McDougall & Sons Cardrona Store

An early photo of the Cardrona Store

Robert McDougall came to Cardrona in 1871 and his family followed shortly after in 1872.

Prior to that he had been in partnership with W T Smith in stores at Macetown and Arrowtown. The partnership bought the store of R Patterson from his widow. McDougall became the sole owner in 1877 and then almost immediately after, built a cottage in Pembroke for his family, except his eldest son, Robert Jnr. aged just 14 years, remained to manage the Cardrona store.

Robert Jnr was managing the store on his own and in 1883 became the official Postmaster. He died in 1946, a very respected resident of Cardrona who was at one stage was considered to be the “Unofficial Mayor” of Cardrona.