James McKerrow, the explorer and namer.

                                                                                                          

During my 3 week holiday I spent time travelling through country that my Great Grand Father explored between 1861-63 at the head of Lae Wanaka and Wakatipu.
Above we see the Routeburn, Caples, Rock Brun, Beans Burn, the Rees and the Dart valleys he explored, surveyed and named. Photo: Bob McKerrow.

The west and east peaks of Mt. Earnslaw. Photo: Bob McKerrow. Photo: Bob McKerrow

James McKerrow was a prolific namer of features he surveyed. Over the years I have tried to climb, walk, raft or kayak, or just look and photograph the places he named..The map below conveys the extent of his work over one of the remotest parts of New Zealand

Since much of the country over which he passed was virgin, McKerrow took on himself the task of naming prominent features of the landscape. The policy employed in this work he described thus:

“ In naming of objects, those already in use in the district were always adopted, they are generally defined to a few creeks or perhaps a hill or two in the vicinity of the respective stations. The other names I either endeavoured to make descriptive or suggestive: this, in the case of the more prominent peaks, appears to me to be of much consequence to the traveller, for they become so many finger posts pointing the way. The great landmarks, Leaning Rock, Double Cone, and Black Peak, I found of much service in determining my whereabouts at the beginning of the survey; their names are legible in characters not to be mistaken”(1).

“ A great number of descriptive names were given thus: Cathedral Peaks, The Monument, the Beehive, the Crown, the Coronet, Tooth Peaks, Twin Peaks, the Minarets, Mt. Sentinel, Titan Rocks, Spire Peak, and so on and so on……

The mountain ranges were named after distinguished men in science, literature, travel and position, such as Kepler, Humbolt, Murchison,. Livingstone,, Forbes ( Professor of Natural Philosophy 60 years ago at Edinburgh, an authority on glaciers), Hunter (John, Anatomist) Sturt (Australian Explorer), Albert ( late Prince Consort)) Eglinton (Lord Lieutentant of Ireland and Lord Rector Glasgow University), Richardson (Sir John),Thomson, Hector, Garvie, Buchanan (local and well known), Goldie Hill and Bryce Burn were after my two men who were true and faithful throughout.” (2)

“ An island in Lake Manawa-pori is Poman, named in 1862 by James McKerrow, after the principal Island or “mainland” of Orkney Islands in Scotland.,” with a view to help the rhythm of the future poets, who will describe in flowing numbers the charms of beautiful Manapouri, as McKerrow prophesises…….

The Freeman was named by Mr. McKerrow in honour of Mr. Freeman Jackson, a very early runholder (3)….When Mr. James McKerrow was engaged with reconnoitring surveys during the years 1861-63, he named a number of places.” A few of these he named in the Wakatipu and Te Anau districts as follows: He gave the name Caples to one of the branches of the Greenstone, rivers….McKerrow named the Lingstone Mountains after Mr. D. Livingstine, the celebrated African explorer. David Peak(6802 ft/)in memory of Dr. Livingston’s christian name, Moffat Peak (5848 ft) , an African missionary and father-in-law of Livingstone. Eglinton River and Mountain after the Earl of Eglinton and Winton at that time Lord Lieutenanr of Ireland. Skelmorlie Peak (5933 ft.) and Larg Peak (5555 ft.)are both Ayrshire names. Mount Christina (8675 ft.) after a girl who was companion to Mrs. McKerrow in his absence. Clinto River, Te Anau, after one of the family names of the Duke of Newcastle, who was Colonial Secretary in 1863. Worsely Creek, North Fiord, Te Anau, named after the sheep farmer who drayed the boar for the surveyors from Manapouri Lake to Re Anau. Nurse Creek, after another sheep farmer, Lakes McKellar and Gunn after David McKellar and George Gunn….. Lake Fergus was named after Hon. T. Fergus in 1863. Bob’s cove was named after Bob Fortune, Mr. Rees’s boatman” (4)

“ In the Doon, Dean Hill, Bean Forrest, Afton and other Scottish names Mr. McKerrow honoured the land of his birth,(5) Mt. Pisgah was taken from the bible. It was the vantage point from which the promised land was seen.(6).

In his book, Otago Placenames (7), Mr. H. Beattie gives an exhaustive list of Mcerrow’s placenames. “ Besides J.T. Thomson, the most popular name giver in our history was probably James McKerrow”, he states. Mr. Beattie goes on to list more than 220 place names which are associated with McKerrow’s labours.

(1) Otago Prov. Gaz. Vol. V, July 23,1862. P 16.

(2) Letter to Hocken.

(3) Roberts, W.H.S. Place Names and Early of Otago and Southland, P.32.

" " Maori nomenclature, Early History of Otago. P.47

(4) Roberts. P.48. Roberts does not make it absolutely clear whether or not McKerrow gives the last two names.

(5) Kilmarnock Standard, 22nd August, 1903/

(6) McKerrow’s Reminiscences.

(7) Beattie, H. Otago Place Names, Pp. 78-86.
By 1861 there were several newly established sheep stations on the south end of the lake, when James McKerrow first arrived to carry out survey work. In 1862 McKerrow surveyed the lake in a whaleboat.

Reflections on the work of James McKerrow', explorer & surveyor

Left: James McKerrow, Explorer, surveyor and Surveyor General of New Zealand.


Later historians have been generous in their estimates of McKerrow’s work. Mr. R. O. Carrick for example describes him as “Mr. James McKerrow, one of the earliest and most enterprising of our Southern explorers . . . whose early explorations and considering the state of the country in those days astonishingly correct observations did far more towards settling the country and developing its resources than those of any other man”.

The Royal Astronomical Society’s tribute, paid on McKerrow’s death in 1919, indicates that his worth was
recognized by leading scientific bodies. “Years of arduous work . . . in the early days demonstrate to the full the loyalty, grit, and solid determination that he possessed and displayed in the carrying out of expert and scientific work at a time when means of communications were of the most primitive description, and when the surveying of the mountainous forest lands in the south necessitated the finest qualities that man can possess.

But, intent on doing his duty, he carried out his responsible work unappalled by dangers which rarely cross the path of a professional man”.

McKerrow’s intimate knowledge of the interior was fully utilized by those requiring information on the region. “Select Committee for Roads and their Construction” appointed by the Otago Provincial Council asked him his opinion about the possibility of running a road through to Queenstown via the Kawarau Gorge. McKerrow pointed out the inherent difficulties of making such a road, and the immense expenditure of time
and money required. In response to a series of questions he also gave his opinion on the most profitable and speedy way of getting supplies through immediately to the Wakatipu goldfield, and the measures he considered necessary to compete with Invercargill for the trade.

