1932 - Baker, John H. A Surveyor in New Zealand, 1857-1896 - Chapter X. CANTERBURY 1881 TO 1886--SURVEYS AT THE HEAD OF LAKE WANAKA--TRIP TO ENGLAND, p 176-203

At this time the country at the head of Lakes Wanaka and Hawea was included in Canterbury. It was not till 1915 that it was transferred to Otago.

From his camp in the Makarora Valley, Mr. T. N. Brodrick wrote in 1881 this account of the surrounding country and of the birds and people he met there.

"The Makarora River after flowing through a narrow valley flanked by high mountain ranges empties itself into the head of the beautiful Lake Wanaka. After leaving the lake and following the river for a few miles you come to the bush which

extends from the river up the sides of the hills to an altitude of about 4,000 ft., the only open land being a small grassy flat or two on the river bank. Close to the bush is a little cluster of houses and the Makarora Park Station homestead. At the time I am writing the houses were occupied by bushmen and the timber was rafted down the river to the lake and towed from there by a cutter to be finally distributed amongst the diggers and settlers on the Clutha River.

"At the head of the river and about 20 miles from the lake is the Haast Pass, the largest gap in the Southern Alps, about 1,700 feet above sea level and covered with dense bush through which is a horse track to the West Coast. This strip of bush connecting the great forest of the coast with the bush in the Makarora Valley has made a pathway for the wingless coastal birds which are plentiful in the valley. The kakapo and kiwi, except here, are strangers to Canterbury unless they are to be found in the Hunter Valley, with which I am unacquainted. It is said that a kakapo was once caught near the Bealey in the very early days of the Canterbury settlement; if so it probably came over Arthur's Pass as there are only a few miles of open country separating the two forests there.

"During our three months of sojourn we had bad weather and good and at times petty annoyances and discomforts but they were met with good temper and soon forgotten; the one trouble none of us could either forget or forgive was the daily martyrdom we suffered from flies. Blue-bottles and sandflies seemed to have collected from all parts for our discomfort and while daylight lasted devoted themselves with an energy and persistence to blowing everything and to stinging us.

"We were obliged constantly to cross the river which is cold and has a swift current. At first we used to strip and take a pole about 20 feet long, the swimmers being at the ends and the others holding on to the middle. In this way we generally managed to withstand the rapid current, the weight

of the men collectively with only the width of one body to the stream being a great assistance. We soon found that the river often rose rapidly while we were away, making the return dangerous, and after one man had been washed off the pole and carried down the river some distance before we could pull him out, we decided to make a canoe. In a wooded country like the Makarora Valley it did not take long to find a suitable dead tree and in a single day we hollowed it out and shaped it sufficiently for our purpose. We then lashed a large bundle of dead koradis (flax sticks) to each side to give it more stability, fixed a rough frame over it projecting about a foot beyond each side to hold the thole-pins, and we had a boat capable of carrying three men and our instruments and tools. It only remained to launch and float her down to the crossing place and it was not without some little pride that we saw how well she behaved in the water. She did her work and saved us much labour in crossing and pain from the cold.

"We explored every part of the valley, every day or two climbing first through the bush, then through the half mile of gnarled and tangled scrub, and over the coarse grass, lilies and alpine plants of all descriptions up into the everlasting snow. To sit on a high peak far above the snowline on a fine sunny day in that clear cold air and enjoy the magnificent panorama of lakes and rivers and mighty peaks with its wonderful colours and tints is a thing not easily forgotten.

"On a peak to the west of Haast's Pass and considerably above the line of perpetual snow in a cairn of stones which were frozen together, I found a powder flask with the inscription deeply scratched into it on both sides 'Charles Cameron, Jany. 1863.' The place was wild enough when I was there and Charles Cameron, whoever he was and whatever his object, must have been an adventurous man to have visited it 18 years ago. I wrote his name and the date, 1863, and my own and the date, 1881, on a stone and left them there, but I brought away the tin for a curiosity. Cameron was the first man who

explored this country, and I suppose no one had been up this hill since. I shall call it Mt. Cameron.

"I hear the Charles Cameron who was exploring here, was an officer during the war in the North Island. Pipson says he remembers him well. All the provision he took with him was a bag of oatmeal and a gun."

