Timaru owes its size and prosperity to its port. Initially, ships anchored in the shelter of basalt reefs. Their goods were carried ashore in small boats and offloaded in a landing service (a large shed). The first landing service was opened in 1858 at the bottom of Strathallan Street. It was bought by the government in the mid-1860s and used for the first shipment of wool direct to England. Entrepreneurs later set up a private service in competition. The George Street landing service building is one of Timaru’s oldest structures. 

Before the harbour was built, many ships were wrecked along Timaru’s coast. By the late 1860s Timaru’s leaders realised that the landing services, which required double-handling of cargo, were restricting the port’s growth. They initiated plans for an artificial harbour to provide wharves and a safe haven for ships. Opponents thought that because Christchurch’s port at Lyttelton was soon to be linked to Timaru by rail, a local harbour was unnecessary. But the scheme went ahead, as advocates believed that without its own harbour, the town would decline. Work began in 1878 with the construction of the 700-metre southern breakwater. 

 

Notable characters in the port story

• Mr. William Evans:
  • Chairman of the Timaru Harbour Board since about 1882.
  • Known for his keen interest in the welfare of the port.
• • Also associated with the Atlas Roller Flour Mills.
• Mr. George Lyall, J.P.:
  • Member of the Timaru Harbour Board.
  • Engaged in farming and pastoral pursuits before joining the board.
  • Actively involved in various community organizations and initiatives.
• Mr. John Manchester:
  • Represents the Makikihi riding of the Waimate county on the Timaru Harbour Board.
  • Previously served as Mayor of Waimate.
• Mr. Alexander Campbell Pringle, J.P.:
  • Member of the Timaru Harbour Board since 1893.
  • Engaged in farming and pastoral pursuits before joining the board.
  • Involved in various other organizations including the Canterbury Land Board and Land Purchase Board.
• Mr. David Clarkson Turnbull:
  • Member of the Timaru Harbour Board since March 1900.
  • Established the firm of D. O. Turnbull and Co., grain and produce merchants.
• Mr. William Julian Bardsley:
  • Secretary and Treasurer of the Timaru Harbour Board.
  • Selected for his position in 1902 among thirty-three applicants.
• Mr. Albert Ernest Austin, A.M.I.C.E.:
  • Engineer to the Timaru Harbour Board.
  • Previously engaged in various engineering projects including railways and water works in Brazil.
• Captain Thomas Nicolson Clarkson:
  • Harbourmaster and Pilot at Timaru since 1886.
  • Began his career at sea and obtained his master's certificate at the age of twenty.
• Mr. Peter Sinclair:
  • Foreman blacksmith at the Timaru Harbour Board's engineering works.
  • Previously engaged in ship-smithing and business ownership before joining the board.

 

Timaru Herald, 10 January 1882, Page 2
Theatre Royal. There was crowded house at the Theatre Royal last evening to greet Lyons' Tourist Party, on their second appearance in Timaru. The hit of the evening was made by Miss Horton, when she gave the following impromptu verses:

Our Breakwater is very near completed,
Of its success there's not the slightest fear,
We soon will have a safe and handy harbor
If Captain Sutter does not choke the Engineer.
They quarrel over nothing every meeting,
And fight about the gravel and the Bills,
But their fuss about the harbor and the Cashmere,
Was blighted by our old friend Captain Mills.

 

 1880 Photograph by the Press of the Breakwater in Timaru. Tiaki IRN: 692816. Tiaki Reference Number: 1/1-008819-G. Collection: PA-Group-00103: The Press (Newspaper) :Negatives

 

1884 Standard survey of the Town of Timaru, Canterbury N.Z. / H. Maitland surveyor. Wellington, N.Z. Photolithographed at the General Survey Office. Sourced from LINZ. Crown Copyright reserved.'Notes Archived by the National Library of New Zealand

 

Map of the Province of Canterbury, New Zealand showing the pasturage runs : compiled from official surveys, under authority of the Provincial Government, and from recent explorations by Dr. Haast, provincial geologist, Canterbury & Dr. Hector, provincial geologist, Otago / by J.S. Browning, Survey Office ; drawn by Alfred Jarman, Survey Office, Christchurch. - Christchurch [N.Z.] : Survey Office

 

South Canterbury’s northern and southern boundaries were large, snow-fed rivers Waitaki and Rangitata that were difficult for early travellers to cross. Travelling by sea was easier.

1838 First mention of Timaru that we knowThe first mention of Timaru that we knowof occurs in the journal of Octavius Harwood, who was foremanand clerk at Weller Brothers' whaling station at Otago.The journal, which is preserved in the Hacken Library inDunedin, commences on April 24, 1838. ""March, Thu. 28th. Schooner D.P. sailed for"March, Thu. 28th. Schooner D.P. sailed forTemurdu with Brown's gang on board-shipped twonatives, Tomahawk and Rootie, for Brown's gang-issuedclothes for same. . ."

1839 Whaling station in Timaru. "( 1839) "Aug. 31: Received letter from Mr. Brown.( 1839) "Aug. 31: Received letter from Mr. Brown.States wants provisions-had two casks beef-two 180 ofbread, half cask flour, one week's sugar on the ground.Had got 70 tuns of oil with tonguers and about nine tunsmore casks remaining."

1840 The Sale of "Timeru Flat" On 15th January, 1840, Edward Weller informed his brotherOn 15th January, 1840, Edward Weller informed his brotherthat he had bought " the land between the rivers atTimeru Flat" from Tuawaik (Tuhawaiki) for £ 10. Reverend Thomas Aitken and James Aitken purchased 2,560 acres from George Weller. None of the Weller claims were prosecuted before the Lands Claims Commissioners, and all were disallowed.

1844 Hone Tūhawaiki drowned 5km south of Timaru. Also known as John Tūhawaiki, and 'Bloody Jack' by the sealers of Foveaux Strait, he was the leader of Kāi Tahu in Murihiku but spent a lot of his time travelling Kāi Tahu territory. The point where he drowned now bears his name: Tuhawaiki (Jack's) Point, and is commonly known to locals as Jack's Point. "His commercial ability impressed European observers, who noted that he spoke English freely, could read and write a little, and was accustomed to cash transactions and bank business. On business he dressed in a neat suit and white greatcoat, and wore a watch and chain." - teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/1t110/tuhawaiki-hone

1848 Mantell made a sketch of Timaru Harbour across Caroline Bay.

1851 - Brothers William and George Rhodes founded the Levels run. They used the sheltered shore at Timaru, to land stores and ship wool. Timaru’s first building was a cottage on the beach, and the first permanent inhabitant was Sam Williams, the whaler who introduced George Rhodes to South Canterbury.

In 1853 the Rhodeses bought land behind Caroline Bay and laid out a town. In 1856 the government surveyed a second town to the south, but because of its superior landing places it was the brothers’ town that prospered. Eventually, the two settlements merged. 

1856  