Reminiscences of Earliest Canterbury/Chapter 6
CHAPTER VI.
Personal.
Captain George Armstrong arrived between 1840-50, Mrs. Armstrong, George, Junr., Joseph (sons), Nellie, Andileau (daughters), John (son), Minnie (daughter), Frank, James, Fred, Luke (sons). Captain Armstrong came from New Bedford, U.S.A., and landed at Stewart’s Island on February 19th, 1846, from the ship Phoenix. Thence he went northwards and landed at The Nuggets, Napier. From Napier he travelled down the coast on foot to Wellington, staying with the Maoris en route. When he reached Wellington he ascertained that the Government were advertising for a competent man to run the blockade to the Wanganui river. Mr. Armstrong applied for the post, and, being successful, got command of the Edward Stanley on August 2nd, 1847. Whilst in command of this vessel in the river he one day saw a settler running for the bank, pursued by a Maori armed with a rifle. On reaching the bank the fugitive plunged into the water, where he was in imminent danger of either being drowned or shot. Mr. Armstrong put off in his dinghy, and, ignoring a flag signal for his recall from a superior officer, succeeded in saving the life of the settler. Because of this breach of discipline, and, notwithstanding the heroism of his action, he was actually placed under arrest to await court-martial; but the people in the neighbourhood so vigorously manifested their indignation that he had to be released. He then took his vessel to Wellington, and resigned his command. After this he purchased a small schooner, with which he traded on the coast purchasing all sorts of produce from the Maoris. For example, he commonly procured pigs from them, and, killing and singeing those on the beach, cut them up and salted them on board the schooner, and sold the bacon in Wellington. Mr. Armstrong was the first to import from America such useful articles of woodware as buckets, chums, and numerous dairy and other implements. These he sold up and down the coast to settlers; but, finding himself possessed of a number which he had not disposed of, he opened a store in Akaroa, and, giving up the sea, set about selling the remainder of his stock. When this was accomplished, he turned his attention to farming, in which he was very successful. Mr. Armstrong died at a good old age (85 or 86), leaving a large family at Akaroa.
Captain Unthank arrived between 1840-50. He was the owner of a cutter with which he was the first to open trade between Wellington and Banks Peninsula. After 1843 he remained trading for a few years.
Captain Sinclair arrived between 1840-50. He was the second man to trade between Wellington and the Peninsula. He was not related to the Sinclairs of Pigeon Bay.
Captain J. Daymand arrived 1840-50. He bought a schooner, which was in progress of building at Pigeon Bay, and, completing her, called her the Agnes Hay, and launching her traded for some time between Wellington and the Peninsula, bringing cattle to the latter. Daymand’s Bay, to the North of Akaroa lighthouse, was called after him.
William Simpson, 1830-40. He was a renowned whaler, who, as early as 1836, was whaling under Captain Hemplemann. At Peraki Heads, Banks Peninsula, there is a place called Simpson’s Look-out. On this spot he used to take his stand, and direct the boats to the whales by signal. He died at Akaroa at a very advanced age.
J. Robinson Clough, 1830-40, better known as Jim Robinson, was living in Akaroa when Mr. W. B. Rhodes landed the first lot of cattle there in 1839. Clough joined an American whaler called Roslyn Castle in New Bedford. This ship put into Akaroa in March, 1837, whilst there Clough fell in love with a fine-looking Maori girl, the daughter of a chief. He left the ship and married her, and by her had two daughters and three sons. The youngest of the latter was the late George Robinson (Clough) of Little River, the celebrated wrestler and athlete. James Robinson Clough was in Akaroa, therefore, before the historical “hoisting of the flag.” Not only was this the case, but he actually contributed to the event by having been commissioned to procure the flagpole. He selected for this purpose a fine straight young Kahikatea. In 1848 he put up the first post and rail fence in Pigeon Bay. In 1851 he went to Homebush to carry out some fencing for Messrs. Deans Brothers. It is stated that Mr. C. B. Robinson presented the historical flag to Mr. Clough in recognition of his services in procuring the flagpole.
William Gilbert, 1830-40, arrived in New Zealand in 1835, where he landed about Dunedin. He was a ship carpenter, and, being a splendid tradesman, built a good many whaleboats and even small vessels. He was also occupied in whaling, and lived alternately in Pigeon Bay and Okain’s Bay. Having married a Maori, he left a large family when he died at the advanced age of ninety-five years.
John Fleurty, 1830-40, arrived in New Zealand in the end of the ’thirties. He was a very powerful man. For some time he was occupied in Pigeon Bay sawing timber for the first Lyttelton wharf. Eventually he went to Okain’s Bay, where he sawed timber for many years, and where he, at length, acquired property. Like so many of the early settlers, he married a Maori, and left a large family behind him.
George Mason, 1830-40, arrived in New Zealand in 1837. He was a whaler. In company with Fleurty he was sawing timber in Pigeon Bay, and with him also moved to Okain’s Bay, where they together sawed timber for many years. He married a Maori, and by her had a large family. On her death he married Miss Betsy Rix, by whom he also had a large family, several of whom are now in Okain’s Bay. He died at the age of seventy-nine.
Timothy Hearly, 1840-50, came to New Zealand in a whaling ship from Hobart some time during the ’forties. He worked sawing timber for several years, and was last heard of in the early days of the West Coast diggings.
William H. Webb, Mrs. Webb, 1840-50, William H., Junr., Maria, Richard, Margaret, Mary, John, Tim, Tom.—Mr. Webb landed in Wellington in 1840. He was a carpenter, and built houses in Akaroa for the Rhodes Brothers. He married the widow of the late Mr. R. J. Knight. Mr. Webb was sawing in Pigeon Bay for the first Lyttelton wharf. Thence he went over to Okain’s Bay, where he remained for a few years. Whilst in Okain’s Bay he erected a small windmill for grinding wheat. The mill he erected was a steel hand-mill, and at the time, with the meagre materials and facilities at his disposal, it was considered a wonderful achievement. With a good wind he was able to grind three large bags in a day. Eventually he bought land in Laverick’s Bay, which is now owned by his step-son, Mr. J. T. Knight. Mr. Webb also erected a sawmill at Laverick’s Bay, but it was burned down; not, however, before the timber was nearly all cut out.
Thomas White, 1840-50, was a whaler. He landed in New Zealand, down south, in 1840, and carried on whaling on the south of Banks Peninsula. After this he lived for a few years in Port Levy, whence he eventually came to Pigeon Bay, where he settled and married a Maori woman. Mr. White was an excellent boatman, and for some years he carried passengers between Pigeon Bay and Lyttelton in a whaleboat. He left a large family, and died at the age of eighty-five.
Thomas Green, 1840-50, was also a whaler, who was here in the early ’forties. He lived for a time in Port Levy, and was ultimately drowned between there and Lyttelton.
Thomas Brown, Samuel Brown, 1840-50, lived in Port Levy in the end of the ’forties.
Alexander Coffin, 1840-50, arrived in 1840. He assisted Messrs. Rhodes Brothers to drive the first mob of sheep to Timaru. For many years he was sawing timber in Okain’s Bay. He died leaving a large family.
Seth Howland, 1830-40, came from America in a whaler in 1835, and landed in one of the Sounds of Cook Strait. He married a Maori, and lived for some time at Kaikoura. Thence he came to Port Levy, Pigeon Bay, and finally Okain’s Bay. He built a few small vessels and boats, and died in Okain’s Bay at a good old age.
John Kelly, 1840-50, came here in the early whaling days. Lived in Pigeon Bay, Okain’s Bay, and Port Levy, and died at Southbridge.
John Moles, 1830-40, was in Peraki in March of 1841 or 1842. He came to New Zealand in the very early days, and was whaling for some time. He was allowed to be the most skilful boatman on the coast. Along with Mr. Joseph Greenwood and a Maori he was drowned going from Purau to Motonau in 1846.
William Mires (Meyers?), 1830-40, was a blacksmith, and came to New Zealand in the early whaling days. He did a great deal of work at his forge in the ’forties, at which time he was the oldest man here among the settlers. He died at the Maori pa, Kaiapoi, at a very advanced age, over ninety years.
Philip Ryan, 1830-40, arrived in New Zealand in 1838. He was a cooper on board a whaler. He set up a whaling station at Oashore, but only held it for a short time, disposing of it to “Paddy” Woods in 1841 or 1842. He accumulated quite a ransom making dairy appliances (tubs, churns, chessels, etc.) for the early settlers, to whom he was indispensable. He married a Maori woman, by whom he left two sons. He died at Little River, aged ninety-eight.
John Bowman, 1840-50, was a boat builder, and came here in the ’forties. For some time he followed whaling as an occupation, but whales, becoming scarce, he abandoned it, and, marrying a Maori girl, he lived with the Natives. He built a good many whaleboats for the settlers. He died at a very advanced age at the Maori pa, Kaiapoi.
Robert Fife, 1830-40, came to New Zealand in the “thirties,” and in the early part of the next decade had a whaling station at Kaikoura. He used to visit the Peninsula (Banks) at times. Eventually he acquired a good deal of property at Kaikoura, where there is a “Mount Fife” called after him. He met death by drowning, and his property went to his sister in America, who, at the time, had just lost her husband, and was left very badly off with a family to support.
“Jimmy” Walker, 1830-40, landed at the Bay of Islands in 1839, was whaling at Riverton in the “thirties.” This man and his mate always maintained that they had seen a living moa. They were, at the time, passing overland from Riverton to another whaling station in one of the Sounds, when they came across the bird drinking at a stream. They returned to Riverton to get a company together to go in pursuit, but their story was ridiculed, and they failed to convince their friends. Walker’s description of the bird was, however, so minute and accurate, that many scientific men believed his story.
“Sam” Williams, 1840-50, was a sailor who was employed whaling under Captain Hemplemann in 1841. Afterwards he worked for Messrs. Rhodes Brothers. Eventually he went to Timaru, where, in the “fifties,” he conducted the first public-house on the beach. It was he who advised Rhodes Brothers to take up land in the Timaru district.
George Ashton, 1840-50, came to New Zealand in a whaling ship, and settled in Little Akaloa, where he married Mrs. Bennett, and conducted a dairy farm till his death.
William Anderson, 1840-50, was only a lad when he landed from a whaling vessel in the early days. He was the last representative of a hardy and noble race of men, the old whalers, and he died as recently as 1904 or 1905.
Captain James Bruce, 1840-50, came to New Zealand in the early “forties.” He walked from Akaroa to Piraki after he lost his ship in 1841. He was then master of the brig Magnet. He was the first navigator to take a vessel into Port Chalmers. He went there in the Magnet. Returning from Port Chalmers to one of the whaling stations on the south side of Banks Peninsula, his vessel was wrecked in a small bay, which is still known by the name Magnet Bay. After losing his vessel he gave up the sea and settled in Akaroa, where he opened a hotel and store in conjunction. This hotel was built on Section No. 1. A few years later he bought a small vessel (schooner or cutter), and in her set out for Dunedin, carrying with him 300 sovereigns to send to Sydney for investments in spirits and stores. His vessel was caught in a squall in Akaroa Harbour, and capsized, taking the 300 sovereigns down with her. Mr. Bruce could not swim, but a Maori woman, who was on board swam with him, and, supporting him till he reached the rocks, saved his life. In gratitude for this, Mr. Bruce kept the woman in food and clothes for the remainder of her life, and, on her death, educated and supported her little girl till she also died. Mr. Bruce was never married. He was a liberal-minded man, and of great use to the early settlers.
Joseph Price, 1830-40, Mrs. Price, Rebecca (now Mrs. Robert Manson), Jane, Joseph, Junr., William, Thomas, Charles, Hannah, Maggie, Maria, Alfred, Albert, Louisa. Mr. Price came to New Zealand in 1832, and slept one night in the great fortified Maori pa at Kaiapoi before it was taken and destroyed by Te Rauparaha. Mr. Price was connected with the shore whaling at Ikeraki on the south side of Banks Peninsula, where he remained for a number of years. When the whaling eventually failed he sold out to the late Mr. Hugh Buchanan, and removed to what is now called Price’s Valley. Here he carried on dairy farming, and had stock besides in cattle and sheep. Sometimes he took his cheese by whaling boat on Lake Ellesmere from his own valley to Gebbie’s Valley. Thence he took it on a sledge over the hill to Teddington, and from Teddington took it, again by boat, to Lyttelton. At that time the lake was controlled by the Maoris, who would only let it out (i.e., drain it) once every three years in order to secure a good haul of eels. Sometimes, however, when the lake was high, and a nor’-wester prevailed, it burst out of itself into the sea. Mr. Price, who had a large family, died at the advanced age of ninety-one years.
