Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

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The opening of the railway from Christchurch to Little River in 1886 led to an increase in overland passenger traffic between Akaroa and Christchurch. Coaches which made the run over Hilltop and round to Akaroa connected with the passenger trains. 81 In 1903 coaches were making the Little River-Akaroa run three times a week, and the Pigeon Bay- Akaroa run on alternating days. But the two wharves at the southern end of the town remained busy and there was “constant communication” by steamer between Akaroa and Lyttelton. A small steamer also maintained a regular service to the smaller bays within the harbour. 82 Recreation on the sea The harbour was important to 19 th century Akaroa not only because it served as a highway into and out of the town but also because it offered opportunities for recreation. A boating community has long been part of Akaroa life and both sailing and rowing clubs were founded in the 19 th century. The rowing club’s first boat shed was near Daly’s Wharf at the northern end of the town. In 1893 a new shed and slip were built on a site south of the main wharf. This site is still occupied by a boat shed, although the 1893 building burned down in 1913. 83 The first significant alteration to Akaroa’s shoreline dates from the same years that the present main wharf was built. In 1886-88, a shallow section of foreshore at the northern end of the town was reclaimed and the Recreation Ground formed. A grandstand was built in 1909 on the seaward edge of the reclaimed land and remained on that site until a new pavilion was erected to serve the “Rec Ground”. In 1991, the old grandstand was removed to the Okains Bay Museum. 84 Most of the sea frontage of the town remained open beach until the first significant stretch of seawall on Beach Road, from the Rue Jolie corner round to the main wharf, was built in 1901-04. The wall was soon extended right round the main curve of Beach Road to the start of the northern end of the town, where Beach Road merges into Rue Lavaud (refer figure 5.29). Figure 5.29. The extension of the Beach road seawall created a popular promenade for tourists as seen in this 1909 photograph. Ref: G140553 1/2, ATL 81 Lowndes, Short History, not paginated 82 Cyclopedia, p. 603 83 Akaroa Museum display 84 Ogilvie, Cradle, p. 43 AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 5 THE COLONIAL TOWN 1850 TO 1900 PAGE 62
THE COLONIAL LANDSCAPE The disappearing bush When Samuel Farr arrived in Akaroa in 1850 he and six traveling companions were so enamoured with the landscape that they climbed the hills behind Akaroa, every day for a week to appreciate the “luxuriant and romantic country”. Farr's descriptions of the wider landscape at this time suggest that much of the forest cover was still intact and for him at least the natural beauties of the wider setting were beyond improvement. 85 These thoughts were echoed by Henry Sewell who described the forest on the hills surrounding Akaroa as "[e]vergreen woods such as would have thrown Capability Brown into an ecstasy". 86 It was ironic then that the arrival of Canterbury Association settlers later in the same year that Farr arrived marked the start of the destruction of the Banks Peninsula forests. As the largest wooded area close to Christchurch, Banks Peninsula quickly became the town’s source of firewood and timber. Timber cutting licenses were granted by the Provincial Government from as early as 1851. However, the wholesale assault on the forests did not begin in earnest until the 1860s when, as Wood and Pawson have noted, the Canterbury economy was boosted by high wool prices and infrastructure development. During the mid-1860s the amount of timber shipped out of Akaroa was consistently between 1.5 and 2 million super feet per annum. 87 Every type of timber extracted from the bush had a use. Totara, described at this time as being “as thick as the hairs on a cat's back in places“ was prized for boat building, wharf piles, bridging, fencing, house construction and shingles. Matai was used for house frames, flooring and wharf piles; kahikatea for bench tops and butter or cheese boxes; and miro for weather-boarding. Low rate trees were either used to run the saw milling machinery or were shipped to Christchurch for firewood. The second major assault on the Akaroa landscape came as a consequence of unintended fires which spread either from settler's attempts to fire the cut-over bush or from fires inadvertently left burning in sawyer's huts and encampments. Fueled by the northwesterly föhn winds and dead wastewood, these were regular and extensive, and effectively completed Banks Peninsula's deforestation. The great fire of 1863 is thought to have been the most devastating for the Akaroa landscape. A first-hand account of this was recorded by Elizabeth Muter, an English visitor to New Zealand, who documented the extent of the fire and the severity of the threat it posed to the town's residents. “Since my first view the fires had not only continued to rage, but to increase; and now from every side down the great basin they were in full march to the sea. The harbour seemed a mere funnel for the escape of the smoke and the heated air; while around the furnace glowed square miles of forest in flames... “[W]e walked to the house of our friends, where every preparation was in progress to turn or check the flames advancing towards their property, or, if unsuccessful, to carry away their most valuable effects. For the two last nights they had watched the direction taken by the fires with the keenest interest, and now nearly all hope had left them. The flames were 85 Stevenson, Canterbury Old and New, p. 40 86 Sewell, The Journal of Henry Sewell 1853-7, p. 323 87 Wood and Pawson, Environment and History, pp. 453-454 AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 5 THE COLONIAL TOWN 1850 TO 1900 PAGE 63
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A REPORT PREPARED FOR: KERI DAVIS-M
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LIST OF FIGURES: Section 2: Introdu
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Figure 6.7. Akaroa beach before WW
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Figure 7.41. View of hillside veget
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SECTION ONE: OVERVIEW Report Contex
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It draws particular attention to wh
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AKAROA: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Sect
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It had the appearance of remoteness
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SECTION THREE: LANDSCAPE & HUMAN HI
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Paka Ariki seems to have had a less
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They appear also on occasion to hav
Page 23 and 24: AKAROA: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Sect
Page 25 and 26: The settlers were given clear title
Page 27 and 28: Commercial Hotel. (Green sold this
