Ashley Downs, 1908 - 1962

Ashley Downs, 1908 - 1962 by John Derek Wilson

Introduction

At the time of writing (2026) the South Otago land here referred to as "Ashley Downs" is held under several titles, and we shall take it as referring in a broad sense to an area centred on the "new Gibson Homestead" (-46.171807 lat., 169.474749 long.) and adjacent 10 acre lake, a few miles north of the main south road near Waiwera South. This article will cover primarily a period of time (1908-1962) when this homestead and the surrounding farm were under the tenure of a branch of (one of many) Otago Taylor families, these Taylors rather newly-arrived (1867) from Scotland. Aside from an Introductory section covering developments prior to Taylor ownership, regarding which interval the writer draws almost entirely from others' earlier documentation, what follows below is a "personal" or "family" view of "Ashley Downs," during specifically the Taylor ownership period (1908-1962). The latter sections, though sprinkled with references to newspaper articles retrieved from Papers Past, is composed primarily of family photographs and documents and recorded memories.

In preparation of this article the writer has made frequent reference to the following sources, without however verifying facts and dates:

1. "Clinton: Our Story", by Barbara Chinn (editor & author). Published by the Clinton Historical Committe, 2008.
2. "Landmark: A century & more at Clinton", a booklet produced (1973) by the Clinton School Historical Cttee.
3. "From the Days of Our Glory: A history of Waiwera South," by Ruth Telford. Published by the Waiwera South School Jubilee Comittee, 1993.
4. "Stepping Out," by E.M. McLay. Published by Clutha County Council, Balclutha, 1977.
5. "The Long White Cloud" (1st edition published 1898), William Pember Reeves.
6. "The Penguin History of New Zealand" (1st edition 2003), Michael King.

Below, where occasionally they occur, a pair of red stars (**) will indicate that a related footnote can be found below.

From the large "runs" to "close settlement"

A pair of quotations from Reeves [5] serve nicely to set the stage:

• Had Captain Hobson been able to conceive of what was entailed in the piecemeal purchase of a country held under tribal ownership, it is difficult to think he would have signed the Treaty (of Waitangi, 1840) without hesitation.
• Squatters and shepherds from New South Wales and Tasmania were quick to discover that the South Island of New Zealand was a well-nigh ideal land for pastoral enterprise... In a few years the whole of the east and centre of the island, except a few insignificant cultivated patches, was leased in great "runs" of from 10,000 to 100,000 acres to grazing tenants.

Accordingly we read [2] that "Following the establishment in 1848 of the Scottish Free Church settlement... around Otago Harbour... no time was lost by surveyors and prospective runholders in probing the interior of the province where much of the country was suitable for immediate grazing... and... remote areas were surveyed into large sheep runs."

Of those large and early runs, one is of particular interest here: namely the 27,000 acre "Popotunoa run," bounded by the Waiwera & Wairuna streams and the Pomahaka river. Identified as "run 24" on provincial Assistant Surveyor A. Garvie's 1857 map of the district (here reproduced from [2]), the Popotunoa run had as early as December 1853 been "occupied" by an Australian land speculator, Edwin Meredith**, who, having failed to pay licence fees, promptly lost possession to others (first A. Fuller then the Clapcott brothers, [4]). In 1861 run 24 was declared a "hundred," meaning it was eligible for return to government control and subdivision to achieve "closer settlement" (e.g. see Otago Daily Times, 1864), and in 1869 John Gibson purchased 6500 acres from the eastern "downs" of run 24, and named it "Ashley Downs."

About 35 years later, in 1906 or 1907, Gibson offered his land to the government for further subdivision. By this time "Ashley Downs" had already been partitioned by private sales, in some cases to Gibson's own farm employees, with the result that Gibson's own holding now encompassed about 4,000 acres rather than the original 6,500. Again, the historical context explains much: King [6] notes that one of the most popular policies of the Liberal Party, which first came to power in 1891 led by John Ballance and governed for 21 years, was "the determination to break up the big estates" (because) "in 1890 less than 1 per cent of all landowners controlled 64 per cent of freehold land" in New Zealand.

**"Papers Past" abounds with published references to Meredith, whether as "squatter" or as "speculator" or as employer (e.g. Otago Daily Times 11 Jan. 1924). His obituary in the Wairarapa Age (7 March 1907) describes him as "the pioneer settler of South Molyneux." Apparently Meredith considered he had been "bluffed" out of his land within 18 months of occupation (it isn't clear to the writer whether this refers to the 800,000 acre "Otanomomo run" nearer Balclutha that was his first acquisition - reputedly bought sight unseen - or to the Popotunoa run). In 1898 Meredith, who took up residence and farmed in the Wairarapa, published a memoir: "Reminiscences and Experiences of an Early Colonist." Meredith was not alone in seeking large acreage (Clutha Leader 1909-02-05, full article here) in those earliest years of European settlement.

John Gibson's "Ashley Downs," prior to purchase by James Taylor in 1908

Background on John Gibson, founder in 1869 of "Ashley Downs," is given by [1,2,3,4]. Based on notices in the Clutha Leader (6 Dec. 1918) and the Otago Witness (4 Dec. 1918) marking John Gibson's recent death, it is apparent that he (John Gibson) had arrived in Dunedin in 1863, where he had opened a business. Shortly after his 1869 land purchase Gibson in 1872 sold the Dunedin business and moved to the farm. His tenure at Ashley Downs spanned some 36 years, until in 1908 he sold to James Taylor. It is noted in [1] that "John Gibson had a strong social conscience, and began the subdivision of Ashley Downs to provide men of lesser fortune (especially his workers) with the opportunity to farm", something that would certainly accord with the Government's wishes and the movement of the times.

After purchasing Ashley Downs, Gibson arranged the construction of a wooden homestead (seen here in the subsequent James Taylor era of Ashley Downs) for his farm manager (Campbell Thompson), along with other buildings (stables, barn). From 1872 the Gibson family occupied this homestead, until in about 1889 a new brick homestead had been constructed, sited on a hill to overlook a 10 acre lake dredged from swampy ground that been rendered swampier by the damming of a streamlet for farm water needs.

As indicated already, John Gibson was a conscientious man, and evidently involved (Clutha Leader 1919-09-30) with Church organisation and affairs. His donation to the China Famine Fund was made "for Jesus' Sake." And while his obituary states that Gibson was "never prominent in public affairs", from an article in the Otago Witness (1892-04-28) and other articles easily found on Papers Past it is clear that Gibson was in sympathy with (and to some extent involved in resolution of) the "land matters" that were controversial in the later 1800s.

