Mar 24 1970

Traquair property

Published by under Background Information

James Reid … [after] 1854 … arrived from Scotland with his wife and two sons. His descendants have been maily responsible for developing the large well-known properties of ‘Allendale’, ‘Horsehoof’ and ‘Traquair’ on the Maungatua. Originally ‘waste land’ outside the Otago Block, this hill country grass-land was commonage for stock which farmers were allowed to use in proportion to the size of their freehold.
In 1854 the Government granted licenses for waste land, with 14 year leases costing for $10 to $20 per annum; and a tax of 6 cents a head for cattle and 1 cent for sheep. Each run was about 20,000 acres with streams for boundaries and they were mainly stocked with merino sheep.
Edward Lee, who settled at Maungatua in 1847, was one of the early run holders. From the earliest days of the Otago Settlement he gave employment to a number of new immigrants, many of whom later became well-known owners. …
… The Reids’ properties of ‘Allendale’ and ‘Horsehoof’, which was originally called ‘Harvey’s Flat’ were once part of the Fultons’ Lee Flat run; ‘Traquair’ was part of Edward Lee’s run 57 of which a considerable part was bought or leased by James Shand of Abbotsford farm.
Three Shand brothers, George, James and William, with their sister Mrs Milne came to Otago in the ‘Phoebe Dunbar’ from Inverurie, Scotland in 1850. James died shortly after and it was his son, James, who started taking up sections in 1861 to form the ‘Abbotsford’ property (Allanton Rd) which he ran as a model farm with imported modern machinery. During the next 17 years, he acquired more and more land; on the hill country by the Dunstan Road, he bought the freehold of 6,000 acres, calling it ‘Traquair’, which is now owned by Mr R J Reid. – “Taieri Buildings” 1970 and “More Taieri Buildings” 1972 each by Daphne Lemon.

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