BURTON SHIPLEY
A CANTERBURY SETTLER
BY HIS GRAND-DAUGHTER
FREDA MORLAND
In writing the story of my grandfather’s life on the centennial of his arrival in New Zealand I have not been moved by the fact that there was anything especially unusual in his life. On the other hand he was probably a typical settler, and the life led by his family typical of lives led by country families in Canterbury at that time. He was, however, one of the founders of the country, and it is fitting that we should honour their memory. In particular we honour our own grandfather who, by his energy and initiative, provided his family with a standard of comfort in advance of anything known in his youth.
A second reason for writing was to provide a record for the younger members of the family, and to give some description of how our forebears lived in the early days in the Canterbury settlement. Unfortunately we are many years too late in writing this, and valuable information has been lost. For many items of interest I am indebted to my uncle, Mr H. B. Shipley, my aunt, Mrs J. Ballagh, my cousins Mr A. B. Shipley, Mrs R. K. Quinn, Mrs A. H. Partridge and to
Mr R. C. Lamb of the Canterbury Public Library, the Commissioner of Crown Lands, and to Miss E. Price, for information regarding the voyage of the "Lancashire Witch."
Christchurch,
August, 1963.
BURTON SHIPLEY, the son of a farmer, William Shipley, was born at Foston, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, in 1837. Foston is about twenty miles from Hull. We do not know many details of his boyhood, except that he was educated in private schools in the village. Education was not free and compulsory until 1870, and the village schools were seldom efficient, but he evidently received there, the foundation of an education to serve him through a life, which was to carry him to the ends of the earth, and into a world vastly different from that in which he grew up.
Born in the year in which Queen Victoria came to the throne, his childhood in a Yorkshire village would be quiet and tranquil. On his father’s farm would be no machinery except that driven by hand or horses and change would come very slowly.
On leaving school he worked for a time on farms near Foston and was a tenant farmer on an estate near Driffield. At this time he married, Ann Milner, the daughter of a neighbouring farmer. Conditions for farming had become very difficult and advertisements for labourers of good character to emigrate to New Zealand began to appear in the Yorkshire villages. Burton Shipley decided .to give up his farm, and in the summer of 1863, with his wife and small son left the peaceful village on the long journey to New Zealand.
On 2nd July, 1863 the little family sailed on board the “Lancashire Witch” from Gravesend for Lyttelton, New Zealand. The “Lancashire Witch” was a sailing ship of 1383 tons, commanded by Captain West, and had on board 440 persons. Within a few days of leaving England sickness broke out and a little girl of two years died. The journey must have been a most uncomfortable and sorrowful one. As on most emigrant ships conditions were crowded and sickness was rife. William was one of the children who suffered sickness but fortunately he recovered.
Passengers prepared their own food and it was sometimes baked by the cook. At other times it was cooked by the passengers in large communal boilers.
On some occasions the ship was becalmed for up to four days, once in the heat of the Indian Ocean.
On 7th August the Equator was crossed and on 30th August Capetown was reached. The captain put in there, but because of sickness, the passengers were not allowed to land. As far as I can find out passengers did not go ashore between leaving England and arriving in New Zealand. The only news from the outside world was gathered from other sailing ships to which the “Lancashire Witch” spoke i.e. signalled. On one occasion the captain of another ship came on board when both were becalmed. News was received of the Battle of Gettysburg, the American Civil War being waged at that time. Once a ship sighted was believe to have been an African slaver.
As well as sickness matters were made more unpleasant by drunken sailors who had to be beaten by the captain and put in chains, and by storms. At length, on 6th October, after suffering many hardships, passengers were overjoyed to sight the coast of Otago, and a week later the ship berthed at Lyttelton. The voyage had lasted for 104 days, during which time there had been 28 deaths and 12 births.
ARRIVAL IN NEW ZEALAND
What kind of a country was it, to which they had come? The North Island was torn by Maori wars in Taranaki and the Waikato, so that few settlers were attracted there, but great streams of immigrants were coming to the prosperous South Island settlements of Otago and Canterbury. Between 1860 and 1870 the population of the South Island increased from 79,000 to 248,000.
In Lyttelton Immigration Barracks had been built on the slopes to the north of the jetty, and it is likely that the family spent some days there before undertaking the walk across the Bridle Path to Christchurch. Heavy luggage was taken around to the Heathcote River in small boats of from 20 to 70 tons.
Having arranged for the transport of the heavy luggage to Heathcote, Burton Shipley would gather his little family and set off on the steep climb over the Bridle Path. What, I wonder, were their feelings when they reached the top of the hill and looked down on the wide plain on which they were to make their home. To the snow-capped Southern Alps stretched the great tussocky plain, scarcely broken by trees, homesteads or fences. Near the foot of the hill lay the small town of Christchurch with a population of 3,200. Within a few miles of the town farms had been established, but the greater part of the plain was taken up by great sheep stations, thousands of acres in extent.