William Birdling, Mrs. Birdling, 1840-50, William, Junr., Frederick, Emma (now Mrs. Rule), George, Robert, Arthur, Frank, Albert. Mr. Birdling arrived in Akaroa in 1842. Mr. Birdling assisted Messrs. W. B. and G. Rhodes by taking charge of their cattle at the red house and Flea Bay. When Messrs. Rhodes bought Purau from the Greenwoods in 1847, Mr. Birdling went there with them. After some years’ residence at Purau he bought land on Lake Ellesmere, now known as Birdling’s Valley. Birdling’s Flat also takes its name from him. Mr. Birdling was a very successful farmer. Like Mr. Price, he boated his cheese to Gebbie’s Valley, and sledged thence over Gebbie’s Pass to Teddington, and again boated to Lyttelton. Mr. Birdling left a large family, and died at the age of seventy-nine years.
Malcolm McKinnon, Mrs. McKinnon, Mary Ann (now Mrs. T. H. Parkinson), Catherine (born May 3rd, 1842, first Scotch girl born in Canterbury), Grace (now Mrs. McPhail), John, Alexander (all 1840-50), and Jenny. Mr. McKinnon came from Sydney in the ship Elizabeth, and landed at Oashore, at the outlet of Lake Forsyth, on February 7th, 1840. He travelled from Oashore to Taumutu, from Taumutu to Southbridge, and thence to Riccarton with his wife and one child by bullock team and dray. He represented Messrs. Abercrombie and Co., who had bought Riccarton from the Maoris. This firm despatched another ship laden with stores, etc., and carrying agriculturists to work at Riccarton. She was lost with all hands, and, in consequence, Messrs. Abercrombie and Co. failed, and all who were already at Riccarton returned to Sydney. Mr. McKinnon, however, remained, determined to keep the place himself. The Maoris, realising that he was single-handed, burned the grass all round his house, and McKinnon, seeing the danger threatening himself, wife and child, decided to go to Akaroa and seek protection from the French settlers there. Before doing so he hid his plough, and all his farm implements in a deep hole in the River Avon near the present Hospital, and, at that time, quite close to the Riccarton Road. Mr. McKinnon did the first ploughing in Canterbury, and grew the first grain and stacked it, but the native rats devoured it all. Having hidden his implements from the Maoris McKinnon now set out in March, 1841, for Akaroa. Taking his four bullocks he drove them loose, and carried a small table on his head. Mrs. McKinnon carried her one-year-old child (now Mrs. Parkinson) on her back. Thus hampered, they reached as far as Lake Forsyth on their first day. To do this they went through Gebbie’s Valley, past what is now Price’s and Birdling’s, a distance over thirty miles with no roads. All Mrs. McKinnon had to sustain her on that day was one potato! At Lake Forsyth they camped for the night in a cave. Thence to Akaroa they went in a whaleboat. The bullocks were driven overland to Akaroa, where they were fattened, and ultimately sold to the shipping. The family stayed in Akaroa for some years, and then Mr. McKinnon bought a small farm at Island Bay, where he eventually died.
James Wright, Mrs. Wright, Sarah Ann (now Mrs. Glynan), George, William, Alexander, James, Susanna (now Mrs. Donovan)—all 1840-50—Joseph, Robert, Jack, Mark, Elizabeth (now Mrs. Hooker), and Luke. Mr. and Mrs. Wright left England in the ship Martha Ridgeway; landed in Wellington in 1840, where they remained for two years. They then came south in the Bright Planet in 1842 to Oashore, where Mr. Wright got occupation whaling for “Paddy” Woods, who had a whaling station at that time. When he left the employ of “Paddy” Woods he came to Akaroa in a whaleboat in 1844. Some years afterwards he took up a small run of from two to three thousand acres, called Wakamoa, on the south side of Banks Peninsula. Here he went in for dairying on a large scale, and at one time possessed one of the finest herds of milking Shorthorn cattle in Canterbury, until he replaced them with sheep. Mr. Wright died at the age of seventy-eight. One of his sons is still in possession of the old homestead, and at the date when this is written (21st April, 1911), Mrs. Wright is still alive, and in her ninety-second year.
William Lucas, Mrs. Lucas, 1840-50. Mr. Lucas came to Akaroa in the early “forties.” He took up a small run adjoining James Wright at Wakamoa, and, taking in the southern head of Akaroa Harbour, called Land’s End. He also went in for cheese-making, and had, at one time, a very fine herd of Shorthorn cattle. He eventually sold out to the Wrights, and took up his residence near Christchurch, where he lived in retirement, and died many years ago. He had no family; he left his property to the English at Akaroa.
James Felgate, 1840-50, arrived in Wellington in 1842. He is a brother-in-law to Mr. William Lucas above mentioned. On this date (21st April, 1911) he is still alive, and residing in Christchurch.
Archibald McQueen, Mrs. McQueen, Sarah, Hugh, Mary, 1840-50. Mr. McQueen came to Purau as a shepherd for the Messrs. Greenwood Brothers in the early “forties.” He took up land in what is known as McQueen’s Valley (now included in Gebbie’s Valley). Mr. McQueen was a first-class shepherd. One of the points on Lake Ellesmere is still known as McQueen’s Point.
Dr. Butler, Mrs. Butler, 1840-50. Dr. Butler practised his profession as a medical man in Akaroa during 1845 and 1846. Leaving Akaroa, he settled in Wellington. Mrs. Butler was a sister of the first Mrs. William Boag, of Burnside, Christchurch.
Peter Brown, Mrs. Brown, Kitty, Peter, Elizabeth (all 1840-50), Agnes, Thomas, John, James, Campbell. Mr. Brown came to Wellington in the beginning of 1840. He was a baker by trade, and arrived in Akaroa by the schooner Scotia in May, 1843. On arrival, he went over to Pigeon Bay, where he lived for a short time, and then returned to Akaroa. In July, 1861, he went to the Dunedin diggings, where he died, leaving a large family in Akaroa. His youngest son, Campbell, had the Canterbury Hotel in Lyttelton for several years before his death there.
Robert John Knight, Mrs. Knight (afterwards Mrs. W. Webb), Robert, John, Jos. T., 1840-50. Mr. Knight arrived in Wellington in February, 1840, and came down to Akaroa in the schooner Scotia, arriving there in May, 1843. He died soon afterwards, leaving his widow with his two sons, then very young children. Mrs. Knight married Mr. W. Webb. The youngest boy, Mr. J. T. Knight, unmarried, is the present owner of Laverick’s Bay property, where he resides.
Joseph Rix, Mrs. Rix, Betsy (afterwards Mrs. Geo. Mason). Mr. Rix was sawing timber in Pigeon Bay in 1849. He afterwards went to Okain’s Bay some time in the ’fifties. His daughter married Mr. George Mason.
Charles Barrington Robinson, 1840-50, Mr. C. B. Robinson’s name is well-known in connection with the earliest records of the Akaroa Settlement, he having been actively and intimately associated with that historic event. In 1840 there was an attempt made to form a French colony in Akaroa, which had its beginning at a still earlier date, and resulted in the arrival of a company of French, and a few German, Portuguese, and Italian emigrants to New Zealand in that year. In 1835 an adventurous Frenchman named Captain L’Angloise visited Akaroa while on a whaling cruise in the South Seas, and, being much charmed with the beauty of the harbour, he attempted to purchase a large tract of land at a nominal price. The transaction was not bona fide, however, no legal document having been executed, and only a small fraction of the price having been paid to the Maori chief for the land claimed. Captain L’Angloise, thinking the land secured, returned to France, got a company formed by some merchants of Nantes, Bordeaux, and Paris, which they called the “Nanto-Bordelaise Compagnie,” and in March, 1840, set sail for New Zealand in an old warship, the Comte de Paris, taking out sixty-five emigrants, with officers and crew, a total of 105 souls. Another armed ship, L’Aube, in command of Captain Lavaud, preceded them so as to be ready to protect the emigrants on arrival. This vessel first visited the Bay of Islands, there enjoying vice-regal hospitality. Captain Hobson, first Governor of New Zealand, was then residing in Government House, Bay of Islands, and was a very able administrator. He was the founder of the City of Auckland. Trusting to the slow sailing of the Comte de Paris, Captain Lavaud delayed his departure, at the same time making no secret of the purpose of the expedition. This decided Governor Hobson to prompt action, as, of course, the islands of New Zealand had been before this time acquired by Great Britain as a colony. He, therefore, despatched a small brig of war, H.M.S. Britomart, in command of Captain Stanley, R.N., who had sealed orders to proceed to Akaroa at once, and hoist the British flag before the arrival of the French corvette. They reached Akaroa on August 14th, none too soon, for next day L’Aube arrived, and almost simultaneously Comte de Paris, with the emigrants. Governor Hobson had appointed two Magistrates, Messrs. Robinson and Murphy, for the southern parts of New Zealand. These gentlemen were sent down with Captain Stanley in the Britomart, and had instructions to hold a court at each port of call to establish British authority. Their first duty was to erect a pole and hoist the Union Jack, which was flying gaily from Green Point when L’Aube and Comte de Paris sailed up the harbour on August 15th, 1840. Mr. Murphy returned in the Britomart, but Mr. Robinson remained in Akaroa as chief Magistrate, holding that position until 1846, when he resigned, and soon afterwards went to England. Mr. Robinson was specially fitted for his position in Akaroa, being a remarkably clever lawyer and a good linguist. His knowledge of French enabled him to render great assistance to the French and other settlers in their business and local affairs. Many of the foreign settlers remained for years ignorant that they were living under British rule, and to prevent dissatisfaction arising, Captain Lavaud arranged with Mr. Robinson to administer French law amongst them. This the Governor allowed. Soon afterwards th “Nanto-Bordelaise” Company sold all claims they had to the Akaroa lands to the New Zealand Land Company. When Mr. Robinson resigned in 1846, Mr. John Watson succeeded him as Resident Magistrate, and retained that office for many years thereafter. Mr. Robinson married Miss Helen Sinclair, second daughter of Captain and Mrs. Sinclair, who, with their family, settled in Pigeon Bay early in 1843, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Ebenezer Hay and family. (Reference to these earliest Canterbury settlers, with whom the Deans family are also associated, will be made elsewhere in these records). In April, 1850, Mr. Robinson returned to New Zealand in the ship Monarch, bound for Auckland. In passing Akaroa Heads an accident happened to the rudder, which necessitated the disabled vessel putting into the harbour and landing her passengers at Akaroa. Mr. Robinson had entered into a partnership with a Mr. Smith. They brought out the first Shorthorn cattle shipped direct from England to Canterbury, New Zealand (two bulls and two heifers), but they were unfortunate in losing three of the valuable animals, only one bull surviving the voyage. However, that was the start in Canterbury of splendid stock. A good mare was brought out by them, also, and some old English pheasants. Mr. Robinson gave a pair to Mrs. Sinclair, then living in Pigeon Bay. Finding their way first to Port Levy, the adventurous pair of birds, or their progeny, soon stocked the whole Peninsula, vieing with the pigeon family for numbers. Mr. Robinson acquired some good landed property in one of the bays in Akaroa Harbour, which was named Robinson’s Bay, he being the first owner. He also owned a fine block of land in Pigeon Bay, which was sold to Mr. Ebenezer Hay in 1861. About this latter date he returned to England, but came back about 1864-5 to dispose of his property, after which he left New Zealand finally for England, where he spent the remainder of his life. His widow and their only son, Mr. Aubrey Robinson, have their home in Makaweli Kanii, one of the Sandwich Islands, where most of the members and descendants of the Sinclair, Gay, and Robinson families reside on their own fine properties.
Mr. Ellis, Mr. Turner, 1840-50. These two settlers are associated because they entered into partnership as storekeepers in Akaroa, and built a store behind Bruce’s Hotel. At length they quarrelled so effectually that they mutually agreed to dissolve partnership and live apart. To effect this, the store, being their joint possession, and neither of them being willing to abandon his share, they got a cross-cut saw and divided the building into two. Each disputant then boarded up his half of the bisection, and lived in it secure from obtrusion by the other. Subsequently Mr. Ellis became clerk to the Akaroa Magistrate’s Court, under Mr. John Watson. Eventually he lived in Christchurch, and had a run at Oxford.
Mr. Connell, 1840-50, had a baker’s shop in Akaroa in 1843. He afterwards went to Nelson. Peter Brown was his baker.
John Watson, Mrs. Watson, 1840-50. Mr. Watson was the Magistrate who, in Akaroa, succeeded Mr. C. B. Robinson in 1846, and who thus became the second (in point of time) Magistrate in Canterbury. Mrs. Watson was an exceedingly clever woman, and rendered great assistance to her husband in the discharge of his Bench duties. Mr. Watson, having followed the hounds in Ireland, was a skilful rider, and frequently kept a stallion for his equestrian exercises. He retired from the Bench in the latter “sixties” or early “seventies,” and returned to Ireland.
Captain George Hempelmann, Mrs. Hempelmann (No. 1), 1830-40, Mrs. Hempelmann (No. 2), one daughter by first wife. Captain Hempelmann was a German whaler, who had a whaling station in Piraki in 1835. His first wife, by whom he had one daughter, died here, and he married a second time, a Mrs. Welch, who also died soon afterwards. Mr. Hempelmann was at law with the Government until his death over land titles. He claimed to have fairly purchased from Maori chiefs either 15 square miles or 15,000 acres. The Government did not recognise his claim in its entirety, but made him an offer in compensation of 1,500 acres. This he foolishly repudiated, and, in consequence, was a very poor man when he died. He died in the Akaroa Hospital on 13th February, 1880, at the age of eighty-one years.
