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January of 1866 saw Norman failing. He was now in his
eighty-sixth year, and he felt that his days were coming to a close. Being
confined to bed, he asked his people to come to his home and hear the Word
of God. On Sunday mornings—it was midsummer—the people gathered on the
green in front of his bedroom window. AEneas Morrison stood on a chair by
the open window and led the singing. Norman, though weak, read a few
verses from the 13th Chapter of Matthew where Christ refers to the parable
of the Tares. Then he offered up prayer, and seemed as if resuscitated by
some unseen power. Sitting up in bed he preached with great earnestness.
He was in his element when preaching, and seemed to be endowed with
supernatural strength while engaged in the service. The people were
astonished at the beauty and felicity of his language, and
crowded around to hear his words. Old causes of friction
were forgotten, for now they realized the probable passing of a great man.
Sunday after Sunday they gathered in their hundreds at the
manse, anxious to hear the last words
of their great leader and to pay him their respects.
In the heyday of his youth they remembered him as a famous orator. Now he
was a prophet and in communion with God. He could see that which was
hidden from their eyes, so they longed to hear his message. The elder
people recalled his cheerfulness and comforting words on leaving Scotland.
Then the part he played in saving their lives on the voyage to Canada. His
self-sacrifice in remaining with them in Pictou. Then the wonderful
adventure of the "Ark" and his skill in steering them into smooth waters
at St. Ann’s Bay. Who but a man inspired of God
could work and teach and preach to them for some 60 years without fee or
reward. What courage he had, and what faith in God when he sailed some
13,000 miles to find them a new home. Now full of
years and having accomplished his task he was about to depart. They might
have had differences, they might indeed have made mistakes; but all
acknowledged that he had acted most unselfishly and all for their good.
The patriarch gradually failed, and on the fourteenth day of March,
1866, he closed his eyes in his last sleep.
Great was the grief of the Waipu people. They had lost
a father in Israel, and one whom it would be almost impossible to replace.
He knew most of them from their birth, and his every thought was for their
welfare. He had his oddities, his eccentricities, his limitations; but
taking him all in all he was a rare combination, and eminently filled the
role of leader, pioneer, and teacher.
Norman was laid to rest beside his dear wife in the
burying ground at The Cove. Over his grave they erected a beautiful
tombstone bearing the following inscription :—
Sacred to the memory
Of the Rev. NORMAN McLEOD
And his beloved wife MARY McLEOD
Both of whom were public servants of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
He preached the Gospel for 60 years
Born at Stoir Point, Assynt, Scotland, September 29, 1780 Died at Waipu,
New Zealand, March 14, 1866
Aged 86 years
The tombstone is a replica of
that common to all the old burying grounds in Scotland.
It consists of a large polished stone slab, 6ft. x
3ft. x 6in., supported at either end by two
supports, raising the slab about two feet from the ground. In Scottish
kirkyards many of these slabs have a skull and crossbones and sandglass in
raised figures depicted upon them, but the Waipuans here refrained from
the latter emblems of time and eternity.
Though Norman had not joined the Presbyterian Church,
either in Nova Scotia or in New Zealand, it is said he counselled his
people to join the latter body on his departure. The Presbytery of
Auckland, however, seems to have taken cognisance of Norman and his work,
for in its records of April 25,
1866, the following entry occurs
expressing their sense of the great loss which the
Church has sustained in the removal by death of their reverend father,
Norman McLeod, minister of Waipu.
No immediate steps were taken to join the Presbyterian
Church of New Zealand nor to select a new minister. Mr. AEneas Morrison,
who was Norman’s precentor and the first public schoolteacher at Waipu,
had translated some of Spurgeon’s sermons into Gaelic, so that with them
he and others carried on the Sunday services for some time. In the
meantime the people heard that the Rev. David Bruce, minister at Auckland,
was about to visit Scotland, and he was invited to try and secure a
suitable Gaelic-speaking minister. The Presbytery of Auckland has no
record of this, but some time after a Ross-shire divinity student named
William McRae visited Waipu. At a Presbytery meeting in Auckland on
February 7, 1872, the Rev. Mr. Bruce introduced Mr. McRae, who meantime
settled in Waipu. While these events were transpiring, some of the late
Norman’s admirers removed his pulpit from the church so as to prevent a
less worthy successor from occupying the rostrum of so great a man. It is
said that eventually a few of his chief admirers seized the pulpit and had
it divided amongst them as souvenirs. This unwise act led to considerable
feeling in the congregation, which only subsided on the death of these
hero-worshippers.
