South Canterbury Notable People & Links 

"The Wrights were clearly the first to achieve sustained and controlled powered flight but the question of whether or not Pearse beat them off the ground with a powered takeoff remains." 

The South Canterbury Hall of Fame
drop lower left  Hall of Fame

Richard PEARSE 1877 -1953 

A farmer, an inventor, a man of vision.  About March 1903 he became airborne in a high winged monoplane he designed and built himself. It is almost certain he got into the air under power before the Wrights.  The Wright brothers were the first to achieve sustained and controlled flight but did Richard Pearse beat them off the ground as early as March 1903?  Neither party was aware of each others work.  Born 3 Dec.1877 at Waitohi Flat, the fourth child of Digory Sargent Pearse and Sarah nee Brown and elder brother of Warne, Ruth and Florence. Digory was b. in Cornwall and had arrived in Lyttelton via Adelaide in 1865. Richard died 29 July 1953 age 75 years & 8 months in Christchurch. 

The South Canterbury Microlight Clubs holds the annual Richard Pearse Memorial fly in at Waitohi in March over a weekend with Saturday designed to highlight the versatility of the aircraft and Sunday for cross country flying.  Suggested reading: The Riddle of Richard Pearse or Moonshine Country both by Gordon Ogilvie. Another website

There is a plaque at the Timaru airport and the Richard Pearse Memorial with a replica of his monoplane is in the Upper Waitohi district, near Pleasant Point on the Main Waitohi Road, overlooking the field were he crashed. Map. The Timaru Airport was opened 9 April 1932. Timaru's airport "Richard Pearse Airport" at Levels is named after this farmer from Waitohi, the first British citizen to fly.  The South Canterbury Aviation Heritage Centre is planned for the airport in a few years. 

  Richard William Pearse
1877-1953
New Zealand's Pioneer Aviator
This monument commemorates the first
powered flight to be made by a British
citizen in a heavier than air machine.
Most evidence indicates this flight
took place on 31st March 1903 and
ended by crashing on this site.

Pearse wrote two letters to newspapers.
Dunedin's Evening Star  May 10, 1915
"Pre-eminence will undoubtedly be given to the Wright brothers of America when the history of the aeroplane is written, as they were the first to actually make successful flights with a motor-driven aeroplane."

Christchurch Star Sept. 15, 1928 
"My aeroplane was of enormous size, having 700 square feet of wing area, and it was extremely light, being made mainly of bamboo, and weighed, with a man on board, under 700lb, so each square foot of wing area had to support 1lb. At the trials it would start to rise off the ground when a speed of 20mph was attained. This speed was not sufficient to work the rudders, so on account of its huge size and low speed, it was uncontrollable, and would spin round broadside on directly it left the ground. So I never flew with my first experimental plane, but no one else did with their first for that matter. But with my 60 horse-power motor, which proved very reliable, I had successful aerial navigation within my grasp, if I had had the patience to design a small plane that would be manageable. But I decided to give up the struggle, as it was useless to try to compete with men who had factories at their backs."

Rodliffe, Geoffrey (1993). Wings over Waitohi, Auckland. 1993 116 pages illustrated. Background and technical information

Ogilvie, Gordon (1994). The Riddle of Richard Pearse, Revised edition, published by Reed Publishing, Auckland. First published 1973.

Rodliffe, Geoffrey. Flight Over Waitohi. The book has been designed to be a semi-technical book for school classes studying the history of flight, and is based on many years of research by Mr Rodliffe into the story of Richard Pearse (1877 – 1953). Foreword by Dr Darrol Stinton. Sketches and drawings by Philip Heath. Paperback book, size 21 cm x 19 cm. 32 pages. Published 1997.  32 pages illustrated for school use.

1 April 2003 
Aviation pioneer waits in the wings. New Zealander took off before Wright brothers 
The Wright Brothers get all the credit, but a little known New Zealand farmer and self-taught aviation pioneer deserves some recognition, too, his supporters say. On March 31, 1903, Richard Pearse flew his bamboo monoplane over the lush pastures of his farm before crashing unceremoniously onto a hedge, family members and other witnesses said. 

It was his first successful flight and came months before Orville Wright took to the air in the Wright Flyer over the North Carolina dunes near Kitty Hawk on Dec. 17 that year -- a flight that landed Orville and his brother Wilbur in the history books. The reason was the nature of the Wrights' flight. While several others are thought to have gotten machines off the ground first, the Wrights won acclaim because theirs was the ''first powered, sustained, and controlled flight by an airplane,'' said Dick Knapinski, spokesman for the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wis. 