It seems curious that Mr. Brodrick should not have known that Mr. Baker explored this country two years before Cameron. It is certainly true that he thought so little of his early explorations that he rarely mentioned them. They are however entered in his diary written at the time so there can be no doubt about the facts. To continue Mr. Brodrick's. account-

"The bush is principally beech, though a few specimens of most of the common trees are to be found in it. In many places the ground and the trees as well are thickly covered with moss but unless the traveller was accompanied by a good sporting dog or was very observant he would detect little that was out of the common. Should he be benighted, then the variety of unusual sounds which commence soon after sunset would certainly attract his attention, the startling laugh and deep boom of the large owl, the harsh grating cry of the kakapo, the high shrill note of the kiwi, and the hoot of the morepork would be added to all those other voices of solitude which come with and seem to belong to darkness in mountainous country--the sighing of the wind, the falling of stones and the rumbling of water and avalanches.

"In our rambles in which we were always accompanied by a dog we caught numbers of birds of all kinds and I will try to give a short description of some of their habits. First the kakapo or ground parrot, the largest land bird in New Zealand except the roaroa and the takahe, though this latter is probably extinct. The kakapo's wings are only partially developed and though it cannot fly it makes good use of them when chased, flapping them continuously and spreading them to break its fall

when jumping off rocks. It is a clumsy bird and easily caught but can bite most severely and I have known one to sit in a hole under the root of a large tree and face a setter in such a determined manner that he could not get it out and was savagely bitten every time he tried. We found several nests; they were invariably in a hole either under a rock or the root of a tree. The eggs, two in number, were simply lying on the ground; they were white and about the size of a small hen's egg. The young kakapo is a singular looking little ball of white down with a soft beak and wide gape. On dull days we sometimes found kakapos climbing about the trees but generally they were perched on branches in dark places or sitting in holes looking very much like owls. Where the neck joins the body just above the breast bone in all the specimens I skinned, there was a great deal of fat, perhaps nearly half an inch in thickness, and somehow after it is taken out and the skin cured the stuffed bird has never the appearance of the living one. Towards night these birds come out to feed and then frequently utter their disagreeable cry. They eat grass and often go some distance outside the bush to get it; they also eat the dark green grass which grows in the forest and I suppose other things as well though I never saw them doing so. The great peculiarity of their feeding is that they never swallow the fibre but apparently suck it till it looks like small balls of prepared flax and then spit it out. We found kakapos all through the bush but they were more numerous near the edges and especially along the upper one at an altitude of about 4,000 feet. The general appearance of the kiwi is much better known. Apparently they never go as high on the ranges as the kakapo but prefer soft mossy places. They have a shrill cry which bears the same resemblance to a weka as a guard's whistle does to an ordinary one, that is to say it has a tremble or rattle in it. The young bird is fledged like the old one. These birds are purely nocturnal, and if let loose in the daylight blunder against everything in their path. Their feathers instead of being smoothed down stand nearly on

end, which gives them a soft fluffy appearance. They come out very easily, so in catching the bird the legs must always be taken hold of or the specimen will be spoilt. Their only means of defence is to kick and scratch or jump on the hand that is thrust into the hole to catch them. Besides kakapos and kiwis and all the common bush birds there are rock wrens and bush wrens, both of which are only found in mountainous country, also the sleek red wattled crow. It has a low melodious note and can only fly a very short distance and that downwards. Above the bush are to be found the sheep-killing kea and the mountain plover or dottrel. It is about twice the size of the common dottrel and has more colour on the breast. It makes its nest in coarse grass and its eggs are a great delicacy.

"Out of a cave near Kiwi Flat we got the nearly perfect skeleton of a small moa; even the bony rings of the windpipe were there. I think that if set up it would have been about four feet high.

"We were not altogether without visitors. On Christmas Day a poor fellow who had been benighted came into the camp very hungry and exhausted and it was quite a pleasure to supply his wants. He had been unable to light a fire for it had been raining heavily for some time. Another day a family of Maoris visited us, a man, woman and three children. They had been nearly a month travelling and had come from Okarito on the West Coast and were going to Waikouaiti in Otago, a distance of about 300 miles. The oldest child was a boy of seven and the youngest was a baby in arms. They had already been three weeks on the road and were in good health and spirits. The woman carried the baby and a piece of calico about 6 ft. x 10 ft. for a tent, also a blanket. The man carried a few potatoes in a kit, a frying pan, and the second boy when he was tired, and last but not least a dead robin tied to a slender stick about six feet long, also another stick with a flax snare on the end of it. He told me they lived on what they could catch, principally wekas, and showed me how he caught them. Imitating the cry of a wounded robin and

handling his stick in such a way as to make the dead robin appear to dance on the ground, he soon had a weka attacking it, and so intent was the bird on what it was doing that he had no difficulty in slipping his flax noose over its head and securing it with a sudden jerk. The poor children were so pleased with some cake we gave them that I believe the oldest boy would have been quite content to stay in such a land of Goshen and let his parents leave without him.