The Gibson's had seven children of whom (apparently) only four (Jessie, George, Edgar & Harold) survived to adulthood, and sundry articles from "Papers Past" concern those children, dates of their marriage and so forth (it is recorded [2] that son Edgar moved into the "old" homestead when the new brick homestead was completed, then eventually went to Australia; Jessie became a missionary; and Harold a doctor). Of course it is difficult to draw from press clippings any sense of the daily life of John Gibson and family at Ashley Downs, and it can only be hoped another contributor might eventually fill this out. It bears mention that "Ashley Downs" was developed and farmed more intensively than had been the original "Popotunoa run" (though one can only dream of discovering hard comparative figures for head of sheep per acre, and so forth).

Sources [1,2,3] convey something of the scope of operations on the farm, Gibson's dependency on specialised staff (and servants, see Clutha Leader 1904-01-08), his donation of land for what became the "Ashley Downs" school (later renamed "Taumata" school; the Clutha Leader, 8 Nov. 1901 reports quaintly the foul weather on the day of a celebratory flag-raising ceremony) and something of the farm infrastructure Gibson developed - much of which as time passed became redundant to modern farming needs, and was by the 1950s-60s in a state of dilapidation. The writer has little but fragments to add to what has already been recorded by the local histories [1,2,3]. A search of Papers Past reveals (believe it or not) Gibson's presence (with other passengers) on mundane rail journeys to/from Dunedin, many (equally mundane) commercial transactions (stock purchases and sales), and (of somewhat greater interest) his (Clutha Leader, 13 June 1899) purchase of a Clydesdale stallion and his attainment (registered in the Otago Daily Times, 3 April 1907) of a record wool price in London. Finally, several reports from the Clutha Leader regarding social events at Ashley Downs:

• On 23 Aug. 1901, a long and amusing account from the Clinton Correspondent of a journey by wagon to Ashley Downs to attend a celebration for the return of a soldier from the (ongoing) Boer War. Edgar Gibson is mentioned (though not specifically as host), and it is not clear whether the site of the event was the old or the new homestead, or whether it may have been held at another home on land John Gibson had sold. It is amusing that one of the writer's passengers named as "Serpentine Avenue" the (now closed) gravel road that was later popularly referred to as "The Devil's Elbow." The Devil's Elbow was a reasonably steep gravel road, not excessively narrow but certainly featuring a sharp elbow, that ran up a gulley from the Main South Road opposite the Waiwera Flour Mill to join Old Lake Road. [Copied from Papers Past, with thanks to Peter Wilson.]
• On 15 Nov. 1901, a factual account of a church event in Waiwera South for "visiting brethren," after which John Gibson and wife entertained the visitors at the new Gibson homestead at Ashley Downs. (Construction of the new home had been completed by 1889). The article refers to the "well laid out grounds, the extensive plantations, the beautiful lake."
• On 30 March 1909, a farewell for the Gibson's at Waiwera Presbyterian Church.

From a note in the Clutha Leader, 20 Dec. 1907 it seems possible Gibson's move to sell Ashley Downs may have been spurred in part by ill health (which notion is reinforced by his obituary, Otago Witness, 4 Dec. 1918). According to the Otago Witness 18 Dec. 1918 John Gibson died at the age of 74; it is interesting to note here mention of the influenza pandemic, though given Gibson's long-standing health problem there may not be any connection.

Surveys localizing Ashley Downs

Before going further, and for the assistance of those unfamiliar with the area, it may be worthwhile to close this section by "localising" Ashley Downs on the following series of surveys:

• Garvie's 1857 map of the district, showing run 24 (Popotunoa run) which encompasses (or encompassed) the eventual "Ashley Downs." When land was sold within the Pomahaka Hundred (Otago Daily Times, 1864) Block 7 would cover Ashley Downs.
• Kuriwao Survey District, map drawn 1888, showing "Popotunoa Estate" (the Pomahaka survey district - see 1915 survey below - lies to the north of Kuriwao survey district). That John Gibson's Ashley Downs homestead would lie to upper-right of the area covered can be determined by a comparison with Google imagery (on which the placemark "Gibson homestead" denotes the position of the "new" brick homestead, that in 1888 would likely have been under construction; the earlier wooden Gibson homestead lay to the right of the placemark). An easily recognisable feature both on the 1888 survey and the modern Google view is the confluence of the Kuriwao and Waiwera streams: upper-right on the 1888 survey, lower-left on Google imagery.
• Pomahaka Survey District, map drawn 1915, showing "Taumata Settlement" and "Ashley Downs Estate" with the Ashley Downs lake visible below centre. Possibly the large figures "8" and "7" on this survey correlate with the VIII and the elusive VII on the 1888 Kuriwao survey.
• A "zoomed-out" view of the 1915 Pomahaka Survey District map, and a "zoom-in" emphasising Ashley Downs homestead and lake. Numbers organised a.b.c on the survey indicate areas in (acres.roods.perches), and it is very evident that James Taylor's 2960 acre "Ashley Downs" constituted only a fraction of the area designated "Ashley Downs Estate" on the 1915 survey.
• 1922 survey of Ashley Downs Estate, approved by the Chief Surveyor on 21 February 1922 on the occasion of the partitioning of James Taylor's 2960 acre "Ashley Downs" to his sons John and William, and unknown other purchasers. This survey will be discussed in some detail below.

Although the term "Ashley Downs" is used in this article to allude narrowly to a particular farm, to this day that name is widely and loosely used to qualify farms located in a triangle defined (broadly) by Clinton, Clydevale and Balclutha

James Taylor at Ashley Downs, 1908 - circa 1921

The Clutha Leader, 28 Feb. 1908 announced the name ("Taumata") of a "settlement on the Ashley Downs Estate" that would shortly be "open for selection on renewable lease." This land, totalling some 4000 acres, had ostensibly been "purchased" a year earlier by the government (note that the area of the 9 "Sections" combined totals to 3681 acres, not the 3780 acres stated). However this does not tally with an announcement in the Otago Witness, 13 May 1908, for it would appear that all Sections except the Second Class Section 2A were promptly purchased by James ("Jimmy") Taylor: the cumulative area of the eight sections excluding Section 2A amounts to 2972 acres, close to the 2960 stated in the 13 May 1908 article.

Telford ([3], p33) writes: "The government of the day had been advocating the subdivision of large land holdings to enable more farmers to take up land. Ashley Downs, 4000 acres, was offered to the government in 1906 for subdivision into 200-300 acre blocks. It was two years before the rentals were set and in March 1908, at the Balclutha Courthouse, the ballot for selection took place. John Gibson had sold off several hundred acres at various times so by 1908 quite a settlement had emerged in the area. This settlement became known as "Taumata" (brow of a hill). Mr. James Taylor, who in April 1908 bought the Ashley Downs homestead block of 2900 acres, with his two sons William and John, were among the early farmers in the newly-named Taumata district" (Telford neglects here to name James Taylor's eldest son "Jim"). Similarly Chinn [1] states that "In 1907 the Government purchased the remainder of Gibson's 'Ashley Downs' estate and nine new farms were created" (giving names of those purchasers). Landmark [2] confirms that "In 1908, J. Taylor purchased the homestead block of the Gibson estate - 2900 acres - while the other settlers obtained blocks by ballot." That James Taylor's purchase was direct from John Gibson is consistent with the Otago Witness article, 13 May 1908, and interestingly a document procured from Archives New Zealand and spanning 1891 to 1922 causes one to wonder whether John Gibson (or his estate) may have retained an interest in (or mortgage on) the James Taylor land until 1920.

