Te Waipapa/Diamond Harbour #3

In my first Diamond Harbour post I wrote about the beginnings of the jetty, built for Mark Stoddart in the late 1850s and still in use today. In this post I track the fortunes of the jetty through the later nineteenth and into the first decade of the twentieth century.

Diamond Harbour jetty c. 1913. Diamond Harbour Historical Association

Mark Stoddart and his wife Anna had seven children: Mark who died aged two, Frances, Margaret, James, Mary, Agnes and John. Margaret, later to become a very fine, nationally recognised painter, was born in 1865 (more of Margaret in another post).  Even with a young family, Mark Stoddart continued to travel. In April 1866 he, Anna, Frances and Margaret sailed to Britain and stayed for at least 18 months. The Stoddart Cottage was advertised for rent with James Allen in charge of the estate. Prospective tenants were assured that "the market boat, from Lyttelton, calls two or three times a week.”[1]

In 1874 Stoddart signalled his intention to subdivide his property. He advertised "allotments to suit purchasers" in an area “unequalled in Canterbury with respect to the bracing purity of the atmosphere, the beauty of the scenery, the facilities for laying out gardens and pleasure grounds, and securing that drainage fall so necessary to the healthful occupation of any locality.” There was a site marked out for a ‘first-class Hotel’, a good landing jetty and arrangements were pending “for the establishment of regular communication by steamer to and from Lyttelton which would reduce the time for the journey from Christchurch Station to about forty minutes.”[2]

Lyttelton Times, 8 December 1874

In August of the same year the following advertisement appeared in the Lyttelton Times. It seems the ownership of the jetty had passed from Stoddart to the Provincial Government. By this time the structure would have been about 15 years old.

Lyttelton Times, 30 July, 1874

It is not clear what interest the subdivision proposal generated but, by April 1876, Lyttelton merchant Harvey Hawkins had purchased much of the Diamond Harbour Estate. In 1877 the Stoddart family went to live in Scotland for several years. On their return in about 1880, Mark Stoddart bought a house in Christchurch where he died in 1885.

Harvey Hawkins was an ironmonger, a ships’ chandler and a buyer and importer of cheese. It was his company that won the contract to build the port ‘moles’ (breakwaters), completed in 1877. Having secured the Diamond Harbour land, Hawkins built the lovely home that graced Stoddart headland until the 2010/11 earthquakes caused extensive damage and its eventual demolition. Godley House, as it came to be called, was built of brick, plastered to look like stone. The verandah was decorated with delicate iron lace.

The Press referred in October 1880 to the “handsome seventeen roomed mansion to be seen opposite to the port, built for Mr Harvey Hawkins. It is not yet out of the builder’s hands, but when finished there will be few private places in the province superior to it with respect to its design or the beauty of its surroundings.”[3] Transporting sufficient bricks and other building materials by sea to the little Diamond Harbour jetty and lugging them all uphill must have been a challenge.

 Godley House minus the decorative iron lace. Stoddart album 1, Canterbury Museum

Godley House with its decorative iron lace and probably two of the Stoddart sisters on the lawn with their dog. Stoddart album 1, Canterbury Museum

Once resident at Diamond Harbour, Harvey Hawkins commuted to and from Diamond Harbour in the launch Waiwera. He also threw legendary parties for which boatloads of guests would be ferried across the harbour. So the jetty, in the decade following 1877, was a well-used structure.

Sadly, Harvey Hawkins ambitions exceeded his means. Through the 1880s he was borrowing money to pay off the Diamond Harbour land purchase and home-building costs. On top of that he lost money in various speculations. In 1891 he leased his gracious home and 33 acres of land – which was transformed into ‘Taylor’s Private Family Hotel and Pleasure Gardens’. A year later it changed hands to become ‘Diamond Harbour Park’ offering a recreation ground, picnic area and residence for convalescents. There were swings and swing boats, quoits and a social hall for dancing and roller-skating. Several leasees later, in 1894, Harvey Hawkins was declared bankrupt. His Diamond Harbour property was offered for sale but failed to attract any interest and reverted to the Stoddart family as secured creditors. The house was rented out until, in 1897 Anna Stoddart, with daughters Margaret, Mary and Agnes, returned to live there.
  

Press, 30 September 1896

Press ,13 October 1896

Through such change and uncertainty, the Diamond Harbour jetty remained a key link with the outside world. In 1896 the settlement of Diamond Harbour comprised 11 people living in the two houses (Stoddart Cottage and the ‘Big House’). It was much smaller than most of the other harbour settlements serviced by launches and, because of the difficulties of road access, was mostly dependent on sea transport.

In December 1891, the Lyttelton Harbour Board discussed the charging of sixpence on Boxing Day to people landing at the Diamond Harbour wharf. According to the Commissioner of Crown Lands the foreshore was vested in the people and they had a right to land there free of charge. The proprietors of the John Anderson Launch Company were advised that no legal charge could be made.  

It was also reported at the same meeting that the wharf was in poor repair but that the Lyttelton Harbour Board would not allow repairs to the wharf until a right of way to Purau was granted in perpetuity. This would put the onus for developing such a road on the landowner.[4] The issue remained unresolved in October 1893 when the Lyttelton Harbour Board’s Inspector of Works addressed the Board...

I also went over the site of the proposed road from Diamond Harbour to Rhodes Bay [Purau]. This road will be longer and much more costly to form than the one leading to the upper road at the back of the property now used by the proprietors, and would be of no use to the people in the Church Bay direction, as the ground is far too steep to connect with the upper road at the Purau jetty end...[5]

This matter was still unresolved in 1899 when the Port Levy Road Board discussed a letter from Mrs Stoddart expressing concern about the encroachment of the sea on the approach to the Diamond Harbour wharf. The Board’s reply to Anna Stoddart was that it would not pay for any such work until a fairly graded road was available to convey them through the Diamond Harbour property.[6] By 1910 the Harbour Board was threatening to close the Diamond Harbour jetty as being unsafe for use. A notice of closure should be placed on the jetty, visible from land and sea since “if such notices are posted and kept continuously on the jetties no action could successfully be taken against the Board for any injury that any person might sustain by going on them in their unsafe condition.”[7]

In 1911 the jetty was closed for traffic, the Harbour Board stating that it would cost about £500 to repair. 

Diamond Harbour Historical Association collection, pre-1914

A. Stoddart Album, Diamond Harbour Historical Association collection, pre-1914

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In addition to the sources indicated below, I have drawn on works by Gordon Ogilvie, Mary Stapylton-Smith,  Oliver Hunter and the Christchurch City Council. Thank you to Frances Husband for access to the DHHA image collection.
[1] Lyttelton Times, 31 December 1891

[2] Press, 26 October 1893

[3] Press, 24 June 1899

[4] Opinion re outlying jetties, Archives NZ

[5] Press, 28 October 1880

[6] Lyttelton Times, 12 March 1866

[7] Press, 25 April 1874