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Murchison and the Buller

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Murchison’s story and the Buller River and its tributaries are inextricably entwined.  The mighty Buller begins its 177 km journey to the West Coast from the Nelson Lakes National Park.1  It finds its westerly path near Murchison, which is located on the Four River Plain at the confluence of the Buller, Matakitaki, Mangles and Matiri Rivers.2

Flooding

Buller bridge 1938 Buller Bridge 1938. Photo courtesy Rex Smith.
Click image to enlarge

Many ‘record’ floods have caused loss of life, devastation and disruption in the Murchison District with a major tributary, the Matakitaki River, causing the most flooding problems in recent times.3

The 'normal' flow of the upper Buller River at the Longford data recorder north of Murchison is 56 cumecs.3  By the time the Buller reaches the bottom of the Four Rivers Plain, normal flow is approximately 110 cumecs.3  In October 1998 a flood of 1380 cumecs was recorded at the Longford recorder4 and the upper Buller River reached 6.2 metres, the highest level since recording began in 1964.5

In 1878, the Buller and Matakitaki Rivers both became raging torrents and cut into the land on which Murchison, then known as Hampden was being built.  Several buildings had to be abandoned and local identity and hotelier, George Moonlight decided to rebuild his Commercial Hotel away from the river.6

Lyell was isolated, with roads either side of the gold mining settlement blocked and impassable following a disastrous flood in 1878.  ‘There was no Flour in town, there has been no Beef in the place for a week, and the last Pig was killed after eating the last spud...... are the people to starve through the neglect of the Buller County…?’ 7

Buller bridge 1938 2 with Maurice Smith Max Curtis Ross CurtisBuller Bridge, 1938, with deer hunters Maurice Smith, Max and Ross Curtis. Photo courtesy Rex Smith
Click image to enlarge

Ten years later, in March/April 1888, a succession of floods in the Buller and Inangahua Rivers destroyed the hard work of the settlers with fences and farmland, sheep, apples and crops all swept down the river.8

In 1926 the Buller cut into the Four River Plain: much of the road was taken, as well as pasture and stock. The access road from Longford completely disappeared and new road had to be constructed. 9

Buller near LyellNear Lyell, Buller River. Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 181955
Click image to enlarge

Drownings

The Buller has claimed many lives. In October 1893, Mrs O’Rorke and Miss McInroe were crossing the Buller when the horse broke loose from the trap.  A bypasser went to their aid and, as they were putting a child into his dray, the buggy turned over and both women were thrown into the current, carried away and drowned. 10

In 1941, a brother and sister, William and Dulcie Borkin were  swimming with a friend in a swimming hole near Murchison when Miss Borkin got into trouble. Her brother went to help  but they both drowned.11  

Gold

The Grey River Argus reported in 1910 that three auriferous (gold bearing) rivers and five auriferous creeks ran into the Buller River within a few miles of Murchison.  The junction of the Matakitiki and Buller Rivers at Murchison had been worked since the 1880s, with payable gold and some rich patches struck.12

George Moonlight was known for making large gold discoveries throughout the South Island and then leaving them for other miners.  He and his wife Elizabeth bought the Commercial Hotel, around which Murchison grew.13

Matakitaki bridgeMatakitaki bridge, damaged by the Murchison earthquake, 1929 Alexander Turnbull Library: 1/1-010104-G.
http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=17501
Click image to enlarge

Māori prospectors were the first to obtain gold from the Lyell region and, by 1863, about 100 miners had set up camp. There was a township with hotels and a National Bank at Lyell until the early 20th Century.14

The earthquake

On 17 June 1929, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, centred in the Lyell Range west of Murchison, was felt from Auckland to Bluff. 15  A huge slip blocked the Matakitaki River south of Murchison and there was a fear that water might break through the dam flooding Murchison and even Westport.  Most people had left town by the time the water was released naturally. 16   

The swing bridge

Rex Smith of Murchison has lived by the river for 63 of his 83 years and has worked  in construction gangs along the Buller and its tributaries. One of the more memorable projects was the construction of New Zealand’s longest swing bridge.

“There had been an old swing bridge across the river there for a long time which was mainly used by miners, farmers and hunters.  A man had bought the mining rights and wanted access to process the gold.  In 1974 I was involved in building a new swing bridge which was made up of aluminium panels 6ft by 3 ft wide.  It was a challenging project with the river roaring below.  It hadn’t been up long when a big flood ripped out the large panels leaving the abutments and ropes,” he said.  The Buller Swing Bridge was rebuilt immediately and still stands, or swings, today as a tourist attraction  14 kilometres west of Murchison.17

2014


The Murchison Earthquake

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Shaky Ground

For centuries before Europeans arrived, Māori had experienced rū whenua - ‘the shaking of the land'. According to Māori tradition, earthquakes are caused by the god Rūaumoko (or Rūamoko), the son of Ranginui (the Sky) and his wife Papatūānuku (the Earth).

Fissures in the roadFissures in Road at Murchison. Nelson Provincial Museum, F N Jones Collection: 321270
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Rangi was separated from Papa, and his tears flooded the land. Their sons resolved to turn their mother downwards, so that she and Rangi should not constantly see one another's sorrow.

When Papatūānuku was turned over, Rūaumoko was still at her breast, and was carried to the world below. To keep him warm, he was given fire-he is the god of earthquakes and volcanoes, and earthquakes are caused by him as he walks about.1

Major 'Quakes

On 16 October 1848 an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.5 shook the region. It was felt throughout the top of the south and caused substantial damage in Wellington.

Morell House Busch FarmMurchison Earthquake 17.6.1929, Busch’s Slip. Nelson Provincial Museum, F N Jones Collection: 309942
Click image to enlarge

The 1848 earthquakes and aftershocks were caused by movement along at least 105 kilometres of a major fault along the Awatere Valley. Nelson's resident magistrate, Major Mathew Richmond, noted in November 1848, that ‘a crack quite straight crossed the country for miles; in some places he had difficulty crossing it with his horse; in one place the crack passed through an old warre [whare] dividing it in two pieces standing four feet apart.2

But worse was to come on 17 June 1929. The magnitude 7.8 Murchison earthquake was centred in the Lyell Range west of Murchison and was felt from Auckland to Bluff.

There was serious damage throughout the Greymouth, Nelson and Westport districts, with Murchison's 300-plus inhabitants experiencing the most cataclysmic havoc and destruction as slips roared down hillsides covering farms, livestock and roads with tons of rocks and clay. Trees snapped like twigs, huge cracks appeared in roads, and telephone and power poles leaned at drunken angles, surrounded by twisted wires.

Seventeen lives were lost in the Nelson/Buller area and hundreds of farm animals died.

Murchison faultEvidence of the seismic power of the earthquake at the end of Johnson Creek Track. Huge layered sedimentary rocks are jumbled about below the cliff face from which they were sheared in 1929. Native forest is regenerating around the massive rocks which have been eroded and weathered. Photo: Wayne Stronach 2014.
Click image to enlarge

In 1979, The Murchison District Museum and Historical Society gathered first hand accounts of the earthquake.3 Bernard Teague, a Methodist home missionary, was pushing his bicycle over the Maruia Saddle when he heard a strange roaring noise and the ground began to shake, trees crashed around him and he had trouble staying on his feet.

When he climbed the terrace above Six Mile Creek, Bernard saw a slip, which covered two farms. "One of them, the home of Sam Busch, being completely covered with tons of great rocks and clay. Mr Busch had been away delivering cream to the factory when the earthquake struck. He saw the slip fall over his home with his wife, son and daughter buried beneath it. He lost everything he had."

Nonie Rodgers saw the top blown off the hill. " It was absolutely horrifying, enormous rocks being hurled into the air, volumes of dust and what looked like a fire behind it all."

She grabbed her baby and crawled to the front door, where she stood up, but was thrown down the steps and surrounded by falling electric wires: "I lay there petrified to see the ground open and close again not far away. I looked up to see the hills rocking like jelly on a plate and to my relief, saw Dr McLean staggering up the road.....he found a piece of wood and lifted the wires up so I could crawl away with Des still clutched in my arms."

Feeding the dogsAfter the Earthquake. Nelson Provincial Museum, F N Jones Collection: 321277
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Heavy rain made the conditions even worse with continuing earthquake tremors adding to the confusion and terror. With their houses uninhabitable or completely destroyed, the residents of Murchison camped in tents or took shelter in sheds. After about five days about 280 homeless people were evacuated to Nelson. It was six weeks before many people could return home.

The Murchison Earthquake section of this article was based on an article published in Wild Tomato, June 2008, p 23. The article was written by Joy Stephens for The Nelson Provincial Museum and resources mainly came from the Murchison District Museum and Historical Society collection of memories cited below.

The Nelson Railway…to Nowhere

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Despite more than 80 years of drive and determination on the part of Nelsonians to work towards a railway that would end their isolation from the rest of the South Island, the resulting line was destined to be the railway to nowhere. 

Save our Railway

Nelsonians had dreamed of a railway that would link them to the rest of the South Island from as early as the 1860s.

Permission was finally given in 18711 to start work on a line intended to meet up with the main trunk line. Construction of the first 30.4km stage, from the city to Foxhill, began in 1873 and it opened in 1876.2 The line followed St Vincent Street, rather than the publicly favoured port route. It went over the relatively steep gradient of Bishopdale and through Stoke, Richmond, Brightwater and Wakefield, to Wai-iti, just short of Foxhill.3

Belgrove construction workBelgrove construction work by Midland Railway Company, The Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio collection,  179476/3
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An economic recession forced the suspension of construction until 1879-1880, when an extension to Belgrove was built.4

Meanwhile, in 1878, work had started on widening Haven Road to accommodate a line from the city to Government Wharf at Port Nelson.5 This followed the route of the closed Dun Mountain railway line and was opened in 1880.6

Work began on the Belgrove to Motupiko (Kohatu) section in 1890. A work camp was established and a 1352m tunnel built through the Spooner Range.7 This section opened in 1897, and in 1901 a start was made on the 16km stretch to Tadmor, via Tapawera. A rail and road bridge across the Motueka River was completed in 1906.8

Frustrations grew over the time taken to build the railway. It had taken 33 years to build just 66km of track.9 The line had been extended from Tadmor, through Kiwi, Tui and Kaka to Glenhope10 by 1912. Construction was again suspended, however, and the outbreak of war in 1914 brought a further halt.11

A 6km extension to Kawatiri began in 1920 and the Pikomanu railway camp was established the following year. A tunnel of 185 m. was cut, two bridges built across the Hope River and the section opened in June 1926.12

Services were reduced in the 1920s, with passenger numbers and freight volumes having decreased due to the rapid development of road freight and passenger transport. The Nelson Progress League was established in 1924 to campaign for the line to be extended to join the main trunk. It launched a pamphlet in 1925 calling on the Government to “Fill the Gap”.13

Between 1924 and 1929 a 6km section was built to Gowan Bridge, but this was only ever used for freight. With the country reeling from the Depression, all work on the railway was suspended from January 1931, terminating the employment of 300 men.14

The gap between the completed section of line and Inangahua Junction, where it could connect with the main trunk line, was less than 70km (42 miles).15

Toi Toi Valley trainToi Toi Valley train, The Nelson Provincial Museum, FN Jones Collection, 26713 
Click image to enlarge

From 1931 the line was under constant threat of closure and people were urged to “use it or lose it”. It was announced in 1952 that the Nelson line would remain open only until major highways were completed. Rail services were suspended in 1954.16

A public meeting resulted in a 12,000-signature petition calling for a change of the decision. The Prime Minister, Sid Holland, issued a challenge to Nelson to save its railway by guaranteeing 25,000 tons of rail freight per year. On June 12, 1954, an excursion took 400 passengers on “the last train to Glenhope”. A few days later the Progress League accepted the Prime Minister’s challenge and the line re-opened. Despite its best efforts, the League fell short of the target and the line was set for closure on September 3, 1955.17

Kiwi Protest 1955,Kiwi Protest 1955, The Nelson Provincial Museum, Geoffrey C Wood Collection, 8830 fr38 
Click image to enlarge

The last timetabled train arrived in Nelson on Friday September 2, 1955 and there was a last-ditch public meeting on the Church Steps.18 Ruth Page called her own women’s protest meeting, on hearing that work would start on pulling up the railway lines at Kiwi on September 20th.19 A group of women held a week-long sit-in on the line at Kiwi, with nine of them being arrested and convicted when they refused to move. It was to no avail, and the railway line, so desperately wanted and so long under construction, was gradually dismantled.20

The dream was over.

2008 

Nelson Public Libraries

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The Nelson Public Libraries as we know them today consist of the Elma Turner LibraryNightingale Memorial Library and  Stoke Library. The Library was one of the first to be established in New Zealand, and  has provided continuous library service for a longer time than any other New Zealand public library.

Elma Turner Library entrance, 2009. Nelson City Council
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Nelson’s library was first established in 1841 as part of the Nelson Literary and Scientific Institute [see this story, and the  timeline below, for a fuller account and pictures of the early years ]. The first collection of books came from donations to New Zealand House in London from private collections, with 700 books reaching Nelson on the Whitby.1 The first Nelson Institute building opened 27 September 1842 at the top of Trafalgar Street on part of Town Acre 445, with an entrance fee and annual subscription fee of 1 guinea. It remained on this site until 1861 when a new facility catering for a library, museum and lectures was constructed on the corner of Hardy and Harley Streets. The Institute Library, located in Hardy Street from 1861, operated as a small subscription book service. Destroyed by fire in 1906, only the back part of the library remained and a new library building was opened on the same site in 1912. Sentiment around the new building was that exclusiveness was out of place and that libraries ‘should be like fresh air and sunlight and education – free to everyone.’2

Former librarian Ivy Clarke (nee Poole) had worked successfully to make the children’s library at the back of the building free for children living in Nelson, and entry into the museum on the second floor of the building above the library was free, although the museum did not contain any books.3  However, Nelson was the only town in New Zealand which did not have a free and rental library, making it ineligible for National Library membership.4

Nelson Institute Library on Hardy Street, Nelson Evening Mail, 1989.
Click image to enlarge

A 1957 report indicated that less than 10% of people in Nelson used the library, compared with at least 40% in other areas. Examples from other cities such as Auckland, which had a free library since 1946, indicated that a free library is ‘a more economical service’ as continuing a subscription service would require high subscriptions from members. In this report a free library service was defined as ‘a scheme financed by the community to encourage people to read more than light ephemeral fiction and so create a demand for a more comprehensive library.’5 A subsequent report in 1962 indicated that a paid subscription ‘forms a barrier to membership’, with low library membership as a result.6

The debate about a free and rental library became more heated in the 1960s. In 1964 a motion proposing a change to a free and rental library system was rejected in Council by 7 votes to 4,7 however Council were persuaded to assume responsibility for theNelson Institute’slibrary service following campaigning by  Elma Turner (President of the Nelson Institute) and Sonja Davies (Nelson city councillor). The subscription service remained, because Councillors felt that money was tight and  other projects such as roads, sewage and water needed to be prioritised. The 1970 flood which left the city in ‘chaos’ and turned into a $1million repair project also delayed the direction of funds into the library.8 But Roy McLennan (Nelson’s Mayor from 1971), agreed with City Librarian Bryce Jones that Nelson should not be different from other centres of similar or smaller size which already had free libraries, and for the first time Bryce felt positive that the prospect of Nelson’s library becoming free like other libraries in the country was near.9Elma Turner, elected to Council in 1972, was a strong supporter of the free library movement, and the need for a new library building.

Council introduced did finally introduce a free and rental library system on 1 October 1973, one of the last Councils to do this.10  McLennan was followed by Peter Malone, and his terms in office saw increasing concerns over the suitability of the Hardy Street building as a library. As early as 1966, National Library reports indicated that the Hardy Street Library building was inadequate for Nelson’s population of 27,000.11

Working in the crammed library in Hardy St, Nelson Evening Mail, 1989
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Former Councillor Seddon Marshall, who was heavily involved in the building industry, recalls that the old, dank musty English building on Hardy Street was outdated and not appropriate for a library, with very high studs, and windows that let light in at all the wrong places – ‘at the time a grand building, but built for the wrong reason.’12Children’s librarian Jenny Hitchings recalls that the library ‘looked a little bit like a prison’, with wire nettings over the windows in case the windows fell in during an earthquake and a high ceiling which made the building very cold.13

Mayor Peter Malone and Elma Turner at the opening of the new library in 1990. Photo courtesy of R. Venner.
Click image to enlarge

By 1977, the Nelson Evening Mail reported that the ‘Nelson Public Library is too old and too small for a city of 33,000.’14 Mayor Peter Malone, who was also a trained  pilot, led the Council Library Committee on a tour of libraries in the lower North Island in his aeroplane in the mid-1980s, and sent Councillor Seddon Marshall to visit libraries around the South Island to consider options for a new library building in Nelson.15 Marshall recalls that the most important factors for a new library site in Nelson was easy access and plenty of parking. Sites considered for the new library included the Buxton carpark, Millers Acre and corner of Trafalgar and Hardy Street. But when a car sales yard and showroom on Halifax Street became available, it was regarded as the ideal site for Nelson’s new library.16                        

Marian Gunn, Library Manager from 1987, oversaw the move into the new library in 1990, after months of architectural design and construction work. Mayor Peter Malone and former Councillor Elma Turner officially opened the new building, aptly named the Elma Turner Library, on 28 February 1990.

