Bay Harbour: March 02, 2022

Bay Harbour News Wednesday March 2 2022
14
NEWS
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Treasures from the past: ‘Grand old man’
SIR HEATON Rhodes is
pictured on the right looking
tall and jolly with his bowler hat
in hand, strolling past the old
Lyttelton Fire Station and library
on the corner of Sumner Rd and
Oxford St, possibly in the
mid-1930s or later.
He’s in the company of various
Lyttelton dignitaries, including
on his left the ‘Lyttelton mayor
for life’ Frederick Sutton, who
held the office for 15 years, on
and off, from 1925 to 1944, and
whose name graces the port’s
wharf road, Sutton Quay.
One might wonder as to
the occasion for this street
procession, and the rather sullen
school children brought out to
greet the visiting dignitary. But
Rhodes looms large as one of
the most famous and well-loved
public figures of early 20thcentury
New Zealand.
A son of Whakaraupō, he was
born at Purau in 1861 before his
family moved out to their grand
Elmwood House on what is
now the grounds of the Heaton
Normal Intermediate School,
adjacent to Elmwood Park on
Heaton St in Christchurch.
His schooling included Mrs
Alabaster’s school in Cranmer
Square and Reverend Charles
Turrell’s school in Upper
Riccarton, followed by a stint at
the Château de Lancy in Geneva
and then Hereford Cathedral
IMPORTANT: Sir Heaton Rhodes during a visit to Lyttelton.
PHOTO: TE ŪAKA THE LYTTELTON MUSEUM REF
7089.1, HTTPS://WWW.TEUAKA.ORG.NZ/ONLINE-
COLLECTION/1009923
School, England. As a young
man, he excelled in gentlemen’s
sports while completing an MA
in law at Oxford. He was called
to the Bar of the Inner Temple
in London before returning to
New Zealand as a barrister of the
Supreme Court at Christchurch
in 1888.
After such an illustrious start
in life, it is perhaps no wonder
Rhodes went on to greater things
across a range of fields.
He purchased land near Tai
Tapu and built the Victorian
mansion, Otahuna, in 1895,
establishing New Zealand’s first
herd of norfolk red poll cattle on
its 5000 acres (2023ha).
Serving as president of the
Canterbury Agricultural
and Pastoral Association, his
Otahuna gardens became very
popular among horticulturists
and the general public.
An avid horseman, he joined
the Canterbury Yeomanry
Cavalry Volunteers and was
promoted to captain in 1902
before serving with distinction
in the Second Boer War.
On his return he was
commander of the Canterbury
Mounted Rifles Brigade until
1921.
Meanwhile, his political
career began in 1899 when,
aged 38, he was elected to the
seat of Ellesmere before going
on to join Prime Minister Bill
Massey’s 1912 cabinet as health
minister.
Resigning in 1915 to become
a special commissioner for the
wartime coalition government
in Egypt, Malta, and Gallipoli,
Rhodes went on to supervise
British Red Cross hospitals in
France and England.
Feted for his wartime
service, he was named a Knight
Commander (KBE), Order of
the British Empire, in 1920, at
which time he rejoined Massey’s
second government as minister
for defence, where his purchase
of the Sockburn Airfield led to
the establishment of the Royal
New Zealand Air Force and its
Wigram Airbase.
Not content with these
achievements, Rhodes also
became commissioner of state
forests in 1922 and laid the
foundations for New Zealand’s
flourishing timber industry.
Retiring from elected political
life in 1925 at the age of 64,
the following year Rhodes was
appointed to New Zealand’s
House of Lords, the legislative
council, where he served the
nation through to his wellearned
actual retirement in 1941
at the venerable age of 80.
His final years at Otahuna
remained active, of course, until
confined to a wheelchair at the
very end.
This ‘grand old man’ of New
Zealand public life, horticulturist
and cattle breeder, soldier,
philanthropist, and minister of
the Crown, among many other
achievements, passed on at Tai
Tapu on July 30, 1956.
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