The Benefits of Refrigeration

Refrigeration was a catalyst for change in different ways. In the South sheep farmers diversified into new breeds that produced better meat as well as wool. Merino gave way to Corriedale and other breeds, especially on farms closest to rail lines... Vogels scheme had laid the foundation fro future success. New industries developed around the killing floor and transportation of animals and their carcasses.

In the North, in particular in Taranaki change was enormous. An area that had struggled through the wars of the 1860's and a stagnating economy was in dire need for a miracle. The development of refrigeration was mana from Heaven for the province.

Before 1882 Dairying had been a minor industry. It was a small scale localised operation run out of small mixed farms. Poor infrastructure (esp. transportation) mean that milk could only be supplied to local towns or villages. Processed into butter or cheese it could travel further but not much, especially in the summer.

There was also the problem of consistency, each farmer (or his wife) had their own recipe so that every batch was different.Dairy farms were thus generally small affairs dealing to the local population and barely making a living.

In the Taranaki, Chew Chong, a chinese trader had kept many small farmers from starvation when he began to purchase a local fungus from them. When refrigeration was introduced small dairy factory's sprang up to support the growing dairy industry and the Taranaki was ideally suited to this. Chong built one of the first factories, continuing to support his clients. He preferred to take their milk and produce his own cheese and butter, a more consistent product that sold more readily.

Later when co-operatives emerged Chew was forced out of the business but he remained a highly regarded member of the community. he was able to marry a local (Pakeha) woman (no-one complained) and when they visited China a collection sent him on his way with a bag of sovereigns.

Dairying opened up the Taranaki and other areas, giving many of the small farmers a leg up the economic ladder. A steady income finally gave them financial security and the region finally began to grow. The creation of co-operatives gave them the strength of many and allowed them to apply economies of scale. Wool was hard pressed by the depression but Dairying resulted in an economic expansion rather than retrenchment and the bankruptcy that devastated some parts of the South.

The export of dairy products helped to diversify the economy and expanded the settlement of New Zealand, along with the expanding infrastructure that pushed Europeans into every corner of the country. As noted in your handout New Zealand went from a single commodity economy (Wool) to a treble (Wool, Meat and Dairy Products). Expansion of this industry through the 1880s meant it was well placed to take advantage as the 'Long depression' dragged to an end.

So the effects of dairying can be summed up with the opening up of the North island, increased settlement with improved transport (road and rail) and communications. The development of new industries including dairy factories and abbatoirs for the processing of meat (creating more employment opportunities) . The expansion and diversification of the economy and finally the destruction of the Kahikatea (White Pine) which was used in the production of boxes for butter. (aka the butter-box wood).

Belich in his book Paradise Reforged has proposed that in the 1860's and 1870's New Zealand was beginning to lose its ties with britain and forging its own sense of identity. The advent of refrigeration however reinforced our dependence upon Britain and effectively recolonised the country. This dependence both econiomic and social would not be broken for almost a century.

Industry: Pastoralism

WOOL

As we discussed in class Pastoralism is the farming of pasture (aka grass). In New Zealand this has traditionally been in conjunction with either sheep or cattle. Before 1882 pastoralism was associated with sheep (and mainly Merino) and the wool they produced. In farming terms this is called extensive sheep farming. The farms are large and a long way from town. The farms had their own name, 'stations' or 'runs' borrowed from their equivalent in Australia and most likely carried across with the earliest sheep farmers who came over to the South Island in the 1850's.

This was the also the origin of the term "Cockie" for farmer (Borrowed from Ockers where the Cockatiels that infested farmland especially at harvest time). This period from the 1850's was the 'wool period' when the imported Merino sheep ruled the tussock lands of the South Island, and the flat lands of the Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay. This period saw the creation of vast estates especially in the South Island.

Using the Australian model it was a simple matter of claiming land with the Provinicial Government and lease-holding the land, often with the view of making it freehold as quickly as possible. Although as we will discover they did not always own all of the land they controlled. The key was liquidity and the creation of huge flocks of sheep. New Zealand's climate provided warm weather and plentiful rain, which meant plenty of grass, a few ewes and a ram did the rest.