By 1998, books issued from the library exceeded 1 million for the third year in a row, making Nelson residents ‘the most avid readers of Public Library materials in New Zealand.’17

 2011

Timeline of significant events in the life of Nelson Public Libraries

  • 1841 - May: Nelson Literary and Scientific Institute is founded on board the Whitby. Committee is chaired by Captain Arthur Wakefield.
    700 books on board ship were to form the basis of a library.
    October: Whitby reaches Nelson. Idea for the institute is strengthened by meeting with passengers of the sister ship Mary Ann, who had been planning a Mechanics Institute - to promote literature and science.
  • 1842 - 27 September: first Institute building opens - south end of Trafalgar street on Town Acre 445 (plaque marks spot). Dr David Monro is the first President. There is a membership fee and charge for each item borrowed (it remained as a subscription library until 1972).
  • 1848 - William Moses Stanton is appointed as the first Librarian (Charles Elliott, editor of the Examiner fulfilled this function unpaid before this appointment)
  • 1858 - The Provincial Government invites the Institute to become a literary and mechanics institute and contributes to funding new premises
  • 1859 - foundation stone for new building is laid at the corner of Hardy and Harley Street by Dr. F. Hochstetter.
  • 1861 - new building opens.
  • 1884 - appointment of first woman librarian - Miss Marion Clark (thereafter it is a female dominated workforce)
  • 1906 - fire destroys the wooden building - only the rear part survived, which became the children's room in 1935 (it is still standing). Most of the contents were retrieved.
  • 1906-1912 - Institute and Library move to temporary premises in Bridge street
  • 1907 - Nelson Institute Act is passed, establishing the Institute as an Incorporated body
  • 1911 - Mayor T.A.H. Field lays foundation stone for new permanent building on existing site on Hardy Street. It is officially opened as Nelson Public Library, Institute and Museum in 1912, with the library on the ground floor, and museum on upper floor (the brick building still exists as part of NMIT)
  • stoke lib sign for prow2

    The doors from the old Stoke Library, currently at La Capilla Restaurant on the Appleby Highway

    1958 - Institute takes over the running of the library in Stoke from the NZ Country Library Service. The Library is in the cloakroom of Stoke Hall and in 1965 it moves into the Methodist Church in Stoke.
  • 1960's - the Museum gains independence from the Library, and is relocated  firstly to the former home of the Marsden family - Isel House, and subsequently to a concrete block construction behind the House, designed by Alex Bowman,  in 1973.
  • 1965 - Miss Elma Turner (President of the Nelson Institute) and Sonja Davies (Nelson city councillor) persuade the City Council to assume responsibility for the library. It only became a free service (ie no membership fee) however, in 1972. The last Council in NZ to offer this. (The Museum is taken over by Council separately in 1963)
  • 1978 - Nellie Nightingale Memorial Library opens in Tahunanui
  • Feb 1990 - after much campaigning by Councillor Elma Turner, the new Nelson Public Library building opens and is named the Elma Turner Library.
  • 1992 - Stoke Library opens in current location
  • 2005 - Elma Turner Library extended, adding 600sq m to the building
  • 2011 - major refurbishment of Stoke Library
 

The Saxton legacy

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Bridging Nelson City and Tasman District, Saxton Field is a major regional sporting facility, but the land it sits on used to be part of a large farm originally owned by early settler and gentleman farmer, John Waring Saxton (1808-1866) and his family.

JohnWaringSaxton.jpg

John Waring Saxton, The Nelson Provincial Museum, Copy Collection

John and Priscilla Saxton arrived in Nelson from England with other family members, including Priscilla’s mother, Mrs Crumpton, on board the Clifford in May 1842. As was the procedure, prior to leaving England Saxton had purchased three pieces of land in the new colony, all of which would be balloted when the settlers arrived: a town acre, (4,000 sq metres), a 50 acre (20 hectares) accommodation (sometimes referred to as a suburban) block and a 150 acre (60 ha) rural block.  Following the initial ballot they were allocated a town acre in the Brook Valley.

However, on arriving in Nelson, the Saxtons found they were unable to access their town acre due to swamps and an impassable stream, so a lease was signed for another section on Haven Road close to Saltwater Bridge and the prefabricated cottage brought out on the ship with the family was erected on this. When a road was finally constructed in the Brook Valley, the Saxtons moved from the Haven house to Brook Street, where they had a new house, Claremont, built. 

saxton oaklands

Nelson, Oaklands. Nelson Provincial Museum, Nelson Historical Society Collection

In January 1843 Saxton was allocated a rural section in the Wai-iti Valley, near Belgrove. It is unclear from Saxton’s extensive diaries where exactly his accommodation block was. But by early 1844 he had exchanged the Wai-iti block for something “better and closer.” Again, his diaries do not state what he exchanged it for but in the early years of the colony, absentee owners, incidences of squatting and land exchanges complicated the ownership and identity of some lands.

What is known is that by the end of 1844, John Saxton had acquired, probably through land exchanges, two diagonally adjoining 50 acre accommodation land blocks in Stoke, adjacent to Main Road Stoke, where Saxton Field now is.  By 1851 at least seven 50 acre blocks of adjoining land and a rural block constituted the Oaklands farm. Saxton’s diary describes the farm as “steep, hillish and swampy,” and that the first acre was ploughed in November 1844.

Its name came from the oak trees he grew from acorns brought with him from England.  The homestead area remains surrounded by these tall original oaks.

Saxton 1849 sketch of Oaklands by JW Saxton

1849 sketch of Oaklands Homestead by JW Saxton - Raine Collection

In November 1844 John Saxton bought at auction wooden barracks used by the New Zealand Company and situated on Haven Road. The wooden modular buildings were barged around the coast to Stoke, where they were hauled through swamp and marsh up to the farm by bullocks and carts and fitted together in a new configuration to a plan drawn up by John Saxton.

Saxton Oaklands sketch 1849

Sketch of Oaklands Farm, showing the homestead 1849 - Raine Collection

Built of 300-year old Baltic pine with a Cornish slate roof, in time the newly reconstructed building grew into the homestead known as Oaklands. While they waited for it to be completed, the family lived in its original prefabricated cottage, which Saxton had transported in January 1845 from Haven Road to the farm and reassembled.  Once they moved into the homestead, the smaller cottage appears to have been used as a farm cottage.  Over the years various additions to the Oaklands homestead have been added and removed but it remains the home of John Saxton’s great great grandson, Richard Raine.  It is recognised as one of the oldest prefabricated dwellings in New Zealand.

John Saxton was no farmer. A gifted watercolour painter and musician, he spoke several classic languages including Hebrew, Latin and Greek, and enjoyed entertaining visitors at Oaklands. He was also deeply involved in civic affairs as the treasurer of the Nelson Institute, a member of the Nelson Provincial Council, and involved with the Anglican Church. His series of Nelson views and the diaries he kept from 1841-1850 (held by Nelson Provincial Museum) give a valuable record of early Nelson life.

Fortunately, his sons enjoyed farming and successfully developed the Oaklands property and another property the Saxton men leased in Tarndale, north Canterbury (now part of the Molesworth Station). Both properties ran sheep and Oaklands also grew small crops.

John Saxton died in 1866 and ownership of the Oaklands farm passed to his children.  Over time however, sections of the farm were sold off, including in 1908, when Saxton’s granddaughter Rosie Saxton sold her inherited block to the Nelson Freezing Company.  This block is now the site of the Saxton Field oval and athletic track.

When Saxton’s son, John Waring junior (known as Waring), died in 1932, Oaklands farm comprised of 2,119 adjoining acres between the Ngawhatu Valley and Richmond’s Queen Street, from the estuary to the top of the Richmond Ranges.

Saxton Dick Raine reaping and binding oats

Dick Raine reaping and binding oats at Oaklands - Raine Collection

Upon his death the farm transferred to the Raine family, whom Gwendoline, the daughter of John Saxton’s grandson, George Saxton, had married into. Her husband Richard (Dick) Raine was an English farmer who had emigrated from Cornwall to farm in Albany in Western Australia. While visiting New Zealand on holiday Dick met Gwendoline’s two brothers, who took him home to Oaklands, where he was introduced to their sister. The newly-weds made Oaklands their home.

Oaklands was generally a sheep farm, with flocks on the highland areas, and a small percentage of beef cattle.  It also grew hops and apples and the large flat block that is Saxton Field today produced cereals, including barley, wheat and oats, as feed for the farm’s Clydesdale work horses.

In taking it over, Dick Raine took on responsibility for Oaklands’ assets and liabilities, including compounding death duties incurred by the family over several generations.  The farm needed to be rationalised and, in order to pay off some of the debts and ensure its survival, he leased parts of it and sold others. In 1932 the Nelson Aero Club leased 45 acres for its first terminal and in 1934 aviator Kingsford Smith landed his plane, the Southern Cross, at the airfield. Cook Strait Airways started operations from the aero club.

Saxton Oaklands house around 1954

Oaklands Homestead around 1954 - Raine Collection

One of the sections of lowland farm was bought by the Crown, which leased it to the Kingturner family. It was this block that later provided the bulk of Saxton Field.

The productivity of some of the farm’s lower hill country was increased with ploughing and harrowing and the sowing of more productive grass species, and during the early 1930s dairying was introduced. In 1937 Dick Raine attained official registration as a dairy and Oaklands provided milk to the Stoke area.  In 1944 he became the first chairman of a farmers’ cooperative town milk company the Nelson Milk Treatment Station, when at least two earlier milk co-operatives merged.

In 1960 he divided the farm in two and transferred ownership to his two sons, Glyn and Richard. Revising the split to suit themselves, Richard Raine took control of more of the lowlands and dairy farm (including the original Oaklands farm and homestead), while Glyn Raine took over the hill land.

Over time Richard bought back several blocks his father had sold years before and in time also bought part of his brother Glyn’s farm. (Some of Glyn Raine’s farm remains in his family.) The contemporary Oaklands farm is now around 460 hectares in size and Raine family members continue to live in the original restored Oaklands homestead.  Situated up behind Saxton Field off Suffolk Road, the hard work of a combined eight generations of the Saxton-Raine family have transformed Oaklands into highly workable farmland.

Saxton Oaklands today

Oaklands Farm today showing Suffolk and Saxton Roads at lower left and part of Saxton Field at lower right - Raine Collection

Oaklands Farm today

The peaceful rural setting of the farm has completely changed and Oaklands is now a working town farm, as urban sprawl from both Nelson City and Tasman District closes in around it. Under the stewardship of Richard Raine’s son Julian (John Waring Saxton’s 3x great grandson), and his son Tom, Oaklands focuses on the dairying his grandfather Dick introduced in the 1930s.  Where Dick was the first chairman of the Nelson Milk Treatment Station, in 1998 Julian was its last chairman before the company was sold as one of the legs of the newly formed Fonterra.

saxton Three generations of Raines

Three generations of Raines - Richard, Julian and Tom. Raine Collection

As at the end of 2016, fresh Oaklands milk is sold direct from refrigerated vending machines situated at the farm gate and at various locations around the city. The farm supplies its milk to 60 restaurants and cafes in the region, offers a home delivery service, and is developing a supermarket milk brand.

Saxton Julian Raine 2 Nelson Mail

Julian Raine at Oaklands overlooking Saxton Field, 2010. Nelson Mail

One section of the original Saxton farm Richard Raine was unable to buy back was the Crown block, and this was eventually sold to the Nelson City Council.  It is this block which forms a large part of the Saxton Field sporting complex. The Nelson City Council set aside this land for the development of a regional sporting complex in the 1970s. Work began on the first sports ground in the early 1980s and Saxton Field, as it was named, was gradually added to and developed over the following 24 years until it is the sporting complex of today.

Jointly owned by Nelson City and Tasman District, Saxton Field provides facilities for a variety of codes including hockey, cricket, softball, netball, football, athletics and cycling, as well as general recreational purposes. Extending from Saxton Road in the north to Champion Road in the south, and bordered on the western boundary by Main Road Stoke, the complex of indoor stadium, sports fields, courts and tracks covers 65ha of recreation reserve.

2016

For more on this story, see:

  • Jeremy Cooper (2013) The Oaklands Story – 1844 to present [unpublished]. Available at Nelson Public Libraries.

This includes further research and copies of original documentation and images.

Nelson's Riverside Pool

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Nelson's Municipal Pool

The opening of Nelson's Municipal Pool in November 19271 by Mayor W.J Moffatt was well attended.  It was a major undertaking for the Council, given the severe economic situation of the time and growing unemployment and was one of the finest pools in New Zealand. The pool had been first proposed in November 1912 when land, later renamed Riverside, was set aside by the Maitai River in Milton Grove. World War One delayed construction. In June 1926 the city engineer was instructed to find work for a growing band of unemployed men in Nelson and the project started. A special Baths loan of 8000 pounds was raised, which unfortunately did not stretch to heating the pool. 

1927 opening of Municipal Pool. Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, FNJ 6x8 21
Click image to enlarge

Despite the temperature of the pool it was a safer and more inviting venue in which to learn to swim than the Matai River, where schools had previously held swimming classes.  The importance of learning to swim was widely recognised. Prior to the advent of the motor car, drowning was the chief cause of death by accident in the Dominion at that time. The Nelson Evening Mail's coverage of the opening event reported that "mixed bathing" occurred, and swimsuits could be hired for two pence. A three pence variation for women was also available, a ‘Canadian' costume that offered greater coverage. This may have been desirable as the glass sides of the pool offered spectators an underwater view of swimmers.

Harry Davy Superintendant 1932-1964

Harry Davy was the Municipal Superintendant from 1932 to 1964. During his term up to 10,000 children were taught to swim at the pool. He biked from his home in Ajax Avenue to open the pool at 6am each morning. 

Early morning swim training would take place while he cleaned the premises with a high pressure hose, and occasionally he turned it on a swimmer who wasn't swimming up to standard.  Swim squad member Bill Homan recalls that Harry's style of swim tuition was to drop the learner in the pool, watch them come up spluttering and make their way dog paddling frantically back to the side of the pool, where they would be met with a comment that it was good they knew how to swim and now they'd work on the stroke a bit.

Harry Davy and the club team. Photo courtesy Bill Homan. Click image to enlarge

Carol Peters recalls that wooden boards were used to aid flotation while you learnt to kick properly under the watchful eye of "Uncle Harry" as he was universally known.  If you were scared there was a canvas belt attached to a pole- rather like a large fishing rod-held by Harry. It was no good putting a foot down- you'd get a jerk on the rope!

Harry had to do everything-  keep the pool spic and span and teach people to swim and be the lifeguard.  His only help running the pool was from his wife, Monica, who ran the ticket office. He ran the pool with an iron hand and had a whistle on a string around his neck.  Inappropriate behaviour resulted in a piercing blast on the whistle whereupon everyone would freeze and be silent and wait for the beckoning finger. The miscreant was identified, ordered out and banned from getting back in until after much pleading Harry said they could return.

Despite being a strong disciplinarian Harry was a popular and well respected person. He was passionate about swimming, and the community got behind him to send him to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Mr Harry Davy passed away 1974. 

Renovations

A number of renovations have taken place over the years and very little remains of the original pool complex, apart from the 1927 frontage  and the pool itself.

  • 1966 - the pool was made shallower to help with swimming lessons, through the generous help of Bill Gibbon.
  • 1972 - an oil heater was installed, which was later replaced with electric heating.
  • 1986 - a $230,000 roof was put over the pool, with the support of Mayor Peter Malone. The pool could now be heated to 27 degrees, which allowed competetive swimming to take place all year. A health spa and gymnasium was also added. The pool was renamed Riverside Pool.
  • 1997 - a major renovation following increased usage led to improved filtration and changing rooms.
Legends of the Pool

The following stories have been contributed by longtime pool users.

Open Air Carnivals
Barbara Lane remembers the Pool being built. Her father was very involved with the swim carnivals, being a member of the New Zealand Swimming Association. He invariably ended up taking the role of timekeeper. In pre television days the "Munies" played a big part in the lives of Nelson's children. She recalls hearing excited spectators cheers being heard afar from the open air pool.

