🌿 Five Generations – The Templeton Flax Milling Legacy 🌿

A True Southland Family Story - With appreciation to Stephen Logie for his editorial contributions.

The story of the Templeton family is one of hard work, innovation, and dedication — a remarkable five-generation connection to flax milling at Otaitai Bush, near Riverton. For 60 years, the family operated the Templeton Flax Mill, a three-shed mill complex on their 2,000-acre coastal farm, producing flax fibre for the rope and twine industry that was once vital to New Zealand’s rural and national economy.

📜 The Early Years

In 1911, William Templeton sold his farm near Thornbury and moved his large family to a 2,000-acre beach property at Otaitai Bush, where he erected a flax mill. Together with his wife Jessie, they raised a large family of five sons and five daughters — a family that would become deeply woven into the Southland flax milling industry.

⚙️ War Years & Hard Work

When World War I began in August 1914, flax milling was declared an essential industry. Fibre from flax was critical for domestic rope and twine production and was exported to both the USA and Britain to replace alternative rope and twine fibre sources cut off by the war.

Four of the Templeton sons went off to serve overseas in the Middle East, Turkey, and the Western European theatres of war, leaving the youngest, Andrew Templeton, to help his father. Initially too young for military service, Andrew left school at just 14 to work full-time at the mill, where he became accomplished at every aspect of milling.

His days were long and demanding — starting at 4:30am to light and stoke the stationary steam engine boiler so the mill could begin operating by 7:30am. He continued this gruelling routine six days a week for 18 years, becoming highly skilled at maintaining machinery, especially the stripper. This continued until electricity finally arrived in 1933, easing some of the physical demands.

🛠️ Innovation & Expansion

By 1924, Andrew Templeton had taken over the mill’s management following his father William’s retirement. At the time, the second-stage process called ‘hand scutching’, which cleaned and combed out the unstripped leaf tips and short fibres, was both labour-intensive and hazardous. It required the operator to hold one end of the dried fibre hank as it was flailed and combed inside the belt-driven, revolving scutcher drum. In turn, both ends of the hank were fed into the flailing scutcher drum, while the operator held on grimly to prevent losing the hank, or worse still, losing an arm.

In a major step forward, with the advent of electricity, Andrew and his older brother Muir designed and built the first automatic two-stage scutcher in the region, which other mills quickly adopted, modernising production and improving efficiency and worker safety.

However, progress was not without setbacks. On several occasions, the mill burned down from engine sparks — a constant threat in the dry, dusty scutching shed. In 1944, a devastating fire caused by an electrical fault destroyed the scutcher shed, forcing the family to rebuild the entire mill complex at its present site upstream on Otaitai Creek. Fresh water is drawn from the creek to wash the stripped fibre before it is hung out on fences for drying and bleaching.

Around the same time, Andrew was approached by Donaghy’s Industries to set up and run another flax mill at Otanomomo, near Balclutha in South Otago, to increase fibre production in support of the war effort. Andrew’s brother Muir stepped in at Otaitai, while Andrew travelled to and from Balclutha each week, retaining management oversight of both Templeton mills. The Otaitai mill supplied fibre to Donaghy’s twine works at Waikuku, North Canterbury, while Otanomomo fibre went to Donaghy’s South Dunedin rope factory. From the mid-1920s, the tow by-product from scutching was sent north to the New Zealand Woolpacks Company in Foxton, where it was made into woolpacks, and later to Bonded Felts in Foxton for the manufacture of hardwearing Brusella and Cordella carpet matting.

👨‍👦 A Family Business Grows

The next generation stepped in during 1947, when Andrew’s son, Desmond Templeton, left school at age 16 to join the operation. Alongside his older brother Andrew (junior), the business became a true family partnership, trading as A J Templeton & Sons.

Des worked in the mill, while Andrew junior managed the farm and bookkeeping. At its peak, the operation employed from 17 up to 25 workers, making it a significant local employer.

Life around the mill also evolved. In earlier years, Jessie Templeton and her five daughters ran a homestead cookshop, supplying up to 25 cooked lunches for the workers on a coal range — a demanding role in itself. In addition to cooking for the large family, a number of men lived in single men’s huts on site during the week, each requiring three meals a day.

For the first three decades, mill workers either walked, cycled, or rode horses along the beach track from North Riverton to the mill each day and back; later, motor cars were used in the 1940s and 50s. In 1955, transport for mill workers was laid on, with Des driving a 3-ton mill truck with a canvas canopy into Riverton and back for a 7:45 a.m. start, repeated again at the end of the day for the 5:00 p.m. finish. Times had changed, with workers bringing their own lunches and using a dedicated smoko room, which featured a hot-water zip for cups of tea at smoko and lunch.

🚪 The End of an Era

An import-licensing regime, removed in 1969, had until then provided price protection for New Zealand flax fibre from imported alternatives such as jute and sisal. With the removal of price controls, Donaghy Industries increased its imports of sisal fibre from East Africa and jute from Bangladesh, where labour costs were low. The advent of nylon (oil-based) ropes and cheap natural-fibre imports, together with a three-fold increase in wages, made it unprofitable for flax millers to continue operating, with the last remaining three flax mills in Southland — and other mills nationally — ceasing operation by 1972.

After six decades of operation, the Otaitai Bush flax mill closed at the end of December 1971, while the sister Otanomomo mill, under the helm of Andrew Templeton (then 75 years old) closed down six months later in June 1972. The flax industry demise marked the end of a significant chapter in the Templeton family and the family’s contribution to the Southland and South Otago rural economy and flax industry history.

🏛️ Preserving the Legacy

The Templeton story didn’t end there.

In 2000, the Templeton Flax Milling Heritage Trust was formed under the vision and leadership of Desmond Templeton, with the goal of restoring the historic mill into a heritage museum. Thanks to hundreds of volunteer hours, the site was brought back to life and officially opened as a working museum in 2004.

Desmond’s dedication to preserving flax milling history was recognised with a Queen’s Service Medal, awarded shortly before his passing in 2011.

In 2010, the mill received Category 1 historic recognition, acknowledging its national significance as the country’s only authentic working flax mill, operating on its original site.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Five Generations Still Involved

Today, the Templeton legacy continues, with family members remaining actively involved in the mill and the land as current Trustees. These include Vaughan Templeton (Chairman), along with his sons Luke and Peter. They are joined by fellow Trustees Euan Templeton, Stephen Logie, and Howard Robertson, who all contribute to the ongoing flax-processing work and hosting of visitors.

Together, they continue cutting harakeke flax and operating the mill — keeping traditional flax craft skills alive for future generations.

Des Templeton’s wife, Janice, also played an important role for two decades from 2004, managing flax fibre orders and supporting the ongoing operation. Euan Templeton’s wife, Linda, has taken over Janice’s role, selling fibre via Trade Me in 3 kg boxes to traditional weavers, artists, film and television prop makers, and research and development innovators.

🌾 A Living Piece of Southland History

From early mornings stoking boilers to maintaining 19th-century-era belt-run machinery, the Templetons survived fires, the Great Depression, the demands of two World Wars, and ongoing industry challenges — from viability and break-even years to modest profits, and finally cheap fibre import competition. This required tenacity and adaptation through five generations of the Templeton family, whose story reflects the hard work, resolve, resilience, and ingenuity of rural New Zealand. Their story is shared by the Bennett family of Orepuki, the Johnston family of Redan, and the Niederers of Gorge Road, among others, and the countless Southland families whose relatives worked in the demanding flax milling industry.

More than just a mill, Otaitai Bush mill complex stands as a living reminder of the people, the industry, and the families who shaped Southland’s past — and who continue to keep that history alive today.