Donald and Elizabeth Malloch (née Wright)

The Mallochs stand out amidst all the elderly faces among our portrait selection as a young, good-looking couple in the prime of life. In fact, they and the other settlers were all of an age when they came to Otago but their portrait was taken much closer to that time than most of the others on display. The Mallochs show us what the early settlers actually looked like during their years of pioneering, rather than in their dotage. Unfortunately neither Donald nor Elizabeth lived to reach old age. The portrait is probably from the 1860s, possibly around the time of their marriage at Waikouaiti in April 1866, and may even be their wedding portrait.

Donald Malloch was born at Loch Tay in Perthshire, Scotland, in 1833. He worked as a storeman at Edinburgh Castle before emigrating. Elizabeth was also born in Scotland, about 1846. They arrived in New Zealand separately. Donald was a passenger on the Three Bells in 1858, while Elizabeth came with her family on the Lady Egidia in 1861.

In 1861 Donald began carrying the mail inland from Waikouaiti to the Manuherikia via Shag Valley. He made a fortnightly run on horseback and was paid for his services by the settlers. After the Dunstan rush in 1862 the government took over responsibility for the mail but Donald and his younger brother John won the contract to deliver it. They operated a couple of horse-drawn waggonettes and were able to carry passengers as well as freight.

Early on in his mail career Donald once became hopelessly lost between Shag Point and Strath Taieri and nearly died before finding shelter in a shepherd’s hut. Thereafter the gully concerned became known as ‘the place where Malloch got lost’, subsequently mutating to Mullocky Gully. The Mallochs sold out their carrying operation in 1864 and concentrated on their general store at Hawksbury. This was where the 20-year-old Elizabeth Wright came as Donald’s bride in 1866.

The couple were stalwarts of the Waikouaiti community. Donald was one of the first elders of the Presbyterian Church, a trustee of the Mechanics Institute, and a member of the Road Board, School Committee and County Council. They had a large family together. Elizabeth was only 36 when she died in 1882 and Donald died four years later aged 53.