The majority continued their confidence in Mr. McRae,
and on April 3, 1872, the Presbytery records state as follows:—
The clerk read an
application from the people of Waipu to have Mr. William McRae settled
amongst them as their minister. The application was signed by 322 names.
It was proposed by the clerk, and seconded by Mr. Hill, that
in consideration of the peculiar circumstances of
the people of the Waipu district with regard to ministerial superindence,
and the special qualifications of Mr. McRae to fill the position of pastor
amongst them, the Presbytery agree to have Mr. McRae settled as Minister
of Waipu with all convenient speed.
The Church, Waipu,
May 29, 1872.
The commission of Presbytery appointed to conduct the
Ordination of Mr. William McRae at Waipu met this day and was constituted
with prayer. Present: Revs. David Bruce, R. McKinney, and John Wallace
(Moderator), also Mr. W. McRae. The Rev. D. Bruce read a narrative of the
steps taken to supply the vacancy caused by the death of the late lamented
Rev. Norman McLeod. . . . . . . The commission
having resumed, the Rev. Mr. McRae declared his willingness to subscribe
the formula, and took his seat as a member of Presbytery. . . .
. . . The commission met with the congregation
in the afternoon, and, after prayer, announced to them the appointment of
an interim session, together with local assessors, which announcement was
concurred in by all present. . . . . . . The
Rev. Wm. McRae was duly installed as Minister at Waipu, and remained there
until June, 1883, when he resigned and left for Australia.
There have been several ministers in Waipu since the
days of Norman, but upon none of them did fall the mantle of the prophet.
He had a wonderfully controlling influence over his people. If any of them
tried to foment discontent they were immediately pilloried. Next day all
was serene. Some men have the faculty of controlling the turbulent spirits
amongst their followers and some have not. This is readily observed in our
social, political, and religious life. Great as are mental and physical
powers in a leader, they alone will not make him a success. There must in
addition be some attractive force, some phase of character, some quality,
which leads other men to be submissive to him. Fortunately Norman was
independent of his people so far as monetary matters were concerned. He
ruled them as a father would his house. His priestly office, his
sympathies in suffering and success, his usefulness, and his lack of
selfishness made ready friends. In addition, however, he must have
possessed some quality or qualities that appealed
to his people, for no matter what opposition might arise he remained
master of the situation. What these qualities were we leave our readers to
discover.
LOOKING BACKWARD.
None of the older people who came from Nova Scotia made
much progress in the accumulation of wealth. They owned land, but never
accumulated capital. Few of them had any capital to start with; while the
roads to wealth were very limited in a new, sparsely-peopled, and
undeveloped country. There were no cities when they arrived, and, being a
peasant people, they preferred the simple rural life rather than the
hectic life of the city. Their sons, however, visited the Otago and other
goldfields in the early ‘sixties, and some of them were very successful
goldminers. Others of them took up contracting, timber cutting, land
speculation, etc. Most of these young men accumulated money, and they or
their descendants are those most comfortably situated today. The higher
education of the younger generation was somewhat neglected as their
primary schools were not of a very high standard, while secondary schools
were not in existence. These, of course, are some of the disadvantages of
pioneering; but as against them there was the independent, self-contained
life of an industrious and God-fearing peasantry. The accumulation of
wealth is a process much lauded by some people, while the accumulator is
looked upon as a superman. It is given to few men to accumulate great
wealth, and these few gather it at an immense cost both morally and
physically. When accumulated, it rarely brings happiness; for has not the
poet said :—
Wisdom alone is man’s true happiness;
and did not the prophet of old counsel—
lay not up treasures for yourselves where moth and rust
doth corrupt and where thieves break through and
steal.
The old pioneers each possessed one, two, or three
hundred acres of freehold land; while a few of them owned over a square
mile. In its original state is was of little value, but their labour gave
it great value. Their bread was sweet and their slumbers sound, as both
resulted from honest toil. Their minds may have been cramped and their
horizon narrow, but they were a most exemplary and God-fearing people. In
their own humble way they were a wonderful community, and their
descendants may well be proud of the work they have accomplished and the
fine example transmitted to them.
WAIPU AND OTAGO CONTRASTED.