"The man was very intelligent and repeated many traditions of his race to me, some of which I have been told by the natives of Ruapuke and Riverton. He told me that the tribe supposed at one time to exist on the West Coast, north of the Waiau River, must, he believed, be extinct, and gave as his reason that there were so many white men about the Sounds on the coast that they must have seen any Maoris if they had been there. He also informed me that the last one of the tribe was found by Maoris long ago living in a hollow tree. It was a woman, and she was of great age. Her skin was like the bark of a totara tree (meaning very rough, I suppose), and her hair had grown down below her waist and was quite white. (This is a very extraordinary length for a Maori woman's hair to grow, and its being white proved she was very old.) I understand from what he said that they killed her. He said in war time the Maoris had used this route to the coast, but not often on account of the scarcity of food. I know a few greenstone axes have been found in the valley."

Shortland mentions this Maori track to the West Coast in the account of his journey through the South Island in 1843 and 1844. He says, "Huruhuru's leisure in the evenings was employed in giving me information about the interior of this part of the island with which he was well acquainted. He drew with a pencil the outline of four lakes, by his account, situated nine days' journey inland of us and only two from the West Coast in a direction nearly due west of our position. (They were then camped on the banks of the Waitaki.) One of

these named Wakatipua is celebrated for the 'pounamu' (greenstone) found on its shores, and in the mountain torrents which supply it. It is probably the 'Wai-pounamu' of which the natives spoke in reply to the inquiries of Captain Cook and Mr. Banks, who supposed it to be the name of the whole island. The other three lakes Hawea, Waiariki (an arm of Wanaka) and Oanaka (Wanaka), had formerly inhabitants on their shores, who frequently went to and from Waitaki to visit their relatives. Huruhuru pointed out on his chart the positions and told me the names of several of their places of residence and described the country through which the path across the island passed. Not many years ago a party of natives about forty in number came down the West Coast in two canoes from Cook Straits. They were commanded by the Chief Te Pueho. Leaving their canoes on the bank of a small river called Awarua, they took advantage of a mountain path from that place to Oanaka and falling by surprise on a few families residing there, killed most of them. The war party with the assistance of some of the prisoners, whom they reserved for slaves, then built themselves mokihi (canoes or rafts made of raupo) such as I have described and descended the river Matau (Molyneux) till they reached the sea coast.... From the coast they made their way overland to the Mataura River, where they surprised another party of natives. On this occasion some escaped, and carried word of what had happened to the Bluff, and thence to Ruapuke, the stronghold of this division of the tribe, and a few days after, several boats, with a large armed party, headed by Tuhawaiki in their turn surprised and killed Te Pueho and many of his men, and made slaves of all the rest."

W. G. Stewart went early to the Makarora and did very well out of this run which was on the west side of the river and was called Mt. Albert. It was great cattle country and he was not troubled by rabbits as were most of his neighbours, since this pest did not spread up the Makarora till later.

Mr. Clarke was manager for Mr. Low at St. Helens. This station which comprised about 18,000 acres of freehold and 200,000 of leasehold was the property of Mr. Low for about twenty years. It was taken over by the Loan and Mercantile in 1887.

Greta Peaks had originally been part of Stonyhurst estate but had been sold to Mr. Sanderson and the two Studholme brothers in 1863. The latter never lived there and Mr. Sanderson was managing partner till he died.

The building of a Cathedral was part of the original plan of the Canterbury Association but it was indeed wonderful that it was actually begun within fourteen years of the foundation of the

settlement and when the population of Christchurch numbered but 6,423 souls. It was as early as 1858, only eight years after the landing of the pioneers, that the first steps were taken and Sir Gilbert Scott, then considered the greatest ecclesiastical architect, was asked to prepare the plans. Nothing but the best was good enough for this proud and dauntless little community. When they wanted to make a tunnel they consulted the world's greatest railway engineer and when they wished to build a cathedral they employed the foremost architect of the day. The foundation stone was laid in December, 1864, the nave and spire were consecrated in 1881, but the whole building was not completed till 1904.

