Te Wharau/Charteris Bay #2: Paradise Bay

J. A. Johnstone, Lyttelton Harbour from Charteris Bay. (University of Canterbury)
Sue Currie tells me that this painting was of Rileys Jetty - which no longer exists.

I'm still untangling the complication of jetties in Paradise Bay!! In the end the detail may not matter as much as our appreciation of the one-time importance of these structures for people living and working in the bays. 

By the late 1880s Charteris Bay farmers were keen to take advantage of more modern technology to improve access to Lyttelton and around the harbour. They petitioned the Lyttelton Harbour Improvement Committee for a new jetty for steam launches at Charteris Bay. The committee declined the request.[1] However, Harbour Board records indicate that the Charteris Bay jetty was entirely rebuilt in 1907. I'm wondering whether the Harbour Board took over what had been the Bradley Jetty, featured in the last post. Certainly it seems to have been the best serviced of the many jetties, with the addition of a half-ton crane in September 1924.

Bradley Jetty, undated but post-1924. Diamond Harbour Historical Society 

Local resident Andrew Anderson took advantage of the  jetty rebuild. In December 1908 Anderson took possession of a new motor launch, built to order by Charles Bailey of Auckland. The Matariki was built of kauri with a double-skinned hull. She measured 33ft in length and had a draught of 2ft. Her 10hp ‘Frisco’ Standard oil engine could reach a speed of nine knots. On a trial run from Governors Bay to Lyttelton and return, Matariki covered the distance in 50 minutes. The Press reported that “the launch is beautifully finished, and being a very roomy and comfortable boat, should prove a great boon to her owner and the residents of Charteris Bay, when travelling across the ofttimes choppy seas of Lyttelton Harbour.”[2]

Matariki heading for Lyttelton. Photo from Lyttelton Museum collection but (while image archive is unavailable post-earthquake) reproduced from Mary Stapylton-Smith's From Adderley to Bradley

The Otira was also an oil launch and built just six years before Matariki. Here she is on a slipway in Charteris Bay when she was owned by James ‘Jim’ Percy Drewitt. Much later she was rebuilt/restored by Paul Pritchett.
https://boatingnz.co.nz/articles/otira-oil-launch-pioneer/ 

However there was a downside to such increased speed and comfort. Early the following year Andrew Anderson was just departing Lyttelton for Charteris Bay when leaked petrol caught fire on board the Matariki. In tackling the fire, Anderson badly burnt both hands, losing nearly all the skin on the right hand. The fire was extinguished before any significant damage to the launch.[3] 

An incident of a different sort was reported in 1921. The Matariki was approaching the Charteris Bay Jetty late at night when the engine cut out suddenly and couldn't be restarted. Lamp light revealed a live 8ft-long shark jammed between the propellor and the rudder-post. It took an hour to remove the shark - which was identified by the museum curator as a female comb-tooth.[4] 

According to the Maurice Leech archive[5], Anderson built a slipway in what is now known as Paradise Bay about two chains east of the current public launching ramp and next to the still existing Smart’s Jetty. He used this to pull his launches out for painting and repairs. This ramp was passed on to Edgar Currie in the 1940s. Anderson also built a stone jetty on a rocky outcrop three chains on from his slipway out in front of the old Anderson house. Drays could drive out onto this jetty to load wool and other produce. To the north-east of this structure was Anderson’s timber jetty, built of blue gum piles and planks, with a  60ft x 70ft shed nearby.

Paradise Bay (Te Wharau/Charteris Bay). If you are able to enlarge this image you will see a wooden jetty slightly left of centre. Is it Riley's? Drewitt's? Mt Bradley in the distance. 
Undated, Canterbury Museum

The Anderson/Currie ramp in the foreground with Smart’s jetty alongside, 1943. 
(Sue Currie)

The Anderson/Currie ramp in 1943. Little blue penguins used to nest every year under the Currie family bach just above this ramp. (Sue Currie)

Matariki was in demand. In 1913, when a picket line on the Lyttelton wharf briefly prevented Anderson from landing a supply of cream from Charteris Bay, the Press reported that “the small farmers living at Church Bay and Charteris Bay ... rely on two small oil launches to get their stores from Lyttelton, and to ship their garden and dairy produce to the port.”[6]

As well as transporting produce, Anderson ran a regular service to Purau and an on-demand, excursion service to Diamond Harbour, Church Bay, Charteris Bay and Governors Bay. For example, the Lyttelton Golf Club commissioned the Matariki to run regular trips at a fixed time on Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, with special trips as required.[7] The Burwood branch of the Ministering Children’s League took children to Governors Bay to see the site of the children’s home to be built by Hugh Heber Cholmondeley. At their return to Lyttelton “the children gave three hearty cheers for Mr Anderson, of the Matariki, who kindly took them to and from the bay free of charge.”[8]

When the Lyttelton Borough Council bought the Stoddart estate in Diamond Harbour for subdivision in 1911 it anticipated increased demand for ferry services. “With a view to increasing the carrying capacity of the launch Matariki, which plies between Lyttelton and Diamond Harbour, the Lyttelton Borough Council has decided to effect structural alterations to the boat and also remove the engine to a position further forward.”[9] The nature of the relationship between private launch owner Anderson and the Lyttelton Borough Council that made such intervention possible is not clear.

Other jetties came and went within Paradise Bay, their purpose shifting over time from economic necessity to recreation. Smart's Jetty, still in good working order, was used by the Charteris Bay Yacht Club prior to the construction of its purpose-built facilities. 

Smart's jetty, 1943 (Sue Currie)

Anderson's ramp in the foreground and a busy Smart's Jetty, centre photo 
(Charteris Bay Yacht Club)

Smarts Jetty (Jane Robertson, 2018)

 'Aube's Jetty' just to the west of Smarts, built by Paul Pritchett and Maurice Leech for Aube White and rebuilt by Brendon Leech. A good example of the difference between a 'jetty' and a 'slipway'. (Jane Robertson, 2018)

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My thanks to Paul Pritchett and Sue Currie who shared their extensive knowledge of Paradise Bay. My mistakes are no reflection of their patient help.
[1] Lyttelton Times, 26 September 1889
[2] Press, 27 August 1908
[3] Lyttelton Times, 22 March 1909
[4] Stratford Evening Post 8 November 1921
[5] Access courtesy of Max Manson
[6] Press, 3 November 1913

[7] Press, 21 September, 1912

[8] Press, 25 October 1922

[9] Star, 3 August 1915