More than 120 descendants of John and Jane (nee Rennick) Dundass, who settled in the Ida Valley 149 years ago, gathered at Ophir and Poolburn for the reunion. The couple were from Scotland and travelled via Australia to take up a mining claim at Ophir.
Reunion committee president Jimmy Dundass, of Cromwell, said the weekend was an overwhelming success, with relations travelling from all over New Zealand and also from Australia to take part.
"It's all gone brilliantly. We couldn't have hoped for anything better," he said.
The oldest person at the reunion was Clarice May (91), of Frankton, while the youngest was Gemma Anderson (5 months), of Poolburn.
After first working on the mining claim, John and Jane Dundass began farming in the Moa Creek and Oturehua area. They had five children, Elizabeth, Mary Anne, William Francis, Isabella Jane and John James, with John the only one born in New Zealand.
Joy Walsh, of Auckland, a third-generation descendant of the couple, said it had been wonderful to catch up with so many relations.
She has been gathering information and photographs about her Dundass ancestors, sharing stories and preparing a family tree.
"My mother used to tell me all these stories and I've been writing them down, so there's a record of them."
She said Jane Dundass, her great-grandmother, had apparently raised the 100 needed to make a deposit on the farm by selling milk, eggs and turkey meat to the Chinese gold-miners in the area.
Those attending the reunion held a "hooley" at the Poolburn-Moa Creek Memorial Hall on Saturday night. Visits to the old family farms and homes were also on the programme, as was a trip to the Omakau cemetery, where many of their ancestors are buried.