Open air carnival at municipal Pool Courtesy of Barbara Lane
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1947 NZ Swimming Championships - divers. Mary Nesbit (Nelson), Joyce Carpenter (Nelson) and Mayzod Reid ( Otago)
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Champion Diver - Joyce Carpenter
Joyce recalls with amusement how her diving career started. There was a Junior Swim Championship being held in Nelson and the Nelson team didn't have divers in their team. Harry turned to Joyce and said she should dive for Nelson and do a forward somersault. Joyce was reluctant saying she did not know how to do it and only agreed to do it when Harry said he would do it first. All Harry knew about diving came out of a big book he had - which was his guide to all he taught. Joyce must have done it well as she went on to compete in the Empire Games in 1950 and she was active teaching diving and swimming in Nelson 50 years ago. She says that diving became a big drawcard at the Nelson Swim Carnivals.

The Nelson Swimming Club
Despite the pool being unheated until 1972 Nelson had many keen swimmers. The Nelson Swimming Club eventually opened its own club rooms in 1956 alongside the Municipal Pool.  Laurie Crabb was Club captain for a period 1940's- 50's and went on to be a New Zealand Selector for many years. His wife Belle recalls that the swimming pool was the social centre of the community, saying that half the town seemed to be there all summer both night and day. As a young man, Laurie and his mates, still in their swim togs, would call in at The Nibble Nook for an ice cream and some banter with the girls behind the counter. He met Belle there, who was rolling the ice creams for half time. After they married her husband still spent a huge amount of time at the pool, and Belle supported him by doing such tasks as being a chaperone for the girls on trips away.

Nelson Swimming Club affiliated with Nelson Marlborough to compete nationally. Harry Davy and Tun Bolton with the 1940's team. Harry Davy photo collection courtesy of Bill HomanClick image to enlarge

Swim clubs combine for regional team
A number of swim clubs were active in the region, including Nelson South based at Hampden School Pool, Nayland, Waimea and more further afield. A combined team, including Marlborough swimmers, competed at national championships. Competitive opportunities such as these developed young swimmers and local girl Lynette Norman was one to go on to become a NZ champion back-stroker.

Don Kerr
Don Kerr was well known as an accomplished diver, often making the sports pages, though the problems of a 3ft board over an 8 ft depth pool led to the less accomplished getting bumps and bruises if they misjudged the angle of their dive. Don was in the army during the war and served in Egypt, which at the time had the best divers in the world, from whom he learned a lot. He shared his skills with others in the club when he came back to Nelson, improving the standard of diving. Don ran Louis Kerr Jewellers and an old engraved sign advertising his shop and the Ritz can still be seen from Trafalgar St behind Stirling Sports shop.

Don Kerr . Harry Davy photo collection courtesy of Bill Homan
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Swimsuit fashions
The Municipal Pool was a popular social meeting place and dress was important. The early team swimmers' uniform, with the distinctive N on the front was a non elastic woollen one. Even the men needed suits with straps, especially when diving as heavy wet suits would not stay up. Ngaire Galloway, who has lived in Nelson since 1950, said post-war shortages meant most swim suits were cotton or wool. She recalls her delight in being able to borrow a jersey silk swim suit when competing in the 100m backstroke at the Olympics in London in 1948.  The built in bra and a modesty skirt across the lower front in a jersey silk became available in late forties going into the fifties. Two piece suits became popular then as well. Many swimsuits were modelled on those seen on movie stars, such as Esther Williams whose synchronised swimming was a feature movies of that time.

Nelson South Swimming Club
Nelson South Swimming Club was started from members of the Nelson Amateur Swimming Club. In the latter part of the 1930's it was decided that the south area of Nelson had expanded sufficiently to warrant the building of a new swimming pool "so the children of the area did not have to walk all the way to the Municipal Pool for their swimming lessons".2

Hampden Street School was the fortunate recipients of the new pool. When the school found the running of the pool too onerous they approached the Nelson Swimming Club for help and as a result a new Club, Nelson South was formed in 1947. The two clubs provided good competition for each other in the area and still do today. In keeping with the competitive spirit between the two clubs, in 1960, a goodwill trophy [a shield] was donated by Mr Harry Davy, the Nelson Pool Manager and Coach.

Riverside Pool, 2011.

The Art of Wakefield Quay

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Wakefield Quay  named after Captain Arthur Wakefield of the New Zealand Company was where many early European Settlers first set foot in New Zealand. It  boasts beautiful views of Nelson's sheltered harbour and is also home to a collection of varied and exciting artworks that enhance the setting. Take a real or virtual walk along the Quay using the audio guide and map.

Download MP3  See and download the map   or Watch a video

Art Walk Map. NCC
Click image to enlarge or download the PDF

The Early Settlers sculpture (1) depicts a young migrant family arriving in Nelson around 1842 and marks an early landing site for both Māori and early settlers. The man, his wife and daughter stand facing their new life ahead with some of the basic necessities they would need in the new colony - tools to work the soil and grow the seeds they would have brought with them.

English born artist Anthony Stones, famous for his works in bronze, was commissioned by the Nelson 2000 Trust to create this piece. It was largely funded by generous donations from the Baigent and Goodman families.  Stones has created a number of bronzes across New Zealand, mainly of famous people such as Captain James Cook and Abel Tasman. He is known for his research and meticulous attention to detail such as here, with costumes and belongings of the trio. His work is in public and private collections worldwide.


Early Settlers Memorial, Wakefield Quay, Nelson. Tony Stones, 2000Click image to enlarge

The statue is adjacent to the fascinating Early Settlers Memorial wall (2), which is also a Nelson 2000 Trust project, conceived as a way of recognising the pioneers who built Nelson as we know it today. Facing seawards, the panels of engraved granite give an overview of Māori and European settlement in the area, and lists of the Nelson passengers and the ships which arrived here from 1841-1850. This list is also searchable in full on the Nelson City Council Early Settlers database. Many ship names are remembered in Nelson landmarks and street names.

In the nearby garden a carved wooden totara globe sits atop a pillar of hardwood. The Navigator (3) is by Tim Wraight, who is an artist who has trained with John Mutu, a traditional Māori Master Woodcarver, at Te Awhina Marae in Motueka. The work was commissioned by Cliff and Ann Nighy and gifted to the city.

The idea behind the work was to reflect the varied themes of navigation and travel to Nelson from other parts of the globe by Māori, European settlers and the modern maritime industry.  The globe at the apex has rings of stars used for Māori navigation; there is a reference to the compasses, used in early European navigation, and the globe is also the same shape of satellites, vital for the global positioning used in modern navigation. The supporting post has representations of harakeke/flax rope for Māori waka; hemp rope for European sailing vessels; and steel chain for modern vessels. The overall form of the work is that of an abstracted human shape to refer to the peoples involved in navigation to and from Nelson.

Nic Channon's whimsical Lighthouse weathervane (4) sits atop the Sealord Search and Rescue Centre. He was chosen by Sealord to create the artwork as, at the time, he was developing systems for making windvanes, which are delicately balanced to respond to a light breeze yet durable enough to withstand a vigorous wind. The artwork celebrates the lighthouse seen across the Haven on the natural phenomenon of the Boulder Bank.

Jim Mackay preferred to leave his sculpture (5) unnamed to allow people to choose what they saw in it. Mackay is a contemporary Nelson artist producing highly sought-after works in cast glass and glass sculptures. When Cliff and Ann Nighy commissioned this work to gift to the city they first worked with the artist on a design for glass. However it was soon agreed that Corten Steel would be more suitable for the site. Corten is the same material as the hulls of the commercial ships coming into the harbour, and the containers on them. It is also known as weathering steel and consists of a group of steel alloys which were developed to obviate the need for painting. Corten develops a stable rust-like appearance when exposed to the air. This piece has an enduring beauty and has oxidised to a rich deep orange. 

Jim Mackay lived on the waterfont near this site, and he recalls  the eerie sensation of the large container ships entirely filling his window.

Mackay also created glass components at two sites on Wakefield Quay at Nelson City Council's request.  These are art glass blocks in seats, which have been engraved by Patrick Day, as an acknowledgement for donors who gifted seats and tables all along the waterfront.  The blue glass atop the concrete columns nearby are also Mackay's work.

Darryl Frost, best known in Nelson for his stainless steel art at the airport, created the Spyhole. (6) The weathered, hand-forged, steel gate-like structure focuses the viewer's eyes on the water between the path and the road. At night a magical effect is created with lights reflected on the water when the tide comes in.

Commissioned by Nelson City Council, this artwork is a good example of a policy to weave art into functional items, where possible, in new developments, as the work doubles as a necessary barrier to the drop from the wharf. Frost first qualified as a builder before moving into art in the 1980's.  Best known for his ceramic work, which he started to produce after completing advanced training craft and design in 1989, he has more recently done some outstanding work in steel. He currently works from his Nelson studio.

Chris Finlayson mural.
Click to enlarge

Christopher Finlayson said of his mural Aotearoa (7) "Whatever I painted there on the edge of land and sea ...would stand as a portal of softer human expression within the context of a hard edged, often unforgiving artificial urban environment." This talented artist is one of New Zealand's leading mural artists, first creating this iconic work in 1984 on the side of a heritage building.  Over the past 30 years he has completed over 300 outdoor art projects throughout New Zealand.

In recent years Finlayson has been working with community groups in Marlborough, Nelson and in Golden Bay where he lives. Using many coats of commercial arylic/latex paint he has create a number of popular and striking local works, the "Urban Jungle" mural at the top of Trafalgar St, the "Peace" collective mural on Tahunanui Drive, and the "Knowledge mural" in Nelson Library on Halifax St. His latest work, the "Ko Nga Tangata" mural at Victory Square, won the best professional mural in the 2010 Resene Mural masterpiece national awards.

He created this iconic work, Aotearoa, in 1984 on the side of a 1922 heritage building, which once housed the electricity generating plant providing power to Nelson City. The mural combines an arrangement of windows, cloud, hand carving and familiar scenery to bring qualities of mythology, human creativity and natural phenomena into the present. The motif along the top is derived from a "Stairway to heaven" pattern, inspired by the carved ornamental panels found in the whare whakairo on marae throughout New Zealand.

Finlayson is known for encouraging the community to be a part of the painting process, so they feel ownership of the local landmarks created. When he refurbished Aotearoa in 2009 he had 28 willing helpers helping block in the giant work, which was supported by the then tenants, Crop and Food Research.

Grant Palliser's bronze Seafarer (8) depicts a sailor at the helm of ship on a turbulent sea. It was commissioned by the New Zealand Fishing Industry to be a memorial to "lost seafaring men who led a life at the whim of the sea".   A moving poem by poet Geoff Waring is found on the column, and it touches on the challenges of the sea and the effects of the loss of any sailor on their friends and family. Nelson is one of the largest fishing ports in the Southern hemisphere and many local men and women are employed in the industry.

Grant said that the making of the Seafarers' Memorial  took on a personal perspective when local fishers would come in off the wharf to check on progress. Grant worked in a large warehouse space provided by one of the local fishing industry plants and he said the fishermen would tell him their stories. One even modelled for him from time to time. During this time Grant developed a huge respect for the men.

The sailor Grant depicts is scanning the way ahead and, from his expression, you get the sense that the way forward is going to be challenging.  This is echoed by the angle of the bridge which vividly captures  the skill required in mastering an unforgiving sea. The figure was cast using the lost wax process, while the sturdy bronzed column base was cast in sand and on this Grant has depicted the various species of fish caught by local fisheries. The column height and size gives a  sense of the fathoms below the boat where the fish swim in the calmer depths of the ocean.

Seafarers Memorial by Grant Palliser. Click to enlarge

The Sunderland Marine Pier was built by the Seafarers Memorial Trust as a site for the artwork and is a favourite spot for fishermen of all ages. Nearby, towards the yacht club the Neptune war memorial (9) records a naval disaster of WWII. The HMS Neptune sank in December 1941 with the loss of all but one of her ships' company,  after the ship ran into a minefield off the coast of Libya. Four Nelson men were among the 150 New Zealanders who died that day.  The sole survivor, Norman Walton, flew to New Zealand in 1991 to meet the friends and families of former shipmates and unveiled this memorial in Nelson.

A memorial yacht race - the Neptune Cup - was held by the Nelson Yacht Club and has run for many years.  Always a highly social affair, Returned Services members team up with yacht club members for a fun event that see teams competing for the coveted silver cup.

Michael Macmillan is a fourth generation potter and first explored sculpture through this medium. His work Evolution (10) in front of Haven Apartments, is a 2.5 tonne water feature incorporating stone, copper, stainless steel, ceramics and polished aggregate. Michael started to cast bronze at the age of 18 and held his first exhibition two years later, when he was selected for Wellington’s prestigious ‘ New Faces’ exhibition. From 1988-89 Michael further developed his skills and continued to produce limited edition bronze sculptures.Since that time he has explored larger sculptural forms using concrete aggregate as his primary medium.  The larger sculptures are produced by developing an iron armature onto which aggregate is applied. Once the primary form is achieved the aggregate is then polished smooth, cutting back the surface by hand and diamond tools to reveal various colours and textures within. Michael created ‘Evolution’ in 2002.  It is enhanced by water flowing over the work, making it glisten invitingly under the hot Nelson sun.

The Anchor Shipping and Foundry (11) building is an example of a beautifully restored heritage building in Nelson.

Note - Much of the information comes from either the artists themselves or from those who have commissioned the art.

2011

Nelson's WWI Red Cross Flag

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At 2.5m long and almost 1.5m high, an enormous flag - roughly the size of a king-sized sheet – was created during WWI to raise money for Nelson troops posted overseas.

Red Cross FlagThe Red Cross Flag. Nelson Provinicial Museum.
Click image to enlarge

The autographed flag is crowded with individual signatures and vividly illustrates people’s desire to be involved with the constant fundraising carried out during the war years.

In early May 1916, the Mayoress Janet Harley initiated this fundraising effort. Based out of the Helping Hand Shop, the fund was set up by local Nelson women to raise money for the Red Cross. Mayoress Harley donated a large piece of cloth which was spread out for two days in the shop. People paid a shilling to sign the flag. People could also post their signature in on a piece of paper to be traced onto the fabric. The inked names were then embroidered in red silk.

The beautiful, careful needlework was carried out almost wholly by Miss Isabella Ewart, who was in her early 60s at the time. Her obituary in the Colonist three years later describes her as an “indefatigable worker in patriotic organisations” and “one of the foremost of [the] Red Cross Workers” during the war years.

Around 1800 people and business participated, raising almost ₤100.

A year passed but the war still raged on. During the last week of April 1917, the flag was auctioned as part of an intense fundraising effort “to raise additional funds for Red Cross work in view of heavier casualties on the Western Front” (Colonist, 25 April 1917). The ‘Red Cross Fete’ involved a bazaar, an apple day, a flower show at the Suter Art Gallery, a masked ball, side-shows, and a parade of decorated motor vehicles and bicycles through Nelson. The grounds of the Provincial Buildings were specially lit by electric light for the occasion. The flag was auctioned during a special evening concert in the Provincial Hall and was purchased by Miss Marsden for ₤110. This was a substantial amount of money in 1917, the equivalent today would be approximately $4000.

The Nelson Provincial Museum welcomed the flag into its collection in 2002, when it was donated by the Nelson Returned and Services Association (Inc). The flag is stored in a climate-controlled storage room, at the Museum’s Research Facility, rolled onto a large padded tube to minimise stress on the fragile fibres.

The Museum opened its commemorative exhibition exhibition ‘WW1 – Their Stories – Our History’ in August 2014. This spectacular flag was considered for display, but as it is extremely fragile and the coloured embroidery silk susceptible to fading with prolonged exposure to light, displaying it would be unwise. Instead it was decided to create a reproduction.

Creating a reproduction of an object this large posed an exciting challenge for Museum staff. The photographer positioned a fixed tripod on the mezzanine level of the Research Facility’s library to get the extra height needed to capture the outsized object. The flag was slowly unrolled far below and photographed in sections. Four individual digital images were then painstakingly ‘stitched’ together using Photoshop® to create a single image. This image was sent to a local printing company, The Darkroom, to print onto fabric. A museum volunteer then hemmed the reproduction, which now hangs in the ‘Community Hall’ in the Museum’s upper gallery.

After careful searching the author has been unable to spot the name of the embroiderer, Isabella Ewart, on the flag. Despite the many hours she must have spent embroidering other people’s names, did she not embroider her own?

2014 (first published in Nelson Provincial Museum's e-news)


Tyree Brothers

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The Tyree brothers, Fred (1867-1924)  and William (1855-1924) were the sons of William Tyree, a shoemaker From Surrey, England, who emigrated to Otago, New Zealand in 1871.

William (senior) had a brother James who set up a photographic studio in Dunedin. It is probable that the younger William gained his photographic training from his uncle James.

