Returning to South Canterbury - by Wayne

The Settlement of South Canterbury

I grew up in the area around Geraldine in South Canterbury in the early 1960’s.  My parents were both from the area.   My Dad grew up in Woodbury. My Mum grew up in Rangitata.

They lived in houses built at the end of the 19^th century that boasted only a couple of rooms and an outhouse (outside toilet).  While my father’s Woodbury house has been demolished, my Mother’s house remains.

Where my Father lived in Woodbury

Where my Mother lived in Rangitata

 

 

My father would cycle the 15km distance between Woodbury and Rangitata to visit my mother and take her to local dances in Rangitata.  We recorded on a previous blog how we replicated this journey during our visit of Geraldine.  Apparently my Dad also cycled the return journey from Woodbury to Timaru, just to visit my mother when she was worked in Timaru – a return distance of 80 km.  We decided to leave it to my sister Lorraine to replicate this journey.   

In 1960s my parents were working as a married couple on a 400 hectare sheep farm located about 3km inland from Rangitata. This was a large farm, able to support nearly 5,000 sheep.  Most of my school friends had parents that owned farms that were less than half this size.  When we passed through the area on our sabbatical, all the farms have been transformed from sheep to dairy, made possible through the introduction of large steel irrigators that have turned the parched brown soil into lush green pasture.

While 400 hectares was very large in those days, it is small in comparison to the size of the runs farmed by the early settlers. 

The early years

The Government started to lease South Canterbury land for farming in 1851.  South Canterbury was divided into just 11 runs, each having an average area of 35,000 hectares – nearly 100 times the size of the farm that my father worked on.  So large were these runs that it would take a day or more to walk from one end of the run to the other.  Lease holders had a limited time to stock their run or the land would be forfeited.  Apparently socking the runs was not easy, and some leases were terminated after a couple of years and other leaseholders became bankrupt.   



South Canterbury - The location of the 11 Runs.

When Bishop Harper made his first visit to South Canterbury in 1857, the area had been stocked, extending from the coast to the high country area of Mesopotamia. The only place where Bishop Harper could stay was in the little houses established by the early settlers, which he described as being ‘rude affairs’ and ‘comfortless, God forsaken places’.  

The Tripp family gained the original licence to the Orari run and the Acland family the original licence for the adjacent Mt Peel run.  My father's mother used to speak of these families in respectful tones not too dissimilar to the way that the tenants and servants speak of aristocratic Crawley family in Downton Abbey.

Roads were nothing more than tracks formed by bullock wagons.  When you drive through the area today you can follow some of these tracks as they have been well sign posted – many of the tracks have become state highways.  Crossing the South Canterbury Rivers, such as the mighty Rangitata, must have created a huge challenge to the early settlers.  It would take 10 years before metal was placed along the bullock tracks to form the beginnings of the roads we have today.  It would take 20 years for bridges to be built and the first railway between Christchurch and Timaru to be completed.  My mother’s father helped to build the exiting road bridge across the Rangitata in the 1930s.     

Stocking

The first sheep to arrive in NZ were bought by Captain Cook in 1773.  By the time Cook’s ship reached NZ, only two of the six sheep carried on board had survived: this being one ram and one ewe.  Sadly, they only survived two days once they were landed on NZ shores.  In 1820, Samuel Marsden landed one Merino ram and four ewes in NZ.  Wool from these sheep was exported for the first time in 1840.  Today high country merino’s have a reputation for producing fine wool which is sought for soft garments.  It was not until 1853 that the first sheep arrived in South Canterbury: 12 Merino ewes and one ram.  Each run would eventually stock over 50,000 sheep – ten times the number of sheep that were stocked on the farm where my father worked.

Schooling

At an age of five I commenced school at the Orari Bridge School. The school buildings still exist, but now as a camping ground. The school role was 12 pupils, including my two sisters, Diane and Lorraine. In order to get to school, we had to cycle 1.5km along SH79 before catching the school bus. 

Orari Bridge School for 12 - Now a Camping Ground.

 

I don’t boast of being very tall, but at the age of five I was a midget.  I was so small that my father had to tie blocks to my cycle’s peddles, and my sisters had to help me on and off at the start and finish of the journey.  During the journey, my key focus was not to fall off in fear that I wouldn’t be able to remount the cycle.

The 1.5km that I used to Cycle to School.

Returning to South Canterbury has rekindled my early affections for the area, and I am grateful for my family connection and the many memories that tie me to this region.