In a more specialized field, that of geology, McKerrow’s observations were of particular significance. In a paper read before the Otage Institute on July 19, 1870, and later printed in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, he discussed the “Physical Geography of the Lake Districts of Otago.

After referring briefly to the areas, dimensions, altitudes and positions of the lakes, he pointed out that they were long and thin, lay lengthwise in their valleys had precipitous sides, surfaces not differing greatly in altitude, and terminated at the point where the valleys broadened out into plains. On each side and at the
southern ends there invariably lay vast areas of shingle and large blocks of rock. It appeared that some great natural cause had had a uniform action in producing these lakes. McKerrow contended that the glaciers lying on the side of the mountains were puny descendants of glaciers which had formerly filled valley and lake bed, and had slid slowly but irresistibly forward, carrying with them the spoil of the mountain, gradually working
a bed deeper and deeper, and finally depositing their spoil as lateral and terminal moraines. Soundings taken of the depth of Lake Wakatipu supported certain corollaries of this theory, and McKerrow drew further support for his contentions by explaining why New Zealand was at one time cold enough to contain such large glaciers. The present condition of lake and river, he maintained, must however have been in existence for a long time if the conclusions he drew from the slow silting up at the heads of the lakes were valid. He pointed out that the rivers were gradually eroding their courses to a lower level, with the result that several small lakes had been transformed into valleys.

Rivers then ran through them and dashed over the moraine as rapids. From these observations and taking into consideration the great disintegrating power of frost, it could be readily understood to what an extent the mountains were denuded every year. “Speaking on the Lake Districts in a general manner”, he concluded “It may be observed that, considering the extent of agricultural, pastoral and forest land that abounds in them, their mineral products, their delightful climate, and extent of inland navigation, they have within their own borders all the man elements that render communities prosperous and ourishing.”

McKerrow’s paper was of great interest to geologists throughout New Zealand since by attributing the formation of Wakatipu to glacial erosion he rejected the theory of di erential subsidence propounded in 1869 by no less an authority than Sir James Hector

In 1876, F.W. Hutton, in a paper read before theWellington Philosophical Society said, “I need scarcely say that I agree with Mr. McKerrow . . . In his paper McKerrow points out, I believe for the first time, the very important fact that the constrained exure of a solid body like ice, when passing from one angle of inclination to another, would greatly increase the friction at this particular point”.

McKerrow’s theory in later years received support from such men as Sir Archibald Geikie, Professor Hein, Professor Penck and Tyndall the Physicist .

More recently the view has been than these two theories both contain elements of truth.

                       James McKerrow in his final years

It says much for McKerrow’s keen and analytical powers of observation and for his wide scientific knowledge that he, an amateur geologist, was able to contest points of geological theory with the geological authorities of the day. Such was the high regard in which McKerrow was held in geographical and geological circles that Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, the President of the Royal Geographical Society and a geologist
of world wide reputation, saw fit to link the young surveyor’s name with those of Hector and Haast. These three men had all had papers read in 1864 before the Society, McKerrow’s being his report to Mr. Thomson on the lake district previously published in the Otago Provincial Gazette. In his address to  the society at an anniversary meeting on the 23 May, 1864, the President said: “Three papers of great interest have been communicated to the Society, which throw additional light upon the physical geography of the hitherto unsur veyed districts of the great middle island of New Zealand, and certain new facts illustrative of glacial action. I consider it, indeed, to be a fortunate circumstance for our science, that these regions should
have been visited by such men as Dr. Hector, McKerrow and Dr. Haast”. McKerrow’s subsequent election as an F.R.G.S. can perhaps be attributed to Sir Roderick’s remarks.

Practically and scientifically McKerrow’s journeys were of value to his fellow men, but they also a ected him personally in such a way that for the rest of his life he had a nostalgia for the wide open spaces, the lakes and the bush-clad hills.

Professor James Park, an explorer of a later day describes some of the difficulties of such journeys, and then goes on “But the gains were great. The man has not yet been born who will ever forget the blazing campfire and itting shadows that chase one another from tree to tree, the blue sky overhead, the vitalizingwhiff of the mountain air, the scents of the forest, the murmur of the nearby stream, the boom of the bittern, the shrill cry
of the kakapo r the clear call of the kiwi. When to these we ad the quest of adventure and the joy of discovery we have a ombination of in uence that make a powerful appeal to the pimitive instincts of man”.

“For the time being the party forms a little self-governing, elf-contained community. For the common weal every man ust exercise patience and self-restraint, and in none are these qualities more required than in the leader. It is his duty to allot each man his particular task, to call the time of starting and of camping. The daily round, the close association, and perhaps more than all, the community of ideals which brings together
kindred souls for a common and tends to foster a spirit of comradeship that often ripens into lifelong friendship.”

James McKerrow was an ideal leader for such a small self- contained community. Daring without being foolhardy, never expecting more of his companions than of himself, quick to take a lead in apparently trivial matters such as changing wet clothes promptly or drinking sparingly of cold water on a hot  day, he contributed an impressive quality of leadership towards the success of the expedition. One incident typifies McKerrow the man. On one part of a return journey something went wrong with the compass, and McKerrow was forced to take bearings from the stars. Goldie was not satisfied with the results, and declared they were heading in the wrong direction.

He refused to proceed further, and after signing a paper to the effect that he was taking such a course of his own free will, he struck out by himself. Three days later he returned and to his astonishment found McKerrow still at the same place.

Goldie expressed his surprise. McKerrow replied “I know you would come back, John, so I waited.” No reference to Goldie’s obstinacy ever escaped McKerrow’s lips, but in John Goldie he had made a lifelong friend.

SURVEY WORK IN OTAGO 1867-76

THE prevalence of the spotting system of survey was the source of additional work for Mr. Thomson, and when in 1866 Goldfield’s Survey was added to his list of worries, he decided to appoint an Inspector of Surveys. The duties of this officer would be to examine instruments and equipment at every
station and camp, to check and supervise all field operations, and to ensure careful work on the part of every surveyor in the province

St. Bathan's Range, Otago. Photo: Courtesy Donald Lousley.
.
James McKerrow was the logical choice for this (1) position, and was duly appointed.

