Eastern Bush District - Moffat Family History: ; Moffat, Charles; 1950's; CWA.... on eHive

Photo of Norman & Matilda Moffat's home at their Eastern Bush property, at its second site after moving, the story of which can be seen below. This is the original McCall Homestead, which was on the property when Norman bought it. He and wife Matilda lived in this home at Eastern Bush all their married life, with successive family generations taking over both the house and also Sunnybrook farm itself, until very recently (2016). In relation to this particular house, grandson Lincoln Moffat recalls that: "Norman had it shifted up from near the original woolshed to the site in this photo. My dad (Charlie) grew up in this house. It is now known as 233 Otahu- Eastern Bush road. With help we cannibalised this house but then burnt it down in 1976. We then built a new house on the same site. The house pictured here had extensive gardens and I remember the roses being plagued by opossums. I met one of the McCall's sons once. James Hay McCall. He lived with his daughter in Timaru and he died at age 97." The Moffat family have a long-standing history the Central and Western Southland Murihiku district. Norman Edwin Moffat, Henry's Moffat's son, was to purchase a farm for himself at Eastern Bush, not far from his father's Ōrawia property. It was often commented by others and has been noted by family, that Norman was a great horseman. He used horses extensively to farm his property, as can be seen in entries of his horse teams in this archive. Norman's obituary in 1956, this recounts also, 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, which are also in this archive. The property was named "Sunnybrook" farm and only recently sold out of the family after nearly 100 years. It was here Norman's family grew up. 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. Norman Moffat, who fought in WW1, being sent home an invalid in 1916, completed the purchase of the McCall property after his severe wounds had healed. First off, this particular house has quite a history. Charlie recounts how after Norman couldn't get his first car near the house which used to be situated down a steep hill, Norman and Matilda thought they would try and get the house moved. It was a solid home and well made, heavy and seemed almost impossible to move. The story of the eventual move has apparently become an "epic in the history of the family." After deciding that they would move it to the site where it sat for the rest of it's life, a track was made through the homestead's large orchards, a collection of post and wire fences and even traversing a gully which was said to be home to running water for much of the year, and finally up the steep hill to the new site which was chosen as a place the car could easily get to. Next, they consulted with Jimmy Wilson, who was then the local building contractor in Ōrawia and in business in quite a large capacity, having six qualified carpenters as well as a plumber and electrician employed by him. Jimmy stated that the house would first need to be sawn in half, with both the halves needing to be jacked up and put onto sledges for moving. It was obvious that the job was far beyond the ability of even Norman's prized Clydesdale Draught horse team (said to be the best in the area. So Jimmy thought a traction engine might be what was needed for the move. Luckily, Norman was friends with the 'local' threshing contractor, who was Tom Kennedy of Scott's Gap on the road towards Ōtautau. It was indeed fortunate that he had already been taken on to use this to thresh the local harvest in a couple of months, so was already engaged in the area. This great steam monster of a machine was made in England and was fitted up with "a powerful winch with about 200 yards of heavy wire rope." (200 yards was the equivalent of 182.88m.) It would have been around 1926/27 when this story of the house move took place, considering Norman bought his first car that would not make it up the hill to where the house was originally sited, sometime in 1925 and they decided to move after this. I note that in retelling the story, Charlie (Norman's son) thought that he was around 3 and his sister Grace 5, but those ages do not add to the other facts in the story, and we know that as children our perception of time and age is not normally well practised. Because time was short, the process had to kick into gear quickly. Norman and his man (farm worker) went into the pine plantation behind the house to quickly cut skids the correct length, then the men proceeded to the large stand of totara that were within the 150acres of native bush across the road and also took down a large number of piles for the house to be re-sited on. These had been specified by Jimmy Wilson as needing to be 56" (1.42m) long, so the plumber could install water pipes - something the house did not have previously. It is of note too, that totara was long the preferred wood for house piles as these lasted better than most. The family account mentions how both Norman, and his man, were expert axemen and that Norman loved to work in the bush. Of course, we know Norman had a long history of this. Once the piles were prepared, the