Through the town meandered a sluggish, reedy stream, the Avon River, with long native grasses and flax growing along the banks. In the centre of the town streets had been shingled, but further out were only rough tracks. To form streets furrows were ploughed to form a gutter on each side. The centre was then ploughed and earth piled up on it. If much traffic was expected shingle was spread in the centre. Otherwise the streets became seas of mud in wet weather and dust bowls in dry times. But progress was being made. In 1862 the City Council had been formed and in the Lyttelton Times of 15th October. 1963, tenders were being called for the formation of numbers of streets. Antigua St. now Rolleston Avenue, from Hereford St. to Armagh St., two chains in Madras St., and the South Town Belt, now Moorhouse Avenue.
Probably the most populous part of the town was Market Square, now Victoria Square. The square was almost surrounded by one-storeyed and two-storeyed shops, and sales of livestock were held on the open space. To the west of the river the wooden part of the Provincial Council Buildings had been erected, and the stone portion was being built. Near the river in Worcester St., stood the Lands Office. These were the two largest buildings in the town.
At the south end of the town activity was centred around the building of the first steam railway in New Zealand, four miles from Christchurch to Ferrymead. This railway was being built by Holmes and Co. who were also engaged on the building of the Lyttelton Tunnel and were soon to begin the first section of the Christchurch to Dunedin railway, from Christchurch to Rakaia. On December 1, 1863, the railway line from Christchurch to Ferrymead was opened amidst great rejoicing in the town. Unfortunately we do not know if our family was present on this occasion.
FIRST YEARS IN NEW ZEALAND
Of the first few years of the family in New Zealand we have few details. At first Burton Shipley was employed as a shepherd at Snowdon Station in the Rakaia Gorge. The family travelled by dray across the empty, tussocky plain, and into the foothills of the Southern Alps, what a contract they must have noticed from the closely dotted villages of their native Yorkshire. William Shipley’s only memory of life there was when his father brought in a wild duck, but, on letting it loose, it fluttered into the open fire, so ending a boy’s hope of a pet.
They could not have remained long at Snowdon, but returned to Templeton where the father was employed on farms in the district. After some time he took up land and farmed on his own account at West Melton for five years. Again the home would be a sod whare and considerable hardships must have been endured there. William Shipley remembered that, on one occasion, after his mother had set the table on a snowy white cloth that a young pig had rushed in, pulling the cloth and dishes from the table. He remembered especially his mother’s grief at the loss of dishes it was impossible to replace. This was but one of the minor hardships endured by women who struggled to preserve some of the refinements of civilisation in an undeveloped land. Medical aid was difficult to obtain and we are told that, on one occasion, Burton Shipley walked from West Melton to Lyttelton and back to get medicine for his wife. In spite of his care the little daughter and his wife died in 1868.
At the end of the sixties a depression was experienced in Canterbury and Burton Shipley had to leave the farm at West Melton. Some time later he went to Courtenay to take up a position as manager of the Kirwee Estate for Colonel Brett. Colonel Brett had formerly been an officer in the Indian Army and had become interested in irrigation. Realising the need for water on these dry plains he advocated a system of water races to provide drinking water for stock. At first the scheme was strongly opposed by many people who said that the water would soak away in the shingly soil. In 1870 Colonel Brett was elected member for Selwyn in the Provincial Council and pressed his ideas there. In December 1872 he persuaded the Provincial Council to grant 10,000 pounds, to inaugurate a system of stock water races. This was one of the most important developments in the settlement of the Canterbury Plains, and to commemorate the work of Colonel Brett, many years afterwards settlers erected the monument over the main race at Kirwee.
While employed at Colonel Bretts, Burton Shipley married Martha Thompson, who had come from C. Tyrone, Northern Ireland with her two brothers, Robert and John. In the next few years while the family lived at Courtenay, three little girls, Jane, Ada and EIiza were born.
On June 18, 1877, Queen Victoria granted to “BurtonShipley . . . his heirs and assigns forever” two hundred acres of “waste lands” in the Hawkins Survey District, the price paid being 400 pounds. This land was in the Charing Cross district and had originally been part of the Desert Station, held by Herbert Mathias.
PIONEERING AT CHARING CROSS
Having resigned his position with Colonel Brett, Burton Shipley and his son William set out for Charing Cross to build a home for the family. Of the building we know few details.
The pit-sawn timber was brought from the Harewood Forest at Oxford. Whether it was carted in the large four-wheeled wagons frequently used in those days, or whether it was brought in by the Shipley’s themselves, we do not know. We do know, however that the
two men, William, now nineteen years of age, erected with their own hands a simple cob house of two small rooms, with an attic on top and a lean-to at the back. Cob was made by puddling tussock in mud. A circular trench was cut out, water and tussock thrown in and a horse driven around the trench until all was thoroughly mixed. The cob was then packed into the space between double walls. The two first rooms stood until the old house was pulled down in 1954.
