The Gibbs Family

The Gibbs Family – my Dad was Malcolm the youngest of 11 Gibbs children

Henry John/Father b. 10-12-1866 / d. 9-11-1945
Alice MacDonald/Mother b. 12-10-1871 / d.. -5-1944
May b. 25-6-1890 / d. 10-6-1970
Dave b. 20-12-1897 / d. 11-10-1967
Alice b. 8-3-1899 / d. 7-1-1943
Major b. 6-4-1900 / d. 22-7-1969
Lena b. 26-4-1902 / d. 9-11-1971
Jack b. 2-6-1903 / d. 11-2-1972
Stewart b. 22-12-1905 / d. 2-12-1992
Wattie b. 25-6-1909 / d. 17-3-1973
Grace b. 25-6-1909 / d. 28-9-1974
Lothian b. 29-3-1912 / d. 23-4-1993
Malcolm b. 20-12-1914 / d. 24-9-1997

The Muir Family - my Mum was Kathleen Muir, the second oldest of 4 children

James (Jim) Muir - my grandfather
Mary (Minnie) Jane Knox - my grandmother / b. 19-1-1886 d. 1970
Thelma Muir b. 14-11-1909 / d. 30-6-1991
Kathleen Muir b. 21-5-1911 / d. 14-7-1985
Allan Muir b. 30-5-1913 / d. 19-6-1970
Frank Muir b. 8-2-1915 / d. 15-3-1944

Life on the Farm in the Catlins

I talked with Dad about his life on several occasions. Here are the notes I took as he talked. I also talked with Daphne and Betty, my cousins and they helped fill in some missing information.
Malcolm Gibbs
My Dad, Malcolm Gibbs, was born in the front room of the family home on Gibbs Hill, Houipapa, Catlins, South Otago on 20-12-1914. Mrs Bates was the midwife. He was the youngest of 11 children. His mother was small and strong!

His parents, Henry John Gibbs and Alice Gibbs nee MacDonald came from Carey’s Bay near Port Chalmers, Dunedin. Dad’s father was born in Port Chalmers and it was there that he worked on the boats. They used to talk about Carey’s Bay a lot. From Port Chalmers Dad’s parents went to a farm at Hillgrove near Moeraki and Herbert. Then they moved to Romahapa in South Otago where they were share-milkers. The Catlins area was being opened up so they bought some bush on what became Gibbs Hill for 7/6 an acre. They cleared some of it to build a house. That one burnt down so they had to build another one in the same place. Henry John was a great handyman.

One of Dad’s closest childhood friends, Muriel Latta, told me later in her life that Dad’s mother was a darling. All her children loved her and would do
anything for her - Dad in particular. He would take her on picnics with his friends. She taught all her children, girls and boys how to cook. They could make a sponge no problem! Muriel stayed in the farm house on Gibbs Hill - all the girls in one room and all the boys in another. What a squeeze it must have been!! Dad and Muriel Bates were born on the same day - 20th December, 1914.

Whenever the boys were fighting Dad’s mother would say, “There’ll be a storm directly”. She broke her hip when she walked out the back door, turned left to go to the dairy and slipped on the boards covered in hail. She used to get severe nose bleeds. She would sit up in bed with a bowl to her face and it would fill up and have to be changed. Dad thought she may have had high blood pressure. Doctor Johnstone from Owaka said, “I’ll give her a dose of
strychnine - she’ll either die or live”. She died at home on the farm.

Dad’s father died in Dunedin Hospital. He had been staying with his eldest daughter, May at the time. The doctors thought he had influenza but at the post mortem nothing was found except inflammation of his stomach. Dad thought he died of a broken heart.

School Life

Dad went to Houipapa School at the bottom of Gibbs Hill. He walked with his brothers and sisters for 2 miles there and back. He wore either boots or bare
feet. New boots were a real treat.

When Dad was about 8 years old his mother made him a new navy blue suit. Unfortunately Dad got nits from someone at school. His mother was
heartbroken so that night Major, one of his older brothers came home from the mill and shaved Dad’s head. He then poured kerosene over it!! It burnt like
crazy but there were no nits left!! At Houpapa School all students were in the same classroom with one teacher - Primer 1 to Standard 6. They sat at long forms with inkwells. The school inspector came each year. On one occasion he came into the classroom and said,

“Some ships sail east and some sail west, with the self same wind that blows.
‘Tis the set of the sail and not the gale that determines the way that she goes”.