Pearse himself conceded the honor to the Wrights, agreeing that none of his flights were fully controlled -- most ended in the hedges around his farm that grew high because he was too busy working on his plane to trim them. A self-taught aviator and inventor, ''Bamboo'' Pearse, who also built a bicycle out of bamboo, got his plane into the air at least five times before the Wrights did, his supporters say. 

The New Zealand division of the Royal Aeronautical Society has nominated him for the First Flight Hall of Fame at Kitty Hawk, but says that with only one inductee a year, the earliest Pearse may be considered is 2005. ''He should be in there,'' said the society's local vice president, Hugh McCarroll. ''It will be appropriate recognition of his amazing work.'' Although there is little physical evidence authenticating Pearce's flights, some of the plane's parts have survived and his devotees insist there is no doubt he took to the air before the Wrights. 

At least 20 family members and other residents of the tiny rural settlement of Waitohi, near Timaru, reported witnessing the first flight of the aircraft, which was powered by an engine Pearce crafted on his forge.  A nephew, Richard Pearse, 83, said his father, Warne, told of being among those present for that March 31 flight and for other flights. ''My father used to help him, spinning the propeller to start the engine.'' A local photographer reportedly took a picture of the plane stuck atop a hedge, but the photo was lost in a flood years later, said Jack Melhopt, chairman of the Timaru Aviation Heritage Center. People told of watching Pearse's plane skim over paddocks, and in one case land in a dry riverbed, the overhead engine frightening a horse. 

Amos Martin, a farm worker, recorded a flight on May 2, 1903. ''It taxied 50 yards, rose 10 to 15 feet, flew 50 yards, then crashed into a hedge,'' he wrote in a letter. ''I got on my bike and hightailed off.'' Treated as a crank by many of his neighbors and even some in his family, Pearse ended up in a psychiatric hospital, where he died, unsung and alone, on July 29, 1953, at age 75. ''Pearse was very much a recluse. He was laughed at by the locals. They called him `Mad Dick' and `Bamboo Pearse,' '' said the Timaru aviation center's secretary, Graham McCleary. 

A lucky find of rusted parts from one of Pearce's homemade engines and a propeller in an old rubbish heap has given his pioneer work new life. Three replica engines and two planes based on his earliest designs were built to mark the centennial of his first flight. Working virtually alone, Pearse designed and built his light-bodied plane with rigid wings, ailerons, flaps, and rudder, all of which were ''movable from one control column by the pilot,'' said Geoff Rodliffe, a historian who wrote a book about Pearse. Pearce's nephew said he had a firm objective with the early flights: flying the nine miles to the town of Temuka for shopping. ''But I can see that once he was in the air he had a few problems controlling it, so he didn't make the trip to Temuka and back as he intended,'' Richard Pearce said.

Evening Post, 26 February 1902, Page 1 Colonial Inventions
Applications for letters patent, with provisional specifications, have been accepted as under: Richard W. Pearse, Upper Waitohi, farmer, improvements in and connected with bicycles.

PEARSE ARCHIVES MAJOR ACQUISITION FOR MUSEUM
11 October 2005 Timaru Herald

South Canterbury has secured the extensive archives of Richard Pearse researcher, Christchurch author Gordon Ogilvie. Central South Island Tourism has negotiated with Mr Ogilvie for the 23 boxes of material he has collected since the 1960s. The South Canterbury Museum has a high enough level of professionalism and quality control that they can be housed here." Mr Brownie said $12,000 had been agreed on as a fair recompense of Mr Ogilvie's expenses in gathering the materials in the archives, and applications were being made to various funding bodies to raise that money. "This price is substantially below what Mr Ogilvie could have gained elsewhere, so he's made a major financial sacrifice." Mr Brownie said the archives would be given to the South Canterbury Museum, and would be fully accessible for research purposes and any further archives acquired by Mr Ogilvie would be added to the collection. South Canterbury Museum director Philip Howe said Mr Ogilvie had previously lodged in the museum some engine cylinder remains and one or two other pieces relating to Pearse's agricultural experiments, discovered during excavations at Waitohi and Milton. "This acquisition is incredibly significant from our point of view. Gordon Ogilvie has completed the most authoritative collection of printed and written material related to Pearse in the course of research for writing his book (The Riddle of Richard Pearse). "We're delighted that it's coming back to South Canterbury and that it will be available to local people for research and to visiting researchers." Mr Howe said the museum's acquisitions budget of $1500 a year meant it was not in a position to compete with other facilities boasting larger chequebooks, so he was delighted Central South Island Tourism had led the charge. Mr Ogilvie said he had wanted the archive to remain in South Canterbury. "This was always destined to stay in South Canterbury, as long as South Canterbury was in a position to take it. I think the main issue to me was that the archives stay in Richard Pearse's own part of the world. "Almost everything connected with Richard Pearse up to this point has gone up to Auckland, to Motat." Mr Ogilvie said he was keen to see the South Canterbury Museum become a national research place for Richard Pearse. Mr Ogilvie said there remained one Richard Pearse mystery, the location of the rubbish dump around Milton where Pearse's first plane was taken. 

