Ancient stories tell the origins of southern Maori, with the waka of Aoraki becoming Te Wai Pounamu (the South Island), and its sternpost, Te Taurapa a Te Waka o Aoraki becoming Bluff Hill (also known as Motupohue). The Maui traditions are told in the south, with Maui arriving in his waka Maahunui, and pulling up the stone to be used as an anchor - Te Puka o Te Waka a Maui (Rakiura). Rights and resources and places were established, and traditions established which protected the manawhenua.
When traditions were written down Kati Mamoe and Kai Tahu dominate the history after Waitaha, with stories of war and peace, and intermarriage that spread through the south. In the early 1820s there was further fighting, with muskets first being used at this time, with major sieges in the more northern area of the South Island leading a retreat to the south. The final fight with the northern taua of Te Puoho and his followers at Tuturau in 1835-1836, where Te Puoho was defeated, saw the end of warfare in the region.
1853 saw the Murihiku purchase which left Maori south of the Waitaki (excluding the Otakou Block) with only 4,630 acres, the start of a long quest by southern Maori for justice questioning the legality of the purchase as well as the inadequacy of the land reserved.
Winton
The bush covered land that became the site of Winton was initially surveyed in the 1860s. These first surveys were contemporaneous with the turning of the first sod of the railway stretching north, from Invercargill, though construction halted shortly after. Construction resumed in 1871 and in 1876 Winton became a municipality and a key rural service centre.
The town centre grew, but suffered the fate of many nineteenth century towns, where fire posed a serious risk. There were major fires in 1878, 1901 and 1921. After the fire an ordinance was passed declaring that all rebuilding had to be done in brick rather than wood, and this is reflected in the surviving buildings.
Winton was a stopping place on the journey between Invercargill and Kingston. Businesses sprung up to service travellers, hotels were among the early buildings, three by the mid-1870s. The commercial centre was built on the west side of the street, opposite the railway. An early settler, James Welsh, noted that if you went up the west side of the road, you would pass “nearly all the dwellings and shops in Winton at the time.” It was on the west side of Great North Road that Robert Jamieson started his business.
Robert Jamieson (1854-1929)
The land on which Robert Jamieson was later to build his bakery was first granted to James Laing in 1874, but advertised it for sale even before he was issued the title. The land was eventually bought by Winton Plains farmer James Thomson in 1886. It has not been established what, if any, structures were on the land at this time, but by the time Robert Jamieson built his new bakery in 1894, the bakehouse and oven were already standing.
Irish born Robert Jamieson was a prominent businessman and civic leader in Winton, being mayor and councillor on several occasions. He landed in Bluff in 1875, working at Nightcaps for a short period before settling in Winton. He was on the school committee in the 1880s and was elected mayor in the 1880s. When Jamieson arrived in Winton he worked for baker and butcher C.D. Moore. Jamieson was involved in the Master Bakers of Southland (as evidenced by his name in a list of employers cited by the Dunedin Bakers and Pastrycooks’ Union in an employment dispute in 1901).
In 1892 Jamieson went into business as a baker and confectioner, advertising his intentions to Winton and the surrounding neighbourhood, and announcing he would sell ‘only the best articles’ to secure their custom. On the side he also ran a saw mill. When Jamieson left to start his own bakery it was agreed that the west of Oreti River be served by Jamieson’s bakery and the east by Moore. The restaurant was run in conjunction with the bakery, with entertainment as an accompaniment: the Jamiesons were excellent musicians and performed in the restaurant and at local functions. He prospered to the extent that in 1894 he built his own substantial premises.
In 1894 the Winton correspondent to the Southland Times reported with pride that there were new developments in their town: ‘in our own quiet way some of our business people have been doing better than some in even your city [Invercargill]. At present a two storey brick building, 28ft by 40ft, is in course of erection for Mr Robert Jamieson.’ The contractor was W. Young. The oven and bakehouse were already standing. The correspondent expected that ‘the building when finished will add greatly to the appearance of the town as well as affording most comfortable refreshment rooms.’
The appearance of businesses built up around the need for people to eat away from home (such as restaurants and refreshment rooms) was a reflection of the ‘modernizing society.’ Architectural historian Robert Thorne writes that such places provided a socially acceptable place for women to eat when away from home without the stigma of entering a public house or a hotel, and such places developed with a more mobile society. Perrin Rowland in her history of restaurants in New Zealand writes that the restaurant was an ‘urban, commercial enterprise designed to capitalise on the desire for entertainment by often wealthy consumers.’ Perhaps in the urban centres, where Rowland’s focus lies this is true, but in isolated places like Winton the concept of restaurant was aspirational, more glamorous than a mere bakery, but not necessarily an elite place. Rowlands writes that the 1870s saw the expansion of the number of restaurants, particularly in urban area, catering for workers, businessmen and women customers. Following the recovery from the depression of the 1880s, the close of the nineteenth century, was writes Rowland, the Golden Age of restaurants, following growing prosperity and optimism.
Jamieson’s premises were a lucky survivor of the September 1901 fire which destroyed a block of buildings to the north as far as the Bank of New Zealand. This made an ‘ugly gap’ in the main street of the town, burning down a billiards saloon, hall, shops, stables and a hairdressers, among other properties.
The Southland Times reported in 1904 on another fire on the main street. The early morning fire was in Mair Street, and reportedly destroyed Jamieson’s premises, and those of a storekeeper, saddler, hairdresser and jeweller. Mr Jamieson discovered the fire and raised the alarm. Jamieson’s buildings, built of brick, were gutted but still standing.
In 1921 there was a further serious fire. The fire destroyed Jamieson’s stables, and Mrs Jamieson, whose residence was threatened, apparently died from shock.
Robert Jamieson died in 1929. The property passed to his sons William Oliver Jamieson (d1969) and Oliver David Jamieson (d1966) who had followed their father into the baking profession. The two families lived upstairs, with a passage down the middle of the upstairs quarters separating the two families.
The land was sold to Winton Buildings Ltd in 1949, and was subdivided, with Jamieson’s Building on a single section. The building has had a regular procession of owners since that time, with the current owners buying the property in 1991.
Plans show that the ground floor has commercial tenants and is partitioned into commercial space, and kitchen and storage areas. Modern additions have been made to the rear of the building. In 1985 the ground floor houses a beauty salon.
The architecture and heritage of Winton in general is valued highly by its community, as reflected in the community-coordination of a heritage trail brochure (2001) describing heritage features of the town, street landscaping, and the presentation and continual use of many of the historic places in the main street. The Winton community appears to value its heritage features which clearly contribute to the community identity of this rural Southland town.
In 2011 Jamieson’s Building remains a landmark on Great North Road in Winton, and houses commercial tenants on the ground floor.