Having finished the house the two men returned to Courtenay to bring the mother and children to their new home. By this time the country was settled to a much greater extent than it was on the journey to Rakaia Gorge in 1863. Farmhouses, mainly of sod and cob, were dotted across the plain, but there were few hedges and only very small trees. We, no doubt, would be dismayed at the idea of living in a tiny cottage on the open plain without shelter of any kind, and not a formed road leading to it. So fiercely did the nor-westers sweep across the plain that soon after the arrival a washtub was blown away and never again found. But hope for a better life for the family buoyed up the parents, and we shall see how these hopes were fulfilled.
As mentioned before there was no formed road to the farm, merely a rough track across the tussocks. Nor was the farm fenced. Cost of bringing in materials made it imperative that, whenever possible, local materials should be used. No timber grew on the plains, sods were cut from the tussocky turf and packed up to a height of 2ft 6 ins. Gorse was then planted on top of these banks. In most places these sod fences have quite disappeared, but
one can still he clearly seen on the Main South Road just south of Burnham.
One of the first tasks was to plough the land. We are inclined to think that everything in those day was very cheap, but 45pounds and 50popunds had to be paid for a horse. Two horses and a single furrow plough were bought and cultivation began. Only the most necessary implements could be obtained, and the land sown with wheat. At first farming on the plains was almost entirely cropping, and it was only after the advent of the water races that sheep grazing began. I have not been able to find out when the water race reached the farm, but it must have been in the first few years of the settlement.
During the winter, trees to provide shelter for the little homestead were planted. These were mostly pinus radiata, an area of about seven acres being almost surrounded by these trees. There were also some bluegums.
After the arrival at Charing Cross the first son of the second family , George, was born on December 6tb, 1878, and in 1880 a daughter Margaret. The three pretty little girls, fair-haired and blue-eyed and the little boy grew up into fine children. Then, when Margaret was six weeks old, tragedy struck the family. A worldwide epidemic of diphtheria swept across New Zealand and soon the four older children were affected. The doctor was called, but there was little that medical aid could do for diphtheria in those days. In a short time the three little girls were dead. George caught the disease but recovered, and Margaret escaped. About two years younger than Margaret was Martha, known in the family as Pet, then Herbert Burton. Younger than Herbert was a little boy, David. This child was always delicate, and, although he was given the best medical care obtainable in Christchurch at that time, lived only until he was sixteen months old. Then came the two youngest of the family, Louisa Jane and Annie Mary. Theses six children, George, Margaret, Martha, Herbert, Louie and Annie comprised the family, who grew up at Pine Farm in the last years of the nineteenth century.
It was not long before Burton Shipley was able to add to his original 200 acres. In 1883 he bought 382 acres along the Burnham Road. This is known as Rountree’s, but I can find nothing about the Rountrees. The purchase was from Leonard Harper, and the land had originally been granted to Charles Frederick Barker. It may have been rented by the Rountrees. In 1885 William Shipley bought from the Crown 330 acres along the Burnham Road, adjoining the original 200 acres, and began farming on his own account. In 1899 Burton Shipley bought 330 acres from the Crown. This land lies along Strange’s Road, and had previously been held by a Mr Boulton, but, at the time of purchase, was still
in tussock. In 1909 another 100 acres was bought from William and Priscilla Yeatman. This is where H. B. Shipley’s house is now. In 1910 the last land was bought, 291 acres, right at Charing Cross, from Patrick Riordan.
About 1906 Burton Shipley started his second son George, on a farm nearer Greendale, known as Storey’s. After some years George sold this farm and took up a sheep run, Langridge, in Marlborough. About 1914 he sold out at Langridge and bought Island Farm, Harewood, which is still farmed by members of his family.
In those early days families had to be to a large extent, self-sufficient and farm women had a very busy life. Probably the most important and constant task was bread making. Flour was bought by the sack, and my grandmother used to tell us that once, in harvest time, she baked a whole sack in a fortnight. Yeast was made from hops, and it was always necessary to keep some yeast, in order to start the next batch. Having been mixed, raised and kneaded, the bread was formed into loaves, raised again and baked. At first a camp oven must have been used. This was merely a large round iron pot with a lid, and supported on three legs. To heat the oven a fire was lit beneath it. Later a colonial oven was installed. This had no firebox, as in more modern types of coal range. The oven, which was raised about six inches above the hearth, took up the whole width of the fireplace. On top of the oven two long, flat pieces of iron were supported by Are bricks at each side. The oven was heated by a fire under the oven, while another fire was lit on top. Balanced on the pieces of iron were large iron kettles and cooking pots, in which food was boiled.
