Bennetts Family

The Bennetts family

Richard Bennetts

Richard was baptised in the Parish of St Levan, Treen, Cornwall on March 9 1828 by the Curate, Mr Edward Lot. He was one of a family of eight children, with older brothers and sisters being, John b.1816; Peter b. 1818; Elizabeth b. 1820; Jane b. 1822; Robert b. 1826 and the younger siblings William Henry b. 1830 and Elizabeth Jane b. 1832.

Richard spent part of his youth in a section of Treen known as "Village of the Bottoms" where his father John who was previously a labourer, purchased a farm consisting of 15 acres. (according to the 1851 census records, one labourer was employed on the farm. From information passed on the two storied house where Richard lived was once used as a Post Office and is now still in use as a private home.

Brought up to a country style of life, until his father's death in 1852, Richard then, along with two of his brothers (Robert and William Henry) sailed in 1853 to Victoria, Australia to start a new life. Richard was engaged in mining, carting and agricultural work and was subsequently employed on the erection of the first Parliamentary Buildings in Melbourne.

On August 13 1856 in the "Christ Church" Geelong, Victoria he was married to Margaret Eddy, formerly of the St Buryan Parish, Cornwall. (The couple were acquainted from earlier days in Cornwall as their family homes were only a few miles apart and Richard sent for Margaret to join him.)

Arrival in New Zealand

Richard became largely interested in goldmining and after living a year at Tuapeka, where the area soon became overcrowded with the rush of hopefuls to Gabriel's Gully, he moved further upstream to Mutton Town Gully. Eventually he returned to Benger Flats (now known as Coal Creek Flat) and settled there.

Richard mined all around the area including the Old Man Range and Whitcombe, and his party known as the "Hit and Miss Claim" were some of the earliest miners there. He crossed the Tasman to visit his family in 1862/3 but returned to Coal Creek on his own for a further five years. Eventually, in 1868, his wife and children (Elizabeth Jane, Clara b. 1861 and John b. 18630 arrived in New Zealand to join him. They landed first at Bluff and then came on to Dunedin. Richard walked from Coal Creek to Dunedin to meet his family and take them back to his home alongside the Molyneux River (later renamed the Clutha River)

It was to a 5 roomed cob hut they went. Clay placed between boards and cob irons and rammed hard for walls. An earthen floor, a chimney of stone and mud mortar and an iron roof. It was all open country around the hut which was enclosed with sod walls and nearby were sod sheds thatched by Richard also.

Goldmining had not been in operation for long in the district, before the great majority of the miners began to realise that the chances of making a fortune from the precious metal were somewhat remote. Yet the hope of striking it rich and the fact that wages could be made, kept them in the district. They erected homes, usually of stone with thatched roofs (similar to RichardŐs) and around these they cultivated gardens. At the same time they sought other employment for the Summer when the snow melted in the high country and made river work impossible.

The Cornish would have been less valuable as colonists had they not had some experience working on the land. (This was due to the ebb and flow in the fortunes of mining in Cornwall, which turned many miners to small holdings of 1Đ5 acres. Richard purchased land (Section 14, Block 2) from the Wasteland Board Office, Dunedin in June 1875, and after seeing the success in fruit trees and gardens planted in the fertile land, he quickly followed suit. He became one of the pioneer names of the fruit growing industry in the district.

None of these men including Richard had any practical experience, but by a process of trial and error, they soon discovered the best kinds of trees to grow. Due to the lack of transport, the growth of the industry was slow. The growers hawked their produce long distances around the diggings and no public gathering or sports occasion was complete without their offering their wares for sale. RichardŐs son John recalled many interesting trips when he was a lad, and often accompanied the wagons of fruit to such places with friends and neighbours. He slept under the wagon at night and found the whole adventure wonderful.

During this period, Richard and Margaret had three more children, William Frederick b.1868, Ada b. 1871 and Richard Ernest b. 1873, bringing their family to a total of six. In 1891 Richard purchased the land known as Fairview from David Anderson for his son John. (Richard owned a total of 49acres of freehold property, but according to his family he was always far more interested in mining than tilling the soil.) His wife Margaret died in 1893 at the age of 63. Richard outlived her by just over 10 years, passing away on January 8 1904 at the age of 76. At the time of his death only his two youngest children were still at home; Ada and Richard Ernest.

John was married to Mary Anne Edie and settled on Fairview Orchard, Coal Creek. William Frederick was married to Agnes Muller and living in Timaru and Clara had married Alexander Simpson and was residing in Invercargill.

Richard and Margaret are buried together in the family plot in the Roxburgh Cemetery along with their eldest daughter Elizabeth Jane who died in 1896 at the age of 39. (She was the wife of James Leece).

Of the two brothers that left Cornwall and travelled out with Richard, Robert spent most of his life mining and was in close association with Richard and his family for most of that time. He died a bachelor in August 1904 and is buried in the Roxburgh cemetery. All that is known of William Henry is that he lived around Naseby and the Potters, mining from 1868-1873. In 1875, he returned to Australia for a time. He died in Dunedin in November 1903.

A large proportion of Cornwell's population emigrated to New Zealand and the highly distinctive social and economic life in Cornwell, made a significant contribution to the making of rural New Zealand. The moral and social heritage of Cornish Methodism had also a good deal to give to New Zealand society.

To many of the early pioneers, Central Otago seemed a cheerless and unpromising land and few would have expected that it would be possible to establish such a flourishing fruit growing industry as that for which the district is now noted.

Therefore, to the goldminers of the 1860's must go the credit for beginning an era of fruit growing which has come to be the main means of livelihood for the greater portion of the district's population.