Sheep Farming in New Zealand
William Davidson arrived in Port Chalmers on 30 December 1865 in the ship Celaeno. He was sent to the company's 600 km² farm at Timaru where he spent 2 years as a shepherd under James Hassell, being responsible for the 85,000 Merino sheep. By the end of the two years, Davidson was overseeing 15 Scottish shepherds, and had helped survey and fence much of the previously open land. Using ₤150,000 borrowed from the company, he purchased more land., increasing holdings to 2,000 km². He also assisted James Little in his experiments to cross Merinos with Lincoln Stud rams, producing the Corriedale breed. In 1875 he was made superintendent.
On a trip back to Edinburgh, Davidson married Jane Emily Davidson, daughter of the sheriff of Midlothian, in October 1873.
In 1878 the Canterbury and Otago Association amalgamated with James Morton's other venture, the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, and now incorporated over a 10,000 km² between the two countries. However, when Morton was implicated in the collapse of the City of Glasgow Bank the following year, and bankrupted, the banks liquidators (holding nearly half the new company's stock), attempted to sell the land to realise their assets. Davidson replaced Morton as General Manager, and persuaded Morton's creditors to continue to hold all but the most marginal land.
Read more about this topic: William Soltau Davidson
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