An article in the Mount Ida Chronicle, 5 June 1908 conveys the character of the property James Taylor had just bought, qualifying the homestead (seen here circa. 1908-1910) as "probably the best south of Dunedin." Although other "settlements" carved from the original Gibson estate had equal claim to (and used) the name "Ashley Downs", perhaps the "Ashley Downs" title settled more narrowly, as decades passed, around the lake-and-homestead block, i.e. the land that in 1908 became the James Taylor farm - and which was later split between James' own two sons, John (known variously as "Jack" or "Jock") and William ("Bill").

James Taylor pre-Ashley Downs

James Taylor (1849-1929) had been born in Crieff (Scotland) and was 17 when with others of his family (including his widowed mother) he emigrated to Otago, arriving 12 January 1867 on the "Caribou"**. Having learned the baking trade in Scotland, in Dunedin James joined his brother Colin at his bakery at Kaikorai Valley, but also undertook some agricultural work. Then in 1872 or 1873 James joined his brother Thomas in purchasing virgin farmland at Wairuna, a farm they named "Springlands." As conveyed below, and like John Gibson, James Taylor was a religious man, and in that context alone is likely to have known Gibson and interacted with him; they may, too, have known each other in the everyday context of farm affairs (e.g. stock sales). This is speculation of course, but if correct it may explain why James in 1908, and by then in his late middle-age, rather than gain his portion of the "Taumata Settlement" (carved from the larger Ashley Downs Estate land) by ballot, was able to buy directly from Gibson, and perhaps even be aided in that respect by Gibson's retaining a mortgage on the property for some 12 years.

**Image: "The Full rigged ship "Caribou" off the Otago Coast, Taieri Head on starboard quarter, circa 1867" by Captain Thomas Robertson. Purchased 1996 with New Zealand Lottery Grants Board funds. Te Papa (1996-0023-1). According to "Wooden Ships and Iron Men" by F.W. Wallace (1924, available as PDF online) "The ship Caribou, built in I864 by Samson, Quebec, was a smart ship of 1160 tons, and was engaged in the New Zealand emigrant trade under the flag of Patrick Henderson and Co., Glasgow. She was burnt at sea in December, I869. A fine picture of the Caribou was painted by Capt. Tom Robertson, Port Chalmers, N.Z., and valued recent]y at one hundred guineas.

To cast some light on the lives of the immigrating Taylor siblings (and in general, the early South Otago farmers) we may quote the late Haddon James Taylor (1927-2020, of "Strathearn" farm at Wairuna), who in 1972 for an upcoming "Taylor Reunion" wrote: "Members of the pioneer Taylor family were all staunch Presbyterians, their beliefs dominating all their activities. Four of the brothers were elders in their congregations. All were hard working, persevering men, honoured and respected. Of hardy constitution, they thought little of leaving at 3.00 am to ride nearly 40 kilometres from Wairuna to Balclutha to collect a mob of sheep with which they would get a good start on the way home by sundown. It is also known that the brothers Tom and Jimmy (i.e. James, who later bought Ashley Downs from John Gibson) of Wairuna and Willie of Warepa would occasionally walk to meet one another for a yarn then set off for home again." Another of the brothers, John, also farmed, taking up land in the Clinton area and winning awards in ploughing competitions [4]. (Much further information on this Taylor family can be read from Haddon Taylor's 1972 "First Generation of a Taylor family in New Zealand".)

• The Emigrating Taylor siblings, taken at Ashley Downs. Back row, left-to-right: John, William, Colin. Front row left-to-right: James, Mary, Thomas. Date unknown, certainly twentieth century, and possibly as late as the 1920s.

James Taylor was almost sixty when he purchased "Ashley Downs" in 1908, and with some 30 years prior farming experience his tenure at Ashley Downs was relatively short. He had on 13 March 1885 married Margaret Anne Roy (seen here with the Roy family), and by 1908 the couple had ten children (one child, Robert, died an infant). Most if not all of the children would in 1908 have accompanied James and Margaret to Ashley Downs (they are seen here at the Springlands homestead in 1902), and it is worthwhile to record their names:

• Margaret ("Peg", 17 Mar. 1886 - 26 Oct. 1968).
• James Roy Taylor ("Jim", 24 Jul. 1887 - 1 Apr. 1972).
• John Alexander Taylor ("Jack", 22 Jul. 1889 - 15 Jun. 1977).
• William Taylor (7 Jul. 1891 - 14 Feb. 1963).
• Mary Elizabeth ("Bett", 24 Apr. 1894 - 24 Dec. 1976).
• Isabella Dufton Taylor ("Lisa", 1895-1915, see ODT 21 Jan. 1915).
• Victoria Eunice Taylor ("Eunice", 13 June 1897 - 28 Nov. 1983).
• Mildred Bagrie Taylor ("Mill", 1900-1986).
• George Eadie Taylor (30 Oct. 1903 - 10 Sept. 1976).
• Robert Taylor (1906 - 1906).
• Various family members contributed the following Biographies of James and Margaret's children for one of several "Taylor Reunions."

Now revisiting the family portrait at Springlands, we see (left to right in the centre of the viewers frame), sons John ("Jack"/"Jock"), James ("Jim") and William ("Bill") who were to farm Ashley Downs after their father James. Even the eldest child, Peg, was but 22 when James moved to Ashley Downs, so the household must have been a full one.

Details of the James Taylor years at Ashley Downs

The land having been well developed by Gibson (witness this June 1908 description in the Mount Ida Chronicle), and he (James Taylor) as noted being an experienced farmer with three "boys" aged (in 1908) from 17 to 21, presumably the transition from nearby Springlands (Wairuna) to Ashley Downs (Waiwera South) would have been a feat of organisation, but probably not an adventure into the unknown. Details are non-existent, other than that Jack, who (with brother William) was eventually to take over the farm, was made responsible for the horses and early in this career had the misfortune to approach the Main South Road with a heavily loaded wagon at the very instant of the passing of two motor vehicles that were racing from Dunedin to Invercargill: the result of the horses' fright was that the wagon overturned (pers. comm., C.W. Taylor, William's son). Putting this in context, an article in the Clutha Leader (1908) conveys a prevailing annoyance in Clinton with respect to inconsiderate drivers.

