The Mataura, under the name Dunfillan, was launched in 1868 from the yard of Aitken, Glasgow, and purchased by the New Zealand Shipping Company in 1874. She was a full rigged ship of 853 tons, and was the first of this company’s ships to be fitted with Harkin’s patent dry-air refrigerator. She sailed from Dunedin on 12th June 1882, with the second cargo of frozen meat for Great Britain.Back to the Bluff Passenger Ships Page.The Mataura was rigged as a barque when she appeared in Dunedin in 1882, and made some very fast passages under this rig. She was later sold to Captain Brunsgaard of Drammen, Norway, for 2,800 GB Pounds, and renamed the Alida.
The Mataura made only on passage to Bluff, this was in 1877, under Captain Brown, taking 95 days and arriving on the 1st December.
At present I am unable to find any lists for this ship, but I will keep on looking.
