Avoca Valley And The Volunteers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31772, 31 August 1968, Page 5

Avoca Valley And The Volunteers

‘Specially written for "The Press" bp

GORDON OGILVIE)

In pre-European times, the Rapaki Maoris seem to have used the Avoca Valley as the most direct route between their harbour settlement and their eeling grounds on the Heathcote River near the Woolston railway station. Large deposits of sea shells and an axe head have been found on the grounds of Anderson’s Foundry, suggesting that the Rapaki hunters brought their hors d’oeuvres with them.

A dark argellite adze, originating in Nelson, has also been found at the foot of Avoca Valley, just behind Miss E. Wenmoth’s home. High up at the head of the valley, below Witch Hill, mysterious stone lined holes about 6ft in diameter and 2ft deep were noted by early residents. Mr R. G. Davidson recalls seeing them while fencing near the Summit track 50 years ago. Dr Roger Duff presumes from the description that they were ovens.

It is not likely that they were reservoirs, for Avoca is one of the best watered valleys round the Port Hills, There are an estimated 16 springs there and two of these at least have never been known to dry up. The valley therefore has a green and fertile look about it which is denied to other parts of the hills. Moreover, fossilised tnoa; bones found by Professor. Speight nearby, plus a 20,000: '•ear-old portion of moa thigh [ bone excavated on the property of Mr C, A. Bakkenes indicate that the valley has! attracted more than just human inhabitants. First Settlers The first European to take a serious interest in the valley's possibilities was George Duncan, who came out in the Elizabeth Hercus in 1857 with his family. He spent three years in the Heathcote Valley before building a home at the foot of the spur between Avoca and Horotane. Avocahe named Earn Valley, and his 50 acre farm he named “Earnbank.” Next settler on the scene I was George Holmes, who came across from Australia in 1861 to undertake the construction of the Lyttelton tunnel. While work was in progress he lived ; on the spot at Heathcote in; the solid and gracious house! now owned by Miss D. White along Bridle Path Road. Payment to Holmes was made in i the form of a land order for £200,000. Part of this | be used to purchase I Holmes Bay. inside Pigeon! Bay, from where much of the timber required for the tunnel was milled. He also took: up land in the Avoca-Hills-1 borough area, adjacent to' Duncan, and a run at Motunau. When in 1864 the volunteers required land on which ■ to hold a camp, Holmes placed the Avoca end of his Hills-! borough run at their disposal.! The camp 4 was called the! “Hillsborough Encampment": Hillsborough at this time was. a district and township, established since 1861, and centred where the Woolston station: now is (or ought to be). The district took in most ol the; flat land between the middle stretches of the Heathcote River and the hills. Over Easter 1865. another; encampment was held. It was a very orderly affair. The! volunteers met at the new drill shed in Christchurch, i each company with its own[ band, and. after forming up in fours, marched all the way to their destination. Camp Activities Some 30 tents were erected on the eastern side of the valley, roughly where the Ferrymead Pony Club now has its run, and officers' quarters, powder magazine, stables and a ladies' tent were set up. A long dining room had been built for the occasion by Holmes and decorated within by flags and other insigina. Holmes was, incidentally. captain in command of the Heathcote Valley Rifle Company. The headquarters of each unit was marked with its colours and the whole! effect was quite picturesque. Shooting competitions were held, some drill was done, "boxing and single sticks and other sports" were engaged in, an Aunt Sally was set up, an apple stall did business, lotteries were run, refreshment stalls did a glorious trade, camp fires were lit, bands poured forth military music, and the Bishop preached an open-air sermon on the Sunday to a congregation of about 2000 made up largely of' admiring visitors from the town who had come out by special train. “The Press" on Monday had' an editorial which damned | the whole weekend with ex-| ceedingly faint praise. The weather and accommodation had been good, the uniforms handsome, and the spectators enthusiastic. However, the object of the exercise was scarcely to picnic elegantly but to give the volunteers a test of their ability to improvise under war-style conditions. The encampment was too civilised. The superiority of French soldiery over English was due to the fact that the former were used to roughing it In addition, there was more to military training than just “firing at a mark with a rifle.” Finally, the editor could not approve of officers and men eating together. "The superior position of those who are entrusted with the control of others ought to be clearly recognised in all the social organisation of the army." In August of the same year, 1865, a rifle match was held at the Hillsborough Butts