Little can be gleaned of the years from 1908 to the outbreak of WWI. From Papers Past it is evident that James was heavily involved in the community, particularly in church affairs (e.g. Clutha Leader 1913-07-25 and 1915-07-27) where he served as a member of the Popotunoa Session (along with his brother and former farming partner Thomas and - presumably - his brother-in-law Mr. Roy). James was vocal in the debates regarding prohibition of liquor (and in favour of it, see also ODT 1922-12-04; incidentally Clutha was the first district in New Zealand to vote for prohibition). The Acclimatisation Society (Evening Star, 31 October 1912) appreciated his promise of protection for waterfowl released on the Ashley Downs lake (an amusing side note here is the Society's report of having received several letters "asking the society for opossums to liberate in various districts"), and the Otago Daily Times 1913-01-28 notes twelve pairs of Mallard ducks having been liberated at Ashley Downs.

James was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1913. It is recorded that in 1914 he (and brother Tom) travelled to Britain (Clutha Leader 1914-04-28 and original image; also Otago Witness 1914-06-10), but James had returned by 1915 in time to be fined that year under the Rabbit Nuisance Act (and to attend a shareholders' meeting at the South Otago Freezing Co. in Nov. 1915, where according to the Clutha Leader 2 Nov. 1915 he prompted some amusement). There are several photographs of James and Margaret in their splendid Buick (probably 1917 or later), but (it being ever the case that mundane details of life are not thought worth recording; and film being, in those days, an expensive item) little remains to reveal (pictorially) the daily farm activites.

After his retirement in about 1911 and until he died in 1916, James's brother Colin lived at Ashley Downs. Of the war years, the little that can be conveyed is that James and Margaret's sons Jack and Bill served in France late in the war and were both wounded, while at Ashley Downs the eldest son "Jim", exempted from service, ran the farm. At some stage after war's end, perhaps not until "Jack" was mobile again, Jim moved to a farm at "Circle Hill" near Milburn (Jim is seen here at that farm with team of horses). He and his wife Amy (usually known as "Ana") had no children, and eventually they retired to Hampden.

Images pertaining to the James Taylor era at Ashley Downs

Note: Some modern colour photographs of Ashley Downs can be found below.

• Ashley Downs homestead, seen over the lake. Note summerhouse, boathouse and boaters.
• Ashley Downs homestead. Note the viewing "turret," and the summer shade house. Cropped from "R P Moore Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library (Tiaki Reference No. Pan-2398-F)".
• Ashley Downs homestead and lake. F rom "R P Moore Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library (Tiaki Reference No. Pan-2398-F)".
• James and Margaret Ann (b. Roy) Taylor. James (1849-1929) and Margaret (1861-1949) married in Clinton on 13 March 1885.
• James Taylor family portrait, taken at about the time of the family's move to Ashley Downs. (Here with names added; the two un-named girls are Eunice and Lisa, but which is which the writer cannot distinguish. Lisa died in 1915.)
• The Ashley Downs Homestead, Taylor era (date unknown).
• View over the lake from the turret. Date unknown, but probably during James Taylor era. Jack Taylor removed the turret sometime in the 1950s, owing to its infestation by borer. The walls of the glass-windowed summer shade cottage (a sort of pagoda) were constructed of punga fern.
• View of the Ashley Downs homestead from one of the islands in the lake.
• The homestead distantly and faintly visible from the far side of the lake, with the "sluicegate" in the foreground. A concrete structure dammed the lake (and presumably still does), with a gate that could be raised to flood water into a canal leading to the sheep dip. The walls of the outlet channel were concreted, and (in the 1960s, anyway) eels used to hibernate there in their dozens.
• Another view across the lake looking towards Clinton and Wairuna (not seen, the new Gibson homestead up the hill on the viewer's left). On the far side of the lake are the trees of what was known (in the Jack Taylor era and probably earlier) as the "Ornamental Paddock" (seen here in 2009). The "specks" on the lake may well be ducks. At a date unknown, believed to be the Jack Taylor era, the lake was declared officially to be a wildlife santuary, duck shooting of course forbidden. During the shooting season the lake was temporary home to thousands of ducks.
• Again, a view over the lake. The boatshed at lake's edge shows up brightly.
• Transporting grain (thought to be Jack Taylor on the horse, pre- about 1916). Until the early 1920s James Taylor's Ashley Downs property included a leasehold block bordering the Pomahaka river (referred to as "The Pommy Block"), where Jack and Bill would camp to carry out the ploughing and cultivating using a team of horses. The writer is uncertain when this block was relinquished, most likely for government distribution to returning soldiers.
• Team and plough, probably at Ashley Downs (if not, at Strathearn or Springlands). Jack Taylor's first tractor was bought in the 1930s.
• Jack (John Alexander) Taylor ploughing, again probably at Ashley Downs (and again - on the same occasion, but the ploughman's posture differs - ploughing.
• James Taylor and Buick (probably 1917 model, or later)
• James & Margaret in the Buick, in front of the homestead. Can two children be seen - sitting on a decorative pillar at the top of the staircase?
• James Taylor & Buick. The view here is towards the Blue Mountains, with the "Ornamental Paddock" showing beyond the immediate garden of the homestead
• James (left) and Margaret (right) Taylor, picnicing at a/the "water pipeline site", presumably somewhere along the route by which eventually - date unknown - reticulated water became available in the district.
• (Probably) young Jack Taylor & (certainly) James Taylor (left to right); women are James Taylor's daughters but further identification is uncertain. Jack being about 19 when the move to Ashley Downs occurred, this must have been taken much earlier if indeed the "boy" seen is Jack. Could it be the much younger Eadie?
• James & Margaret at Ashley Downs, probably 1920s
• James driving the Buick, and one of the daughters beside him; others unknown. This is taken "behind" the homestead. Note the hens foraging, and the clothes line (still in service to the 1960s). When the "new Gibson" homestead was electrified in the early 1950s the incoming power line followed the line of (and ran above) the visible hedge. Visible at left is the large water tank, atop a line of utility sheds (coalshed, laundry and toilet) whose entries faced the open side of a large covered courtyard, featuring skylights.
• Chaff cutting at Ashley Downs (date unknown, late James or early Jack Taylor era). According to Jack's daughter Audrey (in Feb. 2019) the traction engine belonged to contractor Jock Miller, and her father ("Jack") is among the men working. The steam engine had to be fired up early before daily work began. 
• Chaff cutting
• James Taylor family and visitors. (Identifications added, where known).
• James's daughter Mildred riding
• Mildred (left) & friend in the "drawing room" at Ashley Downs
• Taumata School, 1914 (Eadie Taylor, leftmost in back row; Mill Taylor, second-from-left in the row in front of Eadie)
• James Taylor family (probably late 1920s), and here with names

It is recorded in notices of his death (ODT 25 or 26 Aug. 1929) that James (and wife Margaret Ann, b. Roy) moved to Dunedin in about 1921 or 1922. This presumably coincides, more or less, with the time when son "Jack", wounded in the knee on 5 Nov. 1918 just days before the armistice and who had been recovering in Dunedin at Montecillo Home, regained sufficient mobility to return to farming. Ashley Downs at this time was now divided, Jack taking over a block encompassing the "new" (circa. 1889) Gibson homestead and the lake, his brother Bill (also wounded, but earlier recovered) taking a block that encompassed the older (original, wooden) Gibson homestead and buildings. Upon moving to Dunedin James and Margaret resided in Roslyn, in a home that many years later was uplifted and moved to Port Chalmers. Here we see James' and Margaret's granddaughter Audrey (Jack's younger daughter) in 2016 standing beside (what had been) the Roslyn home.