work required now apparently reached a "frenzied" pace, with Jimmy Wilson and all his men coming to join in. It must have been quite the adventure! Charlie who would have been 4 at the time, tells the story of how himself, his older sister Grace who was about 6, and their mother Matilda moved into the hut on the property and there Matilda had to cook meals for not just the family, but also for the entire crew, who numbered about 12 men... on an open fire!! Goodness, we could not even imagine doing that now. It is also noted that as there was no way to travel easily back then, the men had to all sleep in the barn with the horses, but at least it was always dry in the loft and warm from the "great Clydesdales" below in their stalls. Jimmy Wilson the building contractor was said to be a "very kind man", was to loan his youngest son Stewart to Matilda to help care for the crew during the move of the house, which took about 2 months in total. He is said to have had to peel potatoes the whole time, what a job for a boy, who I am sure, would much rather have been helping with the building! And Norman is said to have had to cull sheep for mutton regularly and Charlie notes that despite the handicap of his right arm which had been damaged in the war, he excelled at this task, as everything else. When Tom Kennedy eventually arrived in the district for the harvest, with his great traction engine, the Moffat's house was sitting waiting sawn in half, with one of these halves already jacked up and sitting on the sledge. There were some anxious moments, as Tom realised he had to use the engines wire rope winch and dig in the front wheels, until he was able to get the almighty load moving, and continue until the rope was wound in. It is recalled that after "numerous shifts" the first half was finally sited at its new resting place, where the piles for it were already waiting. Then the second half had to be moved again in the same way, what a huge job! I will note here, that we have a photo of Tom Kennedy's threshing plant and traction engine that moved this house, and it will be added into this archive in another entry at some point in the future. This is the beauty of a community archive like this, in that it links up all of our districts history. I had originally thought, when sent the photo of this house above by the family, that this could not be the original McCall Homestead property, as it looked far too new, but it is indeed. Lincoln Moffat has informed me that the house had just been freshly repainted when this photo was taken. I doubt that many houses in the district have got such a fascinating history. Charlie Moffat also recalls some amusing accounts of farm life during the 1950s. He remembers his mother (Matilda) used to have about six dairy cows for the farm and house use close by, and one day when the pig got out of the sty, all six of the house paddock cows got up and followed said pig in a strange procession, with the pup also getting “into the act” too, apparently even dragging its own kennel along with the rest of the procession of farm animals, behind the last cow. Very hilarious! A dedicated citizen and community stalwart, Norman, who farmed on his original land at Eastern Bush, all his life, while adding further acquisitions to his land holdings, was able to pass this property on to his son Charlie, who then passed it on to his son Lincoln. Lincoln Moffat, the last of the family line to own Norman’s original farm holding also writes some reminisces of the family. “Henry was my great grandfather. Norman (I don’t remember him) my grandfather; he sold his farm at Orawia to go to fight for King and Country in WW1 where he was a machine gunner. He used to say he spent a winter shooting Germans. He was wounded by shrapnel in 1917 and his damaged arm was “set” in the most suitable position for working with Horses. He bought the 200 acres in Eastern Bush where our house (was) in 1919 from the McCall family. They had lost 2 sons in WW1 (NOTE: I have now found out it was only 1 son killed, another wounded) and Mr McCall was in his eighties. Norman was noted for his horsemanship which was essential in those days for both travel and farming. He married Matilda McDonald who came to Eastern Bush as a teacher around 1920. The Moffat and Mouat families farmed as neighbours for generations. My wife Anne & I (Lincoln) came into the family farm gradually, you could say and fully in 1984. We sold and moved off the property in March 2016.” NOTE: It is Lincoln Moffat, great grandson of Henry, who has kindly donated most of the stories, records and photos of the farm from the family, for this archive and we are indebted to him for saving this history, much of which was said to have been collected and collated by his father, Charlie (born Charles Norman Moffat in 1922.) Thank you to the Moffat clan for sharing your history with us all, I am sure many people will find it utterly fascinating. If you or anyone you know has any more information to share or accounts of the Moffat family during the years, on aspects of their farming or community life in the area, please do share in the comments section. You can do this by making a comment in the space provided under the image page.