In 1914 Will Scotland made the longest flight in NZ when he took off from Fraser Park (Timaru) on a flight to Christchurch.

March 12 2004. Jim Anderton
We pride ourselves on an attitude of believing we can tackle anything - "we can do that". We are far from the rest of the world and comparatively few in number. Although that has its disadvantages some times, it has some special advantages as well. Lord Rutherford, said, "we in New Zealand don't have much money, so we have to think." New Zealanders like to try things out. We have had to learn a skill of being resourceful. We are culturally innovators. We are also incredibly creative.

Sir Douglas Copland KBE, C.M.G. 1894-1971

Douglas Berry Copland was born on 24 February 1894 at Otaio, between Timaru and Waimate in the Canterbury Plains of the South Island, New Zealand. He was the thirteenth of sixteen children born to Alexander and Annie Morton, née Loudon, both Scottish-born Presbyterians. Copland. They  were pioneer farmers who grew wheat, raised sheep and bred horses. From 1899 to 1906 he attended Esk Valley Primary School and spent the next six years at the Waimate District High School.  Upon graduation, Copland tried to enlist in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, and subsequently in the reserve, but was rejected as medically unfit because of a lesion in the heart valve. Greatly unsettled, he spent the summer of 1915-16 as a compiler at the Census and Statistics Office in Wellington before becoming a mathematics master (1916-17) at Christchurch Boys' High School and a graduate research assistant in economics (1917) at Canterbury College. In addition, in 1915-17 he lectured in economics for the Workers' Educational Association, both in Wellington and at Christchurch. By the time he left New Zealand in 1917 he studied teaching at the Christchurch Teachers' College, and gained Bachelor of Arts 1915, and Master of Arts degrees at Canterbury College. MA 1916 1st class Hons. in economics. In addition, he tutored for the Workers' Educational Association and worked as a Compiler in the Census and Statistics Office of the Department of Internal Affairs. Copland's love of teaching and fascination with economics stems from these years - in particular from his work on his father's wheat farm and the research for his M.A. thesis, 'The progress and importance of wheat production in New Zealand'. From 1917 Copland pioneered the development of the economics profession in Australia. Was professor at the University of Tasmanian from 1920 - 1924 and professor of commerce at the Melbourne University for 15 years. He began his work as a Government adviser in 1931. He was knighted in 1933. 1946 First vice chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra. High Commissioner for Australia in Canada (1953 to 1956). Sir Douglas Copland was elected president of the UN Economic and Social Council March 29 1955. Became principal of the Australian Administrative Staff College in Melbourne when it was founded in 1956. He retired in 1959 but continued to write on economic matters. speech Died at age 77 from pneumonia, Sept. 27 1971.

He was the organiser of the programme that took Australia out of the depression.

He lost a brother in WWI.
COPLAND, ROBERT DAVIE
Rank: Rifleman,  New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 2nd Bn. 3rd.  Service No: 24/1254
Age: 21  Date of Death: 19/09/1916
Son of Alexander and Annie Morton Copland, of "Rosslyn," King St., Timaru, New Zealand.
Grave/Memorial Reference: I. A. 6. Quarry Cemetery, Montauban

Timaru Herald April 1993 DEATH:
COPLAND. On April 9th, at Brookfield Street, St Andrews, George, infant son of Alexander and Annie Morton Copland, aged 6 weeks.

Bill HAMILTON 1899- 1978

A sheep farmer who had a mechanical flair became the inventor of the jet boat.  His father Wm. F. came from England to an outback station at Morden, Australia until a drought came so he went to Ashwick Station which his sister sold to him. C. W. F. "Bill" was born in 1899 in South Canterbury and brought up on Ashwick, attended Christ College. In 1921 he bought his own place, Irishman Creek Station, near Lake Tekapo. His favourite pastime was racing a Sunbeam. He had a workshop at Irishman's Creek and was always tinkering. In 1961 his work was honoured with the award of an OBE (Order of the British Empire) and in 1974 he was knighted for 'valuable services to manufacturing'. Buried at Burkes Pass. James Maxwell's booklet Discovering The Legends of Mackenzie, Mt Cook has a chapter on Sir Charles William Fielden Hamilton. Suggested reading: Wild Irishman by Peggy Hamilton and White Water by Joyce Hamilton.