The Stations needed large pools of labour, especially at shearing time. Itinerant shearing gangs travelled with the season southward (the season started in the north) to stations as they were needed. Wool could then be stored and transported to port for shipping to Britain. Wool developed a new market in coastal transportation. All of this activity created vast wealth for a favoured few and left a bitter taste in the mouths of many migrants who found land difficult to acquire in the 1870's. In the south this wealth tended to dominate local and later national politics. In 1882 this all changed.

REFRIGERATION.

The wool period was responsible for opening up large areas of the South Island and created a new class of land owners. By the end of the 1860's most of the South Island was owned by a relatively small number of families. The Sheep stations were enormous with tens of thousands of sheep supplying vast quantitie's of wool, but relatively little meat. It turns out Merino meat is not very tasty. (fishy apparently?) Apart from areas of the Wairarapa and the Hawkes Bay sheep farming made little impact in the North island, due in part to the less suitable heavily forested land and the reluctance of Maori to sell their land.

The confiscations and the Land Court would in the main remove the Maori from this equation, but the forest would slow down any development. By the 1870's the growth in Britains population and its increased earning power created a demand for better quality food from around the world, increasingly they demanded meat - fresh or frozen. Argentina had already sent shipments across the Atlantic with some success. Australia sent its first shipment in 1871, giving sheep breeders in New Zealand hope that they to could establish a new industry. The work of a few enthusiastic and entrepreneurial Otago runholders saw the first shipment od sheepmeat sent to Britain in 1882.

The voyage of the 'Dunedin' in 1882 is accorded little real significance in our history certainly less than it deserves, and yet it is the watershed/tipping point in our history.Only one carcass was rejected at the end of that first voyage, and reports were very favourable. So successful was this venture that British farmers demanded that shipments be labelled as 'New Zealand Mutton'. Initially we sent only Merino and mainly mutton, but quickly adapted to british demand for lamb. This worked both ways, the British got tastier meat in small (oven size) portions, we got to send more carcasses which were worth more.

We also changed the breeds of sheep, Merino remained on some Runs producing high quality wool, while Corriedale and other breeds were producing a mix of wool and meat. In 1882 we sent 35,000 carcasses, by 1900 it was 3.5m per annum.

The downstream effect of refrigeration lay in the new industry surrounding the killing and processing of the meat. Refrigeration led to Railways to ship the meat and Cool stores to keep the meat, under the Vogels schemes, road and rail became a necessity to transport the meat to port where it was stored. While the main trunk line connected the main centers, branchline's were used to connect the hinterland to the ports.

In many respects refrigeration created a new demand for land, but land was still hard to find. However the 'Long Depression' which arrived in 1879 with the collapse of the Bank of Glasgow had already begun to impact with many of the stations falling into financial hardship. The new exports helped but many were to over stretched and became bankrupt. It would take the Liberals to free up land for the 'little' man.

Industry: Gold

During the 19th Century gold held an incredible hold over the imaginations of people. For many it was a quick route to wealth. As a result there were massive gold rushes in various parts of the world. The first was to California in 1848, the prospectors who took part were called ‘49er’s… This was followed by the Victorian rush in the 1850’s and the Eureka Stockade insurrection that followed. The economies of these areas grew enormously. The huge numbers of prospectors and the services they demanded created a lot of wealth (little of which actually came from finding gold).

As a result the provincial Governments were desperate to find gold somewhere within their regions. Several offered rewards to anyone who could find it. New Zealand appeared to have the geology (although that was a relatively new science) so it simply appeared to be a matter of finding it. Early discoveries of ‘colour’ were made in the Coromandel but were unworkable.

Eventually as you know an Australian Gabriel Read discovered gold in Otago in May 1861 and the rush was on. The province exploded, prospectors arrived from all around the world, but especially from Victoria. Many were keen to escape the taxation and corruption of the Australian fields. In Otago they were taxed less and received larger claims to boot.

This was alluvial gold, which could initially be easily found by individuals. Later small groups or collectives formed to extract the gold from the riverbanks.