Collingwood with Fred Tyree (1880's) Tyree Studio Collection.http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=8933Click image to enlarge

The brothers were involved in gold exploration and engineering in Queenstown. William later moved to Nelson and, in 1878, began a photographic business in Trafalgar Street, earning an income taking “carte de visite” portraits. William was soon joined by his brother Fred, a trained pharmacist from Dunedin. With his job experience and the time spent with his photographer uncle, Fred had become a skilled photographer himself. Fred specialised in scenic images, but he also photographed many public events and townscapes. During the 1890s the brothers journeyed by horse and trap to every part of the Nelson Province capturing for posterity views, buildings and portraits of pioneers.

In 1892 the studio began evening limelight slide exhibitions, projecting the images from inside the studio onto the first floor window. The first shows celebrated the Nelson Province’s 50th Jubilee.

Rose Frank joined William and Fred at the studio in 1886. Later that year William moved to Sydney, Australia, and continued photography, although his real motive was to pursue his inventive interests. He began an engineering business producing acetylene gas generators, plus inventing precision spraying apparatus, an egg tester, a life saver and an apparatus for teaching writing, to name but a few, and took out patents on a variety of new and improved inventions. He returned to Nelson in 1897, continuing to introduce gadgets and inventions. He moved back to Sydney in 1910 to buy a photographic and then an engineering business, neither of which prospered.

In 1895 Rose Frank took over the management of the Tyree studio, working with Fred until 1889 when he moved to Takaka in Golden Bay, where he opened his own photographic business. The business never quite met expectations and, in 1893, he moved to Christchurch. Fred returned to Takaka in 1897, reviving his photographic business for two years before taking up farming and running the Collingwood Hotel. He finally settled into farming, but remained an avid photographer.

Fred Tyree and family, c. 1915. Tyree Studio Collection http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=29997
Click image to enlarge

In 1914 the studio was sold to Rose Frank, who continued to manage it, retaining the original name, until 1947.

Fred and William Tyree died in the same year, 1924, Fred in Takaka and William in Sydney. The Tyree brothers, together with Rose Frank, created an important historical legacy for the Nelson Province and New Zealand in general. The visual records they left provide us with a unique insight into the life and times of our past.

The Tyree Studio Collection (1882-1947) of approximately 105,000 images of studio portraits, civic occasions and scenic views has been in the care of the Nelson Provincial Museum since 1974. It also includes negatives, from other photographers, bought by the Tyree Studio.

Nelson from Matangi Awhio. late 1870's. Nelson Provincial Museum. Tyree Collection.
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This information was originally written for a Nelson City Council Heritage panel at the Grampians

 

From Cairo to Ngatimoti

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Or Around the World in 100 Years: the WW1 postcard that lost its way

Front of Hector Guy’s postcard.  A. McFadgen

Front of Hector Guy’s postcard. A. McFadgen

Poignant flotsam from the First World War, postcards written by serving soldiers to family, friends and sweethearts can be found in museums, antique shops, second-hand stores and estate sales all around the world, and are much sought after by deltiologists (postcard buffs and collectors). Funny, sentimental, patriotic, photographic or picturesque, postcards first came into vogue in the latter part of the 19th century. They reached the peak of their popularity during WWI,1 as the perfect means of communication for servicemen often pushed for the time and opportunity to write letters and limited by military censorship as to what they could actually say.

postcard Hector Guy postcard reverse

Reverse of Hector Guy’s postcard. A. McFadgen

Some years ago a colourful postcard at a market stall in his hometown of Barnstaple caught the eye of Trevor Jennings from Devon, England. Trevor has in-laws in Waimea West and has visited New Zealand several times, so the link to the Tasman area also aroused his interest. The card, signed "Hector" and dated 16 May, 1915, had been written at Zeitoun Camp, Cairo, Egypt, to Mrs T. Strachan of Ngatimoti, New Zealand, and clearly had a First World War connection.2 Zeitoun was on the outskirts of Cairo and served as a base for Anzac troops during WWI. After arriving by troopship at Alexandria, New Zealand soldiers underwent intensive training in the desert surrounding Zeitoun before being shipped off to Gallipoli, the Middle East and the Western Front.

postcard Hector Guy

Company Sergeant-Major Hector Guy (1890-1917) WWI service no 6/244. Tyree Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Permanent Collection, ref. 97245

The rediscovery of the postcard recently while Trevor was moving house coincided with the centenary of the campaign on Gallipoli and prompted him to see if he could find out more about it and perhaps send it “home” to New Zealand. An online search led him to articles I'd written about the Ngatimoti War Memorial and Frank Strachan, giving him a clue to the identity of the postcard's author - Frank's cousin, Hector Guy. Trevor then contacted me, and soon afterwards the postcard was winging its way to my home in  Ngatimoti, a stone’s throw away from where the Guy family once lived. Thanks to Trevor's generosity, Hector's message finally made it to Ngatimoti, New Zealand, almost exactly a hundred years after he penned it.

Hector Guy's postcard doesn’t appear to have ever been postmarked or franked by military authorities. How it lost its way is a mystery unlikely to ever be solved after all this time, but by whatever means, it had joined that host of mislaid and discarded messages destined to remain unclaimed after the “War to end all Wars” ended.

Transcript of Hector Guy’s postcard

This was written on the 16th of May, 1915, at Zeitoun Camp, Cairo, Egypt, to his Aunt Ida (Mrs Thomas Strachan) of Ngatimoti, New Zealand.

Zeitoun Camp, 16-5-1915. So pleased to receive your letter two days ago. Time does fly – it doesn’t seem like a year ago I was with you – fancy little David remembering me. He has grown a lot in the photo you sent me of the children. I sent a P.C. [postcard] in answer to that a fortnight ago and hope it will arrive all right.  I have made inquiries about Frank Waghorn but so far have not been able to find any trace of him, he is not in our regiment. I will continue to make inquiries and will let you know if I hear anything of him. I had [a] letter from home on Sunday night and was surprised to hear you knew about the fighting so soon. This is a street scene in the best of the native qtrs [quarters] - the worst are too dirty to remain in long. You would be very amused here at first to see a man with a moustache wearing a long dress like a woman – someplaces one can’t distinguish the sex. Sorry Uncle Tom hadn’t a better crop of raspberries. Much love to you all. Hector.

Who were Hector Guy, his Aunt Ida and others mentioned in his postcard?

postcard Guy family at Sunny Brae

The Guy family at "Sunny Brae", Ngatimoti, pre-War. L-R: Back row (standing): Arthur, Margaret (Daisy), Hector Front row (seated): John A. Guy, Ruth, Elizabeth (Lily) Guy, Walter. Guy Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 315235

Albert Hector Guy (always called Hector, or “Hec” by his mates) was born 11 October 1890, the second child of John Arliss and Elizabeth Mouter (nee Strachan) Guy. Their farm ran from Waiwhero Road into the Orinoco Valley at Ngatimoti, a small rural settlement in the Motueka River Valley about 51km from Nelson. The Guys’ homestead, “Sunny Brae”, sat on the knoll of a hill looking down Waiwhero Road towards St James Anglican Church and the Mt Arthur Range beyond and was opposite the first Ngatimoti School, established in 1868. Hector had four siblings – Walter (the eldest), Margaret (Daisy), Arthur and Ruth.3

Walter Guy

Walter Alexander Cochrane Guy (1887-1918). WWI serial no 2599. Tyree Studio, Nelson Provincial Museum ref. 97986

John Guy served as Ngatimoti's Postmaster from 1892 till the early 1920s, with the post office and telegraph service operating from "Sunny Brae". The two youngest children, first Arthur, then Ruth, helped out in turn and could be seen dashing down the hill by either bicycle or horseback to deliver telegrams, a distressing job for Ruth during the war years on those occasions when they brought dreaded news from the frontlines. The post office's telephone line was for many years the only one in the Motueka Valley, and because John Guy was the first to be officially notified, he and his son Hector tolled the St James Church bell on 5 August 1914 to announce the anticipated news that New Zealand had joined Britain in declaring war on Germany.4 When the armistice was signed, the bell was rung all day long in celebration.

Known to all as “Lily” or ‘Lil”, Elizabeth Strachan had been the girl next door and married John Guy at St James Church, Ngatimoti on 21 April 1886, the Reverend Samuel Poole officiating. Theirs was the first wedding to be held in the small community-built church, sited on land donated by John’s father, Walter Guy of ”Moutere House”, and consecrated by Bishop Suter on October 28 1884.5

John’s parents, Walter and Leah (nee Gregory) Guy, had left England as newly-weds on the “Larkins”, arriving in Nelson on 12 November 1849. They settled in Motueka, later establishing a farm at Lower Moutere in the Central Road area where they raised a family of seven. John, born in 1850, was the oldest and their only son. Around 1874 Walter Guy bought a block of former Crown Grant land at Ngatimoti from James George Deck and turned over its management to his son John.

postcard Strachan family at Manawatane 1909

Strachan family gathering at "Manawatane", New Year's Day, 1909. Guy Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 315175

The Strachan family were farming neighbours – their Strachan Road property, “Manawatane”, shared a common boundary with the Guys’. Lily’s brothers Gavin, Alexander (Alec), John (Jack) and Thomas (Tom) all had farms in proximity to “Sunny Brae”, with Alec Strachan taking over the "Manawatane" home farm after the deaths of their parents Benjamin and Jean. An older brother, James (Jamie), had died in 1861 at the age of twelve and her only sister Mary moved to Marlborough, then Stoke after her marriage in 1876.

postcard Cousins Frank Strachan and Arthur Guy

Cousins Frank Strachan & Arthur Guy. They enlisted together in January 1916. Arthur made it home, Frank was killed at the Somme on 12 November, 1916. Tyree Studio Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 89476

Benjamin Strachan emigrated from Scotland on the “Admiral Grenfell” in 1853 with his wife Jean Pringle (nee Cochrane) and young son Jamie. They had intended to join Nelson merchant and banker David Sclanders, a relative of his wife’s, but instead took up farming at Riwaka before shifting to Ngatimoti in 1872.6 Benjamin was a cooper by trade and passed on his craft to his sons. In addition to running the farm they had a workshop and smithy at “Manawatane” where they turned out for local consumption buckets, butter churns, kegs and the popular casks used for transporting harvested raspberries to the Motueka Wharf for distribution, much of it to jam factories like Kirkpatrick’s in Nelson.7 Raspberries served as a vital cash crop on Ngatimoti’s mostly small mixed farms for many years before being replaced by tobacco from the mid-1920s to the late-1990s.8 The Strachans also undertook commissions, like the rimu tubs and boxes made to package the finished product at Motueka’s first butter factory.9 The youngest of the Strachan brothers, Tom, had an inventive streak and a particular skill in working with tools and machinery which he passed on to his sons.10

postcard Territorials

Ngatimoti Territorials practicing drill before setting out for the Military Tournament held in Auckland, January 1914. L-R: Standing: Frank Strachan, Bert Thomason, Ted Burrow Kneeling: Hector Guy, Roy Stafford. Guy Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 315157

Guy and Strachan children grew up surrounded by a close and affectionate network of aunts, uncles and cousins, and at busy times all shared tasks like haymaking, shearing and fruit and hop harvesting on the farms of various relatives and neighbours.11 Before the war Hector and his brother Walter both worked as farmers, Hector for his father, and Walter on his own farm nearby. It wasn’t all work – they were also actively involved in local social life; church activities, canoeing on the river, excursions to the beach, the Tablelands and Nelson Lakes, tennis and cricket games and informal concerts and picnics. They went hunting in the hills and trained regularly with the Territorials, formed in 1911. Annual Territorials’ camps were convened at George MacMahon’s farm in Tapawera, and in January 1914, Hector travelled north with the Nelson contingent taking part in a military tournament held in conjunction with the Auckland Exhibition of 1913-4.12

postcard London wedding Brereton Guy

London wedding of Cyprian Brereton and Margaret (Daisy) Guy, 5 August,1915. L-R: Standing: Major Cyprian Brereton (groom) and Hector Guy, brother of the bride and best man. Seated: Mrs Kitty Wheater and her daughter Nancy with the bride, Daisy Brereton (nee Guy), in the middle. Nelson Provincial Museum, ref. 2014.72.7

Hector enlisted with the NZ Expeditionary Force immediately after New Zealand declared war on Germany.13 He had been a sergeant in the 12th (Nelson & Marlborough) Regiment of the NZ Territorial Force and was assigned the same rank in the 12th (Nelson) Company of the newly formed Canterbury Infantry Battalion. He embarked from Wellington for Egypt on the troopship ”SS Athenic” with the Main Body of the NZEF on 16 October 1914, and took part in the Battle of the Suez Canal in early February 1915 and at Gallipoli, where he was wounded at Quinn’s Post four months later. Being on recuperation leave in England at the time, on 5 August 1915 Hector was able to stand as best man at the London wedding of his sister Daisy to his good friend Major Cyprian Bridge (Cyp) Brereton of Ngatimoti, commanding officer of the 12th (Nelson) Company.14 Cyprian and Daisy Brereton would go on to have four children and called their first child William Hector. Like the uncle he was named for, he was always known by his second name, Hector.

After rejoining his unit at the NZ Division's camp at El Moascar in Egypt, Hector Guy was redeployed to the Western Front where he went on to fight with distinction, being posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal and a Mention in Despatches, in both cases "for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty".15 He held the rank of Company Sergeant-Major by the time he was killed in action below Bellevue Spur at Passchendaele on what is known as NZ’s “blackest day” of WWI, 12 October 1917. He was 27. 

postcard Brothers in law

Brothers-in-law CSM Hector Guy (seated) and Major Cyprian Bridge Brereton in France,1916. Major Brereton paid tribute to Hector in his wartime memoir, "Tales of Three Campaigns", praising his fearlessness, and the "serene temper and unselfish good nature which gave him a host of friends". Nelson Provincial Museum Copy Collection, ref. C3722

Hector Guy’s comrade Sergeant Cecil Malthus later recalled:

Hector was great fun, really solid in his fundamental qualities, but liable to go off the deep end just for devilment. He had an amazing courage that looked like sheer recklessness, but I believe he was deeply stirred and stimulated by danger, and that made him a grand leader.He was found with a bullet through the brain, but still on his feet and gazing out over the parapet - a fitting and symbolic end. I still think of Hector’s death with a pang of loss, more perhaps than for any other man who was killed in France.16

Like so many others, Hector Guy’s body was lost and he is commemorated at the Tyne Cot Memorial to the Missing at Zonnebeke in Belgium.

All three of John and Lily Guy’s sons – Walter, Hector and Arthur – served during WWI, leaving their parents and two sisters struggling to run the two family farms as best they could. Walter (named for his paternal grandfather), was born 20 August 1887, and attended Nelson College between 1903-4. He was a keen amateur photographer and many of the scenes of rural life he recorded at Ngatimoti can still be seen in the Guy Collection held by the Nelson Provincial Museum.  Walter enlisted on 29 May 1916 and served as a private with the 19th Reinforcements, 12th (Nelson) Company, Canterbury Infantry Battalion. Holding the temporary rank of corporal, he spent ten months at Sling Camp in England as an instructor before being deployed to France where he reverted to the ranks as a private.17 He was killed in the field at the age of 31 while trying to rescue a wounded man at Colincamps on 27 March 1918, one of over 500 fatalities suffered by the NZ Division at the Somme during a last-ditch stand to hold Allied lines against a German offensive of unprecedented scale labelled “Operation Michael”. He is commemorated with other members of the Canterbury Regiment at the Grévillers (New Zealand) Memorial to the Missing at Pas de Calais, France.

postcard Raspberry pickers

Raspberry pickers at Ngatimoti. Cart loaded with filled casks of the type made by Strachan Brothers. Guy Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 315085

With both Hector and Walter now dead, under the exemptions permitted by the Military Service Act of 1916 John Guy was able to have Arthur, as his sole surviving son, recalled home from active duty in July 1918, on compassionate grounds.18 Arthur, a sergeant with the NZ Cyclists Corps at the time of his release from service, was born 18 May 1895 and grew up helping out on the family farm, but had plans to follow a different career path which were thwarted by the war. He had been working as a clerk at the Otaki Railways branch of the Bank of New Zealand before he and his cousin Frank Strachan signed up together with the 12th (Nelson) Company Reserves at Trentham on 12 January 1916, but the changed family circumstances meant he spent the rest of his life as a farmer, running both his father's and brother Walter's farms as a single unit. On 1 August 1923 he was married in Vancouver, British Columbia, to Helen Friesen, a Canadian schoolteacher who came to Ngatimoti on a summer raspberry picking holiday, and one of their grandchildren still farms the remaining Guy land at Ngatimoti today. 

