Rāpaki #2: Finally a jetty!

Rāpaki, WA Taylor, Canterbury Museum (undated)

My last post ended with Rāpaki residents petitioning the Lyttelton Harbour Board for a jetty in 1902 and again in 1903, without success. Undoubtedly frustrated but persistent, residents petitioned the Harbour Board for a third time in August 1915. They referred to “the inconvenience, hardships and loss we undergo through having no wharf accommodation at our settlement.”[1] Use of the road to Lyttelton entailed a cartage charge of 10/- a ton which made getting produce to port costly. 

This time the response from the Harbour Board was more positive. Percy Fryer submitted a plan and cost estimate. The jetty would be “5 feet wide and have a total length of 171 feet from high water mark, of which 50 feet would be built of stones from the beach, and the remaining 121 feet of timber; a landing stage 12ft x 6ft with steps 3ft wide being provided at the outer end.” This would allow for 3ft of water at low tide. Total cost would be about £130.00 – a big reduction on quotations of a decade previously, achieved by budgeting for the use of good second-hand timber from Lyttelton rather than new.[2] Asked to indicate projected usage of a jetty, Paani McKenzie, a Rāpaki resident who signed his letter ‘For the Maoris of Rāpaki’, suggested about 26 tons of coal, 25 cords of wood, 12 tons of chaff and 120 bags of grass seed, plus passengers. The Board could expect to make £10 or £12 per annum wharfage. A year later and the jetty build was underway. 

Proposed Rāpaki Jetty 1914. Lyttelton Harbour Board, Archives NZ/ECan 

The women at Rāpaki had been ambivalent about the jetty, afraid that youngsters might drown. “It wasn’t until they attended a concert in Lyttelton one night during a storm and were forced to walk home in the rain that they decided a jetty might be a good idea.”[3] 

The Rāpaki jetty was officially opened on 23 September 1916. It was named the Gallipoli Jetty in honour of the four young Māori from Rapaki who fought at Gallipoli.[4] One of these young men, Waitere Manihera, of the 1st Maori Contingent A Company, died at Gallipoli. Rewi Couch points out that the jetty must be one of the first memorials to the Gallipoli campaign built in Aotearoa/New Zealand.[5] Visitors to the opening arrived from Lyttelton in the launch Purau - and presumably disembarked at the new jetty.

Waitere Manihera. Photo originally in Canterbury Times, 8/9/15. Newspaper collection, CCL

Plaque at the jetty (Jane Robertson, 2018)

Rāpaki, WA Taylor, Canterbury Museum (undated)

Star, 28 October 1916

On 21 January 1929 the Chairman of the Rāpaki Rūnanga wrote to the Lyttelton Harbour Board.

Sometime since Mr G. Whitford a shipwright of Lyttelton anchored the Hulk Wootton off the beach at Rapaki which for all ages has been the private bathing and fishing place of the inhabitants of this kainga. I protested against this to the Harbour Master but was informed your board had no power to prevent his doing so. This Hulk has now been washed upon rocks at the east end of the bay. 

We are now informed that Mr Whitford intends to shore this Hulk up and use her as a boat house. I am legally informed that the control of the foreshore is invested in your Board and I wish to enter a most emphatic protest against his being allowed to do so as her presence there is most objectionable for more than one reason.[6]

Shortly after the Wootton was blown onto rocks at Rāpaki and badly holed. It was towed to Lyttelton by the steamer John Anderson and placed on the patent slip for repair. By mid February the Wootton was back at Rāpaki being used by the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as part of a training exercise. Thereafter it was used as a house boat. 

Rāpaki fears were realised in the winter of 1931 when, in a south-west gale, the Wootton started dragging her moorings. The John Anderson was sent to the rescue but was unable to get anywhere near the Wootton which by then was driving onto the rocks.[7] In the process of grounding, the Wootton caused significant damage to the Gallipoli Jetty. Despite this, the boat remained at Rāpaki for a long time as evidenced by the 1949 aerial photo.

On the beach at Rāpaki. Jetty and Wootton in the distance. 
WA Taylor, Canterbury Museum

Rāpaki aerial with Wootton against the jetty, VC Browne & Son, 1949 

Press, 12 April 1941

By the middle decades of the twentieth century, travel by launch on the harbour was in decline as roads improved and car ownership became more common. The maintenance of harbour jetties languished. In August 1957 the Secretary-Manager of the Lyttelton Harbour Board pointed out to the Secretary for Marine that the Board’s request of 1952 to demolish the Gallipoli Jetty at Rāpaki had received no reply. Apparently the Marine Department had ‘overlooked’ the request but it raised no objection to demolition “provided no hazards remain...which could cause damage to small craft.”[8]

Nothing happened, for in February 1971 Wera Couch wrote on behalf of the Rāpaki Rūnanga to the Lyttelton Harbour Board. 

For some time now we the people of Rapaki have been greatly concerned for the safety of our small children when they venture on to the wharf here at Rapaki.

It was condemned by your Board some years ago, and over the years the condition of the wharf has deteriorated. The decking has many gaps in it and most of the side rails have fallen away.

At a meeting of our people here yesterday, Sunday 7^th February, a Resolution was passed that efforts be made to restore the wharf to its original condition, thus making it safe and fit for use...

... When this wharf was erected and on the day it was opened on 23^rdSeptember 1916, it was dedicated as a Memorial to the young men of Rapaki who served in the Great War and fought on Gallipoli, one of whom was killed there in that battle. The wharf was named “Gallipoli” and was opened by Mrs M. J. Miller, wife of the then Chairman of your Board and mayor of Lyttelton. 

Further our beach is one of the most popular in the harbour and during the summer months many picnickers come to the Rapaki beach at weekends and on holidays ... So then the restoration of the wharf would be of great benefit to yachtsmen and owners of other small craft coming to Rapaki beach for picnics.[9]

The Rāpaki Community offered help with voluntary labour. The Harbour Board seized on this offer as a way of keeping costs down and estimated repair to be in the vicinity of  £2,500. The work progressed slowly in part it would seem because the Harbour Board overestimated the resources available for the voluntary community effort. However in March 1975 restoration was finally declared complete. 

Today the jetty is a popular fishing and diving platform. It also acts as a symbol of Rāpaki as the location of New Zealand’s first mātaitai (customary fishing reserve). The mātaitai was established in 1998, and allows Tangata Tiaki - Crown appointed customary fishing officers - to use bylaws to manage customary food gathering as a way to protect and foster mahinga kai species within Rāpaki. The Rūnanga is one of the prime movers in the Whaka-Ora Healthy Harbour plan designed to restore the cultural and ecological health of  Whakaraupō. So the Gallipoli Jetty proudly symbolizes the vital connection between land and sea, reminding us all of the importance of a healthy harbour.

Gallipoli Jetty, Jane Robertson 2017

Gallipoli Jetty, Jane Robertson 2018

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[1] Lyttelton Harbour Board, General Correspondence Rapaki Jetty 1902-1975, Archives NZ/ECan, XBAA CH518, Box 798
[2] Ibid
[3] Nik Randle in the Press, 14 January 2012

[4] The four Rāpaki men who fought at Gallipoli were  Waitere Manihera, Henare Paipeta,  Anatipa Manihera and John Charles Tikao. The total Rāpaki population at this time was sixty-four

[5] Press, 14 January 2012

[6] Lyttelton Harbour Board General correspondence, Rapaki Jetty, Archives NZ/ECan, XBAA CH518, Box 798

[7] Press, 25 June 1931

[8] Lyttelton Harbour Board General correspondence, Rapaki Jetty, Archives NZ/ECan, XBAA CH518, Box 798

[9] Ibid