Waipu is located in the extreme north of the North
island under a sub-tropical sun, while Otago is located in the extreme
south of the South Island in a very temperate climate. Both localities
have been peopled by Scots, largely of Celtic blood. The northern migrants
were driven out of Scotland from political and monetary causes, while the
southern migrants left Scotland voluntarily, while suffering to some
extent from religious factions in church government during and after the
disruption days. Thus politics and religion have ever been prominent
causes in the dispersal of nations. In the Auckland province a large body
of Irish people have also settled, so that probably the Scots and Irish
combined outnumber the other nationalities. In Otago, on the contrary, the
Scots outnumber all the other nationalities. Owing to the island character
of the country neither heat nor cold are disturbing factors. Waipu lies in
much the same latitude as Sydney (Australia), but is much cooler; while
Otago resembles the south of England, with much the same climate. Indeed,
there are no great extremes of heat or cold; hence the British race thrive
here exceedingly. The speech of the people, both north and south, is that
common to Scotland. Their manners and customs are also such as are common
to that country. They are intensely proud of their nationality and
exceedingly patriotic. Educational Institutions, Caledonian Societies,
Gaelic Societies, Burns Clubs, and such like organizations take firm root
and thrive amazingly.
It is curious how this band of Celts has now spread
themselves over the whole of the northern peninsula from Auckland to the
North Cape. Another band of the same stock spread themselves over the
entire southern end of the country from Dunedin to the South cape. It is
curious, too, with their sad experience of land laws, they have
become land-grabbers in the country of their adoption. The land question
seems to have been burnt into their fibre, and they are determined to
possess it at all costs. The descendants of these people, North and South,
are now the sheep and cattle kings of New Zealand. In days of old, the
caoraliath (grey sheep) dispossessed them, and upon it they vented their
wrath. Now they are the principal breeders of this useful animal, and no
one takes more readily to the occupation of buachaille (shepherd) than do
these men. They love the call of the hill and mountain, while isolation
has no terrors for them. They commune with Nature, while the faithful
Collie is their only companion.
Tradition and history refers to them as great
wanderers. They have blazed their tracks from Asia westwards in place
names and racial peculiarities. They have now found their way southwards
as far almost as territory permits. On the lone shore of Patagonia can be
heard the shrill whistle of the Highland shepherd and the yelp of his
faithful Collie. On almost every mountain in New Zealand the same thing is
experienced. Here, too, he has left his mark in place names. Dunedin is
the Gaelic word for Edinburgh, while Invercargill is a compound of Gaelic
and English (Inver—mouth of a river; Cargill—name of the Otago leader,
1848). Oban, in Stewart Island, is the most southerly postal town in the
British Empire, and it, too, is a Gaelic name. Oban in Scotland is reputed
to be the finest situation for a town in the British Isles, while its
namesake in New Zealand easily rivals it. The provinces of Otago and
Southland are full of Gaelic place names bestowed upon them by the early
pioneers. If now the people of Waipu would translate the word Waipu (noisy
waters) into Gaelic and make it Ran-burn (ran—roar, burn—water) then with
the other Gaelic names suggested Waipu could tell its story to generations
yet unborn. Philology is largely history, and hence place names and
individual names are so many pages of history that time cannot efface nor
man destroy.
EX-CAPTAIN DONALD RETURNS.
It had been known to Norman and his family for some
years that his son Donald was alive and living in Melbourne. His
wanderings since leaving St. Ann’s were unknown to the people, and seeing
he had not met them either at Adelaide or Melbourne their interest in him
had largely ceased. In these early days one could easily be lost in the
great island continent. Men hurried to the goldfields hundreds of miles
inland where no roads and no postal facilities existed, and hence were
practically dead to their friends. In his wanderings he met some St. Ann’s
men, who informed him of the migration of the people first to Australia
and then to New Zealand. After tiring of his wanderings around the
goldfields, he settled in Melbourne and was there married. Having some of
the literary talent of his father, he became attached to the staff of one
of Melbourne’s great newspapers and worked there for several years. In
1880 his wife died, and he himself being in poor health decided to visit
his relatives at Waipu. Having no family, he lived with one of his
sisters, and died there in 1891. His remains rest in The Cove cemetery
near those of his father and mother. By the time he returned the earlier
incidents of his career were largely forgotten. A new generation had
arisen to whom St. Ann’s and the voyaging to Australia and New Zealand
were merely as tales told. Since then every member of Norman’s family has
crossed that bourne from which no traveller returns. He initiated a great
and historic movement. Whatever his failings, motives, or conduct may have
been the migration to Australia and New Zealand made history, and so the
descendants of these brave pioneers may well draw the veil over ex-Captain
Donald McLeod’s seeming neglect of them. |
