Akaroa Historical Overview - Christchurch City Council

SECTION SIX: YEARS OF STABILITY 1900 TO 1950
“Akaroa is celebrated
for its scenery, its
salubrity, and its
historic associations.
The harbour is one of
the finest in New
Zealand, and abounds
in fish; the town, with
its population of 600
persons, has an
arcadian character
which is almost
peculiarly its own in
New Zealand; and the
district, with its
beautiful bays, its
picturesque hills, its
pastoral industries,
idyllic valleys and
pieces of bush, is
dotted with well
managed farms and
pleasant homesteads.”
The Cyclopedia of New
Zealand Canterbury Provincial
District, 1903
A steady population
For Akaroa, the first half of the 20 th century was a period of
stability. The town did not expand significantly, although there
were some small subdivisions. The residential population was more
or less steady throughout the period and although the town
became increasingly popular as a holiday resort, the visitors mostly
did not have holiday homes in the town but stayed in hotels or
boarding houses, or used campgrounds.
In 1926, in the middle of the period, the Press ran a special
supplement to mark the 50 th anniversary of the formation of the
Akaroa Borough. The paper noted that “after its stormy past,
Akaroa settled down to a more peaceful youth” and that despite
communications having become easy and speedy, “the town for
many years has grown little, if at all”. 1 The town’s population had
held more or less steady, between 600 and 700, from the mid
1870s until the 1890s, then dipped in 1901 to 559.
The borough’s population rose again to 622 by 1911, only to fall
slightly to 615 by 1926. Andersen noted in that Akaroa was
“standing still as regards population” and the observation
remained true a quarter of a century later. In 1951, the borough’s
population was 557, almost the same as it had been 50 years
before. (A further 103 people were recorded as living “in the
vicinity” of Akaroa in 1951; this included the more than 20 Maori
living at Onuku.) The stability of the Peninsula’s population in the
first half of the 20 th century reflects that by 1900 the region had its
“boom” years behind it. 2
Houses large and small
With the population stable through the first 50 years of the
century, the number of houses in the town did not increase
markedly. Akaroa had 124 houses in 1901 and only 140 in 1926. 3
1 The Press, 28 September 1926, Editorial
2 Andersen, Place Names, pp. 29, 43
3 Andersen, Place Names, p. 43
There were some new residential subdivisions in these years. In the
early 1920s, the Narbey family subdivided a block of land up
Selwyn Avenue, creating more than 30 sections on the middle
stretch of Selwyn Avenue itself and up the newly formed Seaview
Avenue (refer appendix 9.2). Most other subdivisions between the
two World Wars were small. In 1935, four building lots were
subdivided on the uphill side of Aylmers Valley Road above the
hospital (refer appendices 9.3 & 9.4).
AKAROA HERITAGE OVERVIEW : SECTION 6 YEARS OF STABILITY 1900 TO 1950 PAGE 85