Finally, some of James Taylor's great-great grandchildren, standing on his wagon in Clinton. Names, left to right: Michael Nelson (great grandson of Bill Taylor, son of Jenny b. Taylor), Toby Martin, Kirsty Martin, Genevieve Martin, Madeleine Martin, Charlotte Martin, Penny Martin (b. Penelope Jane Wilson, granddaughter of Jack Taylor) and Mandy Nelson, daughter of Jennifer ("Jenny") b. Taylor. Possibly the wagon preserved in Clinton is the very one Jack Taylor had lost control of near "Top Church", circa. 1908; and possibly too, it's the wagon seen at Waiwera Flourmill. (The mill, located at the "bottom of the Devil's Elbow" on Main South Road, for some decades until 1924 was operated by Bessie's Taylor's family, the Sheddans.)

John Alexander ("Jack") Taylor at Ashley Downs (circa. 1922 - 1962)

As noted above, two of James Taylor's sons, namely John ("Jack", 1889-1977) and "Bill" (1891-1963), enlisted for service in the Otago Infantry Corps and served in France. Jack's date of enlistment was 2 Feb. 1917, by which time he was over 27 years of age (New Zealand had introduced conscription in August 1916). Both men were wounded, and Jack's wound was to have lifelong effect on his mobility: he received a bullet in the knee on 5 Nov. 1918, six days before the Armistice on 11 November. He was hospitalized in England (Southwark Military Hospital), returned to New Zealand on the "Maheno" (embarking 3 March 1919) and on 27 April 1919 he was "ordered to report as an in-patient" at a Dunedin Convalescent Home (Montecillo). He was discharged from the army on 28 April 1920, but remained in treatment at Montecillo for some time thereafter.

• In uniform. Back row left J.A. ("Jack") Taylor, beside him his cousin James Taylor ("cousin Jim," son of Jack's uncle Thomas), back row right John Robert ("Bert") Sheddan (cousin of Jack's wife Bessie); and second-from-right in front row Jack's brother William.
• Jack in uniform (presumably prior to embarkation)
• Military training? Jack Taylor lower-left. Possibly taken in England, where a period of training was undertaken.
• Jack wounded 5 November 1918 (date of enlistment noted as 2 Feb. 1917, by which time Jack would have been about 27 years 6 months of age)
• Otago Witness reports Jack's having been wounded (his rank in fact was Lance Corporal)
• The New Zealand Hospital Ship "Maheno" seen in 1915. Hocken Collection Reference No. P2012-033/2-065 (Photograph scrapbook of Gallipoli and Lake Coleridge).

An intricate 1922 survey of Ashley Downs "Estate", approved by the Chief Surveyor on 21 February 1922 and by James Taylor as Registered Owner, indicates that as of that date two blocks had been divided off from James Taylor's land. As areas on the survey are stated in the format Acres.Roods.Perches it can readily be confirmed that the newly surveyed blocks were:

• Lot 1, amounting to 452+543=995 acres, which went to son John.
• Lot 2, totalling 73+162+553=788 acres, which went to son William, and thereafter to William's son C.W. (Colin) Taylor who remained owner of a small residual (73 acres) of these 788 acres until 2013.

The sum of these two lots amounts to 995+788=1783 acres, substantially short of the 2960 acres James Taylor had originally purchased in 1908. Where did the remaining 1177 acres (north) "go"? The resolution of this question may lie in a record of several mortgage transactions which (as earlier seen) indicates that John Gibson (or his estate, in the financial sense) may have retained an interest in James Taylor's property in the form of a mortgage, until January 1920 (see also this document). Recalling that John Gibson had died in 1918, it seems plausible that, still owing on his land as of 1920 and with division of the property to his sons pending, James discharged his debt to Gibson in the form of the missing portion of the land i.e., that which was not transferred to John and William: 2960-1783=1177 acres back to the Gibson heirs. Perhaps an energetic and patient search for further official records from Archives New Zealand and or LINZ might substantiate that hypothesis, but for present purposes resolution is unnecessary.  

After his treatment in Dunedin terminated Jack returned to Ashley Downs where presumably the farm was jointly run for something like a year, until James and Margaret retired to Dunedin. The upshot was that the eldest son Jim (seen here with wife Ana) moved to a farm at "Circle Hill" near Milburn, while the James Taylor land was now split into two parts (as already seen on the 1922 survey procured from Archives NZ; figures in red on this document correspond to the identity numbers of "Deposited Plans (Otago)", reflecting earlier, perhaps much earlier, surveys). Jack took over what can be called the "lake" block (which included the "new" Gibson homestead) and Bill the remainder (which included the original wooden Gibson homestead, barn, smithy etcetera; this photo cropped from "R P Moore Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, Tiaki Reference No. Pan-2397-F").

• Jack Taylor on horse, acetylene gas generation shed in background. Date unknown, conceivably prior to his military service
• J.A. Taylor and crutches, at Ashley Downs, probably 1920
• J.A. Taylor, early 1920s (two crutches in hand)
• Jack Taylor and housekeeper at Ashley Downs, early 1920s
• J.A. Taylor, probably 1920s
• Returned soldiers. Left-to-right: William Taylor, his cousin Jim Taylor (father of Haddon), and his brother John Alexander Taylor

On 14 May 1924 in Dunedin Jack married Bessie Muir Sheddan (1899-1991), who had grown up on her father James Sheddan's farm "Lochie" at Toiro, and later in Balclutha. For their honeymoon Jack and Bessie drove over Arthur's Pass to the West Coast in their Ford Model T (daughter Audrey later recorded that Jack usually owned American vehicles; she recalls a Dodge, while in the 1950s Jack owned a Plymouth. Bill preferred Citroens, but late in life ran a Standard).

• Bessie & Jack Taylor (wedding)
• Jack Taylor (wedding)
• Bessie Taylor (b. Shedden)

Jack and Bessie had two children, Helen Sheddan Taylor (1925-2014) and Audrey Francis Taylor (1929-2020), and a brief tangent is warranted here so that what follows will be easier to understand.