The question of the relationship between Goldfield and general survey had been threshed out in 1864 by a Select Committee of the Provincial Council Vincent Pyke, Secretary (2} for the Goldfields, maintained that two departments were covering similar ground in an uncooperative manner which could only lead to inextricable confusion. He advocated their amalgamation, and also pressed for the establishment of District Survey Offices.

Thomson opposed the plan since he himself had had no experience in goldfield survey, and because he could see no merit in a scheme which divided the province into survey districts under men of inferior ability and with incomplete information on land affairs.

The huge swathe of land that James McKerrow Surveyed.

Despite his protests, the Select Committee recommended that the two survey systems be amalgamated, and that District Land Offices be established at the principal goldfields and towns of Central Otago
.
By 1867 the amalgamation had been e ected, and Thomson took steps to satisfy himself as to the e ciency of the surveyors in the goldfields. McKerrow and he started immediately on a thorough tour of inspection.
Proper camp and field equipment (4) was granted to each surveyor, and each member of the sta was
excused the quasi-public duties which had formerly interrupted his work. Each surveyor was then informed that all surveys for record on public maps were to be repeated. With the assistance of several of the officers of the general staff  , rapid progress was made in this work, and credit for much of the improvement must be given to the new inspector.

He applied himself to the instruction of various officers in the routine of the Otago system; a system easily mastered by the more intelligent among them. The whole service was infused with new life and by 1870 Thomson could refer to the in uence of land o ces in Lawrence and Queenstown as turning “the
face of the country from a desert to a garden.” (5)

General as well as goldfields inspection was within the scope of McKerrow’s appointment, and it was his responsibility to check the work being carried out by both government and contracting surveyors . It was felt that contracting surveyors (6) were more liable to error than those working on a standard wage, and for the reason their activities were limited to block survey, the accuracy of which could easily be verified . Under (7) the Boileau sur veying system, McKerrow had only to plant his theodolite on any point of a triangulation or traverse within sight of two or more established points to be able at once to confirm accuracy or detect error. Furthermore, this same check was open to each individual surveyor, and since errors were necessarily either intentional or the result of gross carelessness, dishonesty or incompetency was swiftly disclosed by the logic of the figures. “This”, maintained Thomson “is the secret of our success”. (8)

The Otago survey staff soon came to enjoy a reputation for speed and e ciency unrivalled in New Zealand. Among the members of this sta moved McKerrow, checking, inspecting, and ready with encouragement or practical suggestion. “The measurement of this base . . . was completed in the presence of . . . Mr. McKerrow, who himself made the requisite corrections. . . on two steep terrace slopes, at each end of the line, and worked out the result”, wrote J.S. Connell (9)

As time went on, and the survey sta settled into an established routine, McKerrow found time to turn his attention to special projects which from time to time devolved on the Survey Department.
One of these special problems occurred in 1869. In that year, Mr. Thomson, despairing of securing adequate longitudes for the Otago survey system, erected a small observatory of his own, and set out to ascertain the longitude of the Pronvincial Surveys by independent astronomical observation. The method
he employed was that known as “Moon culminating stars”.

Between August 1869 and March 1870 the moon’s transits were observed at all hours of the night, but adverse weather conditions cut down considerably the number of acceptable readings. McKerrow’s and Thomson’s calculations of the longitudinal determinations di ered slightly, but this was attributed to the di erent tables and principles of computation employed. The results of the e ort were considered to be very satisfactory. Thomson reported: “I have much pleasure in here stating that I have been accompanied by McKerrow in all the calculations required in the . . . astronomical and geodesical observations which have been long and laborious, and which could never have been produced with confidence had I no one
competent, as he is, to a ord me check”. (10)

Early in 1870 preparations for the establishment of smallbody of settlers at Martin’s Bay, Western Otago were set on foot, and McKerrow was sent to see if a practicable bridle track could be pushed through to the Hollyford River via the Dart River, the Routeburn River and Lake Harris. Several explorers,
P.Q Caples included, had already used this route, and the Otago Witness was therefore at fault when it stated that McKerrow’s party was seeking a pass to the West Coast . The purpose of (11) the trip was not to discover a pass; this had already been done.

It was to Survey the district and to make a report on the track. The party went up the Routeburn, passed over the Harris saddle, climbed peaks commanding a view of the complete course of the Hollyford River, and descended into the Hollyford Valley. After crossing the river and making an examination of
the land on the western side, they retraced their steps. McKerrow reported that the distance from Lake Wakatiputo Lake McKerrow was thirty five miles, and that if trees were blazed on the track and dead timber removed, it should be possible to walk the distance in one day. He found this track
shorter than any other, but pointed out that several di cult places had to be negotiated and, that as the altitude of the pass was 4500 feet, it might prove to be impassable for a few weeks
each winter (12)

A tracing of McKerrow’s map was in use as early as April 1870, and although some confusion arose through the incorrect aming of a ford it was found to be extremely useful (13)

This survey provided for a long felt want since it enabledarrangements for the Jamestown settlement to go ahead, and he Otago Witness expressed its satisfaction that McKerrow ad attracted more attention to this rather inaccessible cornerof the province (14)

During 1871 McKerrow spent some time in inspectingsurveys, and, along with Mr. J.H. Baker, in extending standardbearings over the Southland District and Stewart Island,(15) bu to an ever increasing degree he was being called on to report on the suitability of blocks of land under consideration
for Hundreds.

In July 1871, in response to a series of1 6 qestions put to him in a memorandum from Mr. Thomson, he furnished evidence regarding the fertility, topography and suitability for settlement of a 5800 acre block at Waiarika
.
At (17) the conclusion of the report, he pointed out that as bona fide  settlement was a ver y gradual process large areas must always be open for selection (18)

Another run McKerrow examined was that of Mr. W.J. Clarke of Mao Flat. Part of the run had been sold but as contradictor y reports were in circulation regarding the quality of the land, a request was made to the Chief Sur veyor that he “instruct an officer of his department (in whose judgement regarding such matters he can place confidence) to make a thorough inspection,” and prepare a plan delineating such
features as agricultural and pastoral lands, streams, and the position of roads. McKerrow duly furnished a report and explained that he had modified the boundaries of the original
application in order to preserve the connection between the road and the back country, and to include the homestead in the agricultural block selected by the leaseholder.

