Eastern Bush, Ōrawia & Ōtautau District's - Moffat Farming History:, 1920-1940
Photo's 1-3, showing Norman Moffat and his horses at "Sunnybrook" farm:
The Moffat family have a long-standing history the Central and Western Southland Murihiku district. Henry Moffat's son Norman Edwin Moffat was to purchase a farm at Eastern Bush, not far from his father's Ōrawia property. The family moved there from Scott's Gap, after Ōtautau.
It was often commented by others, that Norman was a great horseman. He used horses extensively to farm his property, as can be seen above. Norman's obituary in 1956, this recounts how Norman was the earliest farm to grow wheat in the district.
Norman’s son Charlie Moffat, born in 1922 recalls some history of the family farm at Eastern Bush, in records faithfully kept by son Lincoln, who has graciously gifted copies of these to this archive. This is a different property to the one that his father Henry had farmed on what is now Moffat & Forbes Road. Many of the recollections from Charlie are obviously passed on by his father Norman, and tell how he was bought up on the finest farm in the Eastern Bush, with ‘fertile soil and well fenced’.
The property had been purchased off original settler John McCall from Scotland, who had ensured the farm was well maintained and provided with the best farm buildings money could buy, a large homestead and a six horse stable, also a woolshed and pigstye’s. In the booklet called “Clifden, Eastern Bush and The Otahu”, Charlies account in that gives us further details of this land:
- Section 53, Block V, Waiau Survey District
- 202 acres, 2 roods
- First owner, John McCall of Scotland, took possession 17 August 1891
- Transfer to ownership of Norman Edwin Moffat 15 January 1919
- Transfer to ownership of Charles Norman Moffat 29 October 1957
After leaving school, John’s McCall’s son Hugh had put a lot of time and effort into the property, probably expecting to take it over when his father passed on, but then WW1 happened and sadly, Hugh was killed in the war in France, with his brother John McCall being invalided out of service.
So Norman Moffat, who also fought in the same war, being sent home an invalid in 1916, completed the purchase of the McCall property after his severe wounds had healed. Norman had been a Private in the Machine Gun Corps, and his younger brother Harry also served and tragically was killed there. Charlie recalls being told how both his own father Norman and the whole family were ecstatic about the purchase of this fine property called ‘Sunnybrook Farm’ as it was very profitable and well presented.
In Norman’s old “Return of Land” paperwork, kindly donated by grandson Lincoln we see that in 1934 he has got the lease from the Trustees of RA Begley, for lease on land at Otahu Flat and that he has purchased a freehold block off Edward Davis of Ōrawia for £80, in the Waiau District. I note with fascination that his original farm under a Discharged Soldier’s Mortgage had a principal amount for the year of £1,829 still outstanding, with interest at 5%. His second mortgage on the property, taken out in 1931, was sitting at £600 still owing. He looks to have had two goes at filling out these forms, which tell us a lot about Norman’s land at that time. Other amounts owning are listed for adjoining sections of land with monies owed to a group of three McLachlan’s and appearing to be mortgaged to Watson & Watson of Invercargill, with other amounts owing, seemingly connected to the same pieces of land, with mortgages or loans owing to two members of the Craig family and JJ Begley.
I see that Norman values the Capital of his main farm land on the original block at £2445 with the unimproved value being £1215 and the value of his improvements at £1230. This shows the amount of investment that Norman put into his land, almost doubling it in value over less than 15 years. I have run out of time to get all the Moffat family documents up online at this point, but copies of these will be available for descendants and other interested parties to see, as soon as I get them up. Here might be a good point to insert the remainder of the story as far as the Moffat family goes, these notes are from Charlie’s history of the Moffat Family Farm History, written by him in 1994:
- 1/3 share transferred to Lincoln Charles Moffat 13 December 1972
- 2/3 remaining share transferred to Lincoln Charles Moffat 1986
NOTE: The original farm block remained in Lincoln’s hands until he retired up country in 2016.
A dedicated citizen and community stalwart, Norman, who farmed on his original land at Eastern Bus...
Central and Western Murihiku Southland Archive via DigitalNZ
http://api.digitalnz.org/records/50736886/source
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