Helen in 1950 married an English geologist, Derek Dunn Wilson, newly-arrived and employed in connection with the coal mine at Kaitangata. After living temporarily at Leithfield Beach while Derek carried out field work at Waipara for Geological Survey, Helen and Derek spent several years in Christchurch. By 1955 the couple had two children (John Derek Wilson, b. 1951, writer of this piece; and Peter Robert Muir Wilson, b. 1952), and at about that time the family moved to Ashley Downs, where in the following years two girls were born (Penelope Jane, b. 1955; and Mary-Louise, b. 1959). The family lived with Bessie and Jack in the Ashley Downs homestead for some years, until Derek and Helen, having purchased some 350 acres from Jack, moved into their own newly-built (and very exposed) home near the end of Taylor Road. A prodigious campaign of tree planting followed, about the new home and about the paddocks, where no effort was spared to establish windbreaks. But those details amount to a further tangent, best left aside. To end the present one, it need only be said that Jack and Bessie's other daughter Audrey (seen here holding her young cousin, the later "Big John" Taylor) trained as a nurse, and after an interval working overseas, married Dr. John Steven. Audrey and John Steven lived in Kaikohe, and had two children, Marion and John jnr.

With that clarification out of the way, back now in time to the 30s and 40s. Helen and Audrey as children walked or rode across the paddocks to Taumata School (seen here 2009; long ago closed as a school, it continues to serve as the local "hall"), as did Jack's brother Bill's children (in [2] a photograph of the pupils in about 1937 shows both girls, along with their cousin Colin and one of the latter's two sisters, probably Margaret). Bessie's unmarried older sister Vida Ferguson Sheddan, arriving at Clinton by train from Dunedin where over the years she taught French at Columba College and Otago Girls' High (and, in 1942 during WWII, at Otago Boys' High), was a regular and popular visitor at Ashley Downs, legendary to her nieces and nephews and their friends for her preposterous claim that a cabin boy on one of her ocean voyages to or from Europe had possessed the knack of laying out and hypnotizing hens on the ship's deck, so as to be able to clean out the hen run: she made valiant attempts to prove this was possible. Perhaps well-travelled, lively and uninhibited "Aunty Vida" was the inspiration for Audrey Taylor's adventurous youth: a nurse by profession, Audrey with a friend (Pam Harris) worked in a Bombay hospital (circa 1950), writing to her sister how "rotten" the Europeans could be towards the Indians, and how much the latter must appreciate gaining Home Rule. After this experience she and Pam travelled overland across the Syrian desert on their way home.

Of Jack and Bessie's almost 40 year tenure at Ashley Downs, as of the time of writing (2026) not much of public record could be found, if one excludes stock purchases and sales. Almost certainly Jack was involved in the Returned Servicemens' Association, and certainly he and brother Bill participated in club rifle shooting (e.g. Evening Star 1937-10-02, ODT 1939-09-26), often in the barn on Bill's half of Ashley Downs. As to church, the writer can testify to an amusing incident that demonstrated Bessie's preference not to be caught by the minister playing cards on Sunday, but it is a matter past recall how regularly the couple's presence may have been noticed at "Top Church" (the Presbyterian church on Main South Road between the Waiwera turnoff and Clinton, still in service during the 1960s but no longer extant). Bessie was a lively and conversational person, always ready with a laugh. Jack however, though by no means devoid of a sense of humour, definitely had the tendency to keep his own counsel, and muted reactions were characteristic of him; interestingly, his brother Bill's son Colin (C.W.) Taylor more than once related that the exception to Jack's reserve was when he and brother Bill were together. The writer's earliest memory of his grandfather on the farm (age about 6) was an occasion when, driving around the sheep with him in the "Wee Red Truck" (an Austin A40) Jack got stuck in a muddy gateway on a low flat at the back of the farm. The boy was invited to get out and push, and earnestly did so while the grandfather succeeded to sluice him down with a deluge of mud from the spinning back wheels. The outcome was satisfactory (though the boy's contribution cannot have factored): no comment was deemed necessary.

Not until some time in the 1930s did Jack own a tractor, and by the 1950s he was operating both a Minneapolis Moline (similar to this one at Transport World in Invercargill), and a Caterpillar crawler, D2 or possibly D4. The homestead was not electrified until the early 1950s, and in those early days of electrification it was not uncommon to experience power failures, the candles were always ready at hand, and for the grandchildren there was something special in those occasions. By the 1950s Jack was employing a farmhand, two of whom in succession were Peter Miller and (in the years before Jack sold Ashley Downs, by which time Derek and family were well established on their own block) Jack's own nephew, Eadie's son identically named John Alexander Taylor (and known to us as "Big John", here seen in 2022). Peter Miller, and in his turn Big John Taylor, lived in one or the other of two identical little wooden huts, each on sleds; these stood out of sight behind the vege garden and close to the chook run, overhung by huge pines at the side of the coachway that in Jack and Bessie's time was gated - preventing any grand entry up the concrete front steps and into the drawing room in the manner that, in earlier days, may have been usual for visitors.

Images pertaining (mostly) to the Jack Taylor era at Ashley Downs

• Smoko time! Jack Taylor (smoking pipe), possibly Bessie at right. Other names unknown.
• Taylor children at the lake, probably mid-1930s. Left to right: Audrey, Colin, Helen & Margaret. Audrey & Helen were Jack & Bessie's two children; Colin and Margaret their cousins and neighbours, Bill & Flo Taylor's children.
• Bessie with daughter Audrey (and two dogs). Probably early 1940s. Bessie's skirt and Audrey's top are of the same pattern, and probably made by Bessie.
• Children at Ashley Downs, probably mid-1940s. Top-to-bottom: Shirley Sheddan, Helen Taylor, Colin Taylor, Margaret Taylor, Lorraine Sheddan and Audrey Taylor. Helen and Audrey were Jack and Bessie's children; Colin and Margaret were Jack's brother Bill's children (their sibling, Marie, absent); and Shirley and Lorraine were Bessie Taylor's cousin John Sheddan's children.
• Helen & Audrey Taylor, Jack & Bessie's daughters (presumably early or mid-1940's).
• Jack & Bessie's older daughter Helen Taylor on the lawn at Ashley Downs (probably 1940s). In December 1950 (at Ashley Downs) Helen married Derek Dunn Wilson, a geologist from Durham County, England. Derek and Helen later purchased and farmed 400 acres of Ashley Downs (adjacent to the McCallum farm).
• Ashley Downs homestead (December 2003), well cared for under ownership of Hamish & Kate McCallum. A closer view (same occasion).
• Ashley Downs homestead, and seen from the lake (July 2008).
• The "Hack Paddock" (on left) seen from the "Clay Road" (Dec. 2003). On the right is the woolshed, and the other farm sheds can be seen in a state of collapse at centre.
• The wool press (2003)
• The farm sheds (probably 1990s), seen from the "Hack Paddock." Left-to-right: stables/implement shed, barn, woolshed. Courtesy of Tania ("T") Dobbie, b. McCallum.
• Jack & Bessie's grandchildren Peter and John, then living at the Ashley Downs homestead (late 1950s).
• Penny, Peter and John beside the new home, circa. 1960.
• Jack Taylor (left), 1962 or 1963 after selling Ashley Downs (almost certainly taken in England during Jack and Bessie's post-retirement trip, for "Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd." is an English firm.)
• Jack Taylor and sister Eunice, mid-1970s.
• Bessie Taylor, 1977 in Fiji after Jack's death.
• Aerial view of Ashley Downs (courtesy of Hamish McCallum), estimated to be mid-1990s (i.e. some 30 years after Jack & Bessie Taylor retired). At right the barn and woolshed are visible uphill from (what in Jack Taylor's time was known as) "the Clay Road", while the stables are hidden behind the trees. Only the woolshed still stands, as of the time of writing (2026).

