The hardy souls who tamed the heartland

A steely resolve was needed to endure the harshness of the South Island high country. Photo / Mary Hobbs

To most New Zealanders the Mackenzie Country is one of those heartland places that contributes much to our sense of self, with its vast expanses of tussock and sheep, glacial lakes, huge skies and the Southern Alps rising to the west. But the reputation of the Mackenzie owes much to the tough and tenacious people who settled the high country stations and who continue to farm to this day, finds author Mary Hobbs in a new book. This extract reveals the pioneers of the famed Mt Cook Station.

In 1864, a bullock wagon carrying four people emerged at the top of a large hill in the Mackenzie high country, briefly silhouetted against the fading light.

Andrew and Catherine Burnett and their two children, Catherine Mackay, known as Miss Kitty, age 2, and Donald, just 12 months, braced themselves as, with the wheels locked, Andrew carefully guided the wagon down a sharp zigzag to the valley floor below.

They had made their way through the Maryburn Valley to avoid the perils of the Tasman River, known to have quicksand in places.

There was no track to follow. They had endured a rough, bumpy ride over undulating terrain peppered with prickly matagouri, sharp spaniards, tussock and boulders.

They crossed the Jollie River and finally drew up at the homestead at dusk, weary from the long journey. In High Endeavour, William Vance describes the Burnetts' first home as a "one-room hut of black birch logs plastered with clay and thatched with snowgrass".

Mount Cook Station is situated at the head of the Tasman Valley, between the Jollie and Tasman rivers, on the east side of Lake Pukaki, opposite Glentanner and Birch Hill.

The Tasman River is the property's western boundary; its northern boundary was originally near the Tasman Glacier. New Zealand's highest peaks lie beyond.

Even for a strong person like Catherine Burnett, the landscape was daunting.

The following day, as she surveyed her surroundings in more detail, she marvelled at how they ever managed to make their way down that "fearsome hill" in one piece and how they would ever get back out again.

Andrew Burnett and Catherine Mackay were married on May 26, 1861, at Achrimsdale, in Clyne Parish, Sutherland, Scotland.

Andrew, born in 1838, listed his occupation as a shepherd. Catherine, who was about a year older, was a dairymaid.

Fewer than six weeks later, on July 3, the young couple set off for the other side of the world, leaving behind all they knew and loved in Scotland. On October 8 they arrived at Lyttelton on the Royal Stuart. They remained in New Zealand for the rest of their lives.

Andrew's skills as a shepherd were in great demand. Over the next few years he managed Grays Hills Station and then Blue Cliffs. Later, while managing Simons Pass Station, on the southeastern side of Lake Pukaki, he discovered the land that later became Mount Cook Station had not yet been claimed.

Catherine and Andrew had eight children. Miss Kitty, born in 1862, and Donald, who followed a year later, Mary Jane in 1866, Betsy, born in Otaio, South Canterbury, in 1867, and Johanna, born in 1871.

Another son, Andrew, was also born that year. Jessie Agnes was born in 1874 and a third son, Thomas David, in 1877.

To ensure their children had easier access to schools during the winter, when the family was not at the station, Catherine and Andrew bought a property at Cave in 1872 and a house in Perth St, Timaru, four years later.

Thomas David Burnett, known as TD, the youngest son of Andrew and Catherine, was 17 when a devastating snowstorm caused such carnage to the high country that some runholders were bankrupted.

Catherine and Andrew Burnett, was the last family member to own Mt Cook Station. Photo / South Canterbury Museum

He worked with the station hands in a desperate attempt to save the sheep. They made an impromptu snow camp, with walls that reached almost 2 metres, and set about rescuing any stock they could find.

TD recalled layers of dead sheep stacked up, while others, barely alive, were collected into a main area. The sheep were so desperate for feed that some ate the wool from the backs of dead animals or chewed their ears.

Faced with this devastation, TD vowed that when he was older he would do all he could to avert such tragedy from ever occurring again.

TD was a tough man. Legend has it that his son Donald was not permitted to sit too close to the fire in case it made him soft. The men who worked for TD were expected to measure up to his high standards.

His June 1928 advertisement for "a youth of 17 to 18 years" read: "Must hate town life. Must weigh not less than eleven stone. Must stand cold like an Arctic Hero. Must have plenty of common sense - brains not necessary. Must be medically fit. Undersigned will be on deck 2 to 4pm Saturday 13th June 1928. T.D. Burnett, Perth Street, Timaru."