and was the first occasion on which the new Lancaster rifles were used. However, it seems that the editorial manhandling which the volunteers had lately undergone prompted them to take another camp and toughen up the programme a little. Accordingly another encampment was set down for the final weekend before ■ Christmas. Again the weather was excellent at Avoca as | some 300 volunteers mustered I at 6.30 a.m. on Saturday, ! December 18, 1865, for one |and a half hours drill before breakfast. Then followed the 'usual rifle shooting tourna- ■ ment with an extra target brought up from Hagley Park to cater for the 60 competitors. In the afternoon, those wishing to go, to the Heathcote Regatta did so, while the remainder amused themselves by firing for sweepstakes. At 9 p.m. all turned in, and lights were doused at 10 p.m. Night Alarm But the day had scarcely begun. According to “The ■ Press” report rockets were I unexpectedly fired off at 11 p.m. and the alarm was given that “an enemy” was[ approaching. All hands were! ready for duty within five I I minutes. The foe, consisting of two companies of engineers, attacked the encampment from the hills to the south and from the road to ithe north Though outflanked ; at first, the regiment managed i i to rout the enemy, capturing l two prisoners. This part of the programme I : seemed to have afforded I great entertainment, and! | many narrow escapes were l afterwards recounted. I Next day Bishop Harper; preached a sermon on an apt : text from Timothy: “Thou therefore, as a good soldier, i endure hardships for the I Lord's sake.” In the afternoon Mr Habens, a Congregational minister, preached a second | I sermon which was by some | j horrid mischance on the same l | text as the Bishop's. I The highlight of the last! | day of the camp, the Monday, | [was to be a Review or “sham! fight,” starting at 2 p.m. The [Lyttelton battery turned up[this time, hauling their new 1 12 pounder Armstrong artilj lery piece all the way via ; Evans Pass, and taking three [hot hours to do so. The gunners' handsome new uniforms excited much admiration, as did the gun “which served with extraordinary precision and rapidity” at the rate of a round every 16-18 seconds. Brilliant Charge Well, the object of the mock fight planned for that final afternoon of the 1865 Christmas encampment was to have the artillery, engineers and one other company defend the eamp “redoubt" against the rest, mainly riflemen. The latter won after a struggle which lasted nearly 1$ hours and which nearly became a genuine fracas. The “Lyttelton Times" records how the riflemen carried the day with a brilliant charge on the redoubt during which the gun was captured and a consider--1 able number of prisoners taken. The same newspaper went on to list a few casualties “which served to mar the enjoyment of the day”: a sprained ankle, a slight contusion, some cut lips, broken teeth, powder burns and an arm injury. Major Hargreaves, who commanded the Lyttelton battery on that hectic occasion. fiHed in the background rather more colourfully in some reminiscences published 135 years later in the “Weekly Press." According to Hargreaves’ : memory of it, the attacking [riflemen had rushed upon his [gunners with fixed bayonets. I The artillerymen, lacking side arms of any description, lay | about them with iron stakes piled nearby. The Armstrong, blazed away with blanks. One: officer getting in front of the! gun was knocked over by the concussion. The infantry excitedly fired upon the gunners at point blank range. One ■ rifleman, who had loaded his i “long Enfield" a shade negligently, shot his ramrod right through a Lyttelton man’s : arm. Another artilleryman > had his teeth blown clean out. ! Hargreaves himself, to escape ! destruction, turned away the : bayonets with vigorous use ■ of'a spade, but was overpow- ’ ered eventually “and thrown • to the ground with rather ■ needless violence.” Peace was eventually restored, but as the ■ major related: “It was cerI I tainly the very warmest rei. view I ever saw.” If “The Press" had wanted simulated . battle conditions, it certainly I got them. > - George Holmes seemed