A child's view of the Jack Taylor "era"

What life was "like" at Ashley Downs, mere facts cannot provide a sense of. For a child living at the Ashley Downs homestead there was all the intrigue of long dim passages leading to distant rooms where within vast wardrobes could be found such curious items as top hats in ancient leather cases and stoneware hot water bottles and - well you never knew what next. There was the beautiful "drawing room" with its ornate fireplace and lace curtains, with bench seats beneath the windows that gave view out over the terraced lawn; we were forbidden access, except during piano lessons or at Christmas (which featured a well decorated tree), but who knows where a child goes, unseen? Decorative columns, porcelain door knobs, coloured glass in windows, an apparatus on the dining room wall embellished with buttons and pop-up flags, intended to call forth (no longer extant) servants, all these contrived to imbue the place with grace and mystery. Above all there was the unlit wooden staircase that, unsuspected behind its shielding curtain, rose steeply to a landing where a door opened into a spooky little (unlit) attic above the linen room; from that landing the stairs continued upward a few further steps towards where had formerly existed Mr. Gibson's prominent lookout (the "turret"), only to stop treacherously in midair, inviting the careless to tumble onto the timbers and plaster of the ceiling below. Even the odour up there seemed in league with antiquity and hazard. On one occasion Great Aunt Vida, who possessed several elegant furs, alighted on the idea of giving us a good thrill. She tied a long string to her fur, placed it at the top of the gloomy staircase, ran the string down the wall, then invited us to go with her up to the attic: we, however, were to precede her. She waited until we were a good few steps up the staircase, then pulled the (unnoticed) string to bring that vicious fur dashing down upon us. Complete panic ensued.

Farther down that last passage, beyond the spooky staircase (whose location across the hall from my and my brother Pete's room was too close to allow of complete nocturnal tranquility), way down at its far end was a room our parents took over to serve as their own private sitting room and as our father's office (he, Derek Wilson, was working part time on a geological map of the Waipara basin, which eventually earned him a masters degree: "Geology of Waipara Subdivision", 1963). If accessed down the passages that room was quite remote from the living areas of the homestead, and so offered the young couple privacy; it could also be accessed more directly from the courtyard, for the latter featured doors on both "arms" of the "U", one giving entry into a small kitchen (wherein a reliable supply of "Park Drive" tobacco resided high on a shelf, not quite inaccessible to a determined youngster) and thence to the dining room; the other courtyard door giving access to that far end of the passage and the room that had been assigned as "office." It was a daily sight to see our grandfather Jack at a little basin in the courtyard adjacent to the door into the kitchen, where he would toss water at his face and towel off, in preparation for "smoko." He was a bad one for dunking gingernuts in his black tea, and was regularly rebuked for it by Bessie, with exaggerated indignation: "Oh... Jack!"

A reminder is in order here, that Ashley Downs in Jack Taylor's era was, above all, a working farm - and unlike the situation in his father James's day, he was not endowed with boys able to don the hob-nailed boots, and help. There was plentiful work for Bessie as well. The orchard was intact and fruitful, bottling preserves was a seasonal task, and the shelves in the big storage pantry always were loaded heavily with jars. (How marvellous were the gooseberries!) Jack was milking a cow (or cows), and Bessie regularly made cream and butter in the "dairy", a little room off the courtyard equipped with a hand-powered steel (or perhaps aluminium) separator and a bench where she worked the wooden paddles to form cakes of butter. Something was always afoot about the homestead, cars came and went for purposes unknown to a child, a truck might bring a new ram, another collect the fat lambs, mid-morning someone drives out to the mailbox and returns with bread and the paper. Visitors stayed for a cuppa, or lunch. Occasionally there was the thrill of watching a top-dressing plane's landings and take-offs in the back paddock (usually a Fletcher), and more occasionally there was the household amusement (or rather, uproar) associated with a mishap, such as the day (Jack's daughter) Audrey, incoming along that long, windy drive in her father's grey (circa. 1950) Plymouth and distracted by a visitor in the back seat, rubbed fenders on a corner with the shearers' outgoing vehicle. (Was it Audrey, too, who once mistakenly filled that car with diesel? - there were, after all, many drums to choose from, down by the gate to the sheds.)

One might accompany "Grandad" (Jack) in the Wee Red Truck, in pouring rain perhaps, wipers flapping, through muddy gates it was one's duty to open and close, poking slowly about the paddocks in a wet raincoat and gumboots, on lookout for a sheep cast, or a ewe having trouble delivering her lamb (at lambing time it was normal that beside the big range in the dining room there would be one or more motherless newborn lambs in their wooden crates, needing to be kept warm and fed; when stronger, they were demoted to being fed in a pen beside the vege garden). During dipping, it was a wonder to be allowed to pull the switch-rope and tip the floor beneath six or eight unsuspecting ewes crushed into an elevated wooden pen, by that action dropping them into the dip beneath, a pool of blackish, poisonous "water" rimmed by a concrete wall cut (keyhole-like) by a shoulder-wide escape ramp for the sheep; then to watch the men with their long T-poles dunking the ewes then pulling them towards the ramp where they would regain their footing and emerge, dripping, disconcerted, but de-infested.

Another exciting time was the shearing, when we might relieve Bessie of a job by ourselves bearing the tea and scones for the mens' smoko, and stay to sit about on woolbales, listening. When the next run began we would hang about the woolshed (seen here in 2009**), which was possessed of a curious little "loft" that hung without obvious purpose from the ceiling and from which, if one had managed to clamber up there, one might lie on the planks and peer down over the skirting table. The catching pens were refilled through gates that could be lifted, easily sliding in side-slots of the supporting posts (note the gate at right of centre in this 2009 view; at left, the gate has been removed completely). Whenever revisiting the woolshed the writer recalls vividly an essential element of his education: sitting atop that very gate he was idly poking at the penned sheep with a long staff, when a ram, whether accidentally or with vengeful intent, corrected the situation by head-butting the staff and thereby tumbling the careless boy backward onto the grating.