“Charley” Beasley, 1840-50, was a cabinet-maker, and assisted Mr. Nankivell in building the third house of the author’s father at Pigeon Bay. He was found dead on Duvauchelles Bay beach with his tongue tom out of his mouth, a mutilation which was generally accepted as evidence of foul play. No light was ever thrown on the circumstance. He was an excellent tradesman.
Robert Nankivell, Mrs. Nankivell, John George, Tom, Robert, Junr., Emma, Mary, 1840-50. Mr. Nankivell was a carpenter, who came to Lyttelton in 1849. He, with two of his sons, was occupied building the third house for Mr. Ebenezer Hay, of Pigeon Bay, the author’s father. He had come down from Wellington to assist in the erection of the immigration barracks in Lyttelton, which were in preparation for the arrival of the first four ships. He had not quite finished Mr. Hay’s house when those ships arrived, but he shortly afterwards went to Melbourne, where he eventually died at a great age, and in very good circumstances. He was an excellent tradesman, and very silent and reserved in his manner.
William Green, Mrs. Green, 1830-40, and family. Mr. Green came to Akaroa in 1839 in charge of the first lot of cows landed in Canterbury, the property of Mr. W. B. Rhodes. He was in Akaroa before the hoisting of the flag, which took place at the point where he resided, Green’s Point. He remained in Akaroa for a good number of years. He assisted in the ceremony of hoisting the flag in August, 1840. He built a hotel at Green’s Point, which was subsequently taken down and removed to Lyttelton by Mr. George Tribe, where it was re-erected. In 1854 or 1855 it was burned down on Norwich Quay. Mr. Green built another hotel in Akaroa opposite the old wharf. This was known in after years as Armstrong’s buildings. Green’s hotel on Green’s Point was the first hotel put up in Akaroa harbour.
“Jim” O’Brien, 1840-50, was working for the author’s father, Mr. Ebenezer Hay, in 1846 to 1847. He went off to the Melbourne diggings.
Robert Donaldson, 1840-50, came from Wellington in 1848-9. He was the first school teacher in Pigeon Bay, but proved quite unfit for the work. He only remained a short time on the Peninsula.
James Beaty, 1840-50, was a Waterloo soldier, and was employed by the author’s father in 1845 and 1846, who was wont to say that if Wellington’s veterans were all of the stamp of James Beaty there was little wonder in his winning the day. Beaty was a splendid worker, and absolutely fearless. He went off to the Melbourne diggings.
“Toby” Green, 1840-50, came from America, and was working at Annandale, Pigeon Bay, in 1846. About that time a murder was committed at Port Levy by a sailor, who shot the third mate of a French whaling vessel. The murderer came over to Pigeon Bay, and gave up his gun to the Maoris on condition that they would conceal him until a whaling vessel arrived by which he intended to make his escape. The Magistrate, however, came over from Akaroa to arrest him, and E. Hay, John Hay, and Toby Green were all sworn in as special constables. The murderer was duly arrested at daylight in a Maori wharé, and taken down to the boat and handcuffed. Toby Green caught a loaded gun by the muzzle to pull it out of the boat. It went off, and the ball entered his knee. Refusing to have his leg amputated, he was ten months in bed. The ball suppurated out in two portions months afterwards. The leg was stiff, and, during the remainder of his life, the wound never healed, and, no doubt, hastened his end, strong man though he was. Mr. Green bought land in Little Akaloa, and was very well off before he died. He married late in life a widow, but had no family.
Thomas Cullen, 1840-50, was a ship carpenter who landed in Wellington in 1841-2. In 1843 he came to Pigeon Bay, and assisted in building the first two houses of the author’s father. He also built, or assisted to build, Mr. Greenwood’s house at Purau, Mr. John Gebbie’s, and some other smaller dwellings. He went to Hobart in the end of the “forties” before the Canterbury settlement was talked of. He worked there at his trade (ship building), made money, and retired to Scotland in the “eighties.” He came from Glasgow originally, and was a credit to his country, proving himself the right sort of man for a young colony. In all his long life he never tasted spirits, although he kept a hotel in Hobart for ten years. He never married.
John Hay, 1840-50, Mrs. Hay, Jessie (now Mrs. Patterson), James (now solicitor at Timaru), Marion, Agnes, Margaret. Mr. Hay landed in Wellington in 1841-2. He came to Pigeon Bay in 1843, and assisted in building the first house there. It was all thatch work with a clay floor. He also assisted in building Mr. Greenwood’s house at Purau, and Mrs. Gebbie’s at Teddington. In 1853 he went to Scotland by Melbourne. On his return he, in conjunction with the author’s father, took up a run of some 35,000 acres in the Mackenzie Country. He then bought a farm at Temuka, and settled on it, and in 1864 the Mackenzie Country station (called Tekapo) was sold. Mount John there takes its name from him. He was a successful farmer, and has left a family of one son and four daughters.
Ebenezer Hay, Mrs. Hay, James (born June 10th, 1841, at Petone), Thomas Orr, William, Hannah L., Agnes (now Mrs. W. G. Gardiner, Glasgow), 1840-50, Robert, 1850 (before December 16th), Marion (now Mrs. John Guthrie), Mary (now Mrs. Thomas Orr Guthrie), Mary, Edwin. Mr. Hay left the Clyde in October, 1839, and arrived in Wellington in 1840. He remained in Wellington for a little over two years. Before leaving Scotland he purchased land there to be chosen in the North Island on his arrival in New Zealand. It transpired, however, that the Government had not completed the purchase of lands from the Natives, who naturally resented settlement until they received payment. They refused to allow Mr. Hay to settle, so he arranged with Mr. Wakefield to have his land order transferred to the South Island. He and a Mr. Sinclair then procured a schooner called the Richmond, in which, with their families, they sailed southward, and arrived in Pigeon Bay in April, 1843. Mr. Hay selected his land here, and, having brought down from Wellington two cows and a heifer calf, proceeded at once to establish the nucleus of a home. First of all he and Mr. Sinclair sold the Richmond to Mr. W. B. Rhodes, of Wellington, for ten cows, valued at £20 per head. Those cows were at Akaroa, and to get them to Pigeon Bay a track had to be cut through the bush. The line selected for this track was that of the path used by the Maoris, which was faintly marked by broken twigs, and blazing here and there on a tree trunk. There was no pretence at grading, for the track followed the contour of the land straight up one side of a spur and down the other. It took eight men three weeks to widen this track sufficiently to enable the cattle to be brought over. In the combined Hay and Sinclair families there were, in all, fifteen souls, and for the first three months we all lived together in a tent, which was pitched close to the beach at a spot now approximately indicated by the large gum tree growing near the main bridge. In July, 1843, the first house was completed. It was built of thatch work with a clay floor. Some three years later a second house was erected, built of white pine, with black pine flooring and totara shingles. Although this house stood for over thirty years, there was no trace of borers in any of the white pine timber, indicating that these pests were an importation, probably introduced in the boxes and trunks of immigrants.
Mr. Hay took a keen interest in educational matters, and himself built a district school on his own land, and secured a teacher, the families benefiting contributing only to the salary of the teacher and not to the building. The first teacher was not a success, so Mr. Hay sent to Scotland, and took pains to secure a good man, who, in the person of Mr. J. W. Gillespie, arrived in 1859. Mr. Gillespie was a man of culture, an excellent teacher, and a great acquisition to the pioneers. In a few months the school proved too small, and Mr. Hay cheerfully erected a much larger one on another site close at hand, and gave it over free of cost. Unfortunately, Mr. Gillespie died about eighteen months after his arrival, and his loss was keenly felt, not only as a teacher, but as a man of sterling character, who was much respected and appreciated by all. Mr. Hay again lost no time, and, taking full precautions, sent once more to Scotland, and was signally fortunate in securing Mr. W. S. Fitzgerald, who arrived in 1861, and who, for a number of years, remained in Pigeon Bay, whence he went to Oamaru and eventually to Dunedin, where, as everyone knows, he became famous in educational matters, having been, in fact, the originator of our present system. He retired a year ago (1910), full of honour, from a high position in Education.
In Church matters Mr. Hay took a deep interest, and in conjunction with a few others was instrumental in procuring the first Presbyterian minister for Christchurch and the Peninsula.
Mr. Hay was a good and zealous neighbour, whose aim was not to take up more land than he could profitably work, and whose desire was to assist settlers, for whose benefit he not only gave up portions of his own preemptive right, but, in many cases, advanced them money to purchase land and secure a foothold. The roading of the Peninsula absorbed much of his time and care.
Mr. Hay lost his life in 1863, the result of an accident, when comparatively a young man.
Miss Ann Firmagem, 1840-50, came to Pigeon Bay in 1844-5. She remained nine years in the bay, and then married Mr. Wm. Boag, of Burnside.
Mr. Gough, 1840-50, was here in 1845, and carried on whaling. Gough’s Bay (called after him) was where he lived with the Maoris for a time.
James Zealwood, 1840-50, was stationed at Akaroa as police constable in 1848, when Mr. J. Watson was Magistrate there.
Captain Francis Sinclair (drowned in 1846), Mrs. Sinclair, George (drowned 1846), James, Jane (now Mrs. Thos. Gay), Helen (now Mrs. C. B. Robinson), Francis Annie (now Mrs. Knudsen), 1840-50. Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, with their family, three sons and three daughters, arrived in Wellington in 1841. Mr. Sinclair had purchased land in New Zealand before leaving Scotland, but, finding he could not get suitable land near Wellington, he built a schooner, with which he visited Nelson, Banks Peninsula, and other places, and finally decided to settle in Pigeon Bay, where he brought his family in 1843. Having bought land in the Bay from the French Company, he afterwards selected the property he bought in Scotland, adjoining the land from the French Company, which formed the family estate in Sinclair’s Bay, and where Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair, with all their family around them, had a happy home till 1846, when the family were plunged into the deepest sorrow by the death of Mr. Sinclair and his eldest son, who were lost at sea on a voyage to Wellington. They were regretted by everyone, and Sir George Grey, then Governor of New Zealand, said that Mr. Sinclair’s death was a loss not only to his family, but to all the colony.
Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair’s family were George, who was lost with his father on a voyage to Wellington; James, who died in the Hawaiian Islands; Jane, who married Captain Thomas Gay; Helen, who married Mr. C. B. Robinson; Francis, who married and lived in England; and Annie, who married Mr. V. Knudsen in the Hawaiian Islands.
After several years, Mrs. Sinclair and family decided to leave New Zealand, for, although they had such a fine estate and comfortable home in Sinclair’s Bay, they wished to get larger tracts of land where all the family could settle together, so they sold all their land, cattle, and sheep, and bought a barque of 300 tons, in which they all left New Zealand in 1863. They had a pleasant voyage across the Pacific to British Columbia, and landed for a time at the Island of Vancouver, where the Governor, Sir James Douglas, offered the family every inducement to settle, which they were obliged to decline, as they found that the country was not suitable for grazing purposes, which they wished to pursue. So they left Vancouver, and went to the Hawaiian Islands, of which they had heard good accounts. When they arrived at Honolulu, Kamehameha IV. was then King, and he and his Ministers offered the family every inducement to settle in the country, and so the family bought the Island of Niihau, with good grazing land suitable for sheep-farming. They also bought the land of Makaweli, on the adjoining Island of Kauai. The latter estate is principally devoted to the culture of sugar-cane. These islands have been very profitable, yielding large sugar crops. After a happy life in her home at Makaweli, surrounded by children and grandchildren, Mrs. Sinclair died in 1892, deeply regretted by her family and everyone. Mount Sinclair, on Banks Peninsula, was called after the family.
John Hutcheson, 1840-50, landed in Wellington in 1841. He was a brother of Mrs. Sinclair, and, in conjunction with her, he took up one of the very first runs in the Mackenzie Country. The property was named “Mary’s Range,” after his wife. It was situated on Lake Pukaki, and a few years afterwards was sold to Messrs. Watson and Brown.
Alfred Wallace, 1840-50. A fine young fellow, much esteemed, and a promising settler. He was drowned with Mr. Sinclair in 1846. His brother George was subsequently drowned with Mr. William Deans.
Captain Thomas Gay, Mrs. Gay (nee Jane Sinclair), James, George, Francis, Eliza, 1840-50. Captain Thomas Gay, of the British Merchant Service, came to Canterbury in 1849. He married Miss Jane Sinclair, and they made their home in Pigeon Bay. Captain Gay, with some of the merchants in Lyttelton, bought the first steamer owned in Canterbury. The steamer was very successful in trading round the coast. After a time Captain Gay went on a visit to Scotland, his native land, and returned in command of one of the large passenger ships to Canterbury. In 1863 he, with the Sinclair family, bought a barque of 300 tons, in which he and his family, with the Sinclair family, left New Zealand, and went to the Hawaiian Islands. After his wife and family were settled there, he returned to Australia to sell the vessel, but died at Newcastle on his way home to the Islands, leaving his wife and family, three sons and two daughters, to mourn their loss.
