What is so interesting about doing family research is that I keep coming across new information - often by chance. I was helping someone trying to find a particular individual in New Zealand named Mary Ann Rait and I came across a mention of the surname in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography about immigrants Henry and Thomas Newman who tendered for a mail service in 1878 between Foxhill and Hampden (Murchison) They won the contract and after assessing the hazardous route across the Hope Saddle, took the mail bags in their coach on the journey on 1 July 1879. The first day ended at Kawatiri at 7pm, where the Newman brothers were welcome at Rait’s accommodation house.

So who was this Rait? It turns out he was the John Rait, mentioned a couple of times on the New Zealand Raitts page, married to Mary Oxnam! I am indebted to Anne McFadgen for allowing me to quote fully from her 15 April 2014 blog, Rustlings in the Wind, which gives the whole story of John and Mary Rait, at least in New Zealand.

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Born in Dundee Scotland, John Rait worked as a ship’s carpenter as a youth and in that capacity sailed to Auckland, New Zealand in 1867 from Gravesend, England, on the Warwick. During its outward bound voyage he married on board Mary Oxnam (b.1847),  sister of another Murchison pioneer, Cornishman John Oxnam. Mary, with her parents, John and Elizabeth (née Darlington) Oxnam and siblings was making the voyage to New Zealand to join John Jnr, who had come out to New Zealand via Australia in 1861 and was already gold-mining in the Buller area by 1863. John Oxnam Jnr was one of the earliest diggers, and bought land at Fern Flat, on the outskirts of Hampden (Murchison), in 1872.

The newly married couple accompanied the Oxnam family to the Buller, where John Rait and his in-laws formed a partnership to run an accommodation house at the head of Black Valley in the Roundell. This partnership was dissolved in 1869, presumably amicably, leaving Rait in sole charge of the Roundell Accommodation House. In 1872 he purchased a section in Hampden (Murchison) Village, being the first local resident to do so.

In 1878 the Rait family, which now comprised four sons and two daughters, were occupying at the Hope Junction a log cabin which they used as an accommodation house on the flat where the Kawatiri Junction railway station was later built. There was a record flood in that year and a son, Stephen Rait, recalled being carried as a child to a place of safety away from the rapidly rising river. Shortly afterwards the Raits set up a new accommodation house (built for them by Mary Rait’s brother Stephen Oxnam) on a higher site on the road one and a half miles down the Buller from the Hope Junction.

Stables were added when Newmans' commenced a regular coach service in 1882 but the official connection with Newman Brothers dated from their first historic mail delivery to Hampden in July 1879.The story goes that Tom & Harry Newman overnighted at Rait's Kawatiri Accommodation House en route to Hampden, arriving in the evening after a challenging day with its fair share of hardships. "Rait gave them a hearty welcome. They marched into his house, mail bags over their shoulders, and as Tom proudly dumped his official freight on the floor, he called: "Now then, Jack, where can I put Her Majesty's mails?" "Her Majesty?" exclaimed Rait, off balance for the moment, "who the hell's she?"

The Rait family's next move was to Four River Plain in 1883, when they exchanged Accommodation Houses with John Ribet, so that the Rait children could attend the first school at Fern Flat.

After George Moonlight declared bankruptcy in 1884, John Rait (with the help of John Ribet) purchased the Commercial Hotel and store at auction from the mortgagee, Frederick Hamilton of Nelson, who had taken over Moonlight's debt after buying the business of Buxton & Co.  Rait also acquired a bush section of some 140 acres. While at the Commercial Hotel between 1884-7, the Raits delivered mail, meat and stores to diggers along the Matakitaki as far as Tom May’s Hotel, and the telephone was first installed at that time. The first Murchison Post Office was therefore at the Commercial Hotel. There was a gold dredge working at Fern Flat and a punt took travellers across Buller River there.

While clearing his bush-clad section John Rait was struck by a falling tree and sustained an injury from which he did not recover. He died as a result in 1887, at the age of 47 years. His family removed to Wellington after his death but maintained a strong connection with Murchison, with his sons David, James and Stephen returning there when they became adults. The Commercial Hotel was taken over by Charles Downie. 

The sailing ship Warwick berthed at Port Chalmers. De Maus, David Alexander, 1874-1925. Shipping negatives. Ref 1/1-002484-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records 22517230.

Nelson Evening Mail, vol IV, Issue 294, 16 December 1869

Photograph: Nelson Photo News, No 35, September 14, 1963.

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I can add perhaps a little bit more to the story. Although, the above extract says that John Rait and the Oxnam family arrived in Auckland on the Warwick. It looks as though they might have transferred to another vessel to get to their final destination. The newspaper Daily Southern Cross, Vol XXIII, Issue 3096, 19 June 1867 has an entry for shipping news at the Port of Onehunga. Apparently in the 19th century, Onehunga's proximity to Manukau harbour and the city of Auckland made it a convenient small port for transporting timber and passengers further down the country. The newspaper entry gives the arrival of the Mary Jane, schooner, from Buller River on 18 June 1867, and the departure of the Airedale, s.s., for Taranaki and Southern Ports on the same date. The 286 ton Airedale was cleared outwards with various casks, drapery cases, packages and other sundry goods, as well as 31 cabin and steerage passengers among whom were named Messrs Oxnam (2) and Misses Oxnam (2). Presumably the two men were Mary Oxnam's brother John, and their father, also John, and the two ladies were Mary's mother and perhaps a sister. No mention is made of John Rait and wife Mary on this particular vessel. Perhaps they tarried in Auckland for a while. I have not yet found their onward transit.

As noted on the New Zealand Raitts top page, John Rait was born to John Raitt (carter) and Margaret Kidd in 1839 (baptized 28 March) in Backmuir of Liff, Liff, Benvie and Invergowrie, Angus, Scotland. The nearest town was Dundee. I have now traced John's family back in Angus and I have added this to the Raitts of Liff, Benvie & Invergowrie page for completeness, rather than including it here.

SS Aierdale at anchor. She was later wrecked at Waitara River, Bebruary 15 1871. De Maus, David Alexander, 1874-1925. Shipping negatives. Ref 1/2-012009-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records 22818077.