**At right, Kuriwao Peak and Popotunoa Hill are visible. The smaller, attached shed at left housed a motor, coupled by a belt running into the woolshed, that drove a long horizontal shaft mounted above the shearers' floor and powered the handpieces. Yards were to the right.

Once able, we children would bicycle along the drive to the mailbox (at the corner of today's "Taylor Road" and "Ashley Downs Road") to catch the school bus, and sometimes when older bike all the way to school in Waiwera, puffing home in the afternoon up the hills along (what is now named) "Black Bridge Road." During holidays we might accompany "Nanna" (Bessie) in the little truck carrying scones and tea out to the paddock for "the men", and would sit with them and listen during their pause from baling or stacking hay, or drafting or tailing or moving a flock of sheep onto the turnips. Left to our own devices there was always something to do. "Birds-nesting" was a regular activity, we would make our way quite systematically along under the pines of the windbreak lining the driveway, needles thick under our feet, and climb easily to nests of thrushes or blackbirds to retrieve eggs (always hoping the nest would not be occupied by baby birds or by an adult whose startled escape would equally startle the climber); we would carefully puncture the eggs at each end with a needle, blow them empty of their contents, and hoard them in tissue-lined cardboard boxes under our beds.

It was always pleasant to poke about the stables** (where perhaps a starling's nest might be found), visit the barn, clamber onto the metal seat of the Minneapolis Moline in its shed, or wander down the "Clay Road" (here viewed in 2009) beyond the woolshed, and watch Grandad's ancient horse in the "Hack Paddock." We might decide to explore the "Ornamental Paddock," or follow the course of the (normally dry) water supply channel that meandered its way around and beneath huge trees from the "sluicegate" at the edge of the lake to a little open flat and the dip. Often with visitors - there were always visitors - a round of the lake was proposed, always with a stop by the tumble-down change shed where decades earlier our mother (Helen Sheddan Wilson, b. Taylor) with her feet in the water had experienced close-up contact with an eel. As teenagers, later, we might row about the lake, visit one of the densely willowed islands, poke about under holly bushes unreasonably anxious about eels, and with the air rifle held ready for action.

**Remains of the collars: a reminder that until he was something like forty years of age, Jack's farm life entailed the care and use of horses. (This is the only known photo, and a poor one at that, of the stables/implement shed.)

After Jack & Bessie Taylor sold their part of Ashley Downs

Records from Archives New Zealand show that Jack and Bessie Taylor in 1958 sold 350 acres of Ashley Downs to Derek Wilson (who had married their daughter Helen, the writer's mother), with a further 50 acres added to that total in 1962. Jack and Bessie sold the remainder of their acreage of "Ashley Downs" in 1962 to Mr. John Holland, whose possession however lasted but a few years, until in 1967 he sold and moved to Australia. At that point the farm was again divided, the buyers being the Carruthers family (land NW of the lake), the Colin (C.W.) Taylor family (land NE of the lake), and the McCallum family (who gained the homestead and lake, as well as other paddocks SW and S of the lake). Focusing on the homestead, after its sale in 1967 periods of vacancy ensued until, in Feb. 1978, it (the homestead) and a block of some 50 acres encompassing the lake (image cropped from "Lot 1 Deposited Plan 16374 (Otago)", dated 28 Feb. 1978) were subdivided off and purchased by Mr. M.W. Jarvis and wife, who commenced a restoration (see an article titled "Country Dream Home - almost" in "Houses and Homes" by Lois Galer (1981) for an account of the Jarvis's improvements to the homestead, and several photograps from the time). Eventually in August 1984 Hamish McCallum bought back the homestead and lake, and his and Kate's diligent tenure of their residual portion of "Ashley Downs" spanned some 33 years, until late 2017.

• Aerial photograph of Ashley Downs (24 Feb. 1973). Woolshed at lower left, barn and stables adjacent. H, the "Hack paddock" and O the "Ornamental paddock." At the top of the image (D), the dip. (Cropped from an image obtained from Retrolens.co.nz).
• View along Taylor Rd towards Popotunoa Hill (note Ashley Downs woolshed at right), and, from the same location but looking half-right with the woolshed at left of view, outlook over the Ashley Downs homestead towards the Blue Mountains (2024).
• Mary-Lou, Penny, John & Pete, Jack & Bessie's grandchildren, beside the wild rhododenrons at lakeside, Ashley Downs (on a visit after their mother Helen's death, 2014).

William ("Bill") Taylor then C.W. (Colin) Taylor at Ashley Downs (circa. 1922-2014)

It would be inappropriate to wrap up without mention of the "other half" of James Taylor's Ashley Downs that, in 1922, was taken over by his son William (1891 - 1963) - recognising that a deeper dive into this must be left to William's (and William's son Colin's) descendants to provide if they so wished.

• William Taylor, prior to WWI service.
• The original wooden Gibson homestead, originally built for John Gibson's farm manager Campbell Thompson, and taken over by William Taylor in 1922 or thereabouts (cropped from an image in the "R P Moore Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, Tiaki Reference No. Pan-2397-F").
• The original Ashley Downs homestead, described by Haddon Taylor as "a low-slung, spreading wooden structure" that together with other extensive station buildings was sited on high ground a mile away across the head of the lake." Identities of those shown unknown to the writer.
• The original Ashley Downs homestead. Identities of those shown unknown to the writer.
• Buildings on the Bill Taylor property, as of the 1922 survey (image cropped from the full 1922 survey procured from Archives NZ)
• Rowing on the lake, Taylor era (possibly the same occasion as this view over lake to homestead).
• Rowing on the lake at Ashley Downs, Jack & Bill Taylor era. Second from the stern is Bill's wife (and cousin), Flo Taylor. During WWI while Bill was serving overseas, Flo with daughter Marie lived at the brick homestead, James being both her uncle and her father-in-law. Another individual in the boat is named "Grace," probably Grace Buckley (b. Taylor), another cousin.
• Bill Taylor on the occasion of daughter Marie's marriage to Mr. Lindsay May. (Lindsay and Marie farmed at Clydevale, and had two children, Steven and Ashley.)
• Jack (left) and Bill (right). Women, left-to-right: Flo (Bill's wife), Eunice (Jack & Bills' unmarried sister) and Bessie (Jack's wife). Late 1940s or early 50s.

Photos from Taylor Reunion at Ashley Downs, 2009

In the autumn of 2009 Hamish and Kate McCallum kindly hosted a mass invasion at Ashley Downs on the occasion of a "Taylor Reunion," and the following photographs from that day capture the beauty of the homestead and lake.

• The homestead seen from the lake
• View over the lake, from the homestead
• The "Bluey's" seen over the lake from the homestead (2016)
• More distant view of the homestead from the lake
• Islands in the lake, Ashley Downs
• Another view over the lake
• Graeme Martin and Audrey Steven (b. Taylor) at the lake

From all the "Taylor-related" visitors, many thanks Hamish and Kate for your hospitality at Ashley Downs over the years.