He built roads, bridges, then an earth scraper that scooped out five acres for a dam  to provide the station electric power. 1920s

Samuel BUTLER 1835-1902 

       

Arrived in New Zealand in 1860, establishing the Mesopotamia Station at the headwaters of the Rangitata River. Despite his lack of experience as a run-holder, he managed to double his capital to £8,000 in four years. After his return to London in 1864, Butler made his name as a writer. Erewhon, published in 1872, is a satirical and provocative 'dystopia' which derived its setting and much of its content from the years he had spent in New Zealand. He also wrote  A First Year in Canterbury Settlement, London, 1883. He describes the vegetation e.g. tutu (toot) and river terraces in detail. Butler's Road and Butler's saddle on Sherwood Downs are named after him. Biography of Butler.  

"Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes on." 

"There is nothing which at once affects a man so much and so little as his own death." 
                     Samuel Butler

"Bob" Ruby Robert FITZSIMMONS  1862-1917

William HALL-JONES Liberal Prime Minister 21 June 1906 - 6 August 1906.

Mary Margaret Kelly b. 15 Sept. 1886 at Timaru. Third of eight children of Irish-born parents Jeremiah Kelly, labourer, and his wife Deborah, née O'Connor.

Norman KIRK 1923-1974 

Born in Waimate on January 6th 1923, the son of a cabinet maker. The family moved to Christchurch in search of work when Norman was five. He was of working class origins. His first job was cleaning guttering at 77 cents a week. As a boy he joined the state-run railways as a cleaner before earning his fireman's ticket. A self-taught man. He worked as a stationary engine driver on mining sites in various parts of NZ. The hardships of the depression committed him early to Labour philosophies. Mr Kirk became a member of the Labour Party at age 20, New Zealand's youngest mayor in 1953 at the age of 30, a Member of Parliament at age 34, President of his Party at age 40, and the youngest Leader of the Opposition two years later, and  Prime Minister in 1972, and served in that post until his death in 1974. Prince Charles representing the Queen, attended the funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral, Wellington on Wednesday 4 Sept. Mr Kirk had died on Saturday after 20 months on office. His body lay in state in Parliament in Wellington and in Christchurch at the town hall. He was buried, 5 Sept. 1974, close to the graves of his parents. The simple ceremony was delayed when the RNZAF Hercules, carrying his body was unable to land because of low cloud. The cortege finally travelled by road from Christchurch. While he was PM he opposed the French nuclear tests in the Pacific and he banned all visiting sports teams from South Africa. He was a big man, unwell for some years, died suddenly from a heart seizure at the Island Bay's Home of Compassionon on Saturday August 31st 1974, less than two years after becoming Prime Minister. A man with impressive qualities of leadership. The Labour Party, unprepared, made finance minister Bill Rowling his successor. Wallace Rowling's rival was Rob Muldoon. "Big Norm" was a hit song by Ebony in January 1974.

He married Ruth Miller in 1941and they had three sons and two daughters. Dame Ruth Kirk, 77, died 20th April 2000 in Christchurch after a long battle with cancer and was buried beside her husband Friday 24 April at Waimate. About 180 people paid their last respects at a service in the St Peter's Anglican Church, Upper Riccarton. The church, consecrated in 1858, was Dame Ruth's parish church. She was raised in the King County, NZ. Dame Ruth was born Lucy Ruth Miller in Taumarunui on April 28, 1922, the youngest child of Margaret Miller, a teacher, and George Miller, the postmaster. She met and married Norman Kirk in Auckland in 1943, moving to Canterbury in the late 1940s and settled in Kaiapoi. In 1975 she was made Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire, and received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.

