Bay Harbour: April 03, 2024

Wednesday April 3 2024 Bay Harbour News
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
NEWS 15
Unpacking the Bridle Path myth
• By JC Betts
IT IS WELL established the first
four ships arrived at Lyttelton
in December 1850, but what
happened next?
The popular belief is the
pioneers headed over the Bridle
Path at once. But did they?
“... Embedded in the soil of
Christchurch, as much a part of
local history as the pilgrims who
had footed it over the Bridle Path
from Lyttelton, the men in top
hats, the women in crinolines, to
found the city.” – Peter Graham,
So Brilliantly Clever, Awa Press
2011
“The Bridle Path was the
first hurdle for the Canterbury
pioneers of 1850 – after three
months at sea, they were finally
delivered at Lyttelton, only to
have to climb up over the Port
Hills to reach their promised
land. Out of condition, in unsuitable
clothing, and burdened with
the luggage that wouldn’t fit on
the pack horses, they trudged up
the steep side of the crater to get
their first view of the Canterbury
Plains and the site of their new
home.” – Pamela Wade, Sunday
Star-Times, June 21, 2020.
So the first thing the settlers
did on disembarking was parade
over the hill, bag and baggage in
hand, to – what?
In 1850, the only building on
the swamp that was to become
Christchurch was a surveyors’
hut – they were desperately trying
to complete a map of the city
before the immigrants’ arrival.
Meanwhile, back in Lyttelton,
the Canterbury Association’s
chief agent John Godley, chief
surveyor Captain Joseph Thomas
and scores of workers had prepared
for the pilgrims’ arrival
more completely than any other
settlement in New Zealand.
They had built four immigration
barracks; all settlers were entitled
to at least two weeks’ accommodation.
In December 1850
the buildings were overcrowded
with the 750 odd arrivals, so the
younger men camped or built
temporary huts nearby. Many
of the cabin passengers – those
who had already purchased land,
known as ‘colonists’, preferred to
stay on board.
There were already 60 temporary
houses and two hotels
in port. Captain Thomas had
supervised the building of a
wharf, the chief agent’s house, an
office, a store, a boathouse, and
the start of the Sumner Rd over
Tapuaeharuru Evans Pass. Then
the money ran out.
The Bridle Path was built as a
stopgap measure.
Charlotte Godley wrote in
November 1850: “Since the
money was lent by the Governor
for carrying on the works . .
. about 300 pounds has been
devoted to making a bridle path
. . . which is about two miles
shorter than the line of the road,
but it will only be meant for
horses. When we went up there
was still a bit at the top where
no one can ride; man and horse
must climb over rough stones
and rocks, and on the other
side the descent is steep enough
to make most people prefer
walking, too . . .” – Charlotte
Godley, Letters from Early
New Zealand, Whitcombe and
Tombs, 1851.
As Lyttelton was the only town
in Canterbury, it was where the
settlers stayed. Most of them
would have climbed to the top of
the hill to look at the view – and
then gone straight back down to
the port. Those who continued
over to ‘the plains’ were
predominantly the colonists
who had purchased land, keen
to identify the best locations, but
nobody could settle permanently
until the sections had been
allocated. This happened
in late February 1851, after
Christchurch’s first building, the
land office, was completed.
View of Lyttelton and port in 1863
Te Ūaka Lyttelton Museum ref 14625.26
https://www.teuaka.org.nz/online-collection/1135459
Left - the Bridle Path pilgrimage walk in January 1951
Te Ūaka Lyttelton Museum ref 14985.198
https://www.teuaka.org.nz/online-collection/1135993
The colonists’ land was
distributed in order of payment.
The town sections along
Norwich Quay in Lyttelton,
close to the wharf, were the most
desirable and were snapped up
quickly.
Sites in Christchurch were
selected by colonists who had
paid for their land and brought
supplies and servants with them.
For the majority of settlers –
immigrants who had assisted
passages and needed paid work
– the busy port was much more
attractive. It was also where the
leaders of the community needed
to be. This only changed when
the railway line between the port
and the city was completed in
1867, and around the same time,
Christchurch’s population finally
became bigger than Lyttelton’s.
From the first, a rivalry existed
between the port and ‘the plains’.
The colonists in Christchurch
considered Lyttelton to be
rough and full of unruly types;
Lytteltonians felt Christchurch
was full of snobbish toffs. This
enduring attitude made Lyttelton
the ideal place to go for people
looking for some excitement
away from the strait-laced city.
In the early days, ships in
Lyttelton Harbour would have to
anchor in the stream and smaller
vessels would transport their
cargoes to the wharf or over the
Sumner Bar – it wasn’t possible
to take all the luggage over the
Bridle Path, even if packhorses
had been available, and horses or
any livestock were pretty scarce
in Canterbury in 1850.
So where did this enduring
Bridle Path myth come from?
The responsibility lies with the
1950 centenary celebrations.
One of the most striking events
was a procession of pilgrims’
descendants walking over the
Bridle Path dressed in their
idea of authentic Victorian
costume. (Research shows that
the crinoline made its first
appearance in 1858. Top hats
seem unlikely.)
Somehow, photographs and
illustrations from the 1950
celebrations have lodged in
the collective mind. However
unlikely, the idea of hundreds of
stalwart settlers disembarking
and immediately marching over
the hill somehow stuck and
became accepted as truth. As a
result, the seminal importance
of Lyttelton as the founding
settlement and population centre
of Canterbury for its first 20
years has been forgotten.
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