Ōtautau & Districts, Business History - the Ōtautau Saleyards Company

Shared by Central & Western Murihiku Southland Archive

Ōtautau & Districts, Business History - the Ōtautau Saleyards Company IMAGES Photo 1 – Ōtautau Stock Yards at a sale. Kindly donated to "Between River & Stream" early Ōtautau history book project by ex-local grandson of an early settler, Peter Campbell. Probably c1950's. Licensed CC BY. Photo 2 – Advertisement for work to be completed on the Ōtautau Stock Yards, thanks PapersPast & National Library NZ, Public Domain. Photo 3 – Last stock sale at Ōtautau. Kindly donated to "Between River & Stream" early Ōtautau history book project by local history buff, Peter Gutsell who freely shares his photographs. Taken late 1990's. CC BY. Photo 4 - Old Stock Yards building taken in May 2023, by researcher & author of "Between River & Stream" early Ōtautau history book project, S Best, licensed CC BY - attribution is required if re-using. The very first stock sale ever recorded in Ōtautau was in 1877 at the newly built Ōtautau Hotel and stockyards, which the then proprietor Thomas Price had only just finished erecting, so the sale could be held. It was after the advent of the railway in 1879, that the need for proper yards outside of the township of Ōtautau became clear. After many delays, including the townspeople losing their patience in 1883, when the latest contract made to erect the cattle yards failed to commence in the required time, we know the Ōtautau Stockyard Company was finally formed in 1896 with their land title issued on 6 October, thanks to records from funding supplied by the Wallace Takitimu Community Board. This land was 1.79 hectares and was listed as owned by, "The Otautau Saleyards Company Limited." Recorded as being lot 8 (access way from Elles Road, and all of lots 19 & 20, of Block V, Aparima Hundred, which is what the land in North Otautau is all registered under, this went all the way through to Macandrew Street, where their old tin building still stands (2023) and where in modern days, the stock trucks would line up in their dozens, bringing stock to and from sale days. After many years of the townspeople having to have stock sales conducted in the township which was not at all suitable, by 1897 the Saleyard Company's new yards were finally erected, and sales could commence. For those wanting a modern reference, this is where the new freestanding housing units are being built, between Elles Road & Macandrew Street. The Company had a long history, reaching an age of around 100 years, before being forced to close in the 1990's. What is really interesting, is that stock from the Waiau and beyond used to be driven over to the Ōtautau Sales by drovers on horseback, some of the stock having to take the various punts over the Waiau River before the Clifden Bridge was built. Those looking after the stock would stay at Accommodation with yards, such as Ōrawia, or ‘camp’ in the paddocks of friendly farmers on the way, often for a price, of course! This practice continued until Tūātapere got their own yards. In 24 February 1932, is when the Ōtautau Saleyards advertised for tenders to level off their grounds, as per the above advertisement. Many large sales were held at Ōtautau Saleyards, mostly of sheep. A few notable ones are: 8,000+ sheep at a special sale during April 1916. 75,000 of stock numbers were put through the yards during 1935. The Saleyards used to handle tens of thousands of sheep each year, and in the early days these were often in huge mobs, but as more and more smaller farming lots were put onto the land, these large numbers were seen less and this necessitated the yards making more smaller pens for the stock, which was offered by more and more smallholders. These smaller size pens can be seen in the first photo above, from the 1950's and for comparison, see the much larger mobs of sheep and huge pens to hold these, in an earlier photo in the archives, under CWA.159.110.001 In 1970, a prospectus to reform the original company as the Western Southland Saleyards Co. Ltd, was issued. There were 8,000 ordinary shares at $1 each. Listed Directors were: FISHER – Allan Thomson Aorangi, Ōtautau Printer LINDSAY – James Allan, Ōtautau Farmer LINDSAY – John Ronald, Ōtautau Farmer RYAN – Bruce, Gladfield Farmer WILDING – Edwyn Peter, Ohai Farmer The Company had its Registered Office at the business of its Accountant Secretary, AA Fisher Jnr, (Allan Angus Fisher FCA), at 119 Main St, Ōtautau. Auditors were Orr, Fougere, Merriman & Lang, Chartered Accountants of Invercargill. Their Bankers were the National Bank of NZ Ltd, Ōtautau Branch. And finally, their Solicitors were Cruickshank, Pryde & Hay, of Invercargill. Just to show how stock numbers had fallen over the years, the prospectus listed, “That Yards and facilities to cope with 16,000 sheep will cost in the vicinity of $15,000. No expense is involved in purchase of land or buildings, but the Directors reserve the right to apply any of the funds raised by the issue to required upgrading of luncheon or Office facilities, boundary fencing or any other amenity to complete the Saleyards to the required standard.” AA Fisher snr, reported that at this time the Saleyards had operated for 73 years until the prior name of Otautau Saleyards Company Limited and that during all this time maintenance was continually undertaken. However, with the decades seeing massive changes in the way stock were transported, the loading facilities were now obsolete and the whole sheepyards were in need of a rebuild. The Luncheon Booth was recently upgraded, but now the toilet facilities needed improvement also. As the Company had successfully traded in the past, it could add an amount of $4,500 towards the above project, which would be supplemented by an increased rating on the use of the yards, in line with ruling rates after completion. It was pleaded that the district invest in these necessary improvements to allow the Yards to, “retain its position as the selling centre for the District.” The sale of shares was successful and on 14 September 1970, the Company’s name was changed as per the above prospectus. Again in 1983 this company was registered once more as a new company in the name of Western Southland Saleyards Company Limited, and this had a lot of local and district shareholders. Then for some reason, this company was re-registered yet again in 1997, the extensive shareholding list having many well-known names. Yet even after all this, the Ōtautau Saleyards were eventually closed down, sometime in the 1990’s we believe, due to lack of use, cost of upkeep and changing farming practices. I don’t have an exact date yet, despite a lot of research into this. Can anyone help out with when they actually closed? Thanks in advance for any dating help. We only know from Company Records that it was wound up in 2002, and not long after this, Daryl Whipps and Wanda Palmer bought it. As at 2021, the property is under the ownership of "Yellow Bluffs Limited." Information above is researched by and copyright under a CC BY Licence to “Between River & Stream”, early history of Ōtautau book, and is kindly gifted by that project to our online community archive so everyone can view it. COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS Susan Mathieson says, "I remember my father taking sheep in a stock truck there," while Diane Baird whose father was a stock agent, recalls that at this time, a lot of time was spent in these yards sorting out sheep.Jill Hodgson has some fantastic memories too, telling us that: "Having grown up on the corner of George and MacAndrew streets the weekly sales were an exciting time. The walk to and from school was noisy, smelly and ever changing. It did make for an interesting, maybe not as safe bike ride for my brothers! The stock arriving in on Thursday night and Friday morning in a variety of trailers, old farm trucks to the latest transport trucks. I remember trying to identify all the different transport companies from Western Haulage, DT Kings through to the less known, well in our area Southern. Thanks for twigging the memory." There will be a lot more photos and information coming in the future on the districts history of agriculture, farming and of course, sheep. In the meantime, it would be wonderful if more people contributed memories, photos and other memorabilia to add about these local saleyards. If you can help out with this, please comment in the section under here, or contact us.