A NAME THAT STILL LIVES ON 30 September 2006
Timaru Herald By Margaret Mather
Norman Eric Kirk was born in Mrs Turner's maternity home at the end of Parsonage Road, Waimate, on January 6, 1923. His father Norman Kirk, born in Gore, was of Scottish origins and his mother Vera Janet Jury of Cornish descent. The family had strong Salvation Army beliefs and often attended three church services on a Sunday. His father was a cabinet maker but worked at odd jobs including cowman/gardener at the Waimate hospital. This was the Depression years, and when the job ended work was hard to find in the Waimate area so the family shifted to Christchurch. Norman Kirk became a foundation pupil at Linwood Avenue Primary School. Times were still hard and at age 12 he left school with his proficiency certificate and a lifelong passion for reading. His first job was with a firm of roof painters, cleaning out gutters, scaring his wrists for life. By correspondence he gained his stationary steam and river engineers tickets. At the age of 16 he was working at Frankton Junction as an engineer cleaner, the Second World War had begun but he was declared unfit for services because of a thyroid condition. In 1943, in Auckland, he married Ruth Miller, daughter of the Paeroa postmaster. Money was scarce and with a young family the decision was made to move to Kaiapoi, buying a section for 65 ($130). Here he set about digging a 70 foot well to source water so he could make the concrete blocks for his house. Norm Kirk joined the Labour Party in 1943 and in 1953 was invited to run for mayor of Kaiapoi on a Labour ticket. Winning the election made him the youngest mayor in New Zealand at just 30 years old. Kaiapoi was to receive new footpaths, a sewerage system, better roads, pensioner housing and a new rates system. Standing unopposed in the 1956 elections, his organisational and leadership ability was noticed in Wellington and saw him standing for Parliament in 1954. He lost, but was elected MP for Lyttelton in 1957. His maiden parliamentary speech was about New Zealand's place in the world, being an advocate of greater self-reliance for New Zealand. He was elected president of the Labour Party in 1963 and leader in 1965 after only seven years in Parliament. Labour under Norm Kirk's leadership lost the 1966 and 1969 elections. The next three years were spent in rebuilding the party and union movements and in 1972 Labour won with a 23 seat majority. Norman Kirk, at just 50 years, was Prime Minister of the third Labour Government. He excelled in international affairs and had a broad, sweeping vision but was narrowly suspicious of his colleagues. He became a significant international figure but the domestic economy was heading for oil shocks and the start of inflation. The Kirk Government established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, stopped visas for a racially selected South African rugby team, urged the French to cease nuclear testing in the Pacific and sent a New Zealand frigate into the test area in protest. The early months of 1974 were hectic with the Commonwealth Games in Christchurch attended by royalty and heads-of-state, inflation causing industrial unrest, abortion and homosexual law reform causing divisive factions. A heart scare and dysentery contracted while in New Delhi had been hidden from the public but surfaced when varicose vein surgery in April resulted in blood clots and heart complications. Attending the May Labour Party conference, delegates were shocked to see a gaunt Prime Minister walking with the aid of a stick. On June 10 he was given a medical clearance to resume full duties but his health never returned to full strength. August 28 saw him admitted to the Home of Compassion Hospital in Island Bay for a complete rest as ordered by his doctors. August 29 a bulletin was issued saying the Prime Minister had a comfortable night with no reference to his condition. On August 31 the country was shocked to hear of Mr Kirk's death. Norman Kirk was laid to rest in the Waimate cemetery 32 years ago on September 6, 1974. A state funeral was held in Wellington Cathedral, next day a service in the Christchurch town hall. An RNZAF Hercules aircraft with the casket and two Friendships carrying the official parties was to fly to Timaru airport. The funeral procession would then drive to Waimate for the burial service at 3.15pm. A thick, misty drizzle was hanging over the whole area like a shroud of sorrow, that preventing the three planes from landing at Timaru. They were diverted back to Christchurch where a fleet of 15 cars were assembled to drive everyone the 126 miles in approx two-and-a-half hours.
Margaret Hayward recorded in her diary: "It was an undignified, distressing race against time because by law no burials can take place after sundown". A crowd of about 4000 people were waiting in the wet at the cemetery to pay their last respects and welcome him back to the area he loved. Guards of honour, a Maori challenge and singing, a Pacific Island Tapa cloth placed at the front of the grave alongside a mass of floral tributes were all part of the ecumenical service in tribute to him. The Kirk name is still evident in Waimate today, the Kirk Memorial Swimming Pool opened in 1978, a scholarship established at Waimate High School in 1997, business and farming activities, also a street name. Waimate Museum frequently gets asked for information on Norman Kirk and is keen to add to their archival records. If you have anything you can add to the collection the museum would be most appreciative. Photographs, etc, can be copied and originals returned. Waimate Museum is situated at 28 Shearman Street and is open from 1.30pm to 4.30pm Monday to Friday and 2pm to 4pm Sunday. For further information phone 03 689-7832.

Jack Lovelock 1910-1949

James McKENZIE  1820 -1858  

Heroes get remembered but legends never die!

