Bay Harbour: July 12, 2023

Bay Harbour News Wednesday July 12 2023
10
TREASURES FROM THE PAST
The Diamond Harbour ferry service
THE DIAMOND Harbour ferry
wharf at Lyttelton Port, once a
favourite diving platform for
school children, also served local
ferry services for well over a
century, with ferries connecting
a number of jetties around
Whakaraupō Lyttelton Harbour
– from Te Waipapa Diamond
Harbour, to Motu-kauati-iti
Corsair Bay and Ōtoromiro
Governors Bay.
In 1852, Mark Stoddart
assumed ownership of the
Diamond Harbour land and
identified the necessity of a jetty
to expedite the movement of
goods and produce from his
farm across the short distance
by water to Lyttelton’s port. The
definitive date of Diamond Harbour’s
jetty construction is not
documented, but evidence from
Stoddart’s journal points to its
existence by at least 1862. There
are indications its creation could
be attributed to a ‘Mr Grubb’,
quite possibly John Grubb, the
respected boat and wharf builder
from Lyttelton.
Stoddart relinquished a significant
portion of his Diamond
Harbour land to his mortgage
holders in 1871. By 1874, the land
was marked for subdivision,
and Harvey Hawkins, a well
known entrepreneur from Lyttelton,
took possession in 1876.
Hawkins constructed the notable
Godley House on the headland,
which gained popularity – or
some might say notoriety – for
its sociable events, with well-todo
guests from Christchurch
arriving on steam ferries for
weekend pleasantries.
Due to the increased
popularity, a consistent ferry
service was introduced from
Lyttelton to Diamond Harbour
by September 1891. The SS John
Anderson plied a regular ferry
service bringing revellers to
Harvey Hawkins’ Godley House
and its pleasure gardens, with
the Lyttelton Port facilities
being upgraded to support this
increased traffic.
At this time, there was
discussion about charging for
the use of the Diamond Harbour
jetty, with complaints that
passengers had been charged a
6 shilling landing fee on Boxing
Day. However, the Lyttelton
Harbour Board decided against
such ‘entrepreneurship’, and the
use of the Diamond Harbour
jetty was declared free of charge
to the public.
Despite the entry fees to his
increasingly popular social
facilities, Hawkins encountered
financial difficulties in the early
1890s. He attempted to sustain
himself by leasing the property
for use as a hotel, pleasure
gardens and a park, but these
The Owaka, possibly overloaded with ferry passengers from
Diamond Harbour. Te Ūaka The Lyttelton Museum ref 6417.1
https://www.teuaka.org.nz/online-collection/1009235
efforts were unsuccessful. He
eventually declared bankruptcy
in 1894, and in 1897, the property
reverted back to the Stoddart
family. The impressionist painter
Margaret Stoddart, daughter of
Mark and Anna, lived there until
1913, creating a number of her
most famous works. Meanwhile,
the day trip by steam ferry across
to the Godley House environs
remained popular with weekend
visitors from around the harbour
and beyond.
A significant development occurred
in 1913 when the Lyttelton
Borough Council purchased
140 hectares of land from the
Stoddart Estate, incorporating
Diamond Harbour as a suburb of
Lyttelton. The resulting growth
in water traffic led to the addition
of an ‘L’ shaped extension to
the jetty in 1915, and from this
time on it became known as the
Diamond Harbour Wharf.
By 1926, the growing suburb
of some 38 houses catered to
tourists on the weekends for
picnics, excursions and fishing
The Diamond Harbour ferry
MV Onawe.
Te Ūaka The Lyttelton
Museum ref 11703.1
https://www.teuaka.org.nz/
online-collection/1132383
parties, while the village’s
professional residents and their
children commuted daily to
work and school via the steam
ferry to Lyttelton port’s railway
station and via locomotive to the
city of Christchurch.
In 1928, in response to ever increasing
water traffic, a prohibition
was placed on private boats
mooring at the wharf, facilitating
easier disembarkation for ferry
passengers. Despite decades-long
difficulties in procuring a
reliable water supply, the village
continued to grow through the
thirties and beyond. It was from
this time the Diamond Harbour
ferries – such as the Owaka,
Moturata, Reo Moana, Manuka,
and the Awhinanui, followed
by Onawe and today’s Black
Diamond – came to symbolise
the harbour way of life we know
and love today.
Five vessels,
including the steam
tug Lyttelton, the
ships Kuara and
Kaethe Jebsen
along the No. 2
wharf, with a yacht
and what appears to
be one of the ferries
docked alongside
the Diamond
Harbour ferry wharf.
Te Ūaka The
Lyttelton Museum
ref 13019.1
https://www.teuaka.
org.nz/onlinecollection/1133718
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