The only way we are able to learn the stories of this district’s early European settlers is through letters, books, and other written means; time has reduced their voices to words on paper. Keeping this fact in mind, imagine how interesting it was for Mr. John Brown of Lowcliffe to have had the chance to meet some of the Hakatere/Ashburton District’s early European settlers while they still lived in the late 1930s.
Prior to becoming a writer, John Brown (1878 – 1940) was a farmer in the Lowcliffe area. After retiring from farming, he submitted a series of articles on local stud stock breeders to Mr. W. B. W. Bell from the Ashburton Guardian. Bell saw potential in John’s work and urged him to write more for his paper. John Brown became a weekly history columnist for the Guardian and proceeded to write dozens of features about the early history of the Ashburton Road Board, County and Borough, as well as the district’s early pioneers.
James Campbell
In January 1937, John Brown went to visit a man by the name of Mr. James Campbell, an early Scottish farmer and immigrant, who regaled him with stories about his experiences. John wrote the following about meeting James Campbell:
“Mr. James Campbell, who now stays with his son Keith and Mrs. Keith at their farm at Lagmhor, was for more than half a century one of the best-known sheepmen in this County [sic]. A short time ago he unfortunately slipped and fell, injuring his back, so that it was to his pleasant little room close to the house that his grandson, the one who has just won a John Bell Memorial Agricultural Scholarship, led me. In spite of his accident, which has kept him to his bed, and the torture of rheumatism, and, in spite, too, of a far greater affliction, that of total blindness, through cataract, Mr. Campbell’s handshake and his hearty welcome put me at once on the old-time footing of good-fellowship that always characterised his meetings with his old friends.”
James Campbell knew about John Brown’s Guardian columns and he shared the fact that he had also produced some articles about the birds and fish of New Zealand, which he sent to the paper of his birthplace (Kirkcudbright, Scotland). It was in Kirkcudbright that James became familiar with farm work, and in 1879 he decided to try his luck and start a new life in New Zealand. He booked passage aboard a sailing vessel, probably expecting an easy ride, but unfortunately the journey was a troubled one. The ship that James booked passage aboard, the Euterpe (later re-named Star of India), set sail from the East India Docks in Blackwall, East London, in August, 1879. The ship and had sailed only a short distance before it was rammed by a homeward-bound vessel and had to go back for repairs.
Two weeks later, the Euterpe set sail again, but the journey was hampered once more, this time by a terrific gale which the crew and passengers thought would surely sink the vessel. Miraculously, the ship survived, although it was badly strained. For three weeks Euterpe floundered in the English Channel. They then managed to carry on, eventually completing their journey to Lyttelton in four and a half months.
Life in New Zealand
After arriving in New Zealand in December 1879, James Campbell went to work as a shepherd at Winchmore Station, which was managed by Matthew Stitt. Matthew and James became good friends over the next eleven years before James left, got married, and moved elsewhere. It is worth noting that both James and Matthew’s sons eventually met during the First World War, on the battlefields of France, and fought side-by-side. Both of their sons survived and returned from the war.
After living on Barford Estate for six months with his new wife Ruth Campbell (née Sawle), James was employed by Max Friedlander as a stud shepherd on his property at Lyndhurst, for eighteen months. After this job, James took up his own leasehold property between Ealing and Lowcliffe, which he held onto for five years before taking up a position working on the Hinds portion of the Lagmhor Estate until 1903.
At this point, misfortune befell James Campbell, as he lost all his savings, although by no fault of his own. After another seven years of work, which often took him down to Otago and Southland, James managed to buy just under 400 acres at Lagmhor (later expanded to 850). After the First World War, James and his wife built a house in Tinwald and lived there while their son married and leased the farm. When James’ wife passed away, he sold his house in Tinwald and moved back onto the farm, where John Brown eventually came to visit him in his later years.
Although he was bed-ridden, John Brown tells us that James Campbell was still a very colourful character. He was “particularly well read in Scottish history” and he was “keenly interested in the current news coming over the ‘wireless’ in his room, and his pawky Scotch humour in a discussion on current affairs was a great delight to me. But when I stood up to go, and he clasped my hand and spoke a cheery invitation for me to visit him again, I marvelled at the wonderful spirit of the man – a spirit unconquered and unconquerable.”
In 1940, John Brown was hard at work compiling his articles into a history book sponsored by the Ashburton County and Borough Councils as a New Zealand Centennial commemorative project. Sadly, after enduring months of declining health, John passed away on 15 June 1940. Unfortunately he did not live to see his book published later that month. He was survived by his wife Daphne, son J. Bruce, and two daughters Merle and Betty. The flag at the Guardian office flew at half-mast as a sign of respect to John Brown.
By Connor Lysaght
Unless otherwise stated, photographs and research materials on this page are owned by the Ashburton Museum & Historical Society Inc. This post was modified for this blog and was originally published in the Ashburton Guardian, 23 July 2022.
Ashburton Museum Blog 
Leave a comment