Mckenzie, born in Ross-Shire Scotland had emigrated to Australia and drifted like so many others of his class to NZ.  He fancied that the difference between the price for sheep on the Rhodes' run and the value of them in the Mataura district of Otago would afford good remuneration for him.  New Zealand's most famous sheep stealer had a sturdy bullock that carried his sack of oatmeal, his horn of whiskey, and other stores.  Mackenzie County and Pass are named after him even though it is spelt differently. His faithful collie dog Friday drove approximately one thousand sheep towards Burkes Pass in 1855 from Levels Station. McKenzie was apprehended at the Mackenzie Pass by J.H.C. Sidebottom an overseer for the Rhodes Brothers at Levels Station. Friday lived the rest of his years at Levels Station.  Details of the Mckenzie story, Son of the Mist, can be found in O.A. Gillespie's book South Canterbury A Record of Settlement.

Beattie, Herries (1881-1972) Mackenzie of the Mackenzie Country : pioneer, explorer, sheeplifter : story of a remarkable man Dunedin, NZ: Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers, 1946 113pp Index.

Samuel Butler wrote in 1860  "He is a man of great physical strength, and no uncommon character; many stories are told about him, and his fame will be lasting.  He was taken and escaped more than once, and finally was pardoned by the Governor, on condition of his leaving New Zealand. His boldness and his skill had won him sympathy and admiration, so that I believe the pardon was rather a popular act than otherwise".

Jessie MACKAY 1864-1938

Poet. Born on 15 December 1864 at 'Double Hill' Station, on the Rakaia, in a mud hut, where her father, Robert Mackay, was manager before going to Raincliff Station.  Later he managed "Opuha George." He, a Scottish highlander, had come out to Lyttelton on the "Brother's Pride" with his wife, Elizabeth and children, the previous year.  She spent practically all her life in Canterbury and her early education was at home and by a young governess at Raincliff, then in Christchurch at the Normal School and later to a Training College.  She loved to read and her father a Presbyterian and fierce of his Scottish pride had a strong influence on Jessie's ideas and character. In 1887 Miss Mackay, a school teacher, was appointed to the Kakahu Bush School where she remained for three years, she was the first school teacher to live in the Kakahu School House (demolished in 1972) with Eva Meredith, who later became a doctor in England.  She then became the first teacher at the newly-opened Ashwick Flat school in 1893. She gave up teaching for writing and wrote eight books.  Jessie was a contributor of poems to magazines and newspapers. At the aged of thirteen she contributed poetry to the Canterbury Times.  Her first book of poems, "The Spirit of the Rangatira and Other Ballads" was published in 1889, "The Sitter on the Rails" in 1891, "From The Maori Sea" in 1908, and "Land of the Morning" in 1909.  Song of South Canterbury She was the lady editor for the Canterbury Times for ten years and worked for various causes with great enthusiasm - Woman's Rights, prohibition.  In 1936 she was granted a pension for literacy work and placed on the civil list. Miss Mackay wrote 'The Sheep Man's Prayer' but a fortnight before her death.  Jessie is buried in the Waimairi Cemetery, Christchurch and the quotation on her headstone "Lord of the sheep in the upland ways" is taken from the first line of the poem. 

Reference: South Canterbury, A Record of Settlement  by Oliver Gillespie." Suggested reading: Jessie Mackay - A women before her time. Kakahu WDFF.   Suggested reading: Brave Days. Pioneer Women of New Zealand Published for Women's Division of NZ Farmers Union by A.H.  and A.W. Reed, Dunedin and Wellington 1939 An Anthology of Australian Verse  The Grey Company

In Jubilee History of South Canterbury by Johannes C. Anderson, printed in 1916 contains many poems including these by Jessie Mackay written about 1910.

Kiwa's Men : A Song of Departure  pg 532 
Spring Fires                      pg 534 
A Folk Song			  pg 534			
The Burial of Sir John Mackenzie  pg 535 	
The Call of the Upland Yule	  pg 535  
Strathnaver No More!		  pg 536-7 

The Noosing of the Sun God: A Maori Legend by Jessie Mackay. Otago Witness online Dec. 5 1900 page 119

Otago Witness, 26 July 1894, Page 39
CORMAC BAN.

The black-hearted awesome hills,
They tempted Cormac Ban
To dreo his weird by the Eagle-scaur ;
An' the cruel snaw began.

The saft-winged, the cruel snaw!
Frae noon to mirk it fell ;
But where it fought an' vanquished him,
There's nane on earth can tell,

The drift haps his gowden heid,
The heid o' Cormac Ban ;
An' my heart' frozen like the burn
That yester morning ran.

The wide world's a winding sheet ;
There's neither bush nor lea :
The wide world's a winding sheet
To wrap my love an' me !
— Jessie Mackay. Fairlie, July 17.

RHODES Brothers  Their 1856 timber, thatched roof cottage still stands at Levels Station, near Timaru.