Page 29 and 30: Figure 4.2. The cottage built in 18
Page 31 and 32: Charlotte Godley, however, observed
Page 33 and 34: THE NATURAL AND PLANTED LANDSCAPE P
Page 35 and 36: own property in Takamatua and the n
Page 37 and 38: By 1847 cropping and stock breeding
Page 39 and 40: Figure 4.10. Father Sione's plan sh
Page 41 and 42: Figure 4.12. Plan of the Akaroa sho
Page 43 and 44: EXTANT TOWN FABRIC & FEATURES DATIN
Page 45 and 46: SECTION FIVE: THE COLONIAL TOWN 185
Page 47 and 48: Akaroa’s transformation from vill
Page 49 and 50: Although the proportion of Akaroa
Page 51 and 52: The most important concentration of
Page 53 and 54: The largest private home built in 1
Page 55 and 56: He soon built his own store and coa
Page 57 and 58: time after 1884 (probably in 1888)
Page 59 and 60: Figure 5.17. In this view looking s
Page 61 and 62: Industry Industry had less of an im
Page 63 and 64: Public institutions As Akaroa grew
Page 65 and 66: One of the organisations which met
Page 67 and 68: The first Anglican church was built
Page 69 and 70: distinctively Akaroa style of archi
Page 71 and 72: The Akaroa Mail greeted the formati
Page 73: Figure 5.28. For a time in the late
Page 77 and 78: By 1900 the forest was virtually go
Page 79 and 80: Figure 5.32. Walnut Avenue was the
Page 81 and 82: Figure 5.34. Charles Haylock's prop
Page 83 and 84: The resort garden and the seaside h
Page 85 and 86: The re-invigoration of the town's e
Page 87 and 88: public gardens in the colony” 122
Page 89 and 90: Britomart or Green's Point Monument
Page 91 and 92: Names on the landscape in 1900 The
Page 93 and 94: c SNAPSHOT OF AKAROA IN 1900 The 19
Page 95 and 96: Public buildings and structures •
Page 97 and 98: AKAROA: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW Sect
Page 99 and 100: During and just after World War II,
Page 101 and 102: with the previous half century. Two
Page 103 and 104: The unveiling of the monument on Gr
Page 105 and 106: Figure 6.5. James Bruce established
Page 107 and 108: grounds, was dedicated to the wives
Page 109 and 110: Building a dairy factory in Akaroa
Page 111 and 112: Community Life Between 1900 and 195
Page 113 and 114: The building of the Post Office was
Page 115 and 116: through Little River and over Hillt
Page 117 and 118: Power from the Lake Coleridge power
Page 119 and 120: area without the fear of currents a
Page 121 and 122: Land reclaimed on the northern beac
Page 123 and 124: Akaroa cemetery: “the most inviti
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Figure 6.23 The central memorial fe
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Centennial celebrations In preparat
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In addition to built landscape elem
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Coronation Oaks were planted on L'A
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Figure 6.34. Aylmers Valley Road in
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Figure 6.36. The Narbey family home
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c SNAPSHOT OF AKAROA IN 1950 Descri
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Public buildings and structures •
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SECTION SEVEN: CHANGE AND GROWTH 19
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When the Akaroa County first drew u
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The Metropole and Bruce fires left
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offered from the 1970s and more rec
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By the late 20 th century, a town w
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ensure as far as possible that the
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Figure 7.7. In this aerial view tak
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This expectation was fulfilled. In
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On Rue Balguerie, subdivision in 19
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But the spread of houses onto those
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Figure 7.16. Some architects who de
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Farrell stated her case against the
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Figure 7.19. Behind the recent and
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Figure 7.22. The Haylock House on A
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In 1970 a local complained to the w
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Figure 7.25. The new gymnasium on t
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Figure 7.26. General view of Akaroa
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palms, sumach, chestnuts and walnut
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Commemorative fabric and historic t
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The changing face of the Domain Dur
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Cemetery reserves: “nothing but c
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widened in part to better accommoda
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Figure 7.38. 1972 map of Akaroa . P
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c SNAPSHOT OF AKAROA TODAY The seco
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EXTANT TOWN FABRIC DATING FROM 1950
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Come to Akaroa Canterbury’s Premi
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Vangioni. L. J. (1967) Old Maori pl
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Akaroa Mail, 7 September 2001 Akaro
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Appendix 2. Although Akaroa's popul
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Appendix 4. Typically, subdivisions
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Appendix 6. In 1946, the block of l
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Appendix 8. In 1953, the extensive
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Appendix 10. In 1962, one of the fi
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Appendix 12. After the major subdiv
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Appendix 14. On the south side of A
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Appendix 16. The most recent large
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Appendix 18. Nearly 20 years passed
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Appendix 20. In 1971, the block of
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Appendix 22. A 1981 subdivision saw
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Appendix 24. The Settlers Hill subd
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Appendix 26. The houses on Percy St
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Appendix 28. As development extende
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Appendix 30. As development crept u
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Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

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