In his report to the Surveyor-General for 1881 Mr. Baker says, "Notwithstanding the material reduction of the field officers, of whom six have either resigned or left the service in consequence of the recent retrenchment, a very satisfactory amount of work is shown to have been done.

"Minor Triangulation.

. . . . . .

Mr. Brodrick has done 44,062 acres with topography and 61,088 acres without, in the Mount Thomas and Grey Survey Districts, and 37,440 with topography in the Makarora Valley, from the head of Lake Wanaka to Haast Pass. The work last mentioned was exceptionally arduous, all the stations but three being about 5,000 feet above sea level.

. . . . . .

"Mr. Welch has finished 45,741 acres, thus finishing the Peninsular triangulation, a work for which he deserves great credit, owing to the systematic manner in which it was done, carried, as it was over a very rough and difficult piece of country, necessitating extensive clearings on many of the hills."

There are perhaps more stories told of Mr. Tripp than of any other Canterbury pioneer. He was a man of tremendously strong character, quite unselfconscious, doing what he believed to be right entirely untroubled by doubts as to what other people might think about it. Like many of the early colonists he was a devout churchman and always had prayers in the mornings and grace before meals, but his son has told the writer that Mr. Tripp was often in such a hurry that he began grace as soon as he opened the door and finished it before he reached the table. One morning when he was reading prayers he came to the passage about the lean kine and the fat kine. He broke off for a moment and said to his son, "That reminds me Bernard I forgot to let the heifers out this morning," and then continued reading to the end of the chapter.

Mr. Baker was very proud of his horses and liked them to show plenty of spirit. This was not so pleasing to his unfortunate office messenger to whose lot it fell to unharness one of these fiery steeds every morning and put it into the little stable at the back of the Survey Office. He used to complain bitterly that "those dreadful horses" would be the death of him some day. One day Mr. Baker had a couple of bottles of claret in the buggy. Perhaps the horse was particularly restive and the messenger particularly nervous, but at any rate he managed to drop and break both bottles. He came into the general office where the young clerks were, in a great state of agitation. "Whatever shall I do? I have broken both his bottles of claret, and now I shall have to tell the chief and he will be so angry," and off he went to Mr. Baker's room. All the clerks followed and listened at the door to hear the explosion. They heard an explosion all right but it was an explosion of laughter. Out came the messenger and stamped up and down the passage in a fuming rage. "Well, what on earth is the matter now?" they asked. "He laughed at me, he laughed at me!" gulped the messenger, and was far more ruffled than if he had been roundly cursed.

Mr. Johannes Andersen who was one of the clerks listening at the door on this occasion has said that it was a perpetual amusement to him to watch Mr. Baker when he was reading any letter that bothered him or over which he had to think rather deeply, for he would then take a blue pencil and absent-mindedly draw maps on the top of his own bald head!

Mr. David McMillan arrived in New Zealand in 1857, the same year as Mr. Baker landed. He took up agricultural pursuits, was returned to

Parliament as M. P. for Coleridge in 1881, became a member of the Canterbury Land Board in 1883 and was President of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association in 1897.

During these years Chilcomb was the centre of much gaiety. Mrs. Baker's young nephew Claud Strachey had come out to New Zealand in 1882 to learn farming and was constantly with his uncle and aunt for race weeks or any social festivities. His pretty sister had married Mr. Cyril Hawden and arrived in Christchurch the next year. For them several big parties were arranged and in the diaries of both Mr. and Mrs. Baker frequent mention is made of the giving of dinner parties, musical parties, tennis parties, and even three dances, so if Mr. Baker's office life was strenuous his home life was certainly cheerful.

Then owned by two brothers of the Rt. Honourable Joseph Chamberlain. They never lived in New Zealand and the station was managed by Mr. Reginald Wade, who at one time had no less than ten cadets on the place.

He had come to New Zealand in 1864 and in 1865 had bought Mt. Algidus from Mr. Rolleston. Mr. Acland writes in "Early Canterbury Runs," "It is to these two that we owe the fine classical names in these parts."