Walter, Hector and their cousin Frank Strachan, only son of Alexander and Mary (nee Bowden) Strachan of "Manawatane", are commemorated in New Zealand at the Ngatimoti War Memorial, erected in front of St James Church on land donated by the Guy family and unveiled on Anzac Day, 25 April 1921. The War Memorial project was spearheaded by Walter and Hector's sister Daisy, who served as chairwoman on the highly effective local Ladies’ Committee set up to oversee its completion.

postcard D.G. Beatson family photo

David & Helen Beatson with their ten children at "Woodland Terrace". L-R: Standing at back: William (Willie), Ida, Walter, J. Guthrie, George Middle: Cecil, Helen (nee Griffin) Beatson, David Beatson. Front: Charles, Ethelind (Ethie), Helen (Nellie), Henry (Harry). Courtesy Mr E. Stevens

The intended recipient of Hector’s postcard was his Aunt Ida, wife of his mother's youngest brother, Thomas Pringle Strachan (1868-1941). Ida Helena Strachan nee Beatson (1872-1953) was the oldest daughter of David Guthrie Beatson, one of three sons of Nelson architect William Beatson who took up land in the Orinoco Valley around 1864 - David, Arthur Henry and Charles Edward (an architect like his father). Her mother, Helen (nee Griffin), was a member of the family who established the Griffins’ biscuit factory in Nelson. Their connection to Ngatimoti dated back to 1860, when Helen's father John Griffin set up a farm called "'Lawrencedale" in the Waiwhero area, where they were part of a idealistic community of like-minded friends including the families of Appleby schoolteacher Lewis Bryant19 and charismatic Plymouth Brethren preacher James George Deck. Due to poor land and lack of practical farming experience this proved a short-lived and financially disastrous venture, soon abandoned by the Griffins for a return to the city of Nelson by 1863. "Mr Griffin lost all he had invested and Father came out a broken-down old man," remarked Lewis Bryant Jnr later.20 James Deck also suffered; both his first and second wives and his youngest son died in the Waiwhero Valley.

David Beatson and Helen Griffin married on 11 March 1869 and raised ten children at their Orinoco home, “Woodland Terrace”. Ida was related by marriage to nearly all of the players in this story. Another of her father's brothers, John James Beatson, married her husband Tom's oldest sister, Mary Sclanders Strachan; her uncle Charles E. Beatson married John Guy's sister Mary Alice; her brother John Guthrie Beatson married Cyprian Brereton's sister Helen, and her sister Ethelind (Ethie) married Cyprian's brother Allen Brereton. Just to add to the matrimonial tangle, before he married Mary Strachan, Ida's uncle John J. Beatson had previously been engaged to her mother's older sister Alice Griffin, who died early at the age of 20 in 1864.21 A cousin, Arthur Griffin, may well have been influenced by the Beatson family connection to become a well-known Nelson architect in his own right.

postcard Frank Waghorns family

Frank & Kate Waghorn’s family at the Guy family home, “Sunny Brae”. Guy Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 315174

Tom and Ida’s marriage on 4 November 1902 was followed by a wedding party held at “Manawatane”, an enjoyable social occasion for friends and family, many of them from the local community.22 They had three children, Vida, Douglas and David Pringle Strachan (1912-1983). David would have been about three at the time he was mentioned in his uncle Hector Guy’s postcard. In 1906, following the subdivision of the large “Woodstock” estate formerly owned by Dr Johansen of Motueka and managed by Gavin Strachan, Tom and Ida bought a block of land on Greenhill Road which became their farmstead, “Glenburnie”. This was right next to the five acre retirement property belonging to John Cornwall and Penelope (nee Wallis) McGaveston, known then as “Rathgar” and today the site of the third Ngatimoti School, built in 1954. Around the same time Frank and Catherine "Kate" (nee Perham) Waghorn became near neighbours to the Strachans. Their farm was on the flats between the Motueka Valley Highway and the Motueka River, opposite Ngatimoti School on the corner of Greenhill Road.

Members of Frank Waghorn’s family were amongst the earliest European settlers at Little Akaloa on Banks Peninsula in Canterbury. His great-uncle Arthur Waghorn arrived at Lyttelton in 1850 on the “Randolph”, one of the First Four Ships. He was joined by his brother David (Frank’s grandfather), who came out on the “Sir Edward Paget” with his family in 1856. Before moving north, Frank Waghorn worked as a bushman in the Ashley Gorge area near Oxford, North Canterbury, where his wife’s brother Richard Frederick Perham had a sawmilling business. In 1904 Richard Perham became partner in a major timber-milling operation known as Perham, Larsen & Co., based in the Rangitikei and later bought out by Francis Carter. It was eventually incorporated into the firm Carter, Holt, Harvey.

After running his own portable sawmill at Pangatotara for a time, Frank Waghorn became involved in many construction, roading and bridge-building projects in the Motueka district. From 1911 to 1913 he was employed as foreman on the Ngatimoti Peninsula Bridge build.23 It got off to a shaky start in September 1911, becoming a suspension bridge by default after floodwaters swept down the Motueka River and demolished the new central pier, watched in shock by Kate Waghorn from the window of her dairy.

postcard Ida Strachan at Glenburnie

Believed to be Hector Guy's Aunt Ida (Mrs Thomas Strachan) at her Ngatimoti home, "Glenburnie", with Green Hill in the background. uy Collection/Nelson Provincial Museum, ref. 315198

The subject of Ida Strachan's anxious query was Frank and Kate’s oldest son Frank George Waghorn Jnr who was born in Christchurch on 3 April 1893, but grew up at Ngatimoti and attended the local school. Formerly living in Blackball, Westland, and working for the Blackball Coal Company as a miner and seaman on colliers operating out of Westport, he was serving as a private at Gallipoli with the 3rd Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, when Hector wrote his reply. Unfortunately Frank Jnr, who was wounded in action at Gallipoli on 6 June 1915, died as a result two days later on 8 June 1915 while being transported to Malta on the Hospital Ship “Sicilia”.24 He is also commemorated at the Ngatimoti War Memorial and in Turkey at the Lone Pine Memorial on the Gallipoli Peninsula. A younger brother, Arthur, served during the war as well, but survived to return home. The two Ngatimoti Waghorn brothers are listed among the large contingent of Little Akaloa Waghorn cousins who also served during the First World War.25

A hundred years on, Hector Guy's postcard now has a new home - it is safe in the archives of the Nelson Provincial Museum, where researchers and descendants of the families associated with it will be able to access it should they wish to do so.

Note

The action of which news had, to Hector's surprise, already reached home was probably the Second Battle of Krithia, 5-8 May 1915, a fruitless operation which cost the Allies 6,500 men, 800 of them New Zealanders. The 12th (Nelson) Company was in the vanguard of a charge on 8 May, and suffered several losses. Its commanding officer, Major Cyprian Brereton, received serious head injuries during this action and was evacuated from Gallipoli, first to Alexandria and then to the Royal Free Hospital in London, England. He was still recovering there when he married Daisy Guy in August 1915.

I watched the 12th Nelson Company make an advance over open country called the Daisy Patch. There was absolutely no cover for them. They lost their commanding officer and several men were casualties. Our turn to go across came next and we went over the top in good order. At once we were greeted with a terrible fusillade of rifle and machine gun fire, which was deadly. Eye witness account, Walter (Bill) Leadley, Canterbury Infantry Battalion.26

2016

New Zealand's first rugby club

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On 30 May 1868 a notable event occurred in the small town of Nelson: the formation of The Nelson Football Club which, within two years, became the Nelson Rugby Football Club. This was something that in time would affect the whole of New Zealand. 

1873 Nelson Rugby Team1873 Nelson rugby team, Cooper Sharp, Nelson Provincial Museum 223696/9 Click image to enlarge

Robert Collings Tennent was responsible for the formation of the Club. Tennent was born to British parents and immigrated to New Zealand with his widowed mother to settle in Nelson in 1865.1 Tennent was completely sports minded and, at the age of 19 shortly after moving to Nelson, he managed to get enough young Nelsonians sufficiently interested  to join with him to form  the club. 2  The Nelson Football Club was established to offer young men the chance to take part in healthy sport. 3 Once given the chance to play rugby, Tennent was committed to the game, and remained so until his death in Woodville, near Palmerson North, on April 14 1939. 

The game first played by the Nelson Football Club was a hybrid one:  a mixture of association football and Melbourne rules, using the traditional round ball.4   This type of game was played for the next two years. In January 1870, Charles John Monro introduced the game of rugby to Nelson. On Saturday 14 May 1870 the first proper game of rugby played in New Zealand took place at the Botanics in Nelson. The rugby game featured the Nelson Rugby Club against Nelson College, with 18 players a side, using an oval Gilbert rugby ball, which Monro had brought back from England.  After an exciting match5 the Nelson Rugby Club came away with a 2-0 win. The players and the Nelson crowd went home apparently unaware of the significance of the game.  

The Nelson Football Club was officially recognised as New Zealand's first Rugby Club, after a rigorous investigation by the New Zealand Rugby Union historian Arthur C. Swan in 19636. The Christchurch Football Club was the first to form, in 1863, however the Nelson Football Club was the first to formally adopt Rugby as its game, early in 1870, and today the Nelson Rugby Club stands as the oldest rugby club in New Zealand.  This, and the fact that the first rugby game was played at the Botanics in Nelson in May 1870, has been a very important part of Nelson's history. In addition, the Nelson Rugby Club  had a huge impact on New Zealand's rugby during the early days, initiating the first inter-club and inter-provincial rugby games, and the club still continues to run today, 140 years after the first game here.

The Start of The Great Game

Charles John Monro, born at Waimea West, 20km south of Nelson on April 5 1851,  was responsible for beginning rugby in New Zealand.  In 1867, aged 16, he travelled to England to finish his schooling. Monro was a very independent and sporty boy who attended Christ College, Finchley, where he played rugby for the second XV. 7 In January 1870  Monro returned to his hometown of Nelson to farm, rather than pursuing a British army career.8  He not only brought his great passion for the game of rugby with him to Nelson; he also brought back a set of 1868 Rugby Rules and four Gilbert oval rugby balls. He is rightly accepted as the 'father of rugby in NZ', and Nelson is credited as the birthplace of NZ rugby.

Wellington Rugby team, 1875Wellington rugby team, 1875, at Nelson. Alexander Turnbull Library, MNZ-1037-1/4-F http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=28972
Click to enlarge

The Nelson Football Club was established in 1868 while Monro was studying in England. On his return to Nelson in 1870, Monro suggested that the club adopt rugby under his tuition,9  and he taught the club members and students of Nelson College the new game of rugby.  On 12 May 1870, the Club formally adopted the game under the rules of rugby and became the Nelson Rugby Football Club.

Monro organised the first game of rugby in NZ on 14 May 1870 at the Botanics, where he played for the Nelson Football Club and coached the Nelson College team.  The Club won 2-0. Later in 1870, on a trip to Wellington, Monro picked and trained a Wellington team to play his visiting Nelson Club team. This game was played at Petone on 12 September 1870, with Monro refereeing the game and playing for Nelson, which won 2-1. It was the first ever interprovincial match of club rugby in New Zealand. Shortly afterwards, on 12 May 1871, the Wellington Rugby Club was formed and the  Nelson RC v Wellington RC game became an annual feature, alternating cities. Alfred Drew, the 1870 Nelson Captain, then introduced rugby to Whanganui in 1872 and Taranaki in 1873. The spread of rugby as our national game in New Zealand had begun from Nelson.

Rugby in New Zealand continued to grow rapidly. By 1890 the game of rugby had been established all over the colony with over 700 active clubs.10 Provincial Unions formed across the colony, with 16 major unions in existence by the time the NZFRU formed in 1892.

The first overseas team to play rugby in New Zealand came from New South Wales, in 1882. This was the start of rugby as an international sport for New Zealand. In 1888, the first British team arrived to play rugby in New Zealand and the first NZ rugby team toured Australia and Britain later that same year.

By the time Charles Monro died on 9 April 1933 in Palmerston North, having moved there in 1888, his rugby game had become a truly international sport played between a dozen countries, and was an Olympic sport from 1900-1924 [and returning as a demonstration sport as 'Sevens' in the 2016 Rio Olympics]. Rugby's birth in New Zealand is rightly credited to him, as he brought the game of rugby over from England in 1870. Today rugby is a central part of NZ culture and a popular international sport that is still played by many New Zealanders. 

Changes at The Nelson Rugby Football Club

There have been an immense number of changes to the Nelson Rugby Football Club since its establishment, which has expanded 300% in size since 1949.

A crisis for the Club occurred in 1915-1919 during World War I. All of the club members were absent when the Club's Annual meeting was called, as they were overseas serving their country at war. 11 The Nelson College Old Boys were in the same position and the two clubs joined together to form the Whakatu club. This allowed the Nelson Rugby Football Club to continue, and the agreement continued during World War II.

There have been a lot of changes to the game of rugby itself, since it was first introduced to New Zealand. When it was first played in Nelson in 1870 it was no points for a try, one point for a goalkick and three points for a drop kick. However today a try now is worth five points and the drop kick still stands as three points. Many other small changes have been made -   for example now there are 15 people on each side, instead of the captains deciding the number of players and the rules of the game have generally become a lot more complicated.

Reenactment of the first rugby gameA reenactment of the first New Zealand rugby game, Botanics Reserve, 1991
Click image to enlarge

Another change that has affected the Nelson Rugby Football Club is how people spend their Saturdays.  When rugby began, Saturday was a sports day; there was no Saturday shopping  and for most people it wasn't a working day. Today, for some people, Saturday continues to be just another working day. The Nelson Rugby Football Club also has to compete for members with a wide range of other sports. When the Nelson Rugby Club was first established, boys could only choose rugby or soccer. 

The Nelson Rugby Football Club's financial situation has also changed over time. When the club was first established it was subs and raffles in local hotels that continued to keep the club running. Today, however, the Nelson Rugby Club requires major sponsorships in order to keep up with the increasing demands on running costs.

The Nelson Rugby Football Club has survived many changes over its history,  which have had a major effect on the club. These changes are ongoing, and continue to affect the Club's survival.  

Recent history
  • 1970 - Nelson Rugby Club amalgamated with the Golden Bay- Motueka Union to form Nelson Bays Rugby Union
  • 2005 - Nelson Bays Rugby Union amalgamated with Marlborough Rugby Union, forming the Tasman Rugby Union. Formation of the Tasman Makos

Laura Della Bosca, Nelson College for Girls, 2009; with additional information provided by Alastair Gaisford, great grandson of C.J. Monro

Early colonial life in Nelson

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Nelson’s early Europeans

Who were the first European colonists to Nelson? What kind of people were they?

They were tough and inventive.  Nelson’s first European houses were often built from little more than fern branches. One writer commented: ‘I was passing one of this description…situated on low land near the river, and ventured to express an opinion that fern thatch could not afford much protection from rain, and that I thought some danger was to be apprehended from the rising of the river, when the matron of the house replied: “Oh! the river often rises, and the rain pours through the roof, and then we stand on top of a big box, and hold up an umbrella all night.”’1

JohnSaxtondrawing.jpg

The town and part of the harbour of Nelson in 1842, about a year after its first foundation / drawn by John Saxton Esqr; Day & Haghe lithrs. London, Smith Elder & Co., [1845]. Alexander Turnbull Library Manuscripts & Pictorial

Alfred Saunders described the rats which plagued the early settlers. "The native rats were an intolerable nuisance. They appeared not to have the slightest fear of man, but as soon as it was dark, ran about the house in swarms, walked deliberately over our feet, climbed on the table and would drop like flies from the thatch. At night we had to keep a stick in hand to thrash them away from the candle, but, worst of all, they ran over us all night, and would come creeping up the blankets to smell our ears and chin, so that we never felt sure they would not want to taste them too.2

FTuckett.jpg

Frederick Tuckett (1807-1876) The Nelson Provincial Museum, OP 295095

Some of the first Europeans were Quakers from Bristol - intelligent, honourable people who enjoyed mutually respectful relationships with local Māori. Three of the first Quakers were surveyors Frederick Tuckett, Samuel Stephens and John Cotterell.

Tuckett was known for his hospitality. One settler wrote: “The best dinner I have had since I landed was one I ate with Mr Tuckett, the chief surveyor; he overtook me on my road home and insisted upon my going to him – sack trousers and all. We had some New Zealand quail and I thought I had never eaten anything so nice.”

Stephens often described warm and friendly relations with Māori neighbours, Mary and Etani at Riwaka. In January 1843, he noted :“Oh! How do I blush for my countrymen, when I write that our fears for the safety of ourselves and property are not from the natives, but from the gangs of bad white men who now infest the country.”

Surveyor, John Barnicoat also noted the natural dignity of Māori when he sailed into Nelson Harbour in February, 1842.  Two days later he noted that a public ‘grog shop’ was very popular with drunken sailors. “This evening one of them was purposely annoying one of the natives by bawling in his ear and swearing at him…..The native at last quietly got up and knocked the sailor down then gave him two or three tremendous blows on the head and walked off in their usual dignified manner.”

