Camp Bay #1 and the absence of a jetty
At the end of the road that snakes around Whakaraupō from the port is beautiful Camp Bay. The last part of the road, from just beyond Purau, is shingled and narrow. The picturesque serenity of the bay belies its early, sad history.
By its very nature a jetty is a welcoming structure, a bridge between sea and land. For a traveller it represents a departure and a destination, the latter possibly after a long and uncomfortable voyage. A jetty at the end of a voyage implies settlement and the promise of company and comfort.
The absence of a landing place prompts a different set of expectations. So it was for immigrants at the spot we now know as Camp Bay/Te Pohue. [1] This is the first of two posts about Camp Bay – the first defined by the absence of a jetty, the second by its presence.
It seems that the Canterbury Association had not given much attention to the quarantine of ships carrying passengers with infectious diseases. Death at sea from (for example) smallpox, typhoid and scarlet fever, seems to have been relatively common. The options for the first 13 years of organised settlement were to confine all immigrants on board the infected ship or to land all new arrivals, including those infected.
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| Cressy anchored at Port Lyttelton; from a drawing by Mary Townsend, 1851. This gives an idea of the size of the immigrant ships and also the likely means of getting quarantined passengers to shore at Camp Bay in the absence of a jetty. |
It wasn’t until 1863 that the authorities acknowledged the need for a designated quarantine area. By May of that year the barracks used to house new immigrants in Lyttelton were requiring replacement and it was proposed that new barracks, erected at Camp Bay, could address the urgent issue of quarantine. “Camp Bay is a healthy spot – out of the way of mischief – and offers great facilities for carrying out so useful a system of quarantine.” [2]
In August, under the heading Quarantine Station at Camp Bay, the Lyttelton Times reported:
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Port Lyttelton, Passengers by the 'Cressy' landing. William Fox, 1851.
The immigrant barracks are the centre of the image with John and Charlotte Godley's house to their left.
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We hear that Government have decided on immediately commencing barracks at this spot, which from its many natural advantages appears to be most suitable for the purpose of a quarantine establishment. In addition to being well supplied with fresh water, it is protected from the prevailing winds, and there is easy access and good landing from a deep water bay. [3]
When the Captain Cook arrived on 5 September 1863 with 498 passengers, 11 deaths, including two very recent ones from typhoid, required the ship to be quarantined. “About 200 of the immigrants have been landed, and are under canvas at Camp Bay”, the quarantine buildings not yet being completed. [4]
Imagine landing 200 men, women and children - weary from a several month voyage, possibly sick - on the beach at Camp Bay. There were no landing facilities that we know of and likely only very rudimentary, if any, sanitary facilities. In early September (still cool) they were camped out in tents on the exposed headland which also served as the quarantine cemetery. Maria Rye accused the Government of being more interested in building ‘magnificent roads and bridges’ than in spending the money necessary to ensure the wellbeing of immigrants in quarantine. The immigrants were left to shift for themselves “like so many savages.” [5]
In October the Lancashire Witch arrived with 420 passengers, three adults and 23 children having died en route. The passengers had to be quarantined on board because the recently erected Camp Bay facilities “were found to be unfit to receive them.” [6] In fact Camp Bay was deserted and there were no provisions. “The indifference of the authorities amounts almost to cruelty, when it is remembered how ardent are the longings of every landsman to get on shore after a three months’ voyage.” [7]
By January 1864 Thomas Woods of Purau was writing to the Lyttelton Times to complain of the management of the immigrants at the Quarantine Station.
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| The Lancashire Witch by Thomas Dutton https://www.prints.co.nz/page/fine-art/PROD/I11 |
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| Steerage passengers - home for 3-4 months, Alexander Turnbull Library |
Ever since their landing the people have been allowed to run loose over the whole Peninsula, and besides the serious risk the inhabitants now run of disease being brought to their houses, they have also suffered much from wanton and mischievous depredations.
I have been particularly unfortunate, especially a day or two ago, when a quantity of stores landed for me on the beach, was seized upon and plundered by a gang of these people, who before they were disturbed, had carried off almost the entire contents of four cases of bottle ale and two cases of whiskey. [8]
This could almost be funny were the actual situation of the Camp Bay ‘detainees’ clearly not so dire. It’s hardly surprising that the ‘gang’ seized on ale and whiskey.
Finally, in September 1864 Camp Bay was officially gazetted as a ‘Quarantine Station and Lazaret’. [9] Permanent buildings were constructed on the terraced headland and Captain James Daymond and his wife Mary were appointed Master and Matron in charge. Unfortunately, in July 1865 a gale completely destroyed the single men’s and women’s barracks, blowing part of the materials out to sea. The married couple’s barrack was forced around 20 feet at the south end while the infirmary was twisted from its original position by about eight feet. “Some idea of the force of the gale might be gained from the fact that pieces of timber upwards of two hundredweight have been picked up at the beach at low water.” [10] An article in the Press suggested that the complex had been built without the input of an architect, to save expense. [11]
When the Blue Jacket arrived on November 18, little had been done to repair the damage. Only the single men were landed at Camp Bay while the women, children and all the saloon passengers remained on the infected ship.
Some repairs must have been done because the station continued to be used for quarantine purposes until 1873 when Ripapa Island was selected as the new site. Quarantined passengers who died continued to be buried at Camp Bay. On the immigrant ship Punjaub, “forty passengers were lost at sea with the fever and ten died at Ripa Island. Their bodies were taken around in a small boat to Camp Bay, the cemetery being on a small jutting headland." [12] At no time during its use as a quarantine station and cemetery was there a jetty constructed at Camp Bay (that I know of).
No one knows exactly how many immigrants were buried on the windy Camp Bay headland. Sixty at least it would seem. Two of the confirmed burials hint at the personal tragedies linked to the site
Hathaway. Born on the ship Brother's Pride on 3 October 1863, died 16 December 1863 at Camp Bay Quarantine station.
Trigg - a six week old infant, son of Absalom and Hannah (Anna) Trigg. Born on the ship Brother's Pride on 11 November 1863 (one of boy twins), died 23 December 1863 at Camp Bay Quarantine. [13]
The next chapter in the story of Camp Bay is a happier, more productive one, when a jetty was finally constructed to welcome and farewell people and produce.
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| Camp Bay/Te Phone beaches, centre, with the Quarantine Station and cemetery headland in the foreground (Jane Robertson, 2018) |
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| A closer view of the headland where terracing is still visible (Jane Robertson, 2018) |
[1] I use the name ‘Camp Bay’ in this post because it was the name used by European immigrants at the time. As with many place names around Whakaraupo/Lyttelton Harbour, the Māori name is now being used more frequently.
[2] Lyttelton Times, 29 April 1863, my italics
[3] Lyttelton Times, 12 August 1863
[4] Lyttelton Times, 5 September 1863
[5] Press, 6 February 1864
[6] Lyttelton Times, 17 October 1863
[7] Ibid
[8] Lyttelton Times, 5 January 1864
[9] I had to look up Lazaret. The definition is: 1. A hospital for the treatment of contagious diseases. 2. A place of detention for people in quarantine. [It. lazzaretto, fr. lazzaro, a leper]
[10] Lyttelton Times, 14 July 1865
[11] Press, 7 July 1865
[12] Star, 16 September 1933
[13] http://greatgrandmotherswickerbasket.blogspot.co.nz/2014/02/camp-bay-cemetery-records-banks.html
Just goes to show how perilous life was in those days and how resourceful and resilient people had to be to survive. Amazing how our lifestyles have changed in the last 150 years! But still the jetties remain important to us.
ReplyDeleteExactly Louisa!
ReplyDelete