Butter, too, was made on the farm. After being brought in buckets from the cowshed the milk was strained into large shallow pans. When the cream had risen it was skimmid off. A skimmer was like a flat tin plate, perforated, with a handle on the side. The skimmer was put in at the side of the pan, and drawn across just under the cream. When full the skimmer was raised, the skim milk allowed to run out and the cream tipped into a large earthernware jar. The skim milk was put into a barrel to be fed to pigs, and the large pans washed. When sufficient cream was collected butter was made. I do not know what the first churn was like, but remember one, which must have been used for many years. On this churn a wooden barrel about three feet long, and about two feet across, with a handle at one end was mounted on a wooden stand about three feet high. Before starting the churn had to be scalded. The cream was then placed in the churn, and the lid in the side tightly fitted. Then some one had to turn the handle. How long would it be before the butter ‘‘came?’’ sometimes only a few minutes, but at others churning could be a long and tedious task. At length, however, a welcome “plop, plop, plop” could be heard, and the butter had come. It was taken from the churn and washed in cold water until every drop of buttermilk was removed. Salt was worked in with butter-pats, the butter weighed into pounds and patted into neat blocks. Any surplus, after the family had been supplied, was sold to the storekeeper at Greendale. The buttermilk augmented the pigs’ food supply.
Another task for the women was the making of candles. For this a special mould was used. This was made of metal, and consisted of six slim cylinders, each the size of a candle, held together in a frame. Wicks had to be bought, placed one in each cylinder, and melted tallow poured in. The correct threading of the wick, so that it would be quite in the centre of the candle, was quite a skilled operation. When the tallow was set the candles were removed, and provided lighting of a rather weak kind for the household. These candles had a number of disadvantages. In addition to giving only a weak light they gave out an unpleasant odour, and had to be snuffed, or the spent wick cut off. For this, snuffers, a kind of long-handled scissors were used. With the introduction of wax candles, the practice of making candles in the home was given up.
Before the arrival of the water races one of the greatest problems was to obtain water for the household. It had to be carted from Ridgen’s Creek, a tributary of the Selwyn River in a tank set on a dray. So precious was water that it is said that the women of Greendale in the same water, first washed the milk-pans, then bathed the baby, washed the clothes, scrubbed the kitchen floor, and finally fed the water to the pigs.
The first years must have been very strenuous ones, especially for Burton Shipley and his son William. Boundary fences had to be built, and sub-divided into paddocks, the tussocky land ploughed with the single-furrow plough, sown in wheat, and harvested. Very soon, however, a measure of prosperity came to the farm. One .of Burton Shipley’s chief interests was in machinery, and I t is interesting to trace the kinds of machinery he used. We are not sure how wheat was harvested in the first year, but we do know that, within the first year or two he possessed a machine which was really a threshing drum driven by one horse. This machine beat the grain from the husks and straw, but did not separate them. The chaff was later separated from the grain by a hand winnowing machine. This machine was later used by William for crushing oats and cutting chaff at his farm Pinehurst. Within a few years Burton Shipley bought a threshing machine driven by a portable steam engine. This machine was drawn from place to place by a horse. It was really a threshing machine, which separated straw, chaff and grain.
In 1887, ten years after the farm was taken up, a major step forward was taken in the purchase of a John Fowler traction engine and a threshing mill. Not having sufficient
money to buy the machine, Burton Shipley entered into partnership with a Mr Burnett, who farmed along the Burnham Road on land now occupied by George Shipley jnr. The
purchase of this threshing mill was an occasion of great importance to the family and served not only to thresh all the grain grown on the farm until the 1930’s, but also to do a great deal of threshing on neighbouring farms. When, as children we stayed at Pine Farm, my brother, sister and I thought it most exciting if we were there when the mill went out. It was indeed an impressive sight, the mill stretching almost all the way across the wide yard. For some days men had been busy seeing that everything was in good order for the season, and the ‘gang’ consisting of nine men and the cook had been assembled. Now the time had arrived for the mill to pull out. First came the great, black traction engine carrying two men, a driver and a fireman. As long as I remember the driver was Jim Mills, a great hero in our eyes. Next came the big red combine with the elevator folded down to half its size. If chaff was to be cut, the green chaff-cutter followed, and then came the large red whare containing a double row of hunks and lastly the galley, usually with a cook in white apron at the door.
Another important member of the gang, who had usually gone ahead, was the water-joey. He seemed to be the youngest and drove a dray on which a tank was mounted. His task was to pump water from the water race and have it on hand so that steam could be kept up in the traction engine.
