James Adam described Barbara Shand as the founder of agriculture in Otago. No sooner had she arrived in Otago on the Phoebe Dunbar in 1850 than she was left a widow with eight children to support. She reacted by developing the capacity of her small Green Island farm and demonstrating the profitability of cropping in Otago.
Barbara Angus was born at Bourtie, Abderdeenshire, Scotland in 1813. Her father was a farmer and Barbara grew up with the seven-shift crop rotation system that he practised. When she was 21 years old, Barbara married James Shand, a butcher and cattle dealer from Inverurie. Over the next 15 years the couple had eight children together. Three of their portraits can be seen to the right of Barbara’s.
Poor economic conditions in the Highlands and a failed consignment of cattle at the end of 1849 convinced James that he should take his family to Otago. The Shands embarked from London and took 112 days to reach land in Port Chalmers. The state of Dunedin proved to be much less developed than New Zealand Company promises had led the emigrants to believe. Undeterred, the Shands took up land at Abbotsford in the Green Island bush and built a home that they called ‘Portman Cottage’. James planted crops but fell ill before the first harvest and died nine months after arrival. Barbara was left to sink or swim and set to with the children to develop their 12-acre farm to its maximum capacity.
The crops produced proved to be highly profitable and the Shands prospered. Barbara both reared and educated her whole family, demonstrating a strength of character and personality that brought her widespread renown. By 1882 Barbara had increased her holdings to 486 freehold acres valued at over £14,000. Barbara had also set up her eldest son James in a farm at West Taieri where he displayed similar prowess. The property was named ‘Abbotsford’ after the family’s original home in New Zealand and became a model farm. Unfortunately James Shand’s success went to his head and he became a gambler and heavy drinker. When he lost his farm in a bet in 1888, he drowned himself in the Taieri River. His mother died four years later, aged 79.
Mrs James Shand (née Barbara Angus)