In 1872 the survey Department was reorganized, and for purposes of inspection was divided into two districts; one under McKerrow, the other under Baker (19) interest in land questions was fully maintained. Donald Reid introduced his deferred payment scheme in 1872, and in the same year a committee was set up by Parliament to enquire into the sale of large blocks of land in the goldfields by the Otago Waste
Lands Baord. McKerrow was asked to report on the 20,000 acre block opposite Clarke’s Moa Flat Station which Messsrs. Cargill and Anderson wished to purchase. His contention that the block
contained no agricultural land was vigorously contested by the Roxburgh Progress League, whose members protested that the best inland district in Otago was being locked up from agricultural
and mining settlement. The widely divergent opinions of other witnesses as to the precise area of good agricultural land in the block would suggest that they were not altogether in agreement
as to what constituted agricultural land (20)

Other blocks examined by McKerrow towards the end of 1872 included one in the Glenkenich and Waipahi district, and another between the Pomahaka and Waikoikoi Streams.

Both were being opened up for sale following the payment of compensation to the leaseholder (21)

The sale of a 10,000 acre block in the Maerewhenua district (22} brought more work, for the miners who had acquired rights in the gullies of the run had brought in water at considerable expense,
and protested that their interests were being neglected. By all accounts much of the land within the block was auriferous. McKerrow had examined the block some time previous to the outery, and had advised that it was predominantly suitable for pastoral purposes, but in December, 1872, together with
Mr. T.L. Shepherd, he was appointed to a commission with instructions to re-examine the block and report back with special reference to its auriferous nature. The members of the
commission questioned the miners, examined their sluices and claims, and reported that the 5800 acres of auriferous land in the Maerowhenua Block was capable of providing steady employment to the miners for years.

The advisability of diverting the head-waters of the Kakanui River was also discussed. The miners claimed that such a diversion was essential for the prosperity of the goldfield. On the other hand, the mill owners and fellmongers at the mouth of the river objected, and maintained that any diversion
would decrease the volume of water at the river’s mouth to a level insu cient for their purposes. The commission advised a better utilistion of the available water by the mill owners and fellmongers as a solution to the problem.

In June 1873 McKerrow made his way back to the Maerehenua block to prepare a report on the amended application. At the same time he examined the Otiake and Otekaike valleys and Doctor’s Creek to determine their auriferous nature. For two days, he and several members of the Mining Association prospected for gold with tin dishes and shovels, but although specks of gold were found, it was agreed
that the expense necessary to sink shafts and to bring in water would not be justified
.
Besides undertaking duties in connection with land sales, McKerrow continued his work as Inspector of Surveys. During the 1872-3 season he checked work at Lawrence, Queenstown,
Naseby, Clyde, Balclutha, Mataura, Dunedin, Camaru; also the triangulations being carried out between Lake Ohau and Mt. Aspiring. (24)

In November 1873, a change took place in the department.Under provisions of the 1872 Otago Waste Lands Act, the Chief urveyor was not entitled to hold his position in conjunction ith that of Commissioner of Crown Lands and of the Waste Lnds Board. Mr. Thomson decided to retain the latter two
appointments and after a period of seventeen years as Chief Surveyor severed his offcial connection with the Otago Survey Department.(25)

James McKerrow was Thomson’s logical successor and was apointed Chief Surveyor as from 26 November, 1873

The appointment met with general approval. “I thus had a new chief ”, writes J.H. Baker, “but as I had met and worked with him before, I knew that I should have no di culty in getting
on with him” (27}
There was no revolutionary change in policy or procedure.

The work of the department proceeded smoothly and e ciently and McKerrow passed the necessary plans. These he kept indexed in his field book (28)

He was often required to pass judgement on proposeddeferred payment blocks, and, as a guide, prepared a tabulation showing the extent of certain runs, the area of land which (29) could be taken from them, and the area which it was proposed to take from them immediately it appeared that one block of 82,600 acres was to be opened between the Waiairiki Hundred and the boundary of the Wairuna and Pomahaka Hundreds at Popotunoa. McKerrow pointed out that the opening of this (30) block would complete the chain of settlement from Riverton to the Waitaki River. He also prepared reports on hundreds
at Heriot and in the Waikaka Valley, and an estimate of the agricultural and pastoral potentialities of the Waiau Valley. Yet another report dealt with the protest which Messrs. Cargill and Anderson lodged against the decision to open for settlement 2800 acres of their run. McKerrow had suggested that part of the run was suitable for closer division, but the run-holders took the case to law and succeeded in retaining possession of the disputed part.

In his first annual report McKerrow was able to report a satisfactory standard of e ciency and attainment by both surveyors and draughtsmen. He pointed out that as large areas awaited trigonometrical survey and 8,000,000 acres had still to undergo section survey, there was ample work to occupy offcers of the department for many years. (31)

During his years as Chief Sur veyor, McKerrow had to discharge sundr y duties other than those of a surveyor and an Assessor of Waste Lands.

His intimate knowledge of Central Otago made him an admirable guide for scientists. On one occasion he and Captain F.W. Hutton spent some time searching around Wakatipu for traces (other than moraines) left by the reteating glacier. The search was fruitless, and none of the more perishable remains,
such as blocs perches and straite, were to be found (32)

In 1874 a scientific event of peculiar interest occurred. A transit of Venus was due. On learning that British and American expeditions were being dispatched to New Zealand, the Otago
Institute appointed Messrs. Thomson, McKerrow and Skey as a committee to assist the visitors. The committee collected data on climate, traveling facilities, and suitable localities in
Otago for obser vation, and forwarded reports and maps to the Astronomer Royal at Greenwich and to the States Astronomer in America. No reply was received from the former, but the latter
reported that Professor Peters would consider the proposals on his arrival in New Zealand.
Lieutenant Bass of the American party preceded Peters to New Zealand, and under the guidance of McKerrow made an extensive tour of Central Otago. He decided to follow the Institute’s advice and to make Queenstown the base for operations. From there the Americans enjoyed singular success in their observations. No fewer than 160 photographs of the transit of the planet on the sun’s disc were secured. “The scientific world may . . . congratulate themselves on his success”, stated Thoson “as owing to the failure of all other expeditions the most valuable data has been secured for all nations”. Peters acknowledged his debt to this voluntary band of helpers, whose advicee had enabled him to choose an ideal spot. The other expeditions had not been so fortunate for bad weather had hindered their operations
(33)

Major Palmer, the leader of the English party engaged in observing the transit of Venus, was an authority on sur veying, and before he left the country was approached by the Central
 Government o undertake the examination of what was generally conceded to be a disjointed and ine ective survey system.