Dad remembered this poem for the whole day and when the inspector came back and asked who could remember he was able to quote it!
Students had to sit a proficiency test at 12 years and needed to pass it before they could leave school. Otherwise the leaving age was 15 years. Dad sat
proficiency at 10 years and missed by 2 marks. He sat it again at 11 years and passed so he was allowed to go to high school. Unfortunately Dad couldn’t go
because his father had no money for him to board in Owaka. As a result Dad stayed at home and worked on the farm.

On the Farm at Gibbs Hill

Dad worked the two-horse team and ploughed fields - oats for the horses in winter and turnips for cows. The farm consisted of 750 acres of native bush. It
needed to be cleared so that grass seed and manure could be spread and pasture grown for the cows. The family only had a very small amount of
money. The farm didn’t bring in any money and only provided enough food for the large family. Dad’s older brothers Jack, Major and his father worked at the Waikota Sawmill near Tahakopa, for wages. The money helped them on the farm. Brother Stuart was in Dunedin working as a tailor/cutter.

Dad had two horses - Betty and Dolly. As they pulled the plough with Dad guiding them the horses would make a lot of noise farting!! Dad had to get up
at 6 o’clock each morning to get the horses in so Jack and Major could take the whole milk to the cheese factory in Waikota Valley. When the factory closed
down his father bought a separator and he and his mother made their own cream and butter. They also cured their own pork for bacon. The tracks were
very rutted and muddy which made it hard for Geordie, Queenie, Dolly and Betty, the horses. Dolly and Betty were spring carters, not full draught horses. Dad milked the cows by hand and would squirt milk into pussy’s mouth - she lovedit! S he used to sit between the bales - 5 down each side in the cow byre and watch and wait with Dad. Tinker was one of the cats. His tongue used to go flat out to lick the warm milk. If his father had known he was wasting the milk Dad would have got a hiding.

Grandma and Grandad Gibbs had brothers and sisters who lived in Dunedin. Andrew, Dad’s Uncle and Lena, Dad’s Aunt were married and lived in Dunedin.
Brother Stewart and sister Alice lived and worked at a tailoring factory in Dunedin and cousins and friends used to visit the Gibbs Hill farm at Christmas time. Dad
really looked forward to having them come. There could be as many as 28 family and friends for Christmas dinner!!! They often brought a sugar bag full
of peas. Being the youngest, Dad had to sleep everywhere to make room for the visitors - the bath or the bottom drawer of the wardrobe and his brothers and sisters often slept in the hay loft. One Christmas, Dad’s Aunt Louie came from town to visit the neighbours, the Campbells. Dad’s older brother Dave kept bees and from the front of the hive he grabbed a drone catcher and pretending he needed a hanky, he tipped the drones into the bottom of Louie’s bed!! She gets in and puts her feet down.
“Oh there’s bidibids in the bed!”. Then the drones crawled up her legs!!! Dad was in the room next door and he said the screams were amazing!

Christmas dinner was a special occasion. There was a big roast beef, new spuds, fresh green peas and plum pudding with thrippences in it! All cooked by
his mother. Dad would get an orange in his stocking and a (perhaps) a little toy. One day, Dad remembers, when his mother and father were out milking the
cows, his older sister Lena had syrup on her spoon. The kids were having bread and syrup as it was cheaper than jam. In front of them Lena aimed the spoon
at her brother Major and said,
“It won’t come off, it won’t come off….and it landed on the ceiling!!

The family had fun at the beach when they weren’t working. They went to Tahakopa Beach in the dray behind the horses along roads with very deep ruts.
They always took tons of food - scones, cakes, - his mother was a great cook. She would bake two batches of scones - sultana and plain, every day. In the
farm kitchen there was a green enamel wood range. She also liked to sew. She made clothes for the kids from hand-me-downs and loved to do fancy work.
His father always wanted something patched whenever he saw his wife doing something for herself! The family didn’t go to church. The kids had to go to
Sunday School at Houipapa. It was held in a house by the railway station.

Dad used to watch the no-tails - rifleman feeding their babies in their nest. For pocket money Dad set possum traps in the winter and rabbit traps all year
round. The rabbits used to squeal. Weasels used to chase rabbits. The rabbits were fast for a short time then virtually paralysed to a stand still. The weasels were slower but could last longer and would finally get the rabbit by pouncing on its neck and sucking it’s blood!

Dad was working in Dunedin at Smith’s Paint factory located at the back of the railway station. He had a beautiful baritone voice and was taking singing
lessons at the time. He loved to whistle too.
“Gibbs, I’ve got nothing against your vocal capabilities but up in my office it sounds like a whole lot of cats calling. Now cut it out”. Dad carried on whistling and he was sacked!!
After that he had a job at Crust and Crust removal company. He had to move pianos!

Mum and Dad got married after Dad returned from the war in 1943