William Duff was one of Dunedin’s early settlers.
He was born on February 18, 1819, in Dumfries, Scotland and married Mary Marshall Boyd on December 3, 1840.
Both belonged to the Free Church of Scotland.
A meeting was held in Glasgow, Scotland on May 16, 1845, when the Otago Association was formed.
A committee of laymen, belonging to or sympathising with the Free Church of Scotland, was elected, one of the members being William Duff.
Negotiations began with the New Zealand Land Company for the purchase of 160,000 hectares of land in Otago.
William, Mary and their three children Adam Robert (4), Marion Walker (2) and Elizabeth Marshall (4 months) travelled to Greenock.
They boarded Philip Laing at noon on November 20, 1847, and the ship set sail a week later.
William was fortunate to be given an office aboard ship.
William’s advice was frequently sourced by fellow passengers and as they sailed into warmer waters he was watchful of the passenger’s diet, saying, "Do not eat too much salt meat in the hot weather, as many a one hurts themselves by eating salt meat".
Philip Laing arrived at Koputai Bay (Port Chalmers) on the April 15, 1848.
From there the passengers were taken by a small boat to Pelichet Bay.
Many passengers had to be carried ashore; William carried some of them on his back.
For two months the Duff family lived in a grass whare at Pelichet Bay which had been used to store survey tools.
His first impressions were not too favourable and at one time he even considered taking a ship to Melbourne.
William was considered to have been the first dairy farmer near Dunedin. To access the district from Andersons Bay they either made the trip by boat across the harbour, or by following right round the foothills of Caversham and Forbury (now St Clair) and along the sandhills. Two years later he bought land at Green Island and built a homestead for his family, where he farmed for 12 years.
One of his passions was breeding and breaking in horses. In 1855 William returned to Scotland at the request of W.H. Valpy.
After a few months he returned on the ship Southern Cross, arriving on February 25, 1856. He had on board a purebred Clydesdale stallion and two purebred Clydesdale mares, the first of their kind to be brought to Otago. He cared for the horses for 12 months.
William heard of land for sale beyond Lake Waihola.
In 1862 he approached the NZ Land Company and negotiated for the purchase of several blocks of land totalling about 890ha.
The house was built about 1866 of stone quarried from the hill behind, and according to local reports, this was done by the Chinese. To make the homestead attractive he chose a plan of about 111sqm, with bedrooms upstairs in the front portion of the house. Downstairs the large front room had a wide open fireplace, where the family could gather around a roaring log fire during the winter months. Two more bedrooms, the main kitchen, the back kitchen and the storeroom dairy completed the house.
The squat-shaped dormer windows were unusual in New Zealand, but there are identical ones in Aberdeen, Scotland.
The walls were more than 30cm thick, built to withstand the test of the sun and the rain.
As evidence of the workmanship of these early pioneers, this stone dwelling with its grey slate roof and three chimneys still stands today.
William wished to honour his life partner, his dear wife Mary, so his property became known as "Mary-Hill". The house was still lived in up until the mid-1960s. It was restored by Alex and Margaret Gillanders, who bought the property in 1990.
Always making improvements on the place for future generations, William planted large plantations. An avenue of cedarwood trees was admired as they grew to maturity. It had been his vision that one day there would be sufficient timber from these trees to build a new homestead. His dream was fulfilled when a new home was built as "Maryhill" in 1964, the framework being timber from those trees.
He officiated as judge at the first agricultural show held on the Taieri and subsequently at various shows held throughout Otago, particularly of draught horses. During the 1860s he was appointed a justice of the peace.
On December 3, 1900, William and Mary celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary with family. Both died in 1905 — Mary on November 4, a month before their 65th wedding anniversary, and William on December 10. Both were 87.
William and Mary had nine children: Adam Robert married Eveline Augusta Jamieson, while Marion Walker married John Lamb Soutter — they migrated to Sydney, Australia.
Marion was one of the last survivors of Philip Laing: she died on August 29, 1938, aged 93, one day prior to the last survivor, Mary Stewart (nee Sinclair) of Wellington.
Elizabeth Marshall married James Strain, John Alexander married Matilda Steele, William married Elizabeth Mary Sinclair, Mary Boyd married Albert Boyes, Joseph and Janet died young. Jessie Josephine Duncan never married.
On April 13, 1998, descendants of William and Mary met for the first Duff reunion, where they gathered for a picnic on the grass at Mary-Hill.
- As part of our marking of the 175th anniversary of Otago’s founding, the Otago Daily Times invites readers to send in their tales of ancestors who helped build the province. Email editor@odt.co.nz
