DIAMOND HARBOUR’S OLDEST HOUSE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27470, 2 October 1954, Page 9

DIAMOND HARBOUR’S OLDEST HOUSE

Romantic Story Of Mark Stoddart’s Dwelling first a sea voyage, and then A HONEYMOON [Specially Written for "The Press” By Frances Cresswelll First a sea voyage and then a honeymoon—such was the romantic beginning of the oldest house in Diamond Harbour, j-jris was once Mark Stoddart’s house, made for him in Australia, shipped to Lyttelton, and assembled at Diamond [[arbour in time for his wedding.

This delightful cottage is still lived in and is as sound as it first arrived. It is built of Australian hardwood, has I slate roof on the front portion, faces to the sun and is sheltered from all cold winds by large trees. These are mainly Australian gums. They were all planted by Stoddart.

ivfark Stoddart, bom in 1819, was the - ,r. of Admiral Stoddart, of Edintfgh. He letf home when he was ilylS and went to sea. After many - (ventures with pirates and opium * mners off the China coast, he settled j i Australia, and in 1847 bought a large jocX If land in Victoria. In 1850 he ,ld this and joined his friend, E. M. J femplar, who had chartered a ship, ie Australasia, and was about to sail , r New Zealand with 2000 sheep. 1 h e y arrived in Lyttelton harbour in j anuarj - ’ 1851, while the .First Four S hips i>f the Canterbury' settlement tre still at anchor. It was not long before Stoddart jined J. C. Aikman (after whom Aika lan’s road is named) and bought land Q the north bank of the Rakaia. It ras while he was baching here in a ough hut that he generously offered ohn Robert Godley shelter for the : jght It was pouring with rain, but, , give his guest enough room. Stodsrt spent the night outside under a 1 ax bush. Godley complained bitterly 1 bout the rough and ready hut, and I overheard to say: “No-one calling I imself a Christian and a gentleman - wild allow himself to live under a Kh conditions.”

In 1853 Stoddart sold to Sir John [all and entered into partnership with Faitt and Laurie at the Waipara. [ere, as managing partner, he had te naming of the new country which -v inland from Teviotdale. He called '“Glenmark.” “Glen” from “Glen | Iona” district in Victoria, and Mark,” his own name. Betum to Lyttelton Harbour The arrival in 1853 of G. H. Moore on Tasmania, however, put an end i what knight be called a pleasant a sturage partnership, and again Stod■q art had to look for land. He came j »ck to Lyttelton harbour in 1856 and ere on the sunny side facing the art he bought about 500 acres. Some ears earlier land had been bought iere by Robert Bateman Paul, -who aineto New Zealand in 1850 with the ? irst Four Ships, but Paul at no time , uilt or lived on the property nor ras it named. So Stoddart again imed virgin land, calling it, in -.q ipically romantic fashion “Diamond iarbour” because of the sparkle of the on cn the water.' Robert Bateman Paul was a clergysan and the son of a clergyman, and ras bom in Cornwall in 1798. He . ane to Canterbury and acted as comi lissary to Bishop Selwyn. He took a : eading part in the establishment of Wrist’s College, and was elected a elbw in 1855. In 1853 he had been s ppointed Archdeacon of Waimea, and j ad gone to live in Nelson. He retimed to England in 1860, probably ellins his Diamond Harbour property = bout that time. He did not come i ack to New Zealand, and died in 877. He wrote several books, one of phich was “Letters from Canterbury.” For some years after Stoddart bought liamond Harbour a cousin of his lived i n the property in a small cottage. [is name was Mark Sprot, and it i rould seem he managed the place bears Stoddart finally settled there. No i oubt he helped with the tree planting and grew and harvested what was i robably the first lucerne in Canter•ury—if not in New Zealand —in 1858It was in 1862 that Mark Stoddart aarried. His bride was Miss Anne I khjott, the daughter of a Norwegian

clergyman, and she lived at Okain’s Bay. And to Okain’s Bay across mountainous Banks Peninsula the bridegroom went on foot to his wedding, It was February, summer time, and no doubt he started very early in the morning. With him went his best man Thomas Henry Potts, of Governor’s Bay, and even taking the most direct route up over saddles and down steep gullies, it must have been about 20 to 24 miles, and have taken seven or eight hours’ good walking. The return trip was made round the coast by sailing boat, and the honeymoon was spent in the new home at Diamond Harbour.

For the next 15 years the Stoddarts lived in this delightful spot. They had six children—four daughters and two sons. Two daughters were artists —Miss A. Stoddart. who has so kindly helped me with this story, and Margaret Olrog Stoddart (1856-1934), who travelied extensively and exhibited in the Royal Academy, the Paris Salon, and the Royal Institute of Water Colours.

Both sons went to school at Christ’s College. James, the elder, served in the Matabele War and the South African War, and was killed at Bulawayo in 1901. John Schjott, the younger served in the second Matebele War and m the South African War. He later took up cattle ranching in Rhodesia and died in 1926.

, Now between the years 1851 and 1863 176 fair-sized ships came into Lyttelton Harbour. The port was going ahead! There must be facilities a breakwater, for instance, for the southerly storms, and the easterly swell gave the skippers great concern. So in 1864 work was begun on the eastern mole with prison labour. But progress was slow, and not till the contract was taken over by private enterprise did the work go ahead—even then there were many set-backs. When the eastern mole was finished, the same people contracted for the naval breakwater on the southern side, and by 1877 the moles were finished. Godley Housq The two men who had these contracts were Robert Martindale and Harvey Hawkins. The latter was a ship’s chandler in Lyttelton, and this contract made him wealthy. He looked round for a suitable site on which to build a home for his family and decided on Stoddart’s property at Diamond Harbour. The outcome of this was twofold—the Stoddarts went

to England, Harvey Hawkins built a house.

It was a very large house and for some years the Hawkins family must have had a splendid time entertaining. A jetty had been built at the same ’time as the house, and this would encourage boating parties from Lyttelton. Hawkins finally sold off some of the land. By 1892 what was left cf the property came back to the Stoddart family—Mark had died in 1885. The home continued in the family until April 14, 1913. Then the property of 349 acres and the two houses were bought by the Lyttelton Borough Council, which sold more land and turned about 40 acres into a reserve. The large house built by Harvey Hawkins became an accomodation house and was given the name of “Godley House” after John Robert Godley, who had once passed a night in stoddart’s hut.