province, 1770-1870

Abstract

Today, the Taieri Plain is primarily agricultural in function; but the nature of the landscape is changing more swiftly than at any time in the past. Soon, because of modernised farming, substantial building programmes and new patterns of communication, it will in no way resemble that which was present in the past. The advance of progress has been steady for almost a century on the Taieri. All indications of the century 1770-1870 are rapidly becoming a matter of conjecture.

Some works have been written which involve study of the Taieri Plain - in particular, Shaw and Farrant's excellent volume "The Taieri Plain - Tales of Years that are Gone" written for the Otago 1948 Centennial. As well, J.A. Thomson's "The Taieri Allans" (Dunedin 1929) and Mrs Daphne Lemon's "Taieri Buildings" (Dunedin 1970) and "More Taieri Buildings" (Dunedin 1972) provide sources of information relating to particular families. Only Shaw and Farrant's book comes close to being a definitive study but it glosses over the important early years. The only analytical study of the general area which includes the Taieri Plain is A.H. McLintock's "History of Otago" (Dunedin 1949). This significant work deals with the whole province and because of its wide scope, examination of the Taieri Plain specifically is limited. Because of its importance there will be sections of the thesis which will compare or contrast with ideas in McLintock's "History of Otago".

No major work has yet been attempted which links European settlement in this local area with effects on the resident native population; or any comparison made between types of settlement before 1844, or any contrast of ideas about the development of the Taieri Plain held in the 1840s with the later realities, or any analysis of the effects of gold discoveries on the nature of a local settlement. These are significant facets of changes in the character of the early Taieri Plain. These ideas will be examined in this thesis.