The mention of Mr. Neave and his family reminds the writer of a little story heard recently.

On one occasion Mrs. Neave was bemoaning to her old friend Mrs. Gresson that she could not have some alteration made to the house because Mr. Neave said the money was needed for the station. "Well never mind, my dear," said Mrs. Gresson, "it is no good worrying about it. Some men drink and some men gamble, and some men farm, but they all lose money." However true this generalisation may be, in this particular case it was false. Mr. Neave did not lose money over farming.

Mr. William Gerard, the owner of Snowdon, went to Australia in 1842 at the age of 16. Some years later with his wife and two children he came to New Zealand with "Ready Money" Robinson, and

went as his manager to Cheviot, and he bought Snowdon in 1866. Mr. Acland says, "he was one of the ablest of the old squatters, and by the time of his death in 1897 had made freehold the greater part of Snowdon, besides owning Double Hill and Manuka Point stations, altogether shearing 60,000 sheep."

High Peak was originally allotted to Richard Westenra and then transferred to Sir Cracroft Wilson. In 1881 it was sold to Duncan Rutherford who transferred it to his brother George whose second wife was Miss Mary Gerard. His daughter Mrs. Buchanan still owns the station.

Rockwood, or part of it, was taken up by Henry Phillips in 1852 and it was held by the family till 1878, after which it changed hands three times in nine years. The first wire fence on the Canterbury hills was put up between Rockwood and Malvern Hills station.

Most of the country near Kaikoura had in the early days been taken up though not stocked by Mr. Fyfe and Captain Ruck Kean, and the latter was the original owner of Swyncombe. He it was who first introduced the rabbits into this part of New Zealand. The little hill where they were liberated is marked by a plantation of gum trees. It is said that when he released the rabbits Captain Kean turned three somersaults for joy at the thought of the fine sport he would have in future. Alas for human calculations! In a few years he had been absolutely ruined by the pest and he died of a broken heart.

When the Provincial Government was instituted in 1853 Canterbury included Westland but the two provinces were separated in January 1868.

I think it must have been of this trip that Mr. Brodrick related the following story. When they reached the Waimakariri it was in flood and the crossing seemed too dangerous to attempt. Mr. Baker was very disappointed and sat on his horse looking at the river for some time, and at last he said, "Let's go in together and risk it." Mr. Brodrick pointed out that this was not the orthodox way of crossing a river, and as he knew the place better than Mr. Baker he ought to go first. "No," said Mr. Baker, "if we go at all we will go neck and neck." So they forded the river together and came safely to the other side, "and," added Mr.

Brodrick, "the whole incident was so typical of the man."

The following is taken from "Early Canterbury Runs." "The Minchins took up this run in 1857. They sold it to Major Thomas Woolaston White, an early commander of the volunteers in Canterbury. He lived at his other station near Oxford, and Mt. White which is named after him, was worked by his brothers whom he took into partnership. White built the new homestead on its present site by Lake Letitia, a beautiful mountain lake with bush to the water's edge, which White named after his wife. The lake is a sanctuary for native birds. There are black teal and crested grebes, and Mt. White is about the only place in Canterbury, except some parts of Banks Peninsula where woodhens are plentiful. They are always about the buildings and yards, and come regularly to the cook-house door for scraps. About 1869 White sold Mt. White with 18,000 sheep to John Moore Cochran. He died at the station, and in 1885 the Loan and Mercantile took over Mt. White from his executors."

Castle Hill was bought by the brothers John and Charles Enys in 1864. They were known as the "buckets in the well," because they took it in turn to go backwards and forwards every year, each staying six months in New Zealand and then six months in England, and so arranging it that they spent six weeks together at either end. They were interesting, charming and somewhat eccentric old bachelors who had travelled much and were very well read. John was a naturalist and an authority on New Zealand moths and butterflies, and Charles was one of the finest shots in the country. The establishment at Castle Rock consisted of several detached houses, one big and well furnished and full of treasures that had been collected all over the world was the sitting-room; another was the kitchen where Mr. Enys and his guests had their meals served by the cook in white apron and high white cap; and others were bedrooms. Arrangements were sometimes surprising as when Lady Von Haast found that her bed had been made up with two tablecloths instead of sheets. Charles Enys died in 1890 and about the same time John inherited the family property in Cornwall and selling Castle Hill went to live permanently in England.