The Chief Surveyors of the Provinces were well aware of
the deficiencies in their sta s and systems, but maintained that
lack of time and trained personnel had forced them to push
on with systems lacking a consistent geodetic basis. They met
in conference in 1873, and recommended the adoption of one
co-ordinated system throughout the country. Thomson, who
was unable to be present, wrote emphasizing the need for the
establishment of a national system under a Surveyor General
before too much of the country was surveyed into sections (34)

The Government had made no move in this direction, but by 1875 was forced to institute an enquir y.
Palmer’s report revealed chaos and disorder in practically
every province. He described the history of Auckland Surveys
as “one of lamentable confusion and neglect, and want of
system and accuracy”. The only system which came in for any
substantial measure of commendation was that of Otago. Of
it he wrote that “Surveys of Otago which have mainly been
carried out on this safe and steady system, are on the whole
in a better state than those of the other provinces . . . The
Late Chief Sur veyor, Mr. J.T. Thomson established in 1861 a
uniform system of surveying which was . . . simple and practical.
Upon this system the surveys have been pushed forward as
rapidly as possible under the direction of Mr. Thomson, and
latterly under that of his successor, Mr. McKerrow. They have
generally kept pace with the demands of settlement, and are
at present in a forward state . . . All work hitherto done may
be considered fairly accurate showing that, as an expedient for
promoting rapid and correct land sales and preventing waste,
the Otago system has answered well. Indeed both of the cardinal
branches, trigonometrical and detail, have been surrounded
with most of the safeguards and precautions which should be
looked for in a well-managed survey department. All original
records, moreover, have been carefully kept and registered, and
the trigonometrical stations with few exceptions are erect and
permanently marked, so that ever y part will be available for
further use if required”.
“When as the surveys within circuits progressed the various
initial points came to be connected together by inter vening
minor triangulations, it became possible to test the accuracy
of the work by making comparisons between the observed
di erences of latitude and di erences computed through the
network of triangles; also by comparing the observed and
computed convergence of meridians. The results of these tests
were very satisfactory, considering the means and instruments
used, and they do high credit to the skill and care of Mr.
McKerrow, by whom all the original observations for latitude
and tr ue azimuth were made” (35)

Palmer came to the conclusion that one exact and
comprehensive system was needed to eliminate small errors,
and to weld the existing piecemeal systems into a homogeneous unit
. No immediate action was taken to implement these (36)
suggestions immediately however, and the province found
themselves free to pursue their activities unchecked.

During 1875 and 1876 the work of the Otago Survey
Depar tment went on at high pressure, and showed every
indication of continuing that way. The rate of settlement under
the deferred payment system was increasing in tempo, and
it was necessar y to keep surveys ahead of settlement. Sixteen
pastoral leases embracing a total area of 400,000 acres were
due to expire in 1878, and something more detailed than a
Reconnaissance Survey would be required for administrative
purposes. Maps, grants and lease must also be prepared for
District Land Offices (37)

McKerrow was not destined to supervise all these plans.
In 1875 the Central Government decided that the Provincial
Governments had outlived their usefulness. Despite vigorous
protests, they were abolished the following year, and most of their
essential functions transferred to Government Departments
in Wellington. Mr. J.T. Thomson was appointed Sur veyor
General, and expected that McKerrow would be his assistant
. Nor was he disappointed for on the 16of December, 1876 (38)
James McKerrow was appointed Assistant Surveyor General.
Thus at one blow Otago lost to wider spheres of service two
gentlemen who had played an active part in opening up and
settling the province’s lands. They had subjected the work of
their subordinates to stringent enquiry, and by encouragement
and personal example had succeeded in inculcating an “esprit
de corps” into the department. Only really competent surveyors
could find employment in Otago, and those that did took a
delight in reducing their margins of error below the maximum
allowed by regulations. They took a pride in their work, and
appreciated the need for rigid standards. Thus although a
stickler for accuracy, McKerrow was popular with the members
of his sta , and when he left for Wellington they presented him
with a handsome gold watch.
The value of the work accomplished in Otago by Thomson
and McKerrow has been universally recognized. “Otago was
fortunate in its choice of surveyors”, writes W.G.McClymont, “and

McKerrow no less than Thomson was a man of marked ability”
(39) J.H. Baker, a prominent surveyor in early times, maintained that,
“Mr. Thomson was one of the pioneers of scientific survey in New
Zealand, and the colony owes more to him and his assistant Mr.
McKerrow than is I think generally recognized”.(40)
McKerrow’s qualities of character attracted all classes
of people, and when he moved from Otago, he left behind
hundreds of friends and acquaintances in both town and
country. He was invariably obliging and cour teous on both
social and o cial occasions. “I had an interview with Mr.
McKerrow”, wrote Hon. George McLean the Conservator of
State Forests, and the latter, who was just leaving for Wellington,
kindly gave me all the information in his power during the
short time at his disposal, and sketched out a route which
served as a general guide during my stay in the province.”(41)

“We traveled . . . with Mr. McKerrow whose genial nature and
wide and comprehensive knowledge of New Zealand made
him a most attractive and interesting companion”, writes C.S.
Ross
. Friendships cemented in remote districts of Otago were
(42) not forgotten, and at his residence in Wellington McKerrow
entertained a constant stream of his old Otago friends.