Erine SLOW  d. 1960

The most noted of Mackenzie Country ballad makers. He was also a rabbiter, fencer and  shearer.  The Godley Ghost also known as the "The Devil's Daughter" is his best known work. There is a copy of it in High Endeavour by William Vance.  James Maxwell's booklet Discovering The Legends of Mackenzie, Mt Cook has this poem and  "Bray Kills a Pig"

Sir Edward William STAFFORD 1820-1901

Represented Timaru from 1869 to 1877 at the General Assembly.  Stafford St. the main street in Timaru was named in his honour.  He had arrived in New Zealand on the 'Aurora' the first emigrant vessel into Port Nicholson, now Wellington, 22 January 1840. Reference: White Wings Vol. II  by Sir Henry Brett

Death: April 18 1857 at Auckland, Emily, wife of Edward W. STAFFORD, Esq., of Mayne, County Louth, Colonial Secretary of New Zealand, died aged 29. There were no children of this marriage. On 5 December 1859 Stafford married Mary Bartley at Auckland. They were to have three daughters and three sons. Mary Stafford died in 1899.

Three times Premier of New Zealand and twice Superintendent of the Province of Nelson (Nelson's first Superintendent), was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1820 and reached New Zealand soon after the Wairau affray of 1843. At 37 he became New Zealand's first and youngest-ever Prime Minister, holding office from 1856-1861, 1865-1869 and in 1872. In 1846 he married [Emily Charlotte Sidney Wakefield, niece of E.G. Wakefield] the daughter of Colonel [William] Wakefield and was thus brought into close contact with the New Zealand Company. His high character and sterling abilities rendered him the most suitable candidate in the Province for the office of  Superintendent and he was twice chosen for the high position. The institution of a System of Education, afterwards extensively imitated in the other provinces and the establishment of Roads Boards, were among his most important achievements.  In 1856 he gave up provincial for colonial politics, and accepted the offer of Premier in New Zealand's first Government. He displayed marked political ability, and great energy in his conduct of public affairs; and in 1859 he visited England to arrange for the Panama Steam Service. On his return, in 1861, his Government was defeated, chiefly on account of it's native policy.  Mr Stafford was Premier again from 1865 to 1869 and again in 1872. Some years afterwards he went to England to spend the evening of his life in retirement in that country where he died on 1st February 1901, and was buried in Kensal Green, London. A wreath was sent by the Government of New Zealand, on behalf of the Colony with the inscription; "New Zealand to her Statesman"  Cyclopedia of New Zealand - Nelson, Marlborough, Westland 1906.
Registrar General's Marriage Index 1840
Edward Stafford: New Zealand's First Statesman by Edmund Bohan 432pp. Hazard Press.

"His vision of an independent, democratic and racially tolerant nation set him apart from almost all his contemporaries."

Timaru Herald Saturday 10th August 1867

"Stafford, spare that tree,
Touch not a single bow;
In youth it shelter'd me.
And I'll protect it now.

Sir Keith Lindsay Stewart 1896-1972 b. in Timaru

Rodolph and Harry Wigley - One family on the road to tourism

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Black stilt or Kaki are the world's rarest wading bird, once widespread in NZ they are now essentially restricted to the Mackenzie Basin
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The Bloody Good Race Mt Cook to Sherwood Downs over the Mickleburn Saddle to the Rangitata to Arundel to Mt Hutt to New Brighton.
Clayton Station Andrew

Pass To Pub Mountain Bike Ride - A 36Km mountain bike ride from Burkes Pass (at 545m above sea level) in the Mackenzie Country through valleys, across streams do to the Albury Tavern (at 238m above sea level). It is on shingle roads, farm tracks and 100% rideable 4WD trails. A family ride that provides a challenge for all levels of rider from absolute novice to elite riders. Early March.

The Timaru Herald | Wednesday, 28 February 2007
"With settled weather predicted for the ride we think the number of riders could be right up there with last year's record of 850". "It can be used as a starter event for anyone who wants to give mountain biking a go and many family groups compete." The trail consists of farm tracks and shingle roads and runs from Burkes Pass to Albury Tavern. The ride appeals to a wide range of ages and abilities because if you ride it at a leisurely pace it is not physically demanding.  "However if you want to go flat out it does require a good level of technical skill." The race crosses 10 farms, several rivers and is mostly down hill with an altitude decrease of 200 metres. The support from the local community and run holders has been fantastic. "The event is a great fundraiser with a share of the proceeds from the event going to the Albury Home and School Association and Burkes Pass Heritage Trust". Entry forms are available at bike shops in Timaru. However late entries will be accepted on the day at the start. Registration opens at Burkes Pass from 8.30am to 10am, with the race starting at Rollesby Valley Road at 10.30am. The prize giving will be held after the last rider has finished around 3.00pm. A bus was available to take one rider per car from the finish back to Burkes Pass to collect their vehicle. The Pass to Pub is one of the oldest mountain bike events in the region and was first run in 1986. The Albury Home and School Assn will have a BBQ operating, as their fundraiser, and the Hospitality at the Albury Tavern is the best.