Harvesting had begun well before the arrival of the threshing mill, with the reaping and stooking. In the first years the Crop may have been cut by a reaper without a
binder. In that case sheaves would have to be tied by hand. We do know that the first reaper and binder tied the sheaves with wire. Later, until the advent of header harvesters, binders using twine were used. These reapers and binders were most ingenious machines. They were drawn by three horses. On the left-hand side was a platform in front of which was a knife made in sections, and similar to that on a modern mower. Above the platform was a cylindrical fan, which moved round and beat the stalks on to the knife. As the horses moved forward the knife cut the crop, which was then caught up by moving canvasses and carried into the machinery. Beside the driver's seat, which was at the back of the machine, was a
cylinder with a round hole in the lid. This held two balls of twine. A length of twine came from the hole in the lid and by some ingenious mechanism, tied the sheaves and cut off
the twine. The sheaves were then ejected on to a small platform made of metal rods, and, when a sufficient number sheaves collated they were allowed to fall on to the ground.
Up to four of these reapers and binders would be working in a field at one time. After the reapers came the stookers, men who picked up the sheaves and placed them in stooks.
Stooks were made by placing together about twelve sheaves, ears upwards, so that they looked like rows of small tents in the fields. The object, of course, was to dry the grain
thoroughly before threshing.
If the mill could not come when the grain was quite ready for threshing, or if oats were to be cut for chaff, the sheaves were then stacked. Stacks were cylindrical, up to about 10 feet, and then formed into a conical top to turn the rain. It was a matter of pride to make a symmetrical stack, and was a task usually carried out by the farmer himself, seldom delegated to an employee.
Threshing could be from stooks or from Stacks. Whenever possible stook-threshing was carried out to avoid the cost and labour of stacking. With the mill went a number of men with drays, two men to each dray. On each dray was a large frame so that a larger load could be carried. One man pitched up the sheaves to the man on the dray who built the load. Pitching sheaves was considered hard work. The dray loaded the horse was led up to the mill. Here, the large belt to connect the traction-engine to the machine had been put in place, the engine was working and the elevators had been unfolded to their full height. One of the men, standing on the loaded dray pitched up a sheaf to a man on top of the combine. This man was the band cutter who cut the twine and let the sheaves fall into the combine. The sheaves were then tossed about in drums until grain, straw and chaff were separated. At the end of the combine nearer the traction engine were four apertures with sacks hanging beneath them. Soon a stream of grain began to fill the sacks and one man was busy sewing them up. The fly-chaff, really the husks, was blown out on an air-funnel and the straw carried up to the top of the elevator and allowed to fall to the ground. Here-it was taken care off by the straw walloper, who formed it into a stack.
After threshing, the sacks of grain were placed in a neat pile and if the weather was threatening, covered with a tarpaulin. As soon as possible they were carted away,
either to the granary or to the railway at Norwood. At first carting was done by farm drays, but later by a 'hauler' - a traction engine drawing behind it a number of very large wagons.
With horses being such an important factor in farm life, quantities of oats had to be grown for cutting into chaff. From the original two horses the number had increased until, at one time, upwards of twenty horses would have to be provided for. The first chaff cutter was worked by hand. Next came a chaff cutter driven by a horse; the horse was hitched to a shaft and driven round in circles, so moving a series of cogs, which cut the sheaves into chaff.
Some time after 1877 a much larger machine, driven by the traction engine was purchased. To my inexpert eye this looked like a small combine, except that it was painted green instead of red, and in place of elevators had two metal cylinders. The sheaves were fed into the top of the machine, cut up, and the chaff carried up into the metal cylinders to fall down into sacks beneath.
Long hours were worked by men in harvest time, often from five in the morning until eight o’clock or later in the evening. On occasions harvesting went on throughout the night. But for the women in the house it was just as strenuous a time. Large pots of porridge, quantities of bacon and eggs or chops and fried potatoes had to be prepared before the men went out to the day’s work. Then, in addition to the usual work a large dinner, probably for seven or eight men had to be prepared. Large joints of meat were roasted and pots of vegetables boiled. A pudding, steamed or boiled in a cloth, or a large apple or plum pie was made. When cooked the dinner had to be packed up, usually in a shallow packing case, great billies filled with tea, and the dinner driven out to the paddock. While one of the women packed up the dinner another had to go out to the stable, harness a horse into the trap, and bring it up to the house. Often, while at the stable, she had to feed draught horses which were being "spelled". Horses could not work for sixteen hours a day, even if men could. Then away the girl would go, to drive anything up to three miles to the harvest field. On arrival she would have to serve out the meat, collect up the dirty dishes and return to the homestead. Then began the most unpleasant job of all, the washing-up of the greasy, dusty dishes. No hot water was laid on, nor was there a sink. On the hot, coal range were great, heavy kettles of boiling water, and washing up was done in a large bowl on the kitchen table.
No sooner was dinner over than tea had to be prepared. This was usually taken at 4 o’clock. As soon as the washing up of the dinner dishes was finished a great batch of scones was made. Cold meat, pickles, bread and butter and scones, with the large billies of tea were packed up, and away must go the girl who drove out the lunches, to the paddock again. When, at.8 o'clock or later, the men came in from the fields and another meal had to be served.
