St Pauls Papanui Cemetery - Christchurch City Libraries

Turner bought 10 acres of Rural Section 105 (which ran from Papanui Road to
Winchester Street) and built his home, ‘Fassifern’ (the name is of Queensland
Aborigine origin). To accommodate a family of 13 children, Turner had the house
twice extended, it was thought to a total of 23 rooms. There were eight sons in the
Turner family and each Sunday they could be seen walking in crocodile fashion in
Christ’s College uniform to the Durham Street Methodist church.
Emily Turner, 44, died on 13 October 1881. Charles Wesley Turner, 72, died on 25
October 1906. Their daughters, Edith Emily Turner, 60, and Adeline Mary Turner, 78,
died respectively on 19 January 1921 and 19 June 1938.
Row F
No. 86
Matson
This is a large oblong block with 20 name plates inserted round the outside edging.
People buried here include the ‘grandfathers’ of the family, Henry Matson, 71, who
died on 24 October 1885, and John Thomas, 80, who died on 1 March 1897.
Henry Matson was born at Delce Farm, Wingham, eastern Kent, the son of Robert
Matson. He went to sea and, at 20, was an officer on the George III, a vessel which
was to transport 200 convicts and 40 homeless boys to Australia. Two miles from
Tasmania, in a big sea, the ship ran on a submerged and uncharted rock and ripped her
bottom. Those convicts who were unshackled made for the deck and were shot; those
who were shackled were drowned. There were few survivors, most of these being
soldiers and crew members.
Henry Matson worked at various jobs on the waterfront at Georgetown, Tasmania,
eventually receiving the coveted appointment of harbour master. At last he could
propose marriage to his intended, a Miss Manifold of Kelso, across the Tasman River.
She accepted him. When the marriage was celebrated, Henry was 30.
Henry Matson and his wife moved to Victoria with Mrs. Matson’s family who were
sheep and farming folk. Henry proved himself skilled at buying and selling sheep and,
later, dealt in gold.
Mrs. Matson died in the early 1860s; five of the couple’s nine children also died. In
the spring of 1862, the widower, 48, came across to Christchurch and met Charles
Torlesse, nephew of Edward Gibbon Wakefield and one of those who had surveyed
the settlement for the Canterbury Association. Torlesse thought Matson …
… not one of your keen money makers. I believe him to be a good man in
every way. We are both agreed to do an honest straightforward business and
depend more on faithfulness, diligence and quick dispatch rather than any
wonderful shrewdness or business ability.
Thus did Matson and Torlesse establish themselves as real estate agents and sheep
importers. Torlesse felt that he must frequently write to his parents in England
assuring them that, in the colonies, gentlemen must stoop to occupations such as this
which would be beyond the pale at home.
St. Paul’s Papanui Cemetery
2007
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