Notes
1. Otago Prov. Gaz. Vol. X, 5th Sept. 1866, P. 173. Thomson’s report
2. App. V & P Otago Prov. Council, Session XIX, 1864, Select Committee
Reports, Pp. 89-90
3. Otago Prov. Gaz. Vol. XI, 28th Aug. 1867, Pp. 226-7.
4. Ibid
5. V & P Otago Prov. Council, Session XXVII, 1870, Departmental
Reports, P. 33.
6. V & P Otago Prov. Council, Session XXIII, 1867, Departmental
Reports, P 2.
7. Connell, J.S. On New Zealand Surveys, App. Trans. N.Z. Inst. Vol.
VIII, 1875, Pp XXVII-XXXVIII.
8. Thomson, J.T. Exposition of Processes and Results, P. 15.
9. Connell, op cit. P. XXXVI.
10. V & P Otago Prov. Council Session XXVII, 1870. Departmental
Reports, Pp. 30-33.
11. Otago Witness 26th Feb. 1870, Article
12. Otago Witness, 26th Feb. 1870, McKerrow’s Report
13. Otago Witness April 16 and 23, 1870. The Martin’s Bay Expedition
14. Otago Witness 26th Feb. 1870, Article.
15. V & P Otago Prov. Council, Session XIX, 1871. Departmental Reports,
Pp. 34-5.
16. Eccles, A., The Life of Donald Reid Pp. 179-211 gives a good account
of land conditions and tenure, 1856-76.
17. Between the Mataura and the Waikaka districts.
18. App. H of R 1873, Cl, Pp 18-19, Mao Flat is near Heriot, Central
Otago
19. App. V & P Otago Prov. Council, Session XXX, 1872. P. 64 Survey
Report
20. App. H. of R. 1872, H1
21. App. V & P, Otago Prov. Council Session XXXII, 1872, Pp. 117-121.
Waipahi is 84 miles south-west of Dunedin
22. App. V & P, Otago Prov. Council Session XXXII, 1873, Pp. 14-29.
Maerewhenua is about 30 miles north west of Oamaru, and on the
south side of the Waitaki River.
23. App. V & P Otago Prov. Cuncil, Session XXII, 1873, Pp. 14-29
24. Ibid P. 12. Survey Report
25. Baker J.H., op. cit. P. 134
26. Otago Prov. Gaz. 26th Nov., 1873, P. 437
27. Baker, op cit P. 134
28. Field Book No. 330, Dunedin Survey O ce
29. App. V & P Otago Prov. Council, Session XXX, 1874, Pp. 106-08.
30. In the Clinton district – about 80 miles south-west of Dunedin.
31. App. V & P. Otago Prov. Council Session XXXIII 1874, P. 67
32. Trans. N.Z. Inst. Vol. V, 1872, P. 343. Hutton, F.W., On the Last
Glacier Period in New Zealand.
33. Trans. N.Z. Inst. Vol. VII, 1874. Pp. 550-53
34. App. H. of R. 1873. H1.
35. Palmer, Major, State of Surveys in New Zealand. App. V & P.H. of R.
H1. 1875
36. Ibid
37. App. V & P. Otago Prov. Council, session XXXIV, 1876. Departmental
Reports No. 5
38. Baker, J.H. A Surveyor in New Zealand, P. 140
39. McClymont, W.G. Op. cit. P. 132.
40. Baker, J.H. P. 116
41. App. H. of R. 03, 1877, P. 7. Report of Conservator of State Forests
42. Ross, C.S. Early Otago, P. 182.

Plucking Turnips

A lone piper plays a dirge overlooking Lake Manapouri, first surveyed by James Mckerrow

James McKerrow – Surveyor

PLUCKING TURNIPS
James McKerrow was born on 7 July 1834 in Kilmarnock, Scotland, with a genealogy that can be traced back to King James the Vth. [1]
His Father, Andrew McKerrow was a famous ploughmaker of Beansburn, Kilmarnock, who manufactured patent single furrowed ploughs and back delivery reaping machines which gave him the means to provide his sons an adequate education. James was a bright young student and frequently was top of his class and had a great love of mathematics, and after a good grounding in both pure and mixed aspects of the subjects under Mr. Thomas Lee of Kilmarnock Academy, he studied these subjects further at Glasgow University. Like all his brothers, James did an apprenticeship in implement making as his father believed that having a trade ‘prove a safe standby in times of need, and would often open the door to numerous other occupations.’[2] During his apprenticeship, James showed more interest in surveying the paddocks in the neighbourhood and gaining knowledge of surveying.
James was the eldest of ten children, nine brothers and one sister. When James was five, his sister Jean was born but she died before the age of one. His brother John, born when he was three, died at the age of 21, the year before James left for New Zealand. He was the first to leave for New Zealand, and later, 6 of his brothers emigrated
James McKerrow married Martha Dunlop at Fenwick, Ayreshire Scotland, on 5 August, 1859. Three weeks after their marriage, James and Martha traveled to Glasgow to board the Cheviot, a ship with a reputation for speed, weighing 1066 tons.
Unfortunately the Ship’s departure was delayed some hours so James and Martha, decided to fill the time in by having their last walk on Scottish soil. As they were strolling through the countryside, they passed a field of turnips, and feeling the pangs of hunger, James climbed over the fence, and plucked a turnip. As he was climbing back over the wall, a farmer appeared and threatened to get the police and take charges against him. James quickly produced a sum of money and paid an exorbitant price for a miserable turnip, and they quickly scurried back to the ship, before any other misfortune came their way.[3]
The cargo vessel ‘Cheviot’ set sail on Tuesday the, 23 August and left ‘The Tail of the Bank’ at Greenock and with it Scotland. The ship was heavily laden with foodstuff, spirituous liquors, iron goods, building materials, farm implements, stud sheep, pigs and cattle.[4] Being a cargo ship, it was only able to accommodate twenty-four cabin and eighteen steerage passengers. The majority of the steerage passengers were emigrating under the sponsorship of a Mr. Holmes, who had made large purchases of land in the Lumsden district where he intended to settle them on his holdings. The McKerrows were in the steerage cabins together with sixteen men and one woman.
The Cheviot rounded Ireland and then reached Madeira on 3 September, passed close to Cape Verde on 7 September, and after confusing winds, crossed the equator on 26 September For the next leg of the journey, the weather was good and they rounded Cape Horn on 25 October and a point, south of Adelaide reached on 18 November.

The trip had been eventful with the discovery of a ‘stowaway, the death of a still born baby, the provisioning of a life boat from a foundered vessel and condition were tough at times with cramped quarters, snow and thunder storms, gales force winds and ripped sails, and near misses from flying blocks. The dairy of one of the passengers, Mr. T.L. Barnhill, on 3 October 1859 shows the spirit on board. “ shipped a sea which ducked almost all the steerage passengers who were standing together- all in good spirits owing to our making such progress.” [5]
James and Martha got their first look at New Zealand a week later when they sighted Stewart Island and the next day after ninety five days at sea, they entered the Otago Harbour.
‘ I was very much struck with the beautiful situation of Dunedin and with the clean, neat appearances of the houses looking out spick and span from picturesque spots in the surrounding bush. In coming up the bay and through the islets of Port Chalmers, I was strongly reminded of beautiful Loch Lomond.[6]
.
In 1859 James amd Martha McKerrow

Surveyor, explorer, administrator
James McKerrow was a man of wide and yet at the same time narrow interests; wide in that anything pertaining to learning, culture, religion, patriotism, and his fellow man and their lives came into his scheme of things; narrow in that the general and conventional frivolities and amusements of the day were of the very slenderest interest to him. Drinking he regarded as reprehensible, smoking as unnecessary, and sports as relatively uninteresting. His time was too fully occupied in the vital and essential elements of life to allow participation in any such extraneous activities. Not that McKerrow could be accused of pursuing a life of unwearied toil unrelieved by amusement or enjoyment. On the contrary he lived happily but his happiness depended not on conventional entertainments, but on his work, his books, his religion, his love of nature and through intercourse with his friends and family..