In spite of all this hard work both men and women seemed to enjoy the harvest.
DEVELOPMENTS IN FARMING
In the first years, the emphasis was decidedly on cropping, but with the advent of the water races a start was made with sheep farming.. The first sheep were Merinos, which had been imported from Australia. They were small fine-wooled sheep and were grown almost entirely for the wool. In 1882 occurred an event of the greatest importance to New Zealand farmers. This was the successful shipping of a cargo of frozen mutton to England and, the opening up of a new source of revenue. In the first trial shipments mutton was frozen on the ship but very soon freezing works were built and in 1883, the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co. opened its works at Belfast. We do not know when the first lambs were sold for freezing from the farm, but it would have been in about 1885. Now the raising of fat lambs has become perhaps the most important and profitable activity carried on.
In the field of cultivation we have mentioned so far, only ploughing with two horses and a single furrow plough. This could have gone on for only a short period. By 1880, we know that a four-horse team was in use. With the increase in acreage, more horses and implements were bought until, in the early years of this century, two six horse teams and one four horse team were kept. The ploughman’s day was a long one. At 5.30 he must be up, bring his horses into the stable and feed them. By eight o’clock he must have had his breakfast, groomed his team, and be out in the paddock. In the evening he bought his team of horses into the yard, watered them at the pond and fed them. At nine o’clock he must let them out into the paddock. At this farm some of the paddocks were so far away from the homestead that the ploughman camped out all week, only returning to the homestead on the weekends.
An interesting point is that this was one of the first farms on which gorse fences were cut by machinery. The first gorse cutter was a large contrivance with two arms similar to those on a modern gorse cutter, and a large screen of wire netting. This was fitted to the traction engine and was first used about 1896. Years later, Alfred, the elder son of William Shipley, was the first person to fit a gorse cutter to a tractor.
It was not long before the tiny house built by Burton and William Shipley in 1877 was too small for the growing family, and at various times it was enlarged. We shall not go into details about all the alterations, but describe the house as it was from the early years of this century until it was pulled down in 1954.
The two original rooms still stood, but were built very close to the ground, so that it was necessary to step down into them from the passage. The cob walls had been covered
with weather-boarding. Along the front of the house was a veranda with a grape vine growing at one end. As you came in the front door, in front of you was a long passage.
On the right was a sitting room and on the left a bedroom. Just behind these rooms, in the passage was a glass door. This door was a great joy to children, as the panes were of coloured glass and when the front door was open, it was possible to look, through and, see the lawn as well as all the colours of the rainbow. Past this door on the left, were two bedrooms, which had formed part of the original house , and on the right, the dining room. Beyond the dining room was a door, which led into the pantry and then into the kitchen.
Farther down the passage were two bedrooms, one on each side, and at the end, the bathroom. At the back door, which was beside the kitchen, was a porch with doors leading to the kitchen and dining room. Altogether it was an unpretentious but commodious and comfortable house for those days.
Just at the back door was the top of a large underground water tank holding rain water, which could be pumped up with a hand pump. Also at the back door was a large asphalted space which had on one side the wash house, dairy and store room, at the end a coal house and wood shed, and on the third side behind the house, a meat safe with two tanks on top. These tanks help water pumped by a hydraulic ram from the water race and fed taps in the house.
In the main, the house could be said to have been said to be furnished in the late Victorian and Edwardian styles, and probably the most interesting were the front two rooms. Each room had two windows, one looking out on to the veranda and the other to the side of the house. These had lace curtains, hanging from heavy bamboo rods to the floor, and starched with ecru (yellow) starch so stiffly that they would almost stand alone. In the centre of the sitting room was a small table on which stood a pot plant. In one corner was a sofa upholstered in green brocaded velvet and in the room were three small chairs to match. Also in the room were a piano and a small sideboard.
The front bedroom contained a very large double bed of black iron and brass. At the head of the bed were fittings on the wall on which curtains hung. At the sides the curtains could be swung around beside the head of the bed, presumably to keep off the draughts. I always thought this a very fine bed but seldom had the honour of sleeping in it. The other bedrooms were furnished with iron bedsteads and the dressing tables and wash stands of the time, except for the little bedroom, one of the original rooms, which contained a wooden bedstead of an earlier period.
The most interesting feature in the dining room was the fire-surround and mantelpiece, of wood, painted to look like marble. In the kitchen, the colonial oven had been replaced by a coal range, which was always brightly polished. On the stove boiled two large kettles of water; very necessary when there was no hot water service.
The bathroom had what must have been one of the first hot water systems in the country. It consisted of a high narrow cylinder with a pipe leading out to a tap over the bath. After the cylinder was filled from the tap, a wood fire was lit under the cylinder. After a time, if you were lucky, you got enough hot water for a bath. I do not remember this contrivance being used very often, as it seemed to be much quicker to heat the copper and carry the water to
the bath room.