Pikiwarsa

[Coates, Isaac] 1808-1878 :Piki Warsa. Chief of Motuwaka. [1843?] Alexander Turnbull Library: A-286-007

On a visit to the Motueka Pa in 1842, Cotterell met a chief  known as Atopikiwara:“He saw no good in being paid for the land…but the best way would be for the white people to pay whenever they cut down a tree, built a house, or made a garden thus establishing a perpetual rent.  This will, I think, be found the general idea of the New Zealand chiefs, as regards utu (payment).”

The early Europeans were productive.  William Fox noted: “A little further north-west is Mr Redwood, formerly a Staffordshire farmer.  His attention has been chiefly turned to grazing and dairy pursuits.  He supplies a considerable quantity of meat consumed in Nelson, both beef and mutton and sends between 40 and 50 pounds of butter to market weekly…(He) has built the best farm house of the settlement,” he wrote.

While they tried to create a little England, the first Europeans quickly came to enjoy the benefits of the landscape and climate.  Cotterell described his new lifestyle to his mother: “You would smile at our independence, when on these excursions, only making a large fire, roasting pigeons or ducks….then rolling up in a blanket and lying on the bare ground or grass.”  27 March, 1842.

Samuel and Sarah Stephens lived at a beach camp at Stephens Bay near Kaiteriteri for several months each summer. “We have just returned from a three months residence at the seashore….living a kind of bush life under a tent, supplied with the usual necessaries of life in the eating way from my farm at Riwaka,” he wrote on 28 April, 1849.

DavisSarahGreenwood.jpg

Sarah Greenwood The Nelson Provincial Museum, Davis Collection 1102/1

Sarah Greenwood took to pioneering life like a duck to water and her letters show she was optimistic and indomitable. On  first arriving in Nelson in April 1843, she described the Nelson climate as ‘delicious': "We have now been lying at anchor for some days in this lovely haven surrounded on three sides by picturesque mountain scenery, and shut in by a natural breakwater that renders the harbour perfectly secure." She took to housekeeping with gusto: “ I am now quite expert in household work, which I like well enough, and in cooking which I really enjoy. I only wish you could taste my stewed pigeons, my pea soup, and my light plain puddings; and then Danforth [her husband] is such a good admirer, he finds all so well done. In truth….I never was happier or better in my life.” August 1843.

Nelson’s resident agent, Francis Dillon Bellnoted in 1849 that Nelson was virtually crime-free and attributed this lack of crime to the climate: “ I deny any man, unless he is superlatively cross, to be long out of temper in the perpetual sunshine….he can’t but be cheerful and good humoured, when he and everybody else around him are in robust health and share together the bracing and delightful air that prevails nearly all the year around.”  While Bell acknowledged that the New Zealand Company‘experiment’ had been seriously flawed, he wrote: “A colony is truly the place for a poor man: and comparing a labourer’s previous life in England with that…in a new settlement, he has incomparably the best of it.”

For more stories about early colonial life in Nelson, check out the People section of this website.

2016

W.A. Coppins

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From its beginnings as a saddlery in 1898 through to its most recent incarnation as an outdoors store and manufacturer of specialty textiles, 255 High Street has been owned and operated by the Coppins family for over 100 years.

coppinsWA Coppins. Photo Courtesy of WA Coppins Ltd
Click image to enlarge

The Coppins family’s ties with Motueka stretch back over 160 years when W.A. Coppins’ grandparents, William and Mary Anne, first bought property here in 1853. William and Mary Anne arrived in New Zealand in 1842 with their two young sons William (W.A.’s father) and Arthur aboard the Bombay. A third child, Ellen Lauretta was born in 1844.

The younger William initially followed in his father’s footstep by becoming a tailor. Later, he got into the hotel business, owning the Swan Hotel between 1877 and 1880 and the Motueka Hotel from 1880 to his death 1888. His passing came just 10 months after the death of his wife Sarah Anne (née Stagg) leaving behind eight children. The younger children were sent to relatives but the older children were sent out to work.

Orphaned at the age of 12, the company’s founder and name sake William Arthur ‘Bob-a-stitch’ Coppins managed to land an apprenticeship with F.N. Jones of Nelson. He stayed on with F.N. Jones a further 5 years after his apprenticeship before moving to Palmerston North where he met his wife Eva (née Disher).

coppins ledger1901 Bank Ledger. WA Coppins Ltd is still in business with W. Wiggins Ltd. today. Photo Courtesy of WA Coppins Ltd.
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In 1898 William Arthur moved back to Motueka with his bride and bought up Mr. Langley’s bankrupt saddlery business on High St. In 1901 W.A. purchased W.J. Jordan’s High St Saddlery. It burned down in 19061, but was then sold it for a tidy profit shortly afterwards. He used the money to build his new shop at 255 High St and proceeded to buy up most of the block in the following years. He also purchased Arthur Emma’s Saddlery in Takaka which burnt down in 1939 and was not rebuilt.2

One of W.A.’s earliest business dealings was with fellow leatherworkers and saddlers W. Wiggins Ltd.3 - a business contact the two companies maintain to this day. Established in 1866 in Lower Hutt, Wiggins is New Zealand’s oldest privately owned company.4 Today they deal in specialised textiles, supplying W.A. Coppins Ltd with canvas and PVC.5

After World War II it became clear that the company had to diversify if it wanted to survive. William Arthur’s eldest son Charles joined the company in 1930. Charles had specialized in the waning saddlery side of the business and ended up leaving the company in 1956.  ‘Bob-a-stitch’ stayed at the helm of the family business until his death in 1959 at the age of 85. His younger son Leo took over the company upon his father’s death. Leo had specialized in canvas manufacture when he first joined the company in 1936 and help the company diversify into the manufacture of fruit picking bags, horse rugs and tarpaulins. He recruited his son Bill to join the company in 1964.6 In the 1970s the company diversified further and began making sea anchors.

In 1979 Bill became the third generation of Coppins to own a business on the site when he bought the company from his mother. The following year, Bill pulled down the old workshop, erecting a brand new store in its place.7 The company also began selling outdoor goods like kayaks and mountain bikes. Bill’s son Ryan is set to take over from his father some time in the future, becoming the fourth generation of Coppins to run the business.8

Based on research compiled for the refurbishment of the Coppins Shop exhibit at the Motueka District Museum, 2013.

The Redwood Family

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Henry Redwood and early settlement

The Redwood family is remembered through place names in Nelson, Marlborough, and throughout New Zealand.

It all began with Henry Redwood and his wife Mary (Gilbert), who sailed to New Zealand, both aged 48, on the George Fyfe with their children1, arriving in Nelson in December 1842. The Redwoods had been tenant farmers on the Clifford estate in Staffordshire for several generations.2 Sir Charles Clifford  also immigrated to NZ on the George Fyfe and settled in Marlborough.3

Redwood Henry Senior

Henry Redwood senior.As grandfather Henry Redwood went the rounds with his horse taking orders for flour to be ground at his little mill, it was his custom to herald his approach by continual and happy singing. New Zealand Free Lance, October 15, 1952. Credit Marlborough Museum Archives.

Redwood Mary

Redwood, Mrs Mary. Nelson Provincial Museum, 5083

Eldest daughter, Martha, was also on the voyage with her new husband, Joseph Ward and was very unwell for much of the voyage. Joseph wrote of the conditions during the voyage: “Bad living, bad health- very bad tempers……Talk of suffering.” 4 Martha and Joseph, who was a surveyor, were to have 12 children. Joseph went on to become a prominent member of Parliament.5

On arrival, Henry senior erected a large 60 foot long tent divided into compartments for his family of four daughters and four sons. Soon after arriving in Nelson, on the George Fyfe on 2 January 1843, Fanny Dillon gave birth to her first child with a kindly neighbouring tent dweller, Mrs Redwood, assisting the ship's surgeon.6

The Redwoods spent the first six months of life under canvas at their Waimea West section while their two story mud cob home, Stafford Place, was built. It was replaced by a two story wooden house two years later.7  They were soon supplying the Nelson market with beef, mutton and butter. Henry established a butchery on his Town Acre (no. 167) on the south-east corner of Trafalgar and Bridge Streets, which was run by his eldest son Henry from 1845-1847.8

In January 1845, the family provided a grand social event: a triple wedding was held with Mary Redwood marrying a solicitor, Joseph Greaves, Henry Jnr marrying a widow, Elizabeth Reeves, and Elizabeth Redwood marrying Edward Bolton.9

Henry Redwood jnr and his father shared an interest in horses and in 1849, a new house Hednesford, was built for him on the family property- where it still stands today. Father and son imported a large number of thoroughbred racehorses from England and Australia and the Redwood Stables  were built alongside Henry jnr's house made with bricks from their own kiln.  The bricks and heritage listed floor, have been reconstructed into the Stables Tavern and Restaurant in Richmond.10

Redwood Stafford Place

Sarah Greenwood 1809 -1899. Stafford Place, House of Mr Redwood, 1850. Pencil drawing. Nelson Provincial Museum, Bett Loan Collection: AC334

In the 1850s, when youngest son Francis came home from studying at Father Antoine Garin’s seminary to help on the farm, he noted: “The early years are crammed with the practical details of farming; the chopping of stakes, planting potatoes, the bulling of heifers, the slaughtering of sheep and pigs, the pupping of bitches, the castrating ("cutting") of male calves, milking cows in the rain, building a malthouse, making bricks, brewing beer, getting a boat (tub) across the river with ropes and pulley, and getting in the harvest. Tall, golden grain…I did my share, half an acre a day.” 11

Religion played a major role in the Redwood story.  It is reported that Henry and Mary separately converted to Catholicism and that their religion and a lack of land may have played a large part in their decision to emigrate to New Zealand.12  Henry senior nearly went to Tasmania when he found  there were no regular masses celebrated in Nelson.13 Nelson’s first Catholic Mass was said at the Redwoods’ home on  May 5 1844.14

While the family prospered in Nelson, they also saw opportunities over the hill in the Wairau.  Henry was granted a depasturage licence for The Bluffs Run on Marlborough’s East Coast and son Thomas Redwood established a homestead near the Vernon Lagoons. Another son, Charles established himself on a property at Riverlands in Marlborough, where his mother Mary died in 1879.15

When Henry died aged 79 in 1873, his obituary described him as man  of great vigour ‘both of body and mind’,  who had devoted 30 years in New Zealand to agricultural and pastoral pursuits, adding value and acreage to his land. “He who had been a tenant-farmer in England under the family of the Clifford Constables, found himself ‘seized’…of a greater number of acres of land than were owned in England by the wealthy squires to whom he used to pay rent.” 16

Father of  New Zealand Turf - Henry Junior
Redwood Henry Junior

Mr. Henry Redwood, Junior. Nelson Provincial Museum 67901

Henry junior was 19 when the family arrived in New Zealand.  His interest and dedication to breeding thoroughbred racehorses became legendary. In 1853-4, he imported 20 thoroughbred mares and seven stallions.17 The Redwood Stables were built in 1851 and land at Rabbit Island was used for training horses.

Redwood horse Henry Junior

Henry Redwood junior imported a number of thoroughbred horses from Australia in 1852, including a chestnut, Zoe, who won numerous races in Nelson and the Wairau. In 1858, Henry sent Zoe to Australia, where she won two prestigious races. Sydney's leading horse painter, Joseph Fowles was commissioned to paint her portrait. Credit Marlborough Museum Archives. Caption by Jane Vial.

Henry Jr. became interested in the potential of the Wairau Plains for grain crops and moved to a property in Spring Creek in 1865. As well as establishing a flour mill there, he increased his reputation as a breeder and trainer of  bloodstock, becoming known as the “Father of the New Zealand Turf”.18  The Examiner noted in 1866, "Mr Redwood's stud is outstanding. No gentleman has a finer lot of brood mares south of the Line…... He has as valuable a stud as could be found in any British colony."19

A Son for the Church - Francis Redwood

Francis Redwood was to become New Zealand’s first homegrown Catholic archbishop. When Father Antoine Garin came to Nelson in 1850 he saw Francis's potential.  In December 1854, after expressing a strong desire to be a priest, he was sent to France for further education. He studied and taught in France and Ireland and didn’t return to New Zealand for another 20 years.20

Redwood Archbishop

Redwood, Archbishop, right. Nelson Provincial Museum, 61228

Francis became Archbishop of Wellington in 1874 and  New Zealand’s senior bishop in 1895.  In 1924, tens of  thousands of Wellingtonians came out to see the pomp and ceremony of   the jubilee celebrations  of New Zealand, and the world’s longest serving Catholic bishop.

"Never before has Wellington witnessed such a religious procession," The Evening Post said."It provided a unique opportunity of witnessing a Catholic religious pageant in all its majesty and solemn glory. Along the whole route every vantage point was occupied, and the many colours reflecting the bright rays of the brilliant sunshine made up a radiant sight, which was wonderful to behold."21

Archbishop Redwood was popular among Catholics and non-Catholics alike for the stately way he conducted himself and by his balanced views and his eloquence both in the pulpit and on the platform. When he died on 3 January 1935 his life had spanned the Catholic Church’s  transition from a missionary church to an established institution in New Zealand.22

Thomas and Charles Redwood

Eventually Charles and Thomas ended up living in the Wairau. Nelle Scanlan remembered the early Blenheim Catholic Parish in ‘the beautiful old church…The Tom Redwoods were on the right and the Charlie Redwoods on the left.” 23

Redwood Mrs Charles

Redwood, Mrs Charles. Nelson Provincial Museum, 5086

Thomas drove 2000 sheep from Nelson  to the Bluffs’ Run (later known as Vernon) via the Tophouse route.24  He  managed Bankhouse Station and the Vernon Run in the Wairau. Early in the 1870s, he bought “Burleigh” and lived on the estate for twenty-three years. He then farmed “Woodbourne,” an area of 1200 acres, near Renwick, and the Omaka Reserve. He was also secretary to the Marlborough Racing Committee, and owned horses, with which he won many races.25 Blenheim’s Cob Cottagewas possibly built for Charles Redwood.  Having housed members of the Redwood family and a succession of farm labourers, it served as  a local schoolroom from 1906 to 1909.26

A 1912 Marlborough Express obituary for Charles’ wife (no first name noted), Mrs Redwood, describes her as being an ‘ideal hostess’ and said that her ‘unselfishness and usefulness will be missed’ particularly regarding her charitable works for the Catholic Church. She was survived by Charles and 12 out of their 15 children.  The Charles Redwood family moved to Toowoomba Queensland in about 1896.27

2017

Glenhope Pioneers

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The pioneers of the Hope Valley are commemorated by a memorial at Glenhope.

The small rock cairn was originially erected by the Owen Women’s Institute in 1935, close to Korere on the Nelson-Murchison road. The display plaque states: Pioneers Of Hope Valley;  George Batt, Robert Edgar, Thomas McConochie, George Moonlight, John Rait, John Ribet, Robert Win.

Glenhope Pioneers 8240Glenhope Pioneer Memorial. Image supplied by Ken Wright
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Long neglected and overgrown, the cairn was relocated to Crown land, near the former Glenhope Railway station,  by the Rotary Club of Richmond, a project spearheaded by club member, Bob Dickinson. The successful move took place during May, 2014. Along with the refurbished Glenhope Railway Station, it will become a feature of the Glenhope Historic Reserve, which is due to be formally opened in the summer of 2015, just in time for the cairn's 80th birthday.

The seven European settlers commemorated on the plaque were instrumental  in the valley's pioneering history. Some of their stories are told in full, elsewhere on the Prow:

Others are told here:

Robert Drummond Edgar, 1843-1913
Robert Edgar Snr was born at Maybole, Ayrshire, in Scotland. He gave his occupation as a ploughman when he emigrated to New Zealand with his younger brother, John, leaving from Glasgow on the ship Lady Egidia 12 January, 1862 and arriving at Port Chalmers, Dunedin, 6 May, that year. He moved to Nelson where he married a Spring Grove girl, Priscilla Payton Brewerton (1845-1897) in 1868. Her parents John and Harriet Brewerton had emigrated from England in 1842 on the Phoebe and settled in Waimea South.

Edgar Bros Golden Bay Forge CollingwoodEdgar Bros Golden Bay Forge Collingwood. Tyree Studio Collection. Nelson Provincial Museum
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After their wedding the couple went to Motupiko in the Upper Motueka Valley where the first of their eight children was born later in 1868. Around 1878 they shifted to the Hope area. The Edgars ran an accommodation house at Hope, near Cow Creek and, in the 1880s leased Crown land around the Owen Run, which Robert cleared for pasture. During the flurry of quartz-mining around Mt Owen during the 1880s, Robert Edgar also acted as Postmaster between 1887-9 for the Owen Reefs' branch of the Post Office operating at Bulmer Creek.

