-
The Father And Mother Of Ashburton
William Turton first saw Ashburton in 1858 when he was just passing through. Nothing much more than a vast plain with the odd cabbage tree, he let his eyes scan over the bland scenery to the horizon. What he saw is anyone guess but something in him stirred and Ashburton’s real European history began. Ashburton …
Share this:
-
John Henry Menzies (1839 – 1919)
The wildness of Menzies Bay was equally matched with the man who broke ground there – John Henry Menzies. Menzies Bay sits between Pigeon Bay and Little Akaloa. Before the 1820’s there had been a Maori settlement high on its shores but the Ngai Tahu’s Kai Huanga Feud had wiped it from the face of …
Share this:
-
Jimmy Robinson Clough
Jimmy Robinson Clough was an British ex-convict, ex-whaler, farmer, boat and fence builder, a drunk, suspected bigamist and the first European to settle in Canterbury. In 1837, after spotting a beautiful Maori woman in Akaroa where his ship had dropped anchor, he deserted his post and married her. They had 5 children together. In 1840 …
Share this:
-
Richard William Pearse (1877 – 1953)
As the children of Waitohi (near Temuka) walked home from school, they had gotten quite used to the rumbles and bangs that would be heard before Richard Pearse would come into view, appearing for just a few moments before disappearing behind the roadside hedge on his flying machine. ‘He is so odd,” one child could …
Share this:
