Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

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absolutely roaring up the glen, and down the fern hills, progressing on both sides towards the town... The inhabitants could be seen in lines beating out the flames with large boughs of trees, or hurrying in groups to check the inroad of their foe in some new and unexpected quarter.” 88 Fortunately the fires burnt themselves out before they reached the town. However, Muter noted, all of vegetation around the town was 'devoured' leaving the settlers resolved to leave more extensive clearings around their homes in the future. Figure 5.30. At the north end of Akaroa on Rue Lavaud gardens and hillside cultivations were well established by 1866 when this sketch was completed. The familiar form of willows is observable in a number of properties together with remnant native specimen trees. Ref: Nicolas Chevalier, 1912-0044-89, Te Papa gardens and orchards laid out. Ref: 25 At this time, and up until the coach road was formed in 1872, Akaroa was connected to the outside world primarily by sea so most visitors' first experience of the town was strongly shaped by their view of the settlement from the harbour. As a consequence most visitors in the first thirty years of the colony consistently described Akaroa in pictorial terms, with a foreground of sea, the settlement in the mid-ground and the heavily vegetated, dark olive green hills as background. With the erasure of its forested backdrop, the aesthetics of this composition were significantly impacted. Returning visitors like Louis Thiercelin were shocked to find that the imposing forests that had so captivated him in 1840, had, in the space of 24 years, been reduced to a few patches of green on the mountain slopes and some clumps of trees in the valleys. Akaroa he noted had taken on the appearance of "a European countryside, ... with an air of youth, vitality and rich disorder”. Now a working landscape “of immense wheat fields and pasture supporting numerous cows and thousands of sheep”, it had for Thiercelin lost its local flavour. 89 88 Muter, Travels and Adventures of an Officers wife in India, China and New Zealand, pp. 217-218 89 Thiercelin, Travels in Oceania: Memoirs of a whaling ships doctor, pp.133-134 AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 5 THE COLONIAL TOWN 1850 TO 1900 PAGE 64
By 1900 the forest was virtually gone and only a few bush remnants survived in the valleys. A new agrarian landscape of pasture and cocksfoot grass had taken its place and was thriving on the hills behind the town. (The importance of the cocksfoot seed industry to Akaroa has already been discussed.) Gardens and placemaking In 1855 the Rev. Robert Bateman Paul visited Akaroa and recorded his impressions of the town. Consistent with newspaper commentary at that time, the Rev. Paul noted that “the houses of the French settlers, with their vineyards and gardens, form a prominent feature in the scenery of Akaroa”. 90 In fifteen years the cultural landscape of Akaroa had taken on a significance perhaps equal to that of its natural setting. Reports of the fecundity of the gardens were contrasted with vistas of “curiously injured vegetation” on the hills. Houses were now 'embedded', 'embosomed' and 'half concealed' in exotic vegetation rather than the native species which had once covered the town. Fruit trees, vines and walnuts had become source material for Christchurch's nursery trade and Akaroa gardens “particularly Rev. W. Aylmer, Mr Robinson and Mons. Beauriou [Bouriaud] were considered well worth a visit”. 91 The Rev. Aylmer's residence Glencarrig on Percy Street was sketched by Janetta Cookson in 1853, and was the port of call for most official and semi-official visitors to Akaroa. Henry Sewell praised it highly, calling it the nicest residence he had seen in New Zealand and provided the following description. “A stream rushes down forming one side of the grounds, and behind and above him is Forest stretching up to the top of the Mountains. Then the native trees and shrubs scattered about us are as ornamental as the best dressed shrubs and trees in England. The Naya [ngaio] is as good as the laurel and not unlike it. Plenty of Tree ferns and Ti-palms [Cordyline]. Mr Alymer is making a nice place, with gardens and lawn.” 92 Similarly, when Mr Robinson's seaside estate adjoining Bruce's Hotel was advertised for sale in 1859 it was described as being “bounded on two sides by rivulets of the purest water and chiefly laid out in gardens, orchards and paddock”. 93 The Rue Balguerie garden of Mr Watson, the chief magistrate, was also considered noteworthy. Charlotte Godley visited the property in 1851 and noted that “you go through a very neat gate up a nicely kept little path of lawn, a beautiful stream on one side, and on the other a high hedge of roses, the monthly [Chinese] ones in full blow, and the cabbage Provence, just about to flower”. 94 A watercolour of the garden painted the following year shows a suggestion of a shrubbery to one side of the cottage with ferns as part of the planting. Another important property, Augustus White's Blythcliffe, was visited by the American Mary Lawrence in 1860. Although the property was only two years old it was described by her as being the best house in Akaroa (refer figure 5.31). In her travel journal she described it as “adorned with lawns, walks, arbors, waterfalls, brooks, caves etc.”. The orchard she noted was equally impressive, containing an abundance of peaches. 95 90 Paul, Letters from Canterbury, New Zealand, pp. 67-68 91 Paul, Letters from Canterbury, New Zealand, pp. 67-68; Samuel Farr's recollections in the Akaroa Mail, June 20, 1913 92 Sewell, The Journal of Henry Sewell 1853-7, p. 328 93 Nelson Examiner and NZ Chronicle, 21 Sept 1859 94 Godley, Letters from Early New Zealand, 1850-1853 p. 264 95 Garner, The Captains Best Mate : The Journal of Mary Chipman Lawrence on the Whaler Addison, pp. AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 5 THE COLONIAL TOWN 1850 TO 1900 PAGE 65
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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
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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 and 74: Figure 5.28. For a time in the late
Page 75: THE COLONIAL LANDSCAPE The disappea
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
Page 125 and 126: 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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