Eventually gold was also found in the West Coast, Nelson and again in the Coromandel. When news of the discovery on the Coromandel arrived in Auckland, the male population of the city disappeared overnight, emptying stores of pans, shovels and food. Many were disappointed to find the gold locked away in the rock.

These later discoveries were quartz based gold, which required even larger amounts of money, the days of the lone prospector were numbered. Companies formed in Christchurch, Wellington or Auckland were formed to buy the equipment needed to extract the rock and crush it. This needed water or steam power, and the giant stampers which kept Grahamstown (Thames) awake 6 days a week.

Gold remained an important export commodity for much of the century. Its importance lay in the changes it made to the physical and social fabric of New Zealand. Much of the South Island was now settled with towns spread from north to south and east to west. Much of the island had been explored and for a time Dunedin was the country’s largest city. South island run-holders were able to expand as the population gave them a market for their meat. The miners also brought with them a belief in equality and the early ideas of mateship that were also developing in the bush settlements of the north.

the Rise of the Tasmen

The early exploiters of resources like timber have been described by Belich as "Tasmen" a way of explaining the importance of Australia in our early industrial development. Like other forms of exploitation it was based mainly on the coastline with a high level of interaction with local Maori.. Hokianga provided a safe Harbour with an abundance of readily available timber and cooperative Maori (Ngapuhi). It should be remembered that the captain of the Boyd was lured into a trap by the promise of timber... In terms of significance - by 1840 a third of the 2000 Europeans in New Zealand were actively involved in the timber trade.

Later the cutting of timber became an important part of opening up the interior as more Maori land became available. It was both an important part of the local economy - most of the early settlements were constructed form Kauri, and also an important export commodity.

Early timber trade centres in the north. Its based mainly around the north and especially the Hokianga. Many ships called in and around New Zealand to pick up timber in ad hoc arrangements but a real 'trade' developed in the Far North. It was aimed at extracting wood for ships spars and later developed into cut wood for the Sydney building trade. Kauri was the main timber felled later as building trade in Australia and Auckland - the shift to Auckland resulted in an explosion in building for the new Capital.

The Bush frontier would last well into the next century.The trade created a new type of New Zealander, the Bushman. Living on the edge of the bush (and sometimes well inside it) they were almost devoid of female company resulting in the idea of 'mateship' which was also developing in Australia.

Groups of men living for long periods in close proximity and in occupations which were extremely dangerous meant that real and long lasting friendships were created.Good manners and behaviour was expected and any who failed to follow the (often unwritten) rules would not last long in the camp. The worst that could be said of a man was that he did not pull his weight on the job or that he was a thief or a cheat (gambling and alcohol was strictly banned in most camps). Any of these failings could mean that no-one would employ a man and he would have to leave the district and hope his reputation did not follow him to his new job.

Miles Fairburn has used some examples to justify his idea of transience and lack of community. Subsequent research has seriously challenged this with many examples of 'mates' or familial groups working together for many years - sometimes for decades. The sense of community extended to welfare, injured workers were ferried out by mates who would carry their friend out on their shoulders or backs. If a death occurred leaving a family, their effects (clothes, tools etc) would be auctioned with their mates often paying well over the odds for the second-hand gear.

Timber saw the development of new technology, Pit Saws gave way to Steam and Bullocks were sometimes replaced by Bush trams (converted Traction Engines!!!) The Timberjack was invented to assist the movement of the giant logs, as was the the Kauri Driving Dam to move logs through hilly terrain, especially where the Corduroy Roads and Bullocks could not.

The Timber industry opened up new areas, assisting in the spread of farming and established many small towns in new area, especially the 70 Mile bush between Wellington and the Hawkes Bay, the Central North Island and in the Taranaki.

The Sawmill that followed the workers attracted other small businesses . If the timber lasted long enough a small town could develop, sometimes it might be able to withstand the loss of the trade and continue to flourish as farming replaced the trees. (Dannevirke or Featherston). If the timber ran out too quickly the town might not survive the loss. (Anyone remember Mauriceville?)

WHS Rugby 2010

A slideshow for the WHS U19 Rugby Team