Another advertisement for shepherds included the requirements: "Mustn't have a car. Must have dogs. Stay five years."

But he did not expect others to do anything he was not willing to do himself. On several occasions, he walked from Cave to Timaru to attend a debating meeting and back again, a return journey of about 68 kilometres.

He was also known to do a full day's work on the land, then ride on horseback all night to a remote part of the district so he could be there by daybreak to inspect roading.

Nor would he think anything of making a 130-kilometre trip on horseback to get from the family farm at Cave to Mount Cook Station that night. One of T.D.'s most impressive legacies is St David's Pioneer Memorial Church, built near the township of Cave in 1930.

The church was built in memory of TD's parents, but also stands as a tribute to all Mackenzie country pioneers, as an inscription in the entrance porch makes clear: "This porch is erected to the Glory of God and in memory of the sheepmen, shepherds, bullock drivers, shearers and station hands who pioneered the back country of this Province between the years 1855 and 1895."

The church is endearing because of the personal artefacts built into it, treasured relics from the early pioneers at Mount Cook Station and South Canterbury.

After his school years, Donald returned to Mount Cook Station. Like his father, he was 26 when he took over the property. Photo / Mary Hobbs

In 1914, after a full and active life, Catherine Burnett died at the family home in Cave. A monument in her honour, erected by TD, stands on Mount Cook Station at the spot where she would take her prayer book and contemplate the spectacular view of the mountains.

Andrew Burnett senior died on September 21, 1927, at the age of 89. TD died on December 1, 1941, aged 64. He had suffered from hydatids, contracted by handling dogs who have eaten raw offal from infected animals.

This "Child of the Misty Gorges", as he was called, was taken on his last journey by horse and dray and carried on the shoulders of family and trusted shepherds to his final resting place on Mount Cook Station.

TD had two children, Donald and Caitriana, known as Catriona. After his school years, Donald returned to Mount Cook Station. Like his father, he was 26 when he took over the property.

Aside from a few trips to Europe, he remained close to home and managed the station for approximately 69 years.

It has been said that age was just a number to Donald and that seems true enough, as he summited Nun's Veil (2743m) on his 70th birthday with a couple of friends.

When the editor of Country-Wide Southern rang Donald, then in his 80s, late one night he was told that he was out rabbit shooting and not expected back for several hours.

After deciding to retire, Donald disposed of his sheep but missed them so much that he started a new sheep-breeding programme when he was in his 90s. At that age he was still driving his trusty Land Rover.

Donald never married. He lived on the station with his sister Catriona, who married later in life. Neither sibling had children.

They set up a charitable trust that benefits charities they were keen to help. Anyone visiting the station in the later years of Donald's life would have seen a man who was clearly the descendant of Scots Highlanders, proudly wearing a tartan tie.

In 2010, aged 95, he fell and fractured his hip and later died in Timaru Hospital. At the time of his death he was still working the land he loved, searching for his sheep, who always came to see what he had brought for them.

In 1953 Catriona's life took an unexpected turn. She and her mother were in Dunedin to attend a reception held by the owner of Glenfalloch in honour of Englishman, Richard St Barbe Baker, who had created a foundation, Men of the Trees, to encourage the world to plant more trees.

Several years later Catriona travelled to Europe with an aunt and they met Richard again at the home of a mutual friend. Richard visited Mount Cook Station the following year, and he thoroughly enjoyed himself.

They were married on 7 October 1959 at St David's Pioneer Memorial Church in Cave. Richard died in 1982.

Despite failing eyesight and being bedridden in later years, Catriona dictated several books, including one about her husband and his work.

She was very concerned about world pollution but, in an article for the International Tree Foundation, she expressed faith that the "extraordinary people around the world who are dedicating their lives to saving the planet by halting deforestation, will bring about the change that will save the planet".

Echoing her father, she also urged people to continue with their efforts to plant trees and to protect and care for those they already have.

At 97, Catriona informed several close friends that she would no longer be here the following week. She died peacefully, very close to the day she said she would, on November 13, 2014.

With the deaths of Donald and Catriona Burnett, the family's occupation of Mount Cook Station drew to a close after a century and a half. The property is now managed by Ross and Patience Bisset, who managed the Burnetts' Aorangi property near Cave for 28 years.

Edited extract High Country Stations of the Mackenzie, RRP $59.99.