William Deans, John Deans, 1840-50, Mrs. John Deans, 1852, John, Junr. Mr. William Deans landed in Wellington in 1840. Mr. John Deans arrived in Nelson on October 25th, 1842. The two brothers remained in the North Island until 1843, when they came down to Canterbury in the schooner Richmond, owned by Messrs. Sinclair and Hay. Mr. William Deans was, by profession, a lawyer, and was much respected and sought after by the hardy pioneers of those days, to all of whom he acted as legal adviser, giving them the advantage of his knowledge and experience without stint and without fee. He and his brother John were sterling men, pioneers of the right stamp and universally esteemed, and when Mr. William Deans was drowned his loss was deeply deplored by all. Arriving in Canterbury, the Deans Brothers decided to make their home at Riccarton. They were, even at that early date, the third party to take up land in this locality. The first venture was made by the firm of Cooper and Levy, who had whaling vessels in New Zealand waters, and who traded with the Maoris in the early ’thirties. Cooper and Levy were a Sydney firm, and, having bought from the Natives the bush land on what is now Riccarton and Papanui, as well as blocks in Akaroa and Port Levy, they despatched a vessel under the command of one Captain Underwood, presumably to take possession. This vessel, however, was lost with all hands, and the Maori titles being lost with her, Messrs. Cooper and Levy abandoned the project. In 1840, another Sydney firm, Messrs. Abercrombie and Co., bought what is now Riccarton, and in the same year took possession of the property, sending over Mr. Malcolm McKinnon, whom they landed with a team of bullocks, a dray, and farming implements at the mouth of Lake Forsyth. Messrs. Abercrombie and Co. sent over another vessel with farm hands, and further implements and supplies, but she was lost with all hands, and Messrs. Abercrombie and Co., being ruined, likewise abandoned the project. What happened to Mr. McKinnon and his family has already been recorded. The others who were connected with the venture, and who were with him, returned to Sydney, and Riccarton for the second time was abandoned.
Now in April, 1843, for the third time, William and John Deans entered into possession, giving it the name it now bears after their old home in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. The river flowing past their homestead they called the Avon (after a stream of similar size in Scotland) some six or seven years before the arrival of the first four ships. It is quite erroneous to suppose, as is generally believed, that the Avon was named by the Canterbury Pilgrims in commemoration of Shakespeare’s Avon at Stratford.
Sir George Grey held so high an opinion of the Deans Brothers that, after the Wairau massacre, in which Mr. Wakefield and party were murdered, he offered William Deans any position in Wellington he chose to select. He declined, because the brothers were so much attached to each other that they would not separate. In the ’forties they imported a number of cattle, a few sheep, and some horses from Sydney. The settlers by the first four ships had much to thank the Deans Brothers for. The Riccarton Bush then comprised some sixty acres, extending across what is now the Riccarton Road. The settlers had permission to remove from it what firewood they required free of cost up to a limit which marked what now remains of the bush, owing its preservation to the fostering care of the Deans Brothers, and constituting a monument to their work. Mr. William Deans was drowned going to Wellington on 23rd July, 1851, at the age of thirty-four years, and Mr. John Deans died on 23rd June, 1854. They both passed away at an early age, and were much lamented by the early settlers.
John Gebbie, Mrs. Gebbie, David, John, Mary (now Mrs. John Murray), Marion (now Mrs. John Williams), Andy, William, 1840-50. Mr. John Gebbie and family came to Canterbury in 1843 in the schooner Richmond with Messrs. Deans. He stayed at Riccarton for some two years, and then took up land at the head of Port Cooper (now called Teddington). He stocked his place with both cattle and sheep, and especially in the latter branch of his stock proved himself a splendid manager. The property is still owned by his grandchildren. Mr. Gebbie died in the early ’fifties. He was greatly respected.
Samuel Manson, Mrs. Manson, Agnes (now Mrs. Blackford), Robert, Samuel, John, Marion (now Mrs. Smith), Jeannie (first child born on the plains), 1840-50. Mr. Samuel Manson and family came to Canterbury also in the Richmond. After about two years he also selected his land at Teddington so that his property adjoined that of Mr. John Gebbie. He had been trained to farming in Scotland. Mr. Manson had a very large family, seventeen in all, and with one exception they are all alive to-day (25th April, 1911). The Mansons were celebrated cheese makers. The younger members of the family now own the property.
William Todd, Mrs. Todd, 1840-50, and family. Mr. Todd came from the North Island in 1845, and going direct to Riccarton filled the position Mr. Gebbie vacated when he took up land at Teddington. (Mr. Manson had also been engaged at Riccarton). Mr. Todd afterwards procured a block of land on Fendalton Road, and, selling it after a few years, purchased an excellent farm at Lincoln, which he conducted with great skill for many years.
Thomas Welch, Henry Welch (brothers), Mrs. Welch (their mother), who afterwards became Mrs. Hempelmann), 1840-50, arrived in Peraki on 29th January, 1844. Mr. Hempelmann married Mrs. Welch, who died a few years afterwards. George Welch, the now famous sculler, is a grandson of Thomas Welch.
Douglas Graham, 1852, arrived in New Zealand in the early ’fifties with Mr. and Mrs. John Deans, Senior. He was an exceptionally good farmer, and a man of mature judgment and sterling character. He took a deep interest in agricultural and pastoral shows, and his advice on farming questions was much sought after by all classes. His early death (by misadventure from chloroform whilst undergoing a small surgical operation) cast a deep gloom over the farming community.
James D. Greenwood, Joseph Greenwood, Edward Greenwood, 1840-50. These three brothers came south from Wellington in the schooner Richmond, owned by Messrs. Sinclair and Hay in the year 1843. They took possession of Purau and Motonau. They all lived together at Purau in a house which they built, and which, at that time, was considered quite a mansion. Unfortunately, in the middle of the ’forties, they were victimised by bushrangers, who tied them up in their own kitchen, and robbed them of all the money and valuables they had in the house. Shortly afterwards, still more unfortunately, Mr. Joseph Greenwood was drowned in a whaleboat along with “Johnny” Moles and a Maori during a trip from Purau to Motonau. These two incidents, especially the latter, so depressed and disheartened the two remaining brothers that in 1847 they sold Purau to Messrs. W. B. and George Rhodes for a very low figure, notwithstanding that at the time it was well stocked with sheep and cattle. The two Greenwoods then sailed for Sydney with the intention of purchasing stock for Motonau. Ill luck still pursued them, for one of the brothers died in New South Wales. The survivor went to the Old Country, whence he never returned. Motonau was eventually leased to Mr. J. S. Caverhill.
These three men were sterling, upright, and highly respected, possessing the qualities which best fitted them for pioneers, and their loss to the country is to be deplored.
John S. Caverhill, 1840-50, came south with the Greenwoods, with whom he stayed for a time at Purau. He then went as manager at Motonau, and after the death and departure of the Greenwoods, he leased that property for a number of years. Some time in the sixty decade he bought Hawkswood, where he put up a beautiful home. Whilst on this property he imported some fine shorthorn cattle, from which he reared a splendid herd. Many of them getting out of bounds became wild, and roamed about the Black Hills, where they had to be destroyed. Mr. Caverhill, selling Hawkswood, purchased Highfield, which he only retained for a few years when he sold it in turn for a very large profit.
Mr. Caverhill was a good farmer, and an excellent judge of all kinds of stock. He told the writer on one occasion that, in order to support the swaggers who infested his place, he was compelled to kill one sheep a day, besides supplying them, in addition, with flour, tea, and sugar.
Richard Prebble, William Prebble, Edward Prebble, Mary Prebble (now Mrs. Andrew Dawson). This family came to Purau with the Greenwood Brothers in 1843, and, whilst still young men, the three brothers remained with Messrs. Greenwood for some years. Eventually they took up land close together in the district now known by their name, viz., Prebbleton. They were all good farmers, and they all married and had families, so that many of their descendants are still in the district.
Stephen Whitehead, 1840-50, Mrs. Whitehead, and a very large family. Mr. Whitehead was a half-brother of the Prebbles, with whom he came to Wellington. Shortly afterwards he came down to Canterbury. He had a numerous family.
Charles Turner, 1840-50, came to Port Levy in the early ’fifties, where he remained for a few years, and then went to the Plains.
William Barry, Mrs. Barry, 1840-50, and family. Mr. Barry was a shepherd in the employ of either Messrs. Greenwood or Messrs. Rhodes, or both, during the forty decade. On leaving Purau he went to Akaroa, giving his name to what is known as Barry’s Bay at the head of the harbour. He left the Peninsula some time during the ’fifties.
Alexander McIntosh, Mrs. McIntosh, John; Henry, Kitty, and Levena (triplets); Levena was Mrs. J. Cook and afterwards Mrs. H. Bennett. Maggie (Mrs. W. Henderson), Mary Ann (Mrs. Graham), Jock, Thomas, Christina (Mrs. McLean). Mr. McIntosh arrived in Wellington 25th December, 1840, and in Pigeon Bay in 1846. During the latter or the following year they went to McIntosh Bay (now known as Menzies Bay), where they carried on dairy farming and made cheese, which was famed in Melbourne market. After many years the youngest son, Thomas, took over the property which he eventually sold to the present proprietor, Mr. J. H. Menzies. Mr. McIntosh was the first individual to take up land in the bay to which he gave his name. He was a warm hearted hospitable man, keeping open house for all travellers. Altogether they were a worthy family, and were much respected.
William Barnard Rhodes, arrived Akaroa 1839; Robert Heaton Rhodes, arrived Akaroa 1850; George Rhodes, arrived Akaroa 1843; Joseph Rhodes, arrived Akaroa 1842; Peter Rhodes, who returned to England in 1844, arrived in Akaroa in 1843. The three Rhodes Brothers, William Barnard, George, and Robert, were intimately connected with Canterbury since a date many years prior to the first settlement by the colonists, and that connection is as intimate in their descendants at the present day. W. B. Rhodes was the first of them to visit the place that was to become Canterbury. He was a seafaring man, and in 1834 and 1835 he commanded a whaling ship, the Australian, belonging to a Sydney firm, Messrs. Cooper and Holt, afterwards Cooper and Levy, whose names were given to the two adjacent harbours, Port Cooper and Port Levy. The former was later named Lyttelton Harbour. Mr. Rhodes was in the harbour in 1834, when he climbed the hills looking over the Canterbury Plains, which he described as a vast swamp, with two patches of native bush. Trade was carried on with the Natives, and in 1839, a Captain Francis Leathart purchased an area of land from the Natives through Taiaroa, which area Leathart transferred in September, 1839, to the firm which Rhodes had now joined, Cooper, Holt, and Rhodes. The last-named purchased a fine barque, the Eleanor, and buying fifty head of cattle, including two bulls, at £16 a head, from Mr. Rust, at the Hunter River, New South Wales, he landed these at Takapuneke, or Red House Bay, Akaroa Harbour, early in November, 1839. These were the first cattle landed in Canterbury, and he left one William Green in charge of them at the Bay. Green had had charge of the stock on the boat, and settled at Red House with his wife and little boy, two years of age. In 1842 W. B. Rhodes was joined by his brother Joseph, but he left Akaroa soon after 1843, and settled first in Wellington, but soon afterwards in Napier, where he acquired a fine property. W. B. Rhodes also made his home in Wellington, and he was there when George Rhodes arrived in Akaroa in December, 1843, having left London by the Mandarin in June of that year, coming to New Zealand via van Dieman’s Land. George Rhodes was brought up as an English farmer, and, on arriving at Akaroa, he took charge of the cattle station. A brother, Peter, accompanied him, but he, not liking New Zealand, returned to England, and carried on farming there. In May, 1847, W. B. Rhodes and George Rhodes purchased the Purau property from the Greenwood Brothers for £1,710, and George made that his place of residence until joined there by Robert Heaton, another brother from Australia, in the beginning of 1850. The property acquired on the Akaroa side of the Peninsula was sold: that at Flea Bay to Israel Rhodes, who was no relative, though bearing the same name, and that at the Akaroa Heads to Charles Haylock. On the formation of the Canterbury settlement, the brothers leased lands for pastoral purposes on various parts of the Peninsula: in 1851, 250 acres near Mt. Evans, 250 acres at Mt. Herbert (increased to 10,000 acres in 1857); in 1852, 5,800 acres at Purau, 9,200 at Ahuriri, and 18,000 acres at Akaroa; in 1853, 20,000 acres south of the Rakaia; but most important in 1852 a large area of 150,000 at Timaru, afterwards known as The Levels. This area they stocked with surplus sheep from their Peninsula properties. Besides pastoral areas they purchased freehold areas in moderate-sized blocks, and in favourable localities from time to time, among them the land now forming the business part of Timaru, long known as Rhodes Town. The Timaru properties were principally managed by George, Robert Heaton managing those at Purau and about Christchurch. From the variety of their early training the three brothers formed an excellent business combination, and all their ventures proved successful. George died at Lyttelton in June, 1864, Robert arriving from a visit to England just in time to attend the funeral, which was also attended by William Barnard from Wellington. Robert Heaton Rhodes died in Christchurch in June, 1884. The brother George did not take an active part in public life. W. B. Rhodes, however, was a member of the first General Assembly held in Auckland in 1854, and was also a member of the Legislative Council; and Robert Heaton Rhodes represented Akaroa in the first Provincial Council of Canterbury, in 1853, holding the seat for ten years. He also represented Akaroa in the General Assembly in 1871-2-3. In the last-named year illness caused him to leave New Zealand, to which he returned in 1878. In social matters the brothers were most liberal, giving or selling on easy terms sites for schools, churches, and public schools, besides assisting with contributions. They were also at all times ready to help steady working men, and besides paying high wages to their employees, they gave them a share of the profits from their dairies and other farm produce. The two brothers specially connected with Akaroa, George and Robert Heaton, left fairly large families; among them are men of business capacities equal to those of their fathers. Robert Heaton Rhodes, of Bluecliffs, South Canterbury, a son of George Rhodes, has been Chairman of the Waimate County Council for several years; another son, Arthur E. G. Rhodes, has been a member of Parliament for Gladstone and Geraldine, and also Mayor of Christchurch, and the Hon. Robert Heaton Rhodes, son of R. H. Rhodes, is a member of the Ministry of the present Government, being the representative of the Ellesmere district and part of the Peninsula. In 1886 the Rhodes Convalescent Home was opened by means of £10,000 contributed by the children of Robert Heaton Rhodes. The Christchurch Cathedral is greatly indebted to the family. The tower was erected by Robert Heaton in memory of his brother George, and the spire was erected to the memory of their father by the children of George Rhodes in 1881. One part of the spire being shaken down by the earthquake of 1st September, 1888, the cost of rebuilding it was borne by members of the Rhodes family. A memorial window of three lights, too, was presented to the memory of Robert Heaton Rhodes, and he, himself, presented the eight largest of the ten bells in the tower. Soon after these brothers had taken up the Levels, at Timaru, they chartered a schooner of light draught. She was taken into Lake Ellesmere to a point called McQueen’s Point, loaded with stores and timber. She sailed out and went to Timaru, and discharged her cargo for the Messrs. Rhodes for The Levels. Few people in Canterbury have had a better opportunity of judging the sterling qualities of these three brothers than I have had. Their word was their bond in all matters. My first acquaintance with Mr. George Rhodes was in 1846, when I was a small boy, and Mr. R. H. Rhodes four years later, and being almost close neighbours, the whole of their lives, I have had a good opportunity of judging their sterling qualities—just the right sort of men for starting a young colony.
Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet (afterwards Mrs. G. Ashton), John, Henry (said to be the first boy born in Wellington), Susan, George, 1840-50. Mr. Bennet was a surveyor who landed in Wellington in 1839 or 1840. Coming south to the Peninsula he settled, towards the end of the ’forties in Little Akaloa. A few years afterwards (beginning of the ’fifties) he died. His widow married Mr. George Ashton.
Israel Rhodes, Mrs. Rhodes, Marian, Elizabeth (Mrs. Bushel), 1840-50, James, Holdsworth, Ambrose, Alfred, William, Emma (now Mrs. McFarlane). Mr. Rhodes landed in Wellington in 1842, and in the following year came to Akaroa, whence he went over to Long Bay or Flea Bay in the interests of Messrs. Rhodes Brothers. Having purchased the latter property, he shifted thence from Long Bay. Flea Bay still belongs to one of his elder sons. Mr. Israel Rhodes was in no way related to Messrs. Rhodes Brothers.
Flea Bay does not owe its baptism to any poetic fancy. In the days when “spades were called spades,” fleas were called fleas, and in that particular locality there happened to be plenty of the latter to respond.
Francois Etienne Lelievre, Rose Justine, 1830-40, Francoise, Virginia (daughters), Etienne Cavier (son), Victoire (daughter), Auguste Joseph, Eugene Francois, Jules George (sons), Emily (daughter). Mr. Lelievre came originally to New Zealand in a whaling vessel under command of Captain L’Anglois in 1836. On his arrival at this time the Maori pa at Onawe Peninsula (Akaroa Harbour) had just been completed. On his return in 1837-8 he found it destroyed. Mr. Lelievre was present on the momentous occasion of Captain L’Anglois’ purchase from the Maoris of that portion of Banks Peninsula which secured to the French a foothold in New Zealand. The details of this transaction were conducted at Port Levy, and the price finally agreed upon was £500, one half of which was due on completion of the bargain. This deposit was represented by two old whaleboats, some old muskets, military clothing, and sundry articles, which were handed over to the Natives by Captain L’Anglois. The remaining £250 was paid over when the emigrants arrived in 1840.
When Mr. Lelievre for the third time arrived in New Zealand, he was regarded as having forfeited his claim to a grant of land (possessed by each emigrant), through having been employed as blacksmith on board the Comte de Paris. However, when he decided to remain in Akaroa, the same privilege was extended to him as that enjoyed by the other immigrants, and he secured his grant along with them.
Mr. Lelievre built the first accommodation house at Duvauchelle’s Bay, called the “Travellers’ Rest.” He sold it to one Anderson, and it was then opened as a public-house. After this, Mr. Lelievre settled in Akaroa, where he developed into a good and successful farmer, and reared a family of four sons and four daughters, who still own his property. He died at the advanced age of ninety-one, universally esteemed and respected.
Stephen Hunt, 1859, Mrs. Hunt, first family; John, William, Stephen, Annie (now Mrs. Luke Wright), Josiah, Charles, Lena (now Mrs. Giddens), Susan (now Mrs. Lecompt), Harriet (now Mrs. Giddens), Mary (now Mrs. Haldam)—Susan, Harriet and Mary were triplets—Joseph, Phoebe (now Mrs. Giddens); second family: Mrs. Hunt (nee Libau), Arthur, Rose (now Mrs. Abel), Hubert, Fred, David, Amelia (now Mrs. Bersley), Lucian, Albert, Robert, Eli, Oscar, Oliver, Wilfred, Leslie, Edward. Mr. Hunt came to Canterbury in 1859. He lived in Pigeon Bay for a short time, and then went to French Farm, where he bought land, and commenced dairy farming. Out of his enormous family, only one died, and that was a child he lost coming out in the ship. An emigrant ship of that time was not well adapted either in food supply or hygiene for children of tender years, so that the passing of that one may be regarded somewhat in the light of an accident. Recently another member of the family, a son, was accidentally drowned, but at the time of Mr. Hunt’s death his twenty-seven children were all alive. The remaining twenty-six are, at the time of writing this 28th June, 1911, all well, so that Mr. Hunt’s offspring are remarkably alive, numerically and for health.
Thomas S. Duncan, December 16th, 1850, Mrs. Duncan and family. Mr. Duncan came out in one of the first four ships. He was a barrister in Scotland before he left the Old Country, but on his arrival here he decided on taking up land, and was the first to secure a block in Decanter Bay, where, for some six or seven years, he carried on dairy farming. At the end of that time he sold out, and taking up his professional work again in Christchurch, rose very rapidly to a high position, and, after a few years, became Crown Prosecutor, an appointment which he held until the time of his death. He was widely known, universally liked and respected.
Hugh Buchanan, 1851-2, Mrs. Buchanan, May (now Mrs. J. S. Williams), Mary, Hugh D., Lizzie, “Buntie,” John, Annie. Mr. Buchanan settled in Little River in 1851-2 by buying out Mr. Henry Smith (who came out in the Monarch). The run which he purchased had on it a few sheep and cattle, and Mr. Buchanan gave it the name of Kinloch. A few years afterwards he bought Ikaraki from Mr. Joseph Price, and as at that time he could not transfer his wool from Little River, he took up his residence at Ikaraki, whence he was enabled to ship it. He remained there for many years, but when communication was at length opened up with Little River he returned there, and built a very fine house, Kinloch. Mr. Buchanan acquired, in course of time, a valuable estate of some 14,000 acres, and became a member of the now obsolete Provincial Council. Whilst at Ikaraki Mr. Buchanan carried on whaling for a few years, but he was not very successful. He was an excellent sheep farmer. Many years after his death the Government took over the greater part of his property for closer settlement. His two sons still reside on the homestead.
List of passengers by the Monarch, which arrived at Akaroa on April 2nd, 1850:—William Gray Abbott, Mrs. Abbott, Miss Florence Abbott, Evelyn Abbott, Samuel Charles Farr, Charles Green, Edward Harrington, Charles Haylock, Mrs. Haylock, Peter, Charles, George, Henry, Frederick Hellem, Mrs. Keogh (widow), Edward Leverest King, J. Mahoney, Mrs. Mahoney, Miss Mahoney, Richard, Peter, John Pavitt, Mrs. Pavitt, Frederick, Henry, Alfred, Francis, Thomas, Augustus, Elizabeth Ellen, Spencer, John Parker, Mrs. Parker, Herbert, Gordon, James Rule, Charles Barrington Robinson, Henry Smith, George Vogan, Mr. Woodley.
Mr. Carrington, Mrs. Carrington, 1840-50. Mr. Carrington was a surveyor who was sent by Sir George Grey from Wellington in 1846-7 to survey the land on Banks Peninsula for Messrs. Hay and Sinclair, as well as for others of the older settlers and the French. He remained for a few years. His brother was, for a considerable time, Superintendent of the Province of Taranaki.
Partridge, White, and Davia (Christian names unknown), 1840-50. These three men were sawing and cutting down timber in Pigeon Bay for use in Lyttelton along with some twenty or twenty-one others at the time of the arrival of the first four ships. They remained until news came of the first rush to the Melbourne diggings, when they all left in a body. The writer did not know the names of any of the others, but he quite well remembers his father supplying them with stores and beef, for which he took timber as payment.
“Paddy” Woods, Mrs. Woods, William, Maggie (now Mrs. Michael Hart), 1840-50. Mr. Woods was living in Akaroa in the ’forties, where he was at one time connected with the whaling industry, which he abandoned in 1844. In 1841-2 he purchased a whaling station from Philip Ryan at Oashore. After this he worked in conjunction with J. Price at Ikaraki until he gave up whaling in 1844. He had a hotel in Akaroa towards the end of the ’forties. It stood close to Bruce’s Hotel, where Garwood’s store now stands. When the Californian diggings broke out he went to them, and never returned. His family lived in Lyttelton for many years.
Dr. William Donald, 1850, came out in 1849 in the ship Cornwall. He landed at Taranaki, thence went to Nelson, from there to Wellington, and arrived in Lyttelton in 1850, shortly before the first four ships. He married a Miss Townsend. He was Health Officer for Lyttelton, also Resident Magistrate and Coroner, positions which he filled with credit for many years.
“Blue Cap,” 1840-50. The man who rejoiced in this title was the head of a gang of three bushrangers. He habitually wore a blue French cap. What his actual name was is unknown. It was this man and his accomplices who stuck up the Greenwood Brothers, and, after having tied them all up securely in their own kitchen, liberated Edward Greenwood, whom they compelled to deliver up to them all the money and valuables in the house. After this feat they set out in a whaleboat to rob Messrs. Deans Brothers. However, the Greenwoods sent a man posthaste to Port Levy, to apprise the whalers stationed there of what had happened. These men immediately manned a boat, and, crossing the bar at Sumner, proceeded up the river to Riccarton, where they arrived in advance of the robbers, whom they passed unknowingly, concealed in a cave. Blue Cap and his rapscallions, evidently also unaware of what had transpired, pursued their way to Riccarton also, and concealed themselves in the bush, where they began maturing plans for an attack. Unfortunately for them there was snow on the ground, which revealed their tracks to the whaler crew, who hunted them out. They made off for Dunedin, but one of them was drowned on the way, and the remaining two were captured, deported to Sydney, and there punished. This same gang, previously to their raid on the Messrs. Greenwood, had planned robbing the Hay family at Pigeon Bay, where they arrived for that purpose on a Saturday night. It so happened that it was the custom of some three or four young Scotchmen, big powerful fellows, to visit the Hay family every Saturday evening, and stay over the Sunday. They were there at the time these rascals were prowling round, and had they known what was on foot they would certainly have taken steps to secure the entire gang. One of these young fellows possessed prodigious strength and courage, and was almost a match for the marauders alone. However, these latter discovered their presence and slunk off. They admitted afterwards that they were afraid to make an attack although in possession of firearms. They feared they would have been over-powered, and there is little doubt but they would have been. These events occurred in 1846.
John Healy, 1840-50, an ornithologist, who was making an exhaustive collection of New Zealand birds. He spent over a month with the author’s father (Mr. E. Hay, of Pigeon Bay) in 1847 or 1848, during which time he added materially to his specimens. Mr. Healy was collecting for the British Museum, and was specially anxious to secure a large black crow, which was very rare. Two of these birds had been shot before he came, and had been eaten. A few days after he had left Pigeon Bay, Peter Brown shot another, which was also eaten in a stew with pigeons, which were then very numerous. The author has only seen three of these birds, and two of those he saw after they had been shot. The third was secured by Peter Brown, and the author saw it two or three times before it was bagged. The bird was larger than a wild pigeon, and smaller than a fowl. It was glossy black, with a strong beak like a fowl’s. It had poor flight, and generally frequented the same part of the bush. Mr. Healy, on leaving Pigeon Bay, went to the North Island, where he collected many more birds.