keen to build a home on the, area used by the encampment and planted much of it out in trees and shrubs. Local residents with longish memories still fondly recall the magnificent avenue of macrocarpas which led up the middle of the valley to a terrace planted in shrubs which was to be the site of his house. Stately gums and Wellingtonias gave further shade. Nearby was a large pile of faced stone blocks .taken from the tunnel. With this masonry, Holmes planned to construct his home. But it all came to nothing. Holmes went elsewhere, the stone was used on a Lyttelton church and the splendid trees were sawn up for firewood at 15s a cord. All this came much later, though. In 1865 the “plantation” was just being started. Fifty acres of the valley floor—where the volunteers manoeuvred—was soon in meadow grass and fenced by sod walls. On each flank of the valley was a rifle range, with another at the head where the gorge began. But apart from this, the only signs of human occupation were to be seen in the Duncan homestead, outbuildings and gardens. A grassy lane, now Chapman's Road, linked the valley with the Hillsborough Station: and at the corner of this road and the Port Hills Road a licenced accommodation house was built which later became the first home of the Wenmoth family. Early in the 70s R. M. Morten—who eventually came to own most of the Port Hills from Cashmere to Godley Head—purchased those parts of Avoca not owned by Holmes or Duncan. He built a musterer’s cottage (up the right flank of the valley) and which is now in modernised form the residence of Mr M. A. Hands and family. Irish Name

| Morten died in 1909 and ■from 1910 the trustees sold [off his property in blocks. | Avoca went on the market, ■ along with other parts of the Mt Pleasant estate. William Robinson bought Avoca and named it after the “sweet vale” of the Irish song. The original Avoca is a valley and river in County Wicklow some two dozens miles south of Dublin. Robinson’s son, F.dric, worked the 600 acre property, stocked it mainly with cows and sheep, and had the useful knack of waterdivining—as does his son. At this stage there was still clear evidence of the old Maori trail crossing over from Rapaki.

When Edwin Robinson went to the Great War in 1916, the property was leased to J. F. Scott, of Heathcote, who eventually bought it outright and subdivided the accessible portions of the valley for market gardening. Among the first property owners were George Andrews, the Sanders Cup winner; Grant Davidson, whose glasshouse is on the 400 yard mark of the old range at the valley’s head; Ernie Adcock, Sam Holland, Charlie Clarke and Jack Kay. Messrs Davidson and Kay are the only “originals” still alive and in possession of their farms. Sheltered Gardens Most of the farms are on the west flank of the valley: and especially at the upper ! end are sloped fairly steeply. Much of the potential value of Avoca as a small-holding area has been lost because some of its most favourably situated land is taken up by the Duncan estate which was never subdivided and which has been bequeathed to the City Council as a reserve. There is less fruit grown in Avoca than in the other valleys, but vegetables and flowers still keep the farmers busy, with celery and early potatoes currently doing well. Tomatoes, peas, beans, lettuce, cabbage, chrysanthemums and violets also thrive in that warm and sheltered situation. Avoca Valley has changed a great deal since the war. The bottom end, on the site of Holmes’ plantation, is now residential. The cultivations further up have shrunk, some of the steeper land being abandoned in favour of I smaller and more intensively | worked holdings.

... For a while there was speculation as to whether the tunnel road might pass up the valley and burrow through under Witch Hill: a perfectly easy top-gear route, except that the harbour end of the journey would be somewhat cramped. The rather dubious creator of the Latimer Hall once leased the Duncan homestead, and in more recent times some escaped prisoners holed out there for a while. Occasionally lead bullets are dug out of the hillsides where once the volunteers shot for their trophies. [ But in general, Avoca is a [ placid place now: and the [clatter of farm machinery rej places the boom of artillery, I the crash of rifle volleys, and the excited shouts of pioneer i territorials. Maybe it is safer 1 so!