In planning the yard, I think that my grandfather must have been influenced by farmyards in his native Yorkshire. It was about square, with recesses for the stable yard, and the cow shed and pig sty’s. Coming from the road, you came along a short driveway through the trees and crossed the water race. On your left was the house section, and on the right, the pond. Beyond was a large open shed - the dray shed. Farther on, on two sides of a recess, were the stables, and beside the stable the old granary, later pulled down. Facing the house was the present granary, with the shearing shed and sheepyards behind it, and beside the granary was the men’s whare. Facing the road were the large black sheds, which held the threshing mill and them the forge. About 1914 the large black sheds were blown away in a terrific nor-wester and rebuilt in their present more sheltered position. In another recess entered between the black sheds and the men’s whare were three pig sty’s in a row, the cow shed and fowl house. The fowl house was just a shed with a doorway in it and some perches. Fowls went into the house only if they cared to, and usually laid wherever the fancy led them. Hunting for hen’s eggs was quite important part of the day’s work.
In front of the house was a large lawn on which for some years was a grass tennis court .On one side a long macrocarpa fence divided the garden from the yard. Over the gateway was an arch of macrocarpa , a fashionable feature in those days. A flower border ran along two other sides of the lawn, and the house formed the fourth side. On stepping off the veranda, under the grape vine, you found yourself in the orchard. On the wall of the house grew apricot trees, and further across were apple, pear, peach, plum and quince trees. The water race ran along through the front of the orchard, and parallel to it the ram race in which was situated the hydraulic ram, which pumped water into two large tanks for household use.
In the little paddock behind the stables was the vegetable garden surrounded by a high wire netting fence. As well as vegetables small fruits such as currants, gooseberries, raspberries and strawberries were grown there.
Some years after settling at Charing Cross, the Shipley parents were faced with the problem of educating their children. The nearest school was at Greendale, and in 1885 George and Margaret began school there, walking the whole distance. Next year a school was opened at Charing Cross and this school being closer, the family transferred there. Even this school was three miles away and usually the children walked. At times they had some other form of transport. A t one time George and Margaret rode a mule, but on some mornings the animal walked into the pond and refused to budge so that the children did not get to school at all that day
In the early years of this century a District High School was started at Darfield and the two youngest girls, Louie and Annie were early pupils there. The distance seems short to us, but it was quite a journey in those days, and the girls stayed all week in Darfield, returning home only in the weekends.
Even before the turn of the century a stage had been reached when some of the “frills” of education were being provided and the girls were having music lessons. These were given first by a Miss Paterson, who drove with horse and gig from farm to farm. At some farms she stayed overnight and was away from home for several days at a time. Later this position was taken by Miss Nelson whose home was at Hororate and who became unitl her death in 1954, a firm friend of the family
TRANSPORT AND COMMUNICATION
In the first few months after the settlement at Charing Cross transport was by horse and dray, but very soon a horse and trap were bought. For the remainder of Burton Shipley’s life transport was by horse, either ridden of driven. All the girls rode sidesaddle, ladies never riding astride in those days. Visits to Christchurch were usually made by driving the horse and trap or gig to Burnham or Norwood stations, where Greendale farmers owned stables. On one occasion, when Burton Shipley arrived at Norwood from Christchurch, he found that his horse and gig missing. A few days later they were found at Templeton. Evidently the conversion of vehicles did not start with the motor age.
Mail was brought to the Post Office at Greendale, and it was necessary to go there for mail and papers. Soon after Burton Shipley’s death mail and papers were delivered by a mailman who drove a gig from Aylesbury to Greendale. Also, in the next few years, farms in the district were connected with the Darfield telephone exchange and the first car was purchased. These changes marked the beginning of a new era.
It must not be thought that life was nothing but hard work. Before many years had gone by quite a lively social life had developed. The family worshipped at the Greendale Baptist Church, and young people attended Sunday school there. On New Year’s day there was always a picnic for the children of the Sunday School, and twice yearly a tea meeting. These tea meeting were eagerly looked forward to, not least by the children. Greendale women have always been known for the excellence of their cooking, and the girls of the Shipley family ably upheld the honour of the family in this respect.
Greendale was one of the first districts to have a cricket club, and the boys of the family were keen players. The nearest clubs at first, were at Weedons and Lincoln College. In the days of horse transport a visit from one of these clubs was quite an important event. Very substantial meals were prepared and the women soon gained for the district a fine reputation for hospitality. About 1905 a tennis club was formed in the district and younger members of the family took part in this game.
Another interest of Burton Shipley’s was the Courtenay Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He was an early member of the committee, and a visit to the show at Kirwee was one of the events of the year.