Duvauchelle, 1840-50. There were three brothers, Frenchmen, of this name who bought a small block of land at Duvauchelle’s Bay (called after them), on which they lived for some time. One of the brothers had many dealings with Captain Hempelmann in 1842, in connection with whaling. He had been a seafaring man. He was in business for a short time in Akaroa, where he built a store close to where Garwood’s store now stands. After he abandoned it the store did duty for a time as a lock-up. Next it was transformed into a hospital. It survives to this day, now forming the old part of Mr. Watkins’ store. The Duvauchelle Brothers left the Peninsula for the South Sea Islands, and never returned. Their land has now been claimed, in the lapse of the time limit, by Mr. Henry Piper.
Roland Davis, Mrs. Davis, and family, 1840-50. Mr. Davis landed with his family in Wellington on 22nd January, 1840, from the ship Aurora. In 1851 he came south to Lyttelton, where, for many years, he kept the Canterbury Hotel. For a few years he was a member of the Provincial Council. He leased a block of land from Mr. C. B. Robinson in Pigeon Bay, where, for some time, a portion of his family resided. Eventually Mr. Davis gave up the hotel in Lyttelton, and went over to the West Coast when the diggings broke out there.
Captain Thomas, 1840-50, arrived in Lyttelton in 1848, where he had full charge of the settlement, supervising all the works preparatory to the arrival of the first four ships.
Henry Condon, 1840-50, was whaling at Piraki with Hempelmann in 1836-8. He lived successively in Pigeon Bay, Okain’s Bay, and lastly in le Bon’s Bay. He had a large family.
John Henry le Cren, 1840-50, arrived in Lyttelton in 1849. He was connected with the firm of Langdon and le Cren. Ultimately, he went to Timaru, where he commenced business, and became very successful.
Moses Cryer, Mrs. Cryer, Miss F. Cryer (now Mrs. John Gebbie, Junr.), Charles, Ellen, 1840-50. Mr. Cryer came to Nelson in the ship Mary, and arrived at Lyttelton in 1849. He was a butcher, and after carrying on business in Lyttelton for some years went to Southbridge, where he acquired a small run.
Charles Johnston, 1840-50, arrived in Lyttelton with Captain Thomas. He built the barracks (assisted by other carpenters, under the supervision of Captain Thomas), as well as several other buildings. These barracks were erected to receive the passengers who eventually landed from the first four ships.
Mr. Peacock (who was the father of the late Hon. J. T. Peacock) owned a brig called the Mountain Maid in 1852. He traded all round the Peninsula, as well as at all New Zealand ports, and his brig was a floating store. He at one time purchased from Mr. E. Hay sixty tons of potatoes, for which he paid £8 per ton from the grape, also 1,000 bushels of oats at 8s. per bushel. This produce he took over to Melbourne, where he got £40 per ton for the potatoes. Those potatoes, by the way, were grown on three acres of land which was originally a flax swamp, but was subsequently drained and brought under cultivation.
George Day, Mrs. Day, William, George, Henry, Robert, Fred, Joseph, Alfred J., Eliza (now Mrs. Dean), Mary Ann (now Mrs. Rule), Susan (now Mrs. Nancable), Emma (now Mrs. Wadman), Ellen (now Mrs. Cameron), 1840-50. Mr. Day landed in Wellington in 1841, and came south to Lyttelton in 1849. Shortly afterwards he went to Sumner, where he built and kept a hotel for many years, which was among the first of its kind in Canterbury. In the early ’fifties, among the treasured possessions of the Day family was a cow which served as a hack for all the school children, who were accustomed to ride into Lyttelton, where stores were purchased and packed on its back for the return journey. Arriving at Sumner in the evening, the stores were unpacked, and the cow milked, and eventually turned out to feed. One of Mr. Day’s sons was pilot at Sumner for the Lyttelton Harbour Board, and through his courage and intimate knowledge of the bar acquired a wide celebrity for the number of lives he saved.
Francois Narbey, 1840-50, Mrs. Narbey, Francois, Eleanore, John Edward, Victor Constant and Mary (twins), Thomas Walter, Stewart Henry, Rose Adelaide, Caterine Louisa, Jane Elizabeth, William Frederick, Charles Cecil, Joseph, Albert Alexander, Sarah Annie and Edwin Florentin (twins), Clara Rebecca, Archibald Phillip, Arthur Leonard. Mr. Narbey, a Frenchman, came to Akaroa in a whaler in 1849. After a time he purchased land at Long Bay, to the east of Akaroa. Here for many years Mr. Narbey carried on dairy farming, and at length acquired an estate comprising some 3,000 acres, on which he carried a large number of sheep, and proved himself a successful farmer and a good settler, having raised a family from one wife of no less than eighteen children, the “episode” of twins having twice occurred. Mr. Narbey died at Akaroa on July 20th, 1913, at the age of eighty-four years.
THE FRENCH IMMIGRANTS.
The following list of French immigrants was given to the author by Mr. Etienne Lelievre, of Akaroa, who took some pains to complete it by enquiries from his mother and Mr. Eteveneaux, who are still (August, 1911) alive:—
French pioneers landed at Akaroa on August 15th, 1840, from the ship Comte de Paris.
Saint Croix de Beligni (agent for the Nanto-Bordelaise Company); Eugene de Beligni, M. and Mme. Cebert; M. and Mme. David, two children, boy and girl; M. and Mme. Eteveneaux, three children, one boy and two girls; M. and Mme. Borioud; M. and Mme. Libeau, two children, one boy and one girl; M. and Mme. de Malmanche, two children, one boy and one girl; M. and Mme. Breitmeyer, four children, two boys and two girls; M. and Mme. Gendros, one girl; M. and Mme. Rouselot; M. and Mme. Guindon; M. and Mme. Bernard, one nephew; M. and Mme. Benoit. Unmarried: Masset, Picouler, Vidale, Ledue, Michel, Fleuriot, Dupas, Veron, Dulac, de Malmanche, Gendros, Francois.
The Germans were:—Waekerle, Courtenaire, Pitre, Woolf, Petit-Horlote, Josephe.
Two children died on board ship, but were buried in Pigeon Bay.
The French settlers who landed from the Comte de Paris were all good, law-abiding settlers, were very industrious, and have never been a burden to the State. Although, for the most part, they were satisfied with small blocks of land, they farmed these well, and grew large quantities of fruit. There were amongst them tradesmen of all classes. A few of them having acquired sufficient wealth to keep them during the remainder of their lives returned to France. Another few, becoming successful farmers, and acquiring large estates, have proved excellent pioneers, and their descendants are now taking a keen interest in the welfare of the country, and are represented on all the local bodies. Those French settlers were, as a community, a great acquisition to New Zealand, commanding the respect of our own pioneers, who esteemed them for their rectitude and honesty. They were excellent neighbours, quiet and homely in their ways, obliging, and generous in their hospitality, always extending a cordial welcome and a good meal to travellers.
Mr. Waekerle, who was one of the German immigrants, represented Banks Peninsula in the Provincial Council of Canterbury for two years. He was an enterprising settler, and brought to his district the famous Ka-Ka pony, the sire of the celebrated Akaroa ponies, so famous for their hardihood, activity, and surefootedness on the hills and in rough country.
John McFarlane, Mrs. McFarlane and family, 1850. Mr. McFarlane landed in Wellington in the early ’forties, and came to Canterbury a few months before the first four ships. He managed a property known as White Rock for a Wellington company until the company broke up, when Mr. McFarlane purchased the estate and lived on it, and developed it for many years. After a time he bought a very fine block of land near Rangiora called Coldstream, on which he grew, on an extensive scale, very fine wheat. Mr. McFarlane was one of the first among New Zealand farmers to ship wheat to the Old Country. He was an excellent farmer, and successful in his undertakings. He left a large family of six sons and three daughters, the former of whom are, like their father, successful farmers.
George Field, Mrs. Field and family, 1852-3. Mr. Field arrived in the Bay of Islands in 1845, came to Wellington shortly afterwards, and fought in the Maori war in Wanganui in the end of the ’forties, and was many times under fire. In 1852-3 he came to Lyttelton, where he married and settled down in Port Levy, acquiring, in course of time, a fine property, which he now owns, though at present leased to one of his sons. He had a family of eight sons and two daughters, who are still alive (1911), as is he himself, at the age of eighty-seven.
George Boleyn, Mrs. Janet Boleyn, James, Harriet, Elizabeth, George, 1851. This family came to Lyttelton in the Duke of Bronte on the 6th June, 1851, and settled, soon after landing, in Little Akaloa. James bought land in Stony Bay, to the westward of Okain’s Bay, where he now owns a very fine estate. Of the entire family he is now (1911) the only survivor, a very old man, and much respected. He was the first settler in Stony Bay, and at the outset carried on dairy farming. He now conducts pastoral farming very successfully.
John Grubb, 1840-50, was a ship carpenter, and settled in Lyttelton in 1848. He was for a time Mayor of that town. He assisted Captain Thomas in many ways.
John Collier, Mrs. Collier, George, Richard, Mary Jane, Sarah Ann, 1850. Coming south from Wellington, Mr. Collier arrived in Lyttelton on October 1st, 1850. He was appointed to bake bread, and supply the passengers of the first four ships with stores. He and Mr. Mason (next mentioned) were, for a time, in partnership in this contract.
Fred. Mason, Mrs. Mason, Robert Harry, 1850, arrived in Lyttelton with Mr. Collier on October 1st, 1850, with whom, as a partner, he supplied bread and stores to the passengers of the first four ships.
Mr. and Mrs. Lingard, 1850, arrived in Lyttelton before the first four ships.
Captain William Clifford, arrived in Lyttelton in 1849, and traded round the Peninsula for some years in timber and firewood.
Mr. Heaphy arrived in Lyttelton before the first four ships. He had a hotel for many years, called Heaphy’s Hotel, where the great fire started.
George Wheeler arrived before the first four ships.
James Macdonald arrived before the first four ships.
Mr. Cameron, Mrs. Cameron, John, Peter, William, Lizzie, Ellen, Margaret, 1850, arrived in Lyttelton before the advent of the first four ships. Cameron Brothers were stevedores in Lyttelton for many years, and owned a good many small vessels and steamers. They were also the proprietors of the Mitre Hotel.
Thomas Hughes, Mrs. Hughes, Thomas, Isabella, Jane, 1840-50, came to Lyttelton in 1848. Mr. Hughes was a road contractor, and constructed a part of the old Sumner Road. After this he carried on sawmilling for some time at Robinson’s Bay, near Akaroa.
William Harris, Mrs. Harris, 1850, and family. Mr. Harris went to Okain’s Bay, where he was one of the earliest settlers.
Mr. Clarkson, Mrs. Clarkson, Thomas, George, Amelia, Annie, 1850, arrived before the first four ships.
Mr. Scott, Mrs. Scott, George, Alfred, Mary Jane, Annie, 1850, arrived before the first four ships.
Mr. Duncan Flight, Mrs. Flight, 1850, arrived before the first four ships. Mr. Flight was master of the cutter Fly.
Mr. Munns, Mrs. Munns, 1850, lived for many years in Lyttelton, and thence retired to German Bay, where they spent the rest of their days.
Magnus Allan, 1840-50, Mrs. Allan, 1851 (still alive, 1911, aged eighty-two). Robert, 1840-50, Mrs. Robert, Robert, Agnes, 1851. Robert and Magnus Allan, with their brother-in-law, Captain Sinclair, arrived in Port Levy in 1849. They helped to build the first wharf at Lyttelton under the supervision of Captain Thomas, before the arrival of the first four ships. These brothers arrived in Nelson in 1842, by the Thomas Harrison. Their wives arrived in Port Levy in 1851. The Captain Sinclair here referred to was in no way related to the Pigeon Bay Sinclair.
Alfred Rhodes, Mrs. Rhodes, 1840-50, arrived in Wellington in 1845, and in Lyttelton in 1849. He was a waterman, in partnership with James Cook, next mentioned.
James Cook, 1840-50, was a waterman in Lyttelton, where he arrived in 1849. He was the owner of some property in Decanter Bay, and eventually bought out Mr. T. S. Duncan, in that district.
William Pratt, Mrs. Pratt, 1840-50, arrived in Lyttelton in 1849, where he was a draper for a time, in partnership with a Mr. Fraser. Afterwards he moved to Christchurch, where he established Dunstable House drapery establishment.