It seems that his sons (there were seven of them) were a bit of a wild bunch, and in 1891 Robert sued for slander a local man, Joseph Gough, who claimed that Robert Jnr had stolen some oats from the stables of Gough's employer, Mr Hall, a coach proprietor. The case was heard at the District Court in Nelson. The defence called on several well-known local characters, like Robert Win and Tom McConochie, who were clearly of the opinion that the Edgar boys were a bad lot. Frederick and James Edgar must have given up their wicked ways, as they became respectable citizens who established a business as Edgar Bros., Farriers & General Blacksmiths, at Takaka in 1897, which they ran for many years.

John Rait (1839-1887)
Born in Dundee Scotland, John Rait worked as a ship’s carpenter as a youth and, in that capacity, sailed to Auckland, New Zealand in 1867 from Gravesend, England, on the Warwick. During its outward bound voyage he married Mary Oxnam (b.1847), sister of another Murchison pioneer, Cornishman John Oxnam. Mary, with her parents, John and Elizabeth (née Darlington) Oxnam and siblings was making the voyage to New Zealand to join John Jnr, who had come out to New Zealand via Australia in 1861 and was already gold-mining in the Buller area by 1863. John Oxnam Jnr was one of the earliest diggers, and bought land at Fern Flat, on the outskirts of Hampden (Murchison), in 1872. The newly married couple accompanied the Oxnam family to the Buller, where John Rait and his in-laws formed a partnership to run an Accommodation House at the head of Black Valley in the Roundell. This partnership was dissolved in 1869, presumably amicably, leaving Rait in sole charge of the Roundell Accommodation House. In 1872 he purchased a section in Hampden (Murchison) Village, being the first local resident to do so.

326758Kawatiri Accommodation House. Nelson Provincial Museum, Nelson Historical Society Collection: 326758
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In 1878 the Rait family, which now comprised four sons and two daughters, was living in a log cabin at  Hope Junction, which they used as an Accommodation House. There was a record flood in that year and a son, Stephen Rait, recalled being carried, as a child, to a place of safety away from the rapidly rising river. Shortly afterwards the Raits set up a new Accommodation House, built for them by Mary Rait’s brother Stephen Oxnam) on a higher site at Kawatiri, a few miles down the Buller from Hope Junction. Stables were added when Newman’s commenced a regular coach service in 1882. Their next move was to Four River Plain in 1883, when they exchanged Accommodation Houses with John Ribet, so that the Rait children could attend the first school at Fern Flat.

In 1884, after the death of George Moonlight, John Rait (with the help of John Ribet) purchased the Commercial Hotel and store from the mortgagees, Messrs Buxton and Co. of Nelson. He also acquired a bush section of some 140 acres. While at the Commercial Hotel between 1884-7, the Raits delivered mail, meat and stores to diggers along the Matakitaki as far as Tom May’s Hotel, and the telephone was first installed at that time. The first Murchison Post Office was therefore at the Commercial Hotel. There was a gold dredge working at Fern Flat and a punt took travellers across Buller River there. While clearing his bush-clad section John Rait was struck by a falling tree and sustained an injury from which he did not recover. He died as a result in 1887, at the age of 47 years. His family removed to Wellington after his death but maintained a strong connection with Murchison, with his sons David, James and Stephen returning there when they became adults.

Thomas McConochie (1842-1914)
Born in Scotland in 1842, Thomas (Tom) McConochie came to New Zealand with his mother in 1860 on the Ravenscraig. He was first engaged in mustering on Marlborough sheep stations and later managed Red Hills Station. During the gold rushes he went into business as a butcher at various places – Lyell, Addison’s Flat and the Wangapeka. In association with Alexander Thomson he operated a farm at Wangapeka. In 1893 he acquired land at Glenhope, where he lived until his death in 1914. Among the many adventurous journeys in his career, one of the most difficult was the droving of several hundred head of cattle to Walker’s Run in the Maruia, travelling along the old Porika Track from the Devil’s Grip to Lake Rotoroa and the Upper Matakitaki River. One son, Newton, took over his Glenhope property, and another, Alex, owned Lake Station.

Robert Win (1852-1927)
The son of one of Nelson’s earliest settlers, Robert Win was born at Ranzau, later renamed Hope, on the Waimea Plain, in 1852. His father, William Win (Wynne), emigrated from Wales on the Thomas Harrison in 1842 to Nelson, New Zealand, where he met and married in 1851 Harriet Humphries, from Nottinghamshire, who came out from England on the Sir Charles Forbes, also in 1842. They had twelve children. As a young man Robert went mustering for John Kerr at Lake Station and took up bush-felling contracts. In 1874 he joined a party sub-contracting on a section of the new road over the Hope Saddle. His particular section was in the Clark Valley.

Summit of Hope SaddleSummit of Hope Saddle. Tyree Studio collection. Nelson Provincial Museum
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In 1883 he purchased a bush section near Glenhope, but sold it to George Batt. In 1888 he leased John Ribet’s Accommodation House at Kawatiri, and bought it in 1890 when it went up for sale.He had married Nelson-born Rose Eliza Elliott in that city in 1881 and they had four children - a daughter, Juaneta, and three sons, Lionel, Ronald and Dudley. When the Hope Junction Accommodation House burned down in 1894, the family moved to the Owen. They had a house at Owen Junction, opposite the Owen Junction Hotel, at that time run by George Edwards and his wife. The Owen Junction Hotel had been originally owned by Michael Fagan, followed by his father-in-law, John Ribet.
The second Owen Junction Post office was established near their home in 1898 (the first one opened in 1890, but was closed in 1896), and the Win family ran it for many years. Robert leased some Crown Land, at the Owen Run, which was cleared chiefly by his son Dudley (1887-1968). He himself was mostly occupied on road work. He also later served from 1911 with the Murchison County Council as a councillor for the Owen Riding and by 1916 had been elected chairman of the Council. Like his coontemporary, John Ribet, Robert Win had a great fondness for horses and horse racing. Robert Win died in 1927, but his wife lived on until 1949. His son Dudley continued to live at the Owen and added greatly to the original holding.

 

2015

 


Sarah and John Danforth Greenwood

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Sarah Greenwood (1809-1889)

John Danforth Greenwood had been a successful physician in Mitcham, Surrey, England, but was forced to retire due to ill health in about 1838. The family lived briefly in Paris returning to the UK in 1842 where they raised money to purchase land in the regions of Wellington, Nelson, and Motueka in New Zealand. They embarked on the Phoebe at Gravesend on the 16th of November 1842, where Dr. John Danforth Greenwood had secured the position of Surgeon Superintendent and Justice of the Peace, receiving free passage for himself and his family in return. The family sailed into Nelson, New Zealand on the 29th of March 1843 with nine1 children – Alfred having been born in December of 1842 at sea in the Bay of Biscay.

Sarah GreenwoodSarah Greenwood The Nelson Provincial Museum, Davis Collection 1102/1
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Sarah was a keen artist and letter writer and, on arrival on 3 April 1843, she described the Nelson climate as ‘delicious': "We have now been lying at anchor for some days in this lovely haven surrounded on three sides by picturesque mountain scenery, and shut in by a natural breakwater that renders the harbour perfectly secure."

For four months, while John and the older boys began to build their house at Motueka, Sarah lived in a tent with eight children, supervising lessons and indulging in her passion for sketching. Within a year, the Greenwoods had moved into their spacious home, Woodlands. They had chickens, rabbits and pigs, vegetables and fruit trees and Sarah sold a little milk and butter.

She took to the new job of housekeeping with gusto: " I am now quite expert in household work, which I like well enough, and in cooking which I really enjoy. I only wish you could taste my stewed pigeons, my pea soup, and my light plain puddings; and then Danforth is such a good admirer, he finds all so well done. In truth....I never was happier or better in my life." (August 1843).

By the 1850s, the Greenwoods had become involved in political and academic interests in Nelson and Wellington. Sarah ran a successful school in Bridge Street between 1865 and 1868 with six of their daughters.

John and Sarah retired to Motueka in 1877 and lived with their son Fred at The Grange. Sarah's obituary in the Nelson Evening Mail , December 1889 noted: "Hard work never frightened or wearied her and in the midst of it she gave all of her children a good education. A woman of indomitable energy, cheerful spirit and a warm heart."

Greenwood Group, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 178869. Click image to enlarge
John GreenwoodJohn Greenwood The Nelson Provincial Museum, Davis Collection 1132/1
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John Danforth Greenwood (1802-1890)

Soon after arriving in Nelson in April 1843, Danforth Greenwood wrote: "The fact is that this Colony Nelson was founded in delusion." He went on to say: "several parties, who if they could have had land in a district they liked....would have settled down long since, and made valuable colonists, are now here lounging about the town, seeing no chance of doing well on the land which chance has allotted them," (June 1843).

While their Town Acre  was swampy and unusable, the Greenwoods were fortunate with their Motueka land and delighted with Nelson in general. " As to the Colony itself of Nelson, I think very highly of it. The climate is delightful...the water abounds with fish of excellent quality, and the land with birds, pigeons, wild ducks and parrots, " June 1843.

By 1845, Danforth was working as a doctor, farmer, magistrate, Captain (of the Nelson Militia), Clergyman and Flax Agent." In 1846, he wrote that Government policy mistakes resulting in the ‘complete subjugation of the Natives' would mean that British rule would not be obtained without "great expenditure and some severe struggle."

Danforth was fast becoming a public figure and his views about the New Zealand Company eventually gained ground. A proposal he drafted requiring the Company to provide £60,000 in public funds from land sales, was unanimously agreed upon by the settlers. In 1855, he was elected to the board of the Nelson Trustees, which administered these funds.

Danforth was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1849 and in the 1850s, he and Sarah moved into Nelson, leaving their son Fred to manage the farm.

An Inspector of Schools, Danforth was deeply immersed in the design of a scheme of free public education which became the framework for the whole Colony. He was Principal of Nelson College for three years from 1863 and at the end of 1865, he was appointed Sergeant of Arms to the House of Representatives in Wellington.

John died six months after his beloved Sarah. At his funeral, he was described thus: "a more genial friend and companion it would have been impossible to meet.

This article is paraphrased from a series of columns written by Joy Stephens and published in the Nelson Mail in 2007

 

 

 

 

Motueka’s First Harbour

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One Place, Many Names

Manuka's Bush, The Kumaras, Raumanuka, Murphy's Harbour, and Te Kumara are all the same place: the area at the end of what is now Staples Street that served as Motueka’s harbour until 1856.

How can one place have so many names? Here are some of the answers to that question.

Cairn marking the location of the original harbour. Photo supplied by author
Click image to enlarge

The Kumaras/ Te Kumara

By the 1840's Māori were cultivating both traditional crops like kumara as well as European crops.1 Kumara had long been a staple in the Māori diet and an extensive crop had been planted sometime before the arrival of the European settlers.

The crops may have had the distinction of lending their name to the place, but they were not the most distinct thing about it. It was not the kumara or even the old wakas and carvings strewn along the foreshore that stood out most to early European settlers. It was the smell: the pungent smell of drying fish.2

Eels and whitebait were caught in the river and other fish were also brought back from the fishing grounds at Astrolabe. The day's catch was hung outside over poles to dry and the fish would later be rehydrated and boiled before eating.3

Manuka's Bush/Raumanuka

In 1842 one of the earliest settlers to the region, Captain Frederick Moore, built himself a wooden jetty at the harbour. Moore never had legal title to the land he occupied,4 but he was allowed to use it, mainly because he was married to a Te Ati Awa woman named Paru.5 He eventually fell out of favour with his in-laws for selling off subsections.6

Moore's wooden jetty stood among some very tall manuka trees.7 The trees were so tall they could be seen from Riwaka and, it is because of these trees, that the harbour became known as Manuka's Bush and Raumanuka.

The original harbour at low tide. Photo supplied by author
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Murphy's Harbour

The final appellation, Murphy's Harbour, gets its name from Captain Moore's Irish boatman, Murphy. Murphy had a boat shed at the end of the road leading up to the harbour and locals often referred to the area as ‘Murphy’s boat shed and harbour’ which was often just shortened to ‘Murphy’s Harbour’.8

By 1856 the harbour had silted up too much and a new wharf was built one mile south at Doctor's Creek.9 The first harbour remained a popular fishing spot into the 1920s and 1930s but, by the 1980s, there were complaints that the area was nothing more than a rubbish dump. 10 Efforts to clean it up were started,11 and today it is part of the Raumanuka Reserve.

 

Based on research compiled for an upcoming exhibition at the Motueka District Museum by Joanna Szczepanski 2012

 

Motueka and early settlement

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Around 1839-1840, the Ngati Rarua and Te Atiawa people living in the Motueka region heard that a European settlement was likely to be established there and realised this offered  good business opportunities. By the time the first European settlers arrived, they were able to supply them with large quantities of potatoes, vegetables and pork.1


Captain G. F. Moore.  Nelson Provincial Museum, Isaacs & Clark Collection: 8206. Click image to enlarge.

In May 1840, Captain F.G. Moore’s ship was blown off course from the North Island’s West Coast. Sailing through Golden Bay, Moore and his crew explored the Riwaka Valley and Motueka areas. In this neighbourhood, they found about 500 contented Maori with large areas of cultivation.  Moore reported fertile lands, abundant timber, good shelter for ships and a fine climate.2

Moore returned with Captain Arthur Wakefield in October 1841 and they were considering the region as the site of ‘Nelson’ until they discovered the sheltered Nelson Haven across the bay.2

In the 1840s, there was a  brisk trade in timber and vegetables between Motueka and Nelson, with small vessels loaded on the beach at the Motueka River mouth. Fourteen year old Sarah Fowler arrived with early settlers to Riwaka. She remembered the land being divided into 10 acre blocks where each settler built his own house from clay and chopped grass.3 H. P. Washbourn  who lived in Motueka from 1852-59 wrote: “The village was laid out in small sections in the middle of a splendid bush, and had some good open land all around on which the farms were situated.”4

The cheerful and hardworking Greenwoods  arrived in 1843 and while their budget was tight, within a year they had built a home for their large family and had a good garden with cows, poultry, rabbits and pigs.5 In 1850, Sarah Greenwood wrote that Motueka was ‘assuming quite a settled appearance’ with a church, various tradespeople, a general store, a doctor, a clergyman, a magistrate and a constable.6

In the early 1840s, Occupation reserves had been designated to resident Ngati Rarua, Ngati Tama and Te Atiawa families.  But in 1853, these reserves were, by and large, taken away for the Anglican church and to establish a Native school. Thomas Brunner was not happy: “I was obliged to select all, if not quite all, the lands that were then let, which of course was the best of these lands….I consider that the Native Reserves at Motueka were made for the benefit of the whole of the Natives in Blind Bay…..”7

SS Lady Barkly on cradle. Nelson Provincial Museum. Sclanders Collection 8955
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By 1853, Motueka consisted of a large Maori pa and some settlers- mostly with little capital and large families.8 John Park Salisbury arrived in 1853 with his two brothers, Tom and Edward.  In 1855 the Salisbury brothers cut a 20 mile track to several hundred acres of grassy land up the Motueka River.  It was rough and trying work in the dripping bush, but by midsummer they drove a flock of sheep to the new grazing land.  J.P. Salisbury set off for the Collingwood goldfields in 1856 to make some working capital for the farm, which was eventually a successful business.9 Thomas Salisbury is regarded as the first European to graze sheep on the Tableland.

Areas like Motueka were regarded as the back blocks. It was a six day return journey to Nelson by bullock dray.10 The steamer, SS Lady Barkly, plied the waters between Motueka and Nelson, along with other passenger and cargo ships.

Halls House and farm. Motueka Valley. Nelson Provincial Museum. Tyree collection. 179204
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The Motueka River was ‘…the biggest thing in our lives. We had to cross it to reach a road…it was our enemy, our playground, our bugbear and intimate friend,” wrote Colonel Cyprian Brereton.11 A great flood in 1877 drove many settlers off the river flats.12 A 20 foot wall of water came down the valley and spread out over the whole district, with most buildings in High Street being flooded.13


Mr E. Rowling's family, Nelson Provincial Museum, Tyree Studio Collection: 179233.
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Subsistence farming and goldwere the mainstays of Motueka’s early economy, and it wasn’t until the early 20th century that hops, tobacco and apples all helped the economy to grow.

Prime Ministers

The Motueka region has produced two New Zealand prime ministers. (Sir) Keith Holyoake’s great grandfather, Richard, settled at Riwaka in 1843 and Sir Keith spent his early life there.  He was prime minister between 1960 and 1972.

 (Sir) Wallace  Rowling  came from an old Motueka/Tasman family. A school teacher, he taught at Lake Rotoiti and Motueka before entering politics in 1962. He was prime minister in 1974 following the death of Norman Kirk.14

2012

Early Pastoralism in Marlborough

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Marlborough's earliest pastoral history was one of initial squatter land occupation, battling the twin scourges of rabbits and sheep scab, and eventually, compulsory division of the huge sheep runs by the Crown.