Queen's Chain plan to be axed
The Press | Saturday, 24 Feb. 2007

Plans for a "Queen's Chain" across New Zealand's back country are set to be dumped by the Cabinet in a major Government concession to farmers. The Press understands a consultation panel headed by South Canterbury farmer John Acland has recommended Rural Affairs Minister Damien O'Connor ditch plans to force open large tracts of the countryside to public access through legislation. Instead, the panel has recommended the Government reaffirm the private land rights of farmers and set up a travelling agency with the power to hear district access issues and negotiate solutions with farmers and the public. In return, farmers are understood to have agreed to allow walkers the right to use the large number of paper roads that criss-cross the country. Where these are unsuitable, the agency could hold talks on a land swap in return for the deletion of the paper road. Better signposting of rights-of-way and areas where the public can walk or drive are recommended. The panel's findings follow a year of public hearings and two years of controversy over plans by the Government to create a 5m-wide strip of public access, dubbed a New Zealand version of the British Queen's Chain, across private land to access publicly owned waterways and the coastline.  The proposal was announced in late 2004 but caused protests from farmers, who threatened to blockade their land and sue the Government for compensation for the removal of their property rights. "It's an acknowledgement that, overall, farmers have been very generous over the provision of access to private land. They just want the courtesy of being asked," Carter said. The panel's findings have been hailed as a victory by farmers. The attempt by Sutton to ram through legislation had caused a massive rural backlash that had made access issues worse, Mason said. Federated Farmers president Charlie Pedersen said farmers were delighted with the panel's work. While he had not seen the recommendations, he understood farmers would retain the right to say who could walk across their land.

Genealogies

Black's of Waimate and Timaru
Copland
Cross, Preddy, Necklen and Thomas families Neville's website 
Griffin Hamilton Rae
Hamilton and Litster families of Fairlie
Hawkins - Waimate
Hoare - Kerrytown
Hornbrook
Knowles wayback
McMorran
Shaw -Geraldine Flat settler
Growing up in South Canterbury

New Zealand Related Links

Varcoe's NZ Marriages Index
NZ Geographic Place-Names Database
Presbyterian Church Archives   
IIGS BDM Exchange
Statistics New Zealand

Visit the sites, view the countryside, home and farm stays etc. 

The Waitaki Valley -good photos 
Ben Ohau Mackenzie Country
Lambrook just south of Fairlie, Murray and Bev Bell hosts. Stephen Gillingham farmed Lambrook for 81 years, selling in 1955.  He and his wife arrived at New Plymouth on the Timandra in Feb. 1842. They had immigrated from Dorest, England, moved to Auckland, then to South Canterbury because of the Maori friction. Francis Robert (Frank) Gillingham b. New Plymouth in 1854, married Coredia Gillingham 1881, and settled at Lambrook, south of Cricklewood.  Alfred Ernest Gillingham b. 1888 was the 3rd son of F.R. Gillingham.
Real ENZ Look under Canterbury, rural.

22 Nov. 2002: Huge increase in the value of South Canterbury rural properties over the last three years with an 89 per cent increase in land value and a 53 per cent in capital value.

From Fairlie the Clayton Rd will take past the Sherwood Downs-Ashwick Flat War Memorial and Lake Opuha.  Hillcrest, Plantation Road, is on Sherwood Downs, up Middle Rd and turn right cross bridge. Two Thumb Range in background of photograph with Mt. Ribbonwood to left of popular tree and Fox Peak far right of photo. Fox Peak ski field is located on the run 'Lilydale' on the left just before Clayton Station. (Lilydale was named in honour of Lily Anne Henrietta (Worthington) Bray who was born at Waitohi in 1883.  Her mother, a school teacher, taught Richard Pearse). Continue on over the Meikleburn Saddle, 2,200ft, and Lochaber.  

According to Robin Startup's New Zealand Post Offices (1977 edition) page 172
Sherwood Downs, in Timaru Postal District, a farming area 19km north of Fairlie, Post Office 18 December 1912 to 25 April 1917 then Telephone Office 25 May 1917 to 31 May 1930.

  Additions, corrections, comments welcome!

South CanterburyGenWeb Project

"To be young and fit and keen, alone in a mountain world with only the skyline beyond: what a life for a young man" a shepherd voiced