List of men employed in the whaling industry at Peraki under Captain Hempelmann in 1836-9:—
John Turner, Benjamin Bing, Angus Daniel, John Johnson, J. Miller, Philip Relow, John Smith, Henry Rummage, Thomas Kain (the last three were drowned on July 7th, 1839), William Cranston, David Williams, Peter Higgins, George Watson, Alfred Roberts, la Marbe, George Thomas Dalton, Samuel Colley, Henry Ramsday, Charles Bruce, Wee Leveck, Manuel, Simeon Crawley, William Kelly, Jack Walkabout, Charles Porter, William Fielder, Isaac Fisher, James Daniels, Robert Leech, Thomas Chandler, James Bosworth, Peter Elder, James Connal, Thomas Condon, William Park, John Foster, Dennis Kelcher, George Daxwell, Thomas Burke, Martin Frederick, John Bishop, William Bears, Richard Pugh, Thomas Rodgers, William Tyndale, John Jones, William Siddell, Samuel Simmers, Thomas Hathaway. Many of these men married Maori women and became good settlers, some of them having large families. Others amongst them went over to the Melbourne diggings.
Arthur Eaton, 1840-50, came to Wellington in the Oriental in 1840 with his father and four brothers. He served in the early Native wars. He came to Lyttelton in 1862. He died at the age of eighty-one years at Lyttelton, and leaves a widow, one son, and three daughters.
Richard Augustus Eaton, 1840-50, came to Wellington in the Oriental in 1840 with his father and four brothers. He served in the Maori war, and found his way to Lyttelton in 1860. He worked for many years in the tunnel, and afterwards on the eastern breakwater under Martindale and H. H. Hawkins. Later he was employed by the Lyttelton Borough Council. He died on 28th June, 1913, in his eighty-sixth year, and leaves three nieces and one nephew.
Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Thacker, Miss Agnes, William, John Junr., Dr. Henry, Christopher. Mr. and Mrs. Thacker arrived in one of the first four ships. They lived in Christchurch for four or five years, then went to Okain’s Bay. Mr. Thacker bought land, all bush, and acquired a very fine estate of over 4,000 acres. Mr. Thacker died in the nineties, and the estate is divided among his daughter and sons. Mr. Thacker was a very enterprising settler. Mrs. Thacker was a very fine lady and kind to all. She only died a few years ago. Dr. Thacker, of Christchurch, is a son.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Fleming, Miss E. Fleming (died in 1862), George, Richard Junr., Robert William, Mary (now Mrs. Barrett), John James. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming arrived in the Randolph, one of the first four ships. They settled in Port Levy. The two old people passed away many years ago. Mr. Fleming acquired a very fine property of about 4,000 acres, which is owned at the present time (Oct., 1913), by five of his sons. Mr. and Mrs. Fleming went to Port Levy a very short time after landing.
Mr. and Mrs. Cholmondeley and family, three sons and five daughters, arrived in Canterbury in 1850 or 1851. They settled in Port Levy, and acquired a very good estate of about 2,000 acres. Part of the estate has been sold to an outside family, but the old homestead still belongs to some members of the family.
LIST OF THE FIRST CHILDREN BORN IN CANTERBURY.
The first white child born in Canterbury was Miss Hempelmann, on the brig Bee in Little Port Cooper in 1835 or 1836. She lived at Peraki with her parents, but died as a child.
The first male child born in Canterbury was Peter Green, a son of William Green, who landed in Akaroa in 1839, in charge of cattle for Mr. W. B. Rhodes. He was born at the Red House, near Akaroa, before the French landed. To commemorate his birth the Maori chief at Akaroa or Wainui gave him a section of land at Green’s Point. I believe his father got the land, and the boy never really got it. He died in Dunedin in 1864.
The second male child born in Canterbury at Akaroa was Charles Malmanche, born about a fortnight after the French arrived. He is still living, Oct., 1913.
Second female child born in Canterbury, Akaroa, was Miss J. Breitmeyer, now Mrs. Edward Harrington, born 24th September, 1841; still living, Oct., 1914, at Akaroa.
First child born on Canterbury Plains, at Riccarton, was Jeannie Manson, now Mrs. Reginald Orton, born 7th January, 1844.
First child born after the arrival of the first four ships was Miss Agnes Thacker, in February, 1851.
First child born in Timaru district, South Canterbury, was Richard William Hornbrook, born 17th November, 1854.
NOMENCLATURE OF BANKS PENINSULA.
How the principal bays on Banks Peninsula were named:—
Taylor’s Mistake, a small bay between Sumner and the lighthouse, was called after Captain Taylor, of the United States ship Volga, who mistook it for Lyttelton Harbour.
Port Cooper, now called Lyttelton, after the town of that name, was called after Messrs. Cooper and Levy, merchants, Sydney, who had whalers on the New Zealand coast. They carried on trade with the Maoris.
Port Levy, called after Messrs. Cooper and Levy, merchants, of Sydney.
Big Bay, between Port Levy rock and Little Pigeon Bay, called so because it is the largest of many small bights.
Little Pigeon Bay, called after the larger bay of the same name.
Whisky Bay, a small inlet or cave on the west side of Pigeon Bay, about half-way out. This bay received its name from four men, Belgrave, Moses Barton, Ryan, and one Honewill. They built a small rough hut for smoking fish, but the real object was for making whisky. They had all the appliances. They made 500lbs. of sugar into whisky, got drunk, fell out, and split on each other. They were all fined or imprisoned. The surplus whisky was put into four or five glass demijohns buried in the shingle at the mouth of a cave. It has never been found, and is still there, Oct., 1913. A small landslip filled up the mouth of the cave.
Pigeon Bay, called by the old whalers in the ’thirties, owing to the great number of native pigeons which were procurable in the months of May, June, and July of each year.
Whitehead’s Bay called after the first man who wrought in this bay.
Scrubby Bay, called so from the amount of short scrub growing on the beach.
Manuka Bay, called so from the great amount of manuka growing in the bay, and extending up the bay for over a mile. These are the small bays between Pigeon Bay point and McIntosh Bay.
McIntosh Bay, called after Mr. Alexander McIntosh, the first man to take up land and settle in the bay in 1846 or 1847. It is now called Menzies Bay, after the present owner.
Squally Bay, a small bight between McIntosh Bay and Decanter Bay, called so as it is always rough.
Decanter Bay, called so from the rocks on the east side of the entrance which so resemble two decanters. T. S. Duncan was the first settler.
Little Akaroa, now called Little Akaloa. This bay was called after Akaroa, it being about north of Akaroa, and not very far from it.
Big Rapu and Little Rapu. These two bays have the same entrance, but are divided by a sharp spur at the head. They were called from a bunch of rapu that grew at the mouth of the stream in Big Rapu.
Stony Bay, called so from the rough stony nature of the beach. James Boleyn was the first settler in this bay.
Okain’s Bay and Little Okain’s have the same entrance, but are divided by a very sharp spur. These bays were called after a man of that name.
Duck’s Foot Bay is a small bay between Okain’s and Laverick’s Bay. This bay was called by some travellers who rested at the beach. They shot a wild duck, which they roasted, and while it was being roasted its feet all curled up. This so tickled a boy of the party called J. T. Knight that when a name was suggested for the bay, he said, call it Duck’s Foot Bay, which it has retained ever since.
Laverick’s Bay was called after one George Laverick, who, I believe, was the first person to live in the bay, but he did not remain long. The first settler to take up land was William Webb and family.
Le Bon’s Bay was called after a man of that name, but very little is known of him or his whereabouts.
Waikera Kikariri. This is the Maori name. One Harry Head was the first to buy land and settle in this bay, but he did not remain long. He sold out to Mr. Masefield.
Gough’s Bay, called after an old whaler of that name who lived in the bay with the Maoris for some time in the early whaling days.
Paua Bay, called after shell fish of that name by the Maoris.
Fisherman’s Bay. This bay gives good shelter for small fishing boats, and is often taken advantage of by them. It is a reef of rocks that gives the shelter.
Long Bay No. 1. This bay, being longer than any of the neighbouring bays, gets its name in that way.
Stony Bay No. 2. This bay got its name from the rough nature of its beach.
Flea Bay, called from the great number of fleas that haunted it in the early ’forties.
Daymond’s Bay, called after one Captain James Daymond, who mistook it for Akaroa, and nearly lost his vessel in the night.
Akaroa, Maori name Wangaloa, called after the harbour of that name.
Dan Rogers Bay, called after a man of that name, who was supposed to have fallen over the rocks and been lost. His body was never found. This happened in the early days.
Onuku Kaik. The Maori settlement.
German Bay, called after the German settlers, who came out with the French in 1840, and who settled in this bay.
Robinson’s Bay, called after Mr. C. B. Robinson, the first Magistrate of Akaroa. He bought the first land in this bay.
Duvauchelles Bay, called after the three brothers who bought land in this bay, where they lived for a time. They were French.
Barry’s Bay, called after one William Barry, who was sheep herding in Purau in the early ’forties.
French Farm Bay. The French officers and men who arrived to protect the French settlers farmed in this bay in 1840, and from this the bay derived its name.
Braw’s Bay, called after Thomas Braw, the first settler to buy land in the bay and settle upon it.
Tikao Bay, called after a Maori chief who lived at Wainui. Wainui is the Maori name for big water.
Lucas’s Bay, near Akaroa Heads, called after William Lucas. He used to ship his cheese from this small bay.
Squally Bay, just outside of Akaroa Heads, on the west side. It is just a small bight with a fine cave in it, and is nearly always rough.
Island Bay, called from a small island at its mouth.
Long Bay No. 2.
Horseshoe Bay.
Whale Rock, or the Frenchman’s Whale. In the good old whaling days a French whaler in the early morning threw a harpoon at this rock, mistaking it for a whale. That is how it got its name. It is at the east side of Piraki headland.
Piraki Bay or Cove. It was in this bay where Captain Hempelmann established the first shore whaling station on the south side of Banks Peninsula in 1835.
Robin Hood Bay, called after a vessel that was wrecked there in the ’forties. She went to load oil and whalebone for Sydney.
Long Bay No. 3.
Tumbledown Bay. This bay derived its name from one Billy Simpson, who arrived with Captain George Hempelmann in 1835. He, being a very trustworthy man, was sent to one of the other whaling stations for a case of spirits. He carried the case for a considerable distance. It was a warm day, he became thirsty, and sat down for a rest. He broached the cargo, and drank rather too much. When he got up with his load he fell, and the case rolled down the steep hillside. All the bottles and the case were broken into fragments, and thus the bay was called Tumbledown Bay.
Murray’s Mistake. Mr. Murray came up from Dunedin in a whaleboat. He entered this bight in mistake for one of the other stations. Thus it was called Murray’s Mistake.
Magnet Bay. This bay was called after a vessel that belonged to Captain James Bruce. She was wrecked in this bay. Bruce left the sea, and became the landlord of Bruce’s Hotel, Akaroa. His was the first vessel to go up to Port Chalmers.
Ikaraki. This is the Maori name. Mr. Joseph Price had a whaling station in this bay.
Go Ashore or Oakoa Bay. Philip Ryan commenced a whaling station, but sold out to Paddy Woods shortly afterwards.
Maori Harbour, now called Lake Forsyth, Maori name, Wairewa. In 1835 and 1836 a whale boat was able to go into this lake with the tide. Now it is closed up, and many chains wide. It has to be let out after heavy rains. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS.
Hitherto these reminiscences have, in the main, dealt with other people, or with natural conditions, along the lines of observation and inference; and, as reminiscences, throwing a fitful light here and there on the early colonial life of New Zealand. I can, without vanity, say that they may be of some value when a systematic history of this colony comes to be written.
Departing from those lines, and with a view, perhaps, to afford amusement to my younger readers, I wish now to recall a few scattered recollections of my childhood. The incidents I am about to record are very simple, and I have been prompted to relate them on this very account; for, if they serve no other purpose, they will show how different was my environment from that of the children of to-day. I was brought up in the lap of Nature, far removed from the achievements of art and science; even the civilisation that touched my early life was rudimentary; so rudimentary, that the frontier between my life in the early ’forties and that of the boys of to-day is an infinitely wider, and more inaccessible one, than that which existed between me and the little Maoris with whom I was not permitted to form too close an acquaintance. There were no allurements to trap and distract the attention, no luxuries to pall the appetite or paralyse energy, no mentors (at that period, save our parents) to guide the wayward faculties into the rigid paths of education. Consequently we were thrown against Nature, and soon came to learn from her many of the secrets she holds for all who choose to study her. From watching the movements of the birds we came to know their habits, and from reflecting on their habits came to know the reasons that lay behind them. Similarly with animals and plants and other natural objects we acquired a knowledge utterly beyond the ken of the casual observer, to whom
A yellow primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.