Burnt Whare hut near the Acheron River on Molesworth Station [Joe Maxted on righBurnt Whare hut near the Acheron River on Molesworth Station [Joe Maxted on right, Ernie Stephens on the left]. Photographer unknown. Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives. Click to enlarge

Nathaniel Morse and Dr John Cooper were the first Europeans to bring sheep into the Wairau Valley in 1846.  In the same year, Frederick Weld  with cousins Charles Clifford , William Vavasour and friend Henry Petrie, leased what was to become the Flaxbourne Estate. Clifford wrote: " I went to him (Te Puaha, a Maori chief), was very kindly received, and soon agreed upon a lease of all the land from the Vernon Bluffs down the East Coast to Kekerengu for £24/annum."1

In August 1847 they drove 3000 sheep purchased from Australia, from Port Underwood to Flaxbourne: "Crossed the Bluff River with sheep.  Had to throw them all into the water, a day and a half's hard work," wrote Weld in his diary.2

Soon flocks of sheep were being driven over Tophouse from Nelson.  Initially, the majority of Marlborough's first pastoralists were squatters, as the New Zealand Company had no legal titles to grant land ownership.3  Eventually the land was bought by Sir George Grey4 and the Company surveyed and allotted 34,219 acres for 14 year leases, with the Crown able to take over the leases at any time.5

A feud broke out between two groups, known as the Original Resident Land Purchasers and  the ‘stock owners'. Led by Dr David Monro, the land purchasers argued they had a ‘prior moral right' to exclusive rights to additional pasturage licences, which would have given them use of an additional 196,000 acres of Wairau and Awatere land.6

By 1853, there were more than 57 large sheep stations covering more than one million acres.7

Marlborough's historic large sheep stations included:

Horse teams at Ugbrooke Station circa 1910, with Henry Vavasour second from left. Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives.
Click image to enlarge

The Vernon Run : south-east of Blenheim. One of Marlborough's oldest sheep runs (5240 acres running 2500 sheep) taken up by Henry Redwood. 

Ugbrooke Station:  13,000 acres in the Awatere Valley running 11,000 sheep and growing crops, originally acquired by Henry Redwood, then William Clifford, then bought by H.D. Vavasour in 1897.9

Meadowbank Estate: 19,000 acres grazing 7000 merino sheep and up to 200 acres of turnips, owned by G.T. Seymour.10  

Molesworth: consisted of  Molesworth, Tarndale, St Helen's and The Dillon and was taken over by the Crown in 1938 after rabbits, heavy snows and the decreasing value of wool took its toll.11

Rabbits and sheep scab drove some farmers off the land. By 1864, hillsides were alive with rabbits which devastated pastures. Rabbits were public enemy number one, with nine million rabbit skins exported in 1882. Sheep scab, a highly infectious disease caused by a parasitic insect, causes wool to fall off sheep and lowers stock condition.  Farmers battled the disease for nearly 60 years, with Marlborough being the last region to be declared ‘clean' in 1892.12

Starborough. Marlborough MuseumStarborough station. Marlborough Historical Society - Marlborough Museum Archives. Click to enlarge

By the turn of the 20th Century, all of the best, most accessible land was held in large estates which became a problem for the Government as population rose - the problem was acute in Marlborough.13 [In 1903, the total number of sheep in the district was about 826,500, of which 760,000 run in the Sounds country, and 174,000 in the southern district around Kaikoura. The total export of wool for 1903 was12,700 bales]. 14

In 1894, a Lands for Settlement Act was passed by Parliament which allowed the Crown to compulsorily take estates and award compensation. One of the Dominion's most important land law cases at the time concerned Weld and Clifford's historic 46,600 acre Flaxbourne Estate.  Within four years, about 300 people lived there.15

Between 1899 and 1915, 22 Marlborough estates covering a total of 224,090 acres were acquired by the Government  and divided into 550 properties.16 

2009 

Captain Edward Fearon

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The King of Motueka

Times were turbulent when one of Motueka’s earliest Pakeha pioneers arrived to take up his newly-bought block of land. Edward Fearon had barely pitched his tent and made a start on clearing his section when the Nelson district was thrown into a state of panic, fearing an imminent Māori uprising following the Wairau Affray of 17th June, 1843. Motueka was an isolated spot, covered in thick bush, with sea access only, a large resident Māori population and only a very few other widely scattered settlers in the vicinity.  A former ship’s captain, well used to taking command and dealing with sudden crises, Fearon is credited with playing a significant part in calming local tensions. He went on to see the tiny settlement grow and prosper, and such was his influence and involvement in almost every aspect of the fledgling township’s affairs, that fellow residents half-jokingly dubbed him the “King of Motueka”.

Cpt Fearon

Captain Edward Fearon (1813-1869) Nelson Provincial Museum. W.E. Brown Collection, ref. 12084

The youngest son of Isaac Fearon, a London-based merchant and stockbroker, and his wife Elizabeth (formerly Baty nee Hodgson), Edward Fearon was born on 31 October 1813 at the family home on Shove Place, in the Parish of St John’s, Hackney, London.1 He  was sent to school, but as a youth ran away to sea, where his abilities were soon recognised. He rapidly rose to become a master mariner in the British Mercantile Marine (the equivalent of today’s Merchant Navy) and in his twenties captained ships trading to North and South America, Cape Colony in South Africa and Australia.2

Mrs Fearon

Elizabeth Fearon nee Ward (1811-1901) Nelson Provincial Museum. Davis Collection, ref. 893

On 11 February 1840 Edward Fearon was married at St Olave Hart Street, London, to Elizabeth Ward, from Crediton, Devon. Straight after their wedding they set sail on the “City of Edinburgh”, a 365-ton barque on the London to Sydney run with Captain Fearon in command. Their honeymoon trip was cut dramatically short when the ship was caught in a cyclone as she approached Australia and wrecked off Settlement Point, Flinders Island, on 11 July 1840.3 Though left with only the clothes they stood up in, the ship’s company all survived and were returned to England by a ship which called in at New Zealand en route. The intrepid newly-weds were taken with what they saw of the country, and determined to return later as settlers.

Emigration to New Zealand
Having amassed a comfortable fortune during his successful career, Fearon retired from the sea and at the age of 29 emigrated to New Zealand. Accompanied by his wife Elizabeth and two of her brothers, John and Thomas Ward, he embarked on the New Zealand Company's ship “Thomas Sparks”, departing Gravesend on 27 July 1842. It was a fraught and seemingly endless voyage. The captain, Robert Sharp, was an alcoholic, prone to erratic seamanship and violent rages. On the night of 3 October 1842, he drove the ship on to Whale Rock off Penguin Island. As water poured in and pandemonium reigned, Captain Fearon proved the man of the hour, swiftly taking charge and restoring order. He had the pumps manned all night and in the morning the badly damaged barque came off the rock and limped into Capetown. It wasn’t until 26 February 1843 that the 30 hapless passengers for Nelson finally reached their destination.4 In the meantime Edward and Elizabeth Fearon had made a start on their family, with their first child, Elizabeth (Lizzie) Ludwig Fearon, being born during the outward-bound voyage on 22 December 1842. 

J.D. Greenwood

Dr J.D Greenwood (1802-1890) Drawing of "my dear husband" by Sarah Greenwood [ca 1852]. Alexander Turnbull Collections, ref. A-252-021

The Fearons settled at first in Nelson and soon became part of what counted as the upper echelon of Nelson society. They befriended new settlers Dr John Danforth and Sarah Greenwood, who arrived a month after them on the “Phoebe”. The Greenwoods decided to settle on Section 152 in Motueka. They were keen for the Fearons to join them there as neighbours, so on 2 June 1843 Edward Fearon bought Motueka Section 155 from Captain Wakefield, the New Zealand Company’s Resident Agent in Nelson.5  It was situated half a mile distant from and to the north of the Greenwoods’ and close at its eastern boundary to a tidal estuary. The Fearons’ 50 acre property was a mix of fern, flax-covered swamp and native bush, which he straightaway set to work clearing. 

The Wairau Affray and its aftermath
The Wairau Affray of 17 June 1843, was the result of an ill-advised attempt to strong-arm Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha into handing over his lands in the Wairau Valley to the New Zealand Company. The skirmish which followed led to the deaths of several Māori and  22 settlers, including Captain Wakefield himself. For some time Nelsonians lived in fearful expectation of a full-scale retaliatory attack. The alarm felt in Nelson was even stronger in remote Motueka, whose few resident European settlers (apart from small groups at outlying Riwaka and Lower Moutere) were clustered around the small harbour known as the Manuka Bush, at the end of what is now Staples Street.

Woodlands 1852

Greenwood farm [Woodlands] at Motueka, [1852]. Artist: Sarah Greenwood. Nelson Provincial Museum, Bett Loan Collection, ref. AC333

Local Māori were equally concerned about reprisals from the British, and Captain Fearon acted as a calming presence in the small community. On the 1 July 1843 he reassured readers of the Nelson Examiner that “the natives at Motueka are perfectly quiet and friendly”.6  However, over the next months there were some heated exchanges with Māori over disputed land claims. Reflecting ongoing anxiety amongst settlers, when Danforth Greenwood moved to Motueka around August 1843 and built a home called “Woodlands” at the seaward end of Tudor Street, it was designed as a defensible blockhouse, with an excavated refuge beneath and a stockpile of gunpowder. 

Fearon, Greenwood and Thorp
Charles Thorp, a settler who had arrived in Nelson on the ship “Olympus” in 1842, moved to Motueka around 1848 and bought several sections on the road later named for him, Thorp Street. Thorp became not only a good neighbour and friend but also a relative-by-marriage on 11 April 1850, when he was married at St Thomas', Motueka, to Mrs Fearon’s younger sister Mary Ward. 

Charles Thorp

Charles Thorp (1820-1905). Friend, neighbour and brother-in-law. Nelson Provincial Museum Collection, ref. 11025

For many years this public-spirited trio of earliest settlers - Fearon, Greenwood and Thorp - would be at the heart of local society, giving freely of their time and talents to "the Village”, as the Motueka township was known, though the sorry state of its first roads in the wet also earned it the nickname “Muddy Acre”!   

Fearon was elected an inaugural member of the Richmond Cattle Fair in 1851. He served as member of the Nelson Provincial Council  for Motueka and Massacre Bay (now Golden Bay) from 1855-57 and always maintained a close interest in local politics. He was also a prime mover and Provisional Committee member when the Nelson and Marlborough Coast Steam Navigation Company was set up 1855. It purchased the paddle steamer “Tasmanian Maid”, which was used to carry goods and passengers between Nelson, Motueka, Collingwood, Wairau, Picton and across the Cook Strait to Wellington, one of the earliest of the small coastal steamers that revolutionized transport in the Nelson region. From 1861 Fearon served on the Motueka Board of Education for several terms and was appointed as well its representative to the Central Education Board in Nelson.  

Civic duties 
A churchwarden at St Thomas,’ Motueka, from 1849 and a member of the Nelson Diocesan General Synod, Captain Fearon was always a generous benefactor to the Church of England. In 1844 he donated a piece of his land at the junction of today’s Thorp and Fearon Streets as the site for St Thomas Anglican Church and a churchyard burial ground. The church was moved to High Street in 1860, but although no longer in use, the cemetery remains on the original site and is now part of the Pioneer Historic Park.

St Thomas Motueka

St Thomas' Anglican Church in Thorp Street. Drawing of "Our little church at Motueka" [1850].by Sarah Greenwood. Nelson Provincial Museum. Bett Loan Collection, ref. AC325

This was the first of several such bequests Fearon made to the Motueka community. These included the gift in 1857 of a quarter-acre site (where the Motueka Memorial RSA Club now stands) cut from his Section 155 for a public library and reading-room, known as the Motueka Literary Institution. This opened to great fanfare in January 1858, with an extensive programme of celebrations, including a fête, musical festival, fireworks display and a ball. A plaque at the entrance of the present Motueka Public Library in Pah Street commemorates Edward Fearon’s original gift.

Captain Fearon was a founding member of the Loyal Motueka Lodge of Oddfellows, established in 1850, and also gave land (the site today of the Abel Tasman Motor Lodge) for the Oddfellows’ Hall, which opened on Boxing Day 1864, another excuse for a good knees-up.7

Motueka Library Fearon

Commemorative plaque at the Motueka Public Library, 12 Pah Street, Motueka. Photograph A. McFadgen

Edward and Elizabeth Fearon’s family had grown with the additions of Mary (May) (1845-1901), Emma (1847-1913), John Hodgson (1849-1860), Sarah Frances (Fanny) (1851-1913), and Edward Fearon Jnr (1853-1880). Although both sons died young, three of the Fearons’ four daughters married, leaving many descendants - Emma to John Clervaux Chaytor of “Marshlands” near Blenheim, Mary to Richmond Hursthouse, for many years  M.P. for Motueka and the town’s first mayor, and Fanny to Fred Thomas, whose family owned the “Dehra Doon” estate at Riwaka, and still run an orchard and packhouse there under the name “Thomas Brothers”.

The Fearons built a large gabled homestead called “Northwood” where visitors were welcomed. Originally described as set back from the road (Thorp Street) in an open paddock, plantings over the years transformed it. A long, winding avenue of oaks, elms and poplars led to the house, which was surrounded by gardens. Later on those trees would be cut down and the drive straightened to form Fearon Street. The old house burned down in the late 1920s, but the homestead section was bought not long after by hop industry legend, Jeffrey “Mac” Inglis, who eventually built his own grand home on the same spot as the Fearons’ house (today 39 Fearon Street).8 He kept the name “Northwood,” which also became attached to the Inglis family business, “Northwood Hops”.

Watercolour Fearon House

"Northwood", the Fearon family homestead on Section 155, Motueka. [Date & artist unknown]. Motueka & District Historical Association, Kaye Emerre Collection.

In January 1849 Fearon was granted grazing rights to a 13,000-acre run in the lower Awatere Valley.  He named it “Marathon” and soon freeholded the property. Although the subject of envy - “Marathon” had more good flat land and low downs in proportion to its size than any other run in the Awatere - in truth Edward Fearon always found the position of absentee runholder a burden.  

Awatere

Part of "Awatere Valley". Artist: John Kinder [January 13, 1872]. Te Papa/ Museum of New Zealand. Collections Online registration no. 2003-0036-1

Fearon enjoyed exploring, and had a small boat of his own which he sailed regularly to Nelson and Golden Bay. Early in 1860 he helped skipper the schooner “Gipsy” when she took John Rochfort’s expedition to the West Coast. She was taking in supplies for another party led by James Mackay Jnr, a Golden Bay resident and an old friend of Captain Fearon’s.9 The “Gipsy” anchored in the Buller River and Fearon accompanied Rochfort’s party on a tramp down the coast to the Mawhera (Grey) River, where they met up with McKay before setting out for home on 13 March 1860.

Captain Fearon had every reason to feel confidence in the future, but ongoing difficulties with the management of his Awatere sheep run persuaded him to sell ”Marathon” in August 1866 to Joseph Dresser Tetley for £20,700 (the equivalent of around $2.2 million today) – all left on mortgage.10 Unfortunately the personable Tetley was a colonial con-man who left a number of men who had dealt with him facing financial ruin. In December 1868 Tetley skipped the country without having made any payment on ‘Marathon”, and leaving Fearon in a fix. He applied to the Supreme Court for the return of his run but was obliged to buy it back. Due to a slump in the prices of sheep and wool, Edward Fearon was unable to recoup his losses and became deeply despondent about his future prospects.

Captain Fearons gravestone at Pioneer Park

Captain Fearon's gravestone at Pioneer Historic Park, Thorp Street, Motueka. "Sacred to the memory of Edward Fearon. Died November 21 1869 Aged 56 years.Courtesy of MystikNZ at the Find A Grave website.

It came as a shock to all when  the Captain died suddenly in Nelson on 21 November 1869. Stress resulting from his “financial misadventures” was generally believed to have led to his death at the relatively early age of 56.  Did despair over his financial reversal and subsequent loss of face drive him to commit suicide? The circumstances are suggestive, but an apparent conspiracy of silence at the time makes this impossible to confirm. He was buried at the old churchyard cemetery on Thorp Street, in land he himself had gifted to the community.  Today the Motueka place names “Fearon Street” and “Fearon’s Bush” remain as a reminder of the magnanimous Edward Fearon and his family .

"The late Captain Fearon was one of the best known
of the early pioneers.
He landed in Nelson, but shortly after came to Motueka,
where he was looked upon as the "Village Father",
often being called upon to settle disputes in those days".11

Captain Fearon’s widow, Elizabeth, survived him by many years. She was 90 when she died at “Northwood” on 1 January 1901 after a long and eventful life, sustained to the end by her faith and family. She was buried alongside her husband and sons at the old churchyard cemetery on Thorp Street.

Note: Adapted from an article published on Anne McFadgen’s  Rustlings in the Wind blog about Captain Fearon and his family, in the context of Motueka’s development. Please refer to this article for further references and list of sources consulted. 2017

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