Dairy herd at Te Awamutu
When some of Mr Storey’s ‘turnip’ cattle began dying on his Te Rahu farm in June 1902, there was the uneasy thought that perhaps it was anthrax.
This serious disease caused stock to die suddenly and cases in New Zealand were suspected to be caused by using imported bone meal fertiliser which hadn’t been sufficiently sterilised. The fertiliser was assimilated by crops and grass which were then eaten by cattle, pigs and sheep, infecting them.
Mr Storey enlisted the help of two other men – Mr Ward and Robert Cunningham – to skin the first cow which had died. Subsequently more cattle perished and Mr Storey informed Mr Ross, stock inspector, that he appeared to have an outbreak of anthrax.
When Mr Ross questioned Mr Storey, he learnt that he had a lesion on his arm. Dr Brewis was called in and immediately performed an operation, after which Mr Storey was taken to hospital. He was followed the next day by Mr Ward. Microscopic examination of slides taken from both patients showed unmistakably the bacilli of anthrax. Robert Cunningham was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. The doctors held no hope for the 63-year-old’s recovery.
Alarmed headlines appeared in newspapers but only meagre details were available, Health and Stock Department officers and hospital authorities being tight lipped on the matter.
There had been two anthrax outbreaks in the Waikato up to 1902 – one in Tamahere the year before and one in Ōhaupō in 1895. Animal post mortems and pathological specimens confirmed definitively this outbreak too was anthrax and bone meal manure concluded to be the cause. Six cattle had died while feeding on turnips but every precaution was taken to disinfect the locality of the outbreak and stock deaths ceased.
Inquiries at the hospital revealed that Mr Storey and Mr Ward were progressing satisfactorily, and Robert Cunningham was somewhat better. He was surprising everyone by his tenacity. Dr Douglas attended him day and night, taking the greatest interest in the case.
Cunningham was a pioneer settler and had served with Von Tempsky’s Forest Rangers and Major Jackson’s cavalry troop, seeing a good deal of service. He and his wife Mary had several children, one a son who had died 20 years previously at the age of 16. Cunningham was a popular man, very highly respected. His health had improved considerably since his admission to hospital and his friends and family were hopeful he would recover. On a Sunday less than two weeks after becoming ill he appeared well while speaking to the matron, but soon afterwards he died. Death was found to have been caused by syncope, the result of exhaustion from anthrax poisoning.
Cunningham’s funeral was largely attended. He was buried at St Paul’s churchyard, Te Awamutu, where his headstone is inscribed ‘Erected by his neighbours and friends as a mark of their esteem of his many sterling qualities.’
At a July meeting of the Waikato Farmers’ Club the sad death of Cunningham was referred to. He had been known to club members for over 40 years and had not a single enemy. The district could ill afford to lose a settler of his stamp, one who was ever willing to assist a friend or neighbour.
A dairy herd at Te Awamutu pictured soon after the turn of the century.