Of evening entertainment the one most often enjoyed was the musical evenings held in the homes of various friends. Quite often the Shipley family entertained in this way, and the sitting room in the front was bright with the young people of the district. Many of the young ladies played the piano, and both young ladies and young men sang solos. Sometimes one would recite and probably after supper, there would be singing of old songs around the piano.
Very occasionally a dance was held. In my early youth I remember being allowed to sit up on sacks of grain around the wall while my elders danced on the granary floor. The granary had been decorated with greenery, and the lighting provided by oil lamps and candles, the light being reflected by bright kerosene tin cut in half diagonally.
But perhaps the most important social events were the weddings of the daughters. During Burton Shipley’s lifetime his two elder daughters, Margaret (Maggie) and Martha (Pet), were married. Margaret was married in 1905 and Martha in 1909. Between these two marriages may have been a change in custom, for while Margaret was married at the house, Martha was married at the church in Greendale, being driven there by car. As a flowergirl, I was taken there by car, and think it was my first drive in one. The car I remember was painted red and had no front doors. I well remember my admiration of the billowing white dresses of the bridesmaids, and of following the satin-gowned bride up the aisle of the church. On returning to the house we partook of the wedding breakfast in a large marquee erected on the lawn. After the bride, bridegroom and guests had departed occurs one of the few memories of my grandfather, a hearty and genial figure sitting at the head of the table carving a huge ham.
When transport and communications were slow and difficult neighbours were of much greater importance to the welfare of a family than they are today. The Shipley family
was particularly happy with its neighbours. Nearest were the Dents, who lived at the corner of Ridgen’s and Burnham , where Michael Adams lives now. Towards Darfield were the Rudds who had also come from Yorkshire, and nearer Charing Cross were the Yeatmans. Towards Greendale were the Hollands. The Holland family had been neighbours for many years. They had come from Yorkshire, very near to the original home of the Shipley's and had been neighbours when the family lived a t West Melton. A number of Yorkshire settlers had lived there, where there was a small settlement known as Yorktown. About two miles west West Melton, a number of large bluegum trees in the paddocks marks the site of this settlement. Sir Sidney Holland, at one time Prime Minister of New Zealand, was a member of this family.
It would be ungracious to conclude this account of the Shipley family without paying tribute to those who, not being members of the family, contributed so much to their happiness and welfare. Many of them became family friends. One of the earliest was William Franks, who came to learn farming and must have been on the farm soon after 1880. For a good number of years Donald Gillanders, afterwards a successful farmer at Almond Bank, Darfield, came each harvest to drive the traction engine. Following him, Thomas Westwood drove for 17 years and James Mills for nineteen, some of this service being after the death of Burton Shipley. Probably the man who worked longest on the place was Alexander Kay, popularly known as Sandy. As well as working on the threshing mill he was for many years a ploughman for both Burton Shipley and his son Herbert.
LAST YEARS
In 1908, forty-five years after he had left his home in Yorkshire, Burton Shipley revisited Yorkshire. Twenty-seven years later I visited Yorkshire and found the visit of Uncle Burton had quite a highlight in the lives of his relatives.
Unfortunately after his return from England, Burton Shipley did not keep good health and on 7 March 1911, after a long illness, he passed away.
And now, a century after he landed in New Zealand, it is fitting that we honour his memory. The result of his industry can be seen in the farm which he founded, but it is not of material success that we think, but rather of those fine qualities of mind and character which enabled him, and so many other early settlers, to surmount difficulties which would seem to people of today insurmountable. Those who knew him speak of his kindness, his cheerfulness in the face of adversity, and his unfailing consideration for others.
That he inspired loyalty and confidence can be seen from the long periods men worked for him, and the visits, many years afterwards, of successful farmers who recalled with pleasure the time they had spent as young men working on his farm. In the true sense of the word, he was a gentleman.
To those of us who have inherited this land of which he, and other settlers, laid such firm foundations, has come the responsibility of building a country worthy of them.
Let us see that we do not fail in this task.
Although this is really the story of Burton Shipley, it may be well to record briefly changes which have taken place since his death.
In 1914, the third surviving daughter, Louisa Jane married Charles Sough Jarman, a farmer of Greendale. She died in 1923 leaving a family of two sons and three daughters.
In 1923, Herbert Burton Shipley married Helen Ivy Ridgen, daughter of Geo. Ridgen, a Greendale farmer.
In 1924, the youngest daughter, Annie, married John Ballagh. a farmer of Hororata.
William Shipley died in 1934 and George Shipley in 1938.
Mrs Burton Shipley lived on in the homestead for many years, and died in 1942 a t the age of 93 years. Some years after her death the old home was pulled down and a new one erected.
On 8th September, 1963, Margaret (Mrs C. J. Morland) died, aged 82 years.
At the time of writing (1963) “The Pines” originally “Pine Farm” is being farmed by Kenneth, younger son of H. B. Shipley, while his elder brother George, farms “Pinehurst”, formerly the property of William Shipley.