One of my earliest reminiscences carries me back to the year 1846, when, at the age of five years, I was playing in the grass with my younger brother. Just how we were occupied at the psychological moment of the fright, which has stamped the incident so indelibly on my memory, I cannot say, but a sound struck on our ears which had never invaded them before, and looking up, startled, we discovered a fearsome animal coming straight for us. We didn’t wait for further investigation, but, like a couple of scared rabbits, darted into the scrub and fern, and hid, our hearts bumping against our ribs, whilst we buried ourselves deep in the friendly shelter. Nothing would induce us to break cover until, peeping timidly through the fern, we were further startled to see bogey divide itself into two separate individuals. One of these was a weird-looking creature we had never before seen, even in our dreams, but the other we had no difficulty in recognising as a man. This somewhat reassured us, and nothing further having happened, we very cautiously came out of hiding, and were further emboldened when my father came forward and entered into conversation with the man. The whole apparition was simply a man on horseback. Our impression was that both were component parts of a single creature, and we were almost as scared to see them divide into two as we were to see them hurling towards us in unison when they first invaded the sanctum of our playground. It is, I know, impossible for the modem boy to gauge the fright we got, just because it is impossible for him, by imagining that he had never seen a horse, to put himself in our place. When the rider proposed putting us on the back of his mount, we broke for cover again, and it took some persuasion this time to bring us out again. Neither of us had ever previously seen or heard of a horse, nor ever seen a picture of one. The rider was a whaler with whom we were fated to become better acquainted ere we were much older, and the horse was one he was bringing over from Akaroa to Purau either for Messrs. Greenwood or Messrs. Rhodes, I forget which. I do not, however, forget the horse, whose image is so clearly stamped on my brain cells, that, were it possible for him to pass me in the street after an interval of nearly seventy years, I should immediately recognise him. He was a big, raking, light chestnut, with a wall eye.
Shortly after this event, Bishop Selwyn came to Pigeon Bay. He had come south from Nelson, and was en route for Dunedin, having made the diversion to the bay in order that he might confer with the Maoris. He called at my father’s house, but finding him away from home, and having business with the Natives, he declined my mother’s invitation to stay. However, noticing a little sister of mine making her first attempts to walk, he asked my mother if the child had been baptised, and on my mother replying in the negative, he offered to perform the rite. To this my mother, while thanking him, made some demur, she being a Presbyterian, and not quite clear on the doctrinal points which differentiated her creed from that of the Anglican. His Lordship indicated the danger the child incurred spiritually should she die unbaptised. In the absence of her husband to guide her in this dilemma, she was sorely perplexed, yet she stood to her guns, and closed the incident by telling his Lordship that she couldn’t believe that a just God would punish an innocent child for the lapse of a religious ceremony, the onus of which should fall on the parents, or which would, in the case, for example, of still-born children, or children dying immediately after birth, rest upon no one at all. His Lordship either would not, or could not, enter into these nice distinctions, and so he took his leave. My mother was much perturbed until my father returned in the evening and dispersed her fears. He was not too kindly disposed to the great divine for having caused his wife so much anxiety and distress over a matter which he deemed, after all, to be purely ritual.
I have indicated how great an attraction the mysteries of Nature held for my brother Tom and myself. The bush had an irresistible fascination for us, and we were constantly planning exploring incursions with a view to being rewarded by some startling discoveries. My father was naturally much against those expeditions, being alive to the danger we incurred of getting lost; but as he was frequently away from home we had many opportunities for investigation. On each occasion we ventured a little further in than on the previous one, using our faculties of observation to such good purpose that we always found our way out again, and gradually, without being aware of the process, acquired a cunning in bush craft that proved useful to us many times in after life, in evidence of which I recall the following circumstance:—
When I was about thirteen years old, my father sent my brother and myself, under the care of a big Scotchman, named Stewart, into the bush to look for some cattle that had strayed. It was a glorious day, and we were in our element; but when some five or six miles in the bush it came up foggy, and Mr. Stewart decided to lose no time in returning home. He took the lead, and we followed, but he had not gone far until we noticed he was going wrong; and we had the temerity to tell him so. He paid no attention to us, and, after a time, returned to the tree under which we had been resting before starting our journey. He was astonished, but saying, “Come along boys, I won’t make that mistake again,” started off afresh. He took a wider circle then, and as before, we told him he was going wrong. When he reached our starting place the second time, he was thoroughly scared, the perspiration poured from his face, and he trembled with excitement. We then pleaded with him to allow us to take the lead. He was only too willing to accede, and in the long run, just before dark, we came out of the bush near the house. My father was much amused when Stewart recounted the adventure.
In the early ’fifties my brother and I were frequently sent out by father to guide visitors through the bush, and put them on the track to Akaroa. On one of these expeditions a gentleman expressed a desire to give each of us a half-crown, but could only do so by giving me a crown, and telling me to divide it with my brother. It puzzled us all the way home how an equal division was to be effected. On reaching home we used every endeavour to cut the coin into two equal portions. We succeeded in disfiguring it considerably, but it resisted our efforts to divide it. We had a profound consultation as to what was next to be done, and agreed at length on a plan more remarkable for its efficacy in disposing of the crown piece than for its wisdom as a financial achievement. We went down to the beach, and as the coin had been given to me I was to take precedence in our mutual benefit arrangement, which was neither more nor less than to “skip” the coin piece over the sea as one does a flat stone. The tide being in I took the first throw, and when the tide went out again Tom would get his. Full of confidence, when the tide had receded we went down again to let Tom have his “skip.” Needless to say, we did not find the piece, and so the matter ended with the benefit in my favour, notwithstanding our efforts to establish an equable procedure.
When I reached the age of sixteen my brother and I had, by that time, become wonderfully expert in the bush. We enjoyed quite a reputation in the bay as “trackers.” Every new arrival got this advice given him, “You had better look out for those Hay boys. Treat them well and you will be all right. Should you treat them badly or unfairly you had better look out.” The reason for this caution was that we were frequently called upon to find cattle when they strayed, as they were prone to do before the land was cleared and fences erected. Our faculty for locality was developed almost to the extent of a sixth sense, for we could enter the bush at any point, and emerge at whatever part we desired to reach, even in foggy weather. When tracking cattle we followed the spoor quickly and easily in suitable ground. When the traces grew fainter and were eventually lost, one of us would stand still whilst the other cast about in a wide circle until the tracks were found anew, when we would again push on until the cattle were discovered. We could always make certain of success, even if the tracks were three or four days old, provided they had not been obliterated by rain. Settlers who treated us well invariably recovered their cattle, and that quickly, but those who were overbearing or unkind, or above all, unjust, in their dealings with us had the greatest difficulty. In one or two instances, the cattle were ultimately recovered miles further away than they ought to have been. One old lady (who never saw us passing her house without calling out to us to come in and get a slice of bread and jam) was our special favourite. Every morning we found her cows, and drove them into the yard for her, and enjoyed the privilege of doing so, as an earnest of our appreciation of her goodness to us.
About the middle of the ’fifties there arrived in Pigeon Bay a whaler named Thomas White, the same man to whom I have referred as having given us youngsters such a fright when he suddenly appeared on horseback. It is no exaggeration to say that we worshipped Tom White. We quoted him as an ultimate authority on everything, and he found in us apt pupils in bush lore, the driving of bullocks, and the handling of cattle, etc. As he had been boat-steerer in his whaling days we were most impressed, amidst all his accomplishments, with his skill in handling a craft. He took us out with him in a small boat, taught us how to pull an oar, and instructed us in the art of landing when, a heavy sea was breaking. Taking the steer oar he directed us to back in cautiously. When a big roller overtook us he called on us to pull out towards it, and kept us head cm. When it had passed we resumed our backing with directions to watch the steer oar, in order that, should it get broken, we might be ready with the oars to prevent the boat being sideways on the beach. As soon as we touched bottom we had to jump out smartly, and seizing the gunwale run the boat up the beach on an even keel.
In case of a capsize he told us that when a boat swamps she goes under water, and on rising again invariably turns bottom upwards. The right thing to do in such a case is to get hold of an oar, and using it as a support swim about until all the gear (oars, mast, and everything that floats adrift) has been collected and tied together. Using this as a raft the boat is first of all righted, and then, by means of a quick jerk, some of the water is splashed out of her. When she is about half-emptied, the remaining water can be baled out, the gear taken on board, and sailing resumed.
Tying knots, splicing ropes, and other sea-faring accomplishments were quickly picked up by us.
Although we worshipped Tom White, we presumed, occasionally, to play pranks on him. On such occasions he would threaten to tell our father what we had done. I never knew him, however, to carry out this threat. He resorted, instead, to his skill with the bullock whip, and gave us cuts occasionally, which lifted the skin; but as we were conscious of having well merited the punishment we kept the matter to ourselves.
In common with all the pioneers we had to turn our hands to everything. As the bush was cleared fences were erected and gates put up. Trees were felled, sawpits made, and the timber cut by hand for building purposes. At the age of eighteen I and my brother Tom were capable carpenters. We made gates and hung them. We built all the houses, eleven in all (that were carried away eventually by the slip on 18th August, 1886), having one carpenter to construct the more difficult fittings, e.g., stairs, doors, and windows; and one bricklayer for the chimneys. We two did all the blacksmith work for the place. We made the yokes and bows for the bullocks, and mended all the chains. Horse-shoeing we did not learn, as at that period the horses did not require to be shod.
The following incident will serve as an example of how we picked up useful knowledge:—Amongst the many who sought shelter under my father’s roof in those days there came at the onset of a heavy three days’ snowstorm, a tinker. He was of a very independent disposition, and offended my father by offering payment for his board. My brother and I, overhearing the colloquy, saw our opportunity, and when we got the tinsmith outside we made an arrangement with him to give us some instruction in soldering, etc. He was only too willing to relieve his obligation, and during those three stormy days he let us into the mysteries of many branches of the tinsmith’s art, leaving in our possession, when he went away, a quantity of solder, a bolt, and a supply of resin. After that we mended all the tinware we found defective, including teapots, milk pans, etc.
Up to 1846 our diet was chiefly pigeons and wild pork, but in that year, the first bullock was killed for beef. Three-quarters of the carcase was salted, and a good cut of fresh beef cooked. We thought we were in for a treat, but were sadly disappointed. We did not at all relish it, and, after a plucky attempt or two to overcome our repugnance, we left our portion on our plates, and made up leeway in the next course. That bullock was half-eaten before we could tolerate beef. We much preferred our wild pork.
In the following year, 1847, a mob of about 300 sheep passed through Pigeon Bay en route from Akaroa to Purau for Mr. Geo. Rhodes. My father bought one for mutton. Again my brother and I thought there was a great treat in store for us. We disliked it more even than the beef, to which we were, by this time, somewhat reconciled, and we left our portion untouched after the first tentative mouthful.
When about six or seven years old part of my duty was to feed up to as many as thirty calves twice a day for two months. At that age they were weaned and turned out. When my brother Tom was old enough he assisted me in this work; and so acute did our powers of observation become, and so stimulated was our memory by this close observation, that we not only knew every calf individually, but did we chance to see any of them up to four years afterwards we recognised them at once, and with the recognition came to our memory their pedigree. All this was of great use to my father, for before selling a heifer, he always appealed to us to tell him her pedigree. By this means he was able to produce a fine dairy of cows, for he never sold the best bred animals.
As exemplifying the reciprocity that obtained in those early times, I recollect my mother being in some straits through her store of flour, sugar, and tea having run out for some five weeks. A Hobart whaler, then lying in Port Levy, heard of her plight, and, manning a whaleboat, he put 200lb. of flour, a bag of sugar, and a small chest of tea on board, and sent them round to my mother with his compliments, adding that he would call in before leaving New Zealand, and take an equivalent in such produce as he required. This man was a Scotchman named James Bailey, and he did so well in the whaling industry that he retired, and died about twenty years ago in Hobart a very wealthy man.
As a device for spinning out the tea when it was getting low in the chest, my mother used to mix it with manuka or biddy-biddy. The former was too aromatic, and we preferred the latter, which was pulled green, tied up in small bundles, and dried.
All through the ’forties my father grew wheat, cut it with a reaping hook, threshed it with a flail, and ground it at night or on a wet day in a great hand-mill like a coffee-grinder. The bran was sifted out, and the flour made into bread and cooked either as a “damper” or in a camp oven.
On the day when the famous first four ships passed Pigeon Bay Heads on their way to Lyttelton, my father was occupied yoking the first four bullocks, which he was breaking in as workers. One of these animals had a curious history. When, as a calf, he was taken from his mother, he sulked, and refused to take milk with the others. He wandered about, a miserable little thing, until about the end of the first week, when he attached himself to a sow with a litter of small pigs. The sow adopted and reared him, rooting up for him and her own litter the fern root which was very plentiful in the bay. Eating his fern root, and living and sleeping with the pigs, he was at twelve months old very small and poor in condition. He was then turned out with the other yearlings, and when three years old he had developed into a very fine animal, as large and well-conditioned as any of the others. I have his horns now, polished and mounted as a memento.
I shall never forget the joy and excitement which prevailed when those four ships arrived about 2 p.m. When the ships passed Pigeon Bay Heads all work was suspended, and we gave ourselves up to rejoicing.
In bringing these reminiscences to a close, I wish to express my deep obligation to the late Mrs. Deans, of Riccarton, but for whose encouragement and valuable assistance, several of the incidents I have recorded would have been incomplete and deficient in interest.
To my brother-in-law, Dr. John Guthrie, I am also indebted for arranging and editing my notes.
The End.
Printed by the Christchurch Press Co. Ltd.,
Christchurch, New Zealand.
A.D. 1915