He arrived in New Zealand in November 1859 to take up an appointment with the survey department of the Otago Province. McKerrow worked with J. T. Thomson in the triangulation of Otago and Southland, helping to make the Otago system of surveying, based on the practice of the survey of India, the best in New Zealand and later its model.
One of McKerrow's main tasks was the exploration and mapping of the Otago lakes district, where sheep farmers had already penetrated, between 1861 and 1864. He began with a journey through from Wanaka down into Southland. Then he explored the two northern lakes, Wanaka and Hawea, reached over the Lindis Pass, and his excellent account in the Otago Provincial Gazette comments shrewdly on the possibilities and the drawbacks of this inland region with its pastoral as well as goldmining potentialities. It could be reached by bullock dray only by the Lindis Pass, and the unfordable Clutha made southern access difficult. McKerrow explored the Matukituki, Motatapu, Makarora, and many subsidiary river systems. He noted especially the great seasonal fluctuations in volume of the glacier-fed mountain rivers. Later McKerrow travelled through the southern portion of the lakes district, exploring Wakatipu, Te Anau, and Manapouri, with the rivers feeding the lakes from the Kawarau south to the Waiau. He left the exploration of country beyond Lake Hauroko to be completed from Preservation Inlet. Again his report was shrewd and realistic: even if passes existed to the West Coast, the routes would be so menaced by flooding rivers as to be of doubtful value.
The physical difficulties of these journeys, in which over 500 square miles of country were explored, can hardly be exaggerated, even though the existence of a few scattered sheep stations provided a certain amount of support. Lakes Wanaka and Hawea were surveyed from a whaleboat. A much smaller craft had to be used in similar waterborne surveys of Manapouri and Te Anau, where storms made the enterprise especially dangerous. In January 1864 McKerrow and his companion landed at the head of the western-lying Middle Fiord of Te Anau and made their only deliberate attempt to reach the West Coast. Although after some days of struggle in this very difficult region they stopped short of their objective, they did reach a mountain top from which they could see Caswell Sound in the distance.
In 1863 McKerrow was appointed Geodesical Surveyor and Inspector of Surveys in Otago. His work was of a high standard; his younger colleague, J. H. Baker, who accompanied him on his visit to Bluff Hill to take bearings on prominent distant features, attested his debt to McKerrow: “This work and my conversations with Mr McKerrow were of great use to me, as they gave me an insight into the higher branch of my profession which I had not had before”.
In 1873 McKerrow was appointed Chief Surveyor of Otago. In 1877, after the abolition of the provinces and the absorption of their servants into the General Government's civil service, McKerrow became Assistant Surveyor-General. Two years later he was appointed Surveyor-General and Secretary of Lands and Mines. In 1882 McKerrow observed the transit of Venus from the Wellington Observatory, and in 1885 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.
As a competent administrator, McKerrow had much to do with work with other Government Departments. He was appointed Chief Commissioner of Railways in 1889 and on the dissolution of the Railways Commission in 1895 he became chairman of the Land Purchase Board. He retired from the Public Service on 31 December 1901. In 1905 he was appointed chairman of the Land Commission. He died on 30 June 1919.
A casual acquaintance, C. S. Ross, reported McKerrow's genial nature and that “his wide and comprehensive knowledge of New Zealand made him a most attractive and interesting companion”. McKerrow was typical of the lad “of pairts” who came out from Scotland with a good education and undertook skilled tasks with “painstaking enthusiasm and tireless accuracy”. In addition to his meticulous survey field work, McKerrow discharged with distinction the tasks of a higher public servant at a time when administration needed resource and invention as well as energy and method.
by David Oswald William Hall, M.A., Director, Adult Education, University of Otago (retired).
History of Otago, McLintock, A. H. (1949)
Exploration of New Zealand, McClymont, W. G. (1959)
Early Otago and Some of its Notable Men, Ross, C. S. (1907)
A Surveyor in New Zealand, Baker, J. H.
Related stories from Te Ara
· Scots

From Survey Quarterly, Issue 37 march 2004 by Janet Holm

As Surveyor General, he admired the work his surveyors did and he could empasise with the hardships they encountered.

By then Westland had been divided into three circuits – Hokitika, Okariti and Jackson Bay, and Roberts was to extend the standard bearings through the Hokitika circuit. James McKerrow outlined roberts’ undertaking in his annual report in mid-1877. He had just spent three months under Mr Mueller’s direction, selecting and preparing stations ‘through wooded, mountainous country’. Several were extremely high and difficult to access, so would become the points of major triangulation, while numerous reference stations would be easily accessible.

In the 1978 report McKerrow wrote that Roberts had extended bearings from the geodesical station at Koiterangi to that at Arahura. This ‘….under very great difficulties of a busy country and wet climate, which laid him up for a time….’
In 1890 Roberts led the first survey party to venture into the glaciated regions of Westland. To him must go the credit of being the first New Zealand-born mountaineer to read up on the subject of mountaineering beforehand. With his foreman Dan Strachan, he went up the Wanganui Valley to the Lambert Junction, and spent three days cutting a track from the forks up a steep bush ridge to a rock promontory which terminated a range coming off the Divide.[7] This promontory, named Blue Lookout, became central to later journeys by Douglas and Teichelmann who built on Robert’s earlier survey. Roberts completed his 1880 explorations by moving from Blue Lookout and exploring the snow grass platforms. ‘Above them rose a line of vertical rock faces (the Lord Range) and towards these the party moved, finding the snow slopes very useful for by cutting steps (we) got to the top of peaks otherwise unscalable’ until they were ‘finally jammed by the western (south-west) precipices of Dan's Peak’. Eventually the party found access to the Main Divide by following along the northern side of the Lord Range to the point where it met The Divide. Here three high massifs met at a low depression (which they named Strachan Pass) leading through to the Ramsay Glacier in Canterbury. Among lower peaks there were potential trig points and, through the pass, others of much the same altitude could be seen in line; both close at hand on the Butler Range and far away on the north shoulder of the Arrowsmiths.’
‘Roberts found mountaineering skills to be essential in the course of his work, and had forged a link between mountaineering and surveying.’[8]

Deeply impressed by the outstanding work of Roberts, McKerrow wrote in his 1881 Report:
‘ This was very arduous work, conducted, as it necessarity was, for a considerable distance over glaciers and snow-fields, with trigonometrical stations 5000, 6000, and 7000 feet in height…’
He further noted that several of the surveyors had been ill ‘owing to continuous work in the wet bush of the West Coast district.’
Roberts triangulation surveys continued down the West Coast and by 1882 had got close to Jackson’s Bay. In his report McKerrow wrote: The accuracy of this officer’s work, and the progress he has made, despite the difficulties of a very rugged bush-country and a wet climate, entitle him to the warmest commendations.’
[1] Andrew Kennedy McKerrow, Your Folk and Mine – The story of the McKerrows, private circulation, Edinburgh, 1990
[2]
[3] David G.Herron, James McKerrow –SURVEYOR, EXPLORER AND CIVIL SERVANT- With special reference to Exploration, 1861-3, Presented for History Honours, University of New Zealand.1948
[4] Otago Witness, 3 December, 1859
[5] Barnhill, T.L., MSS Dairy of Voyage of Cheviot. Read by D.C. Herron, 1947.
[6] Mckerrow, J., Reminiscences, p.10 MSS
[7] John Acheson, op cit.
[8] Trish McCormack, A History of Survey and Mountaineering in South Westland. Department of Conservation, Hokitika, 1988. pp23, 30.

Photo of James Mckerrow

Surveyor, explorer, administrator
James McKerrow was a man of wide and yet at the same time narrow interests; wide in that anything pertaining to learning, culture, religion, patriotism, and his fellow man and their lives came into his scheme of things; narrow in that the general and conventional frivolities and amusements of the day were of the very slenderest interest to him. Drinking he regarded as reprehensible, smoking as unnecessary, and sports as relatively uninteresting. His time was too fully occupied in the vital and essential elements of life to allow participation in any such extraneous activities. Not that McKerrow could be accused of pursuing a life of unwearied toil unrelieved by amusement or enjoyment. On the contrary he lived happily but his happiness depended not on conventional entertainments, but on his work, his books, his religion, his love of nature and through intercourse with his friends and family..

James McKerrow - New Zealand Surveyor

James McKerrow was born on 7 July 1834 in Kilmarnock, Scotland, with a genealogy that can be traced back to King James the Vth. [1]
His Father, Andrew McKerrow was a famous ploughmaker of Beansburn, Kilmarnock, who manufactured patent single furrow, ploughs and back delivery reaping machines which gave him the means to provide his sons an adequate education. James was a bright young student and frequently was top of his class and had a great love of mathematics, and after a good grounding in both pure and mixed aspects of the subjects under Mr. Thomas Lee of Kilmarnock Academy, he studied these subjects further at Glasgow University. Like all his brothers, James did an apprenticeship in implement making as his father believed that having a trade ‘prove a safe standby in times of need, and would often open the door to numerous other occupations.’[2] During his apprenticeship, James showed more interest in surveying the paddocks in the neighbourhood and gaining knowledge of surveying.
James was the eldest of ten children, nine brothers and one sister. When James was five, his sister Jean was born but she died before the age of one. His brother John, born when he was three, died at the age of 21, the year before James left for New Zealand. He was the first to leave for New Zealand, and later, 6 of his brothers emigrated
James McKerrow married Martha Dunlop at Fenwick, Ayreshire Scotland, on 5 August, 1859. Three weeks after their marriage, James and Martha traveled to Glasgow to board the Cheviot, a ship with a reputation for speed, weighing 1066 tons.
Unfortunately the Ship’s departure was delayed some hours so James and Martha, decided to fill the time in by having their last walk on Scottish soil. As they were strolling through the countryside, they passed a field of turnips, and feeling the pangs of hunger, James climbed over the fence, and plucked a turnip. As he was climbing back over the wall, a farmer appeared and threatened to get the police and take charges against him. James quickly produced a sum of money and paid an exorbitant price for a miserable turnip, and they quickly scurried back to the ship, before any other misfortune came their way.[3]
The cargo vessel ‘Cheviot’ set sail on Tuesday the, 23 August and left ‘The Tail of the Bank’ at Greenock and with it Scotland. The ship was heavily laden with foodstuff, spirituous liquors, iron goods, building materials, farm implements, stud sheep, pigs and cattle.[4] Being a cargo ship, it was only able to accommodate twenty-four cabin and eighteen steerage passengers. The majority of the steerage passengers were emigrating under the sponsorship of a Mr. Holmes, who had made large purchases of land in the Lumsden district where he intended to settle them on his holdings. The McKerrows were in the steerage cabins together with sixteen men and one woman.
The Cheviot rounded Ireland and then reached Madeira on 3 September, passed close to Cape Verde on 7 September, and after confusing winds, crossed the equator on 26 September For the next leg of the journey, the weather was good and they rounded Cape Horn on 25 October and a point, south of Adelaide reached on 18 November.

The trip had been eventful with the discovery of a ‘stowaway, the death of a still born baby, the provisioning of a life boat from a foundered vessel and condition were tough at times with cramped quarters, snow and thunder storms, gales force winds and ripped sails, and near misses from flying blocks. The dairy of one of the passengers, Mr. T.L. Barnhill, on 3 October 1859 shows the spirit on board. “ shipped a sea which ducked almost all the steerage passengers who were standing together- all in good spirits owing to our making such progress.” [5]
James and Martha got their first look at New Zealand a week later when they sighted Stewart Island and the next day after ninety five days at sea, they entered the Otago Harbour.
‘ I was very much struck with the beautiful situation of Dunedin and with the clean, neat appearances of the houses looking out spick and span from picturesque spots in the surrounding bush. In coming up the bay and through the islets of Port Chalmers, I was strongly reminded of beautiful Loch Lomond.[6]
.
In 1859 James amd Martha McKerrow (to be finished)


James McKerrow was 85 when he died in 1919 at his Ghuznee Street home in Wellington.
[1] Andrew Kennedy McKerrow, Your Folk and Mine – The story of the McKerrows, private circulation, Edinburgh, 1990
[2]
[3] David G.Herron, James McKerrow –SURVEYOR, EXPLORER AND CIVIL SERVANT- With special reference to Exploration, 1861-3, Presented for History Honours, University of New Zealand.1948
[4] Otago Witness, 3 December, 1859
[5] Barnhill, T.L., MSS Dairy of Voyage of Cheviot. Read by D.C. Herron, 1947.
[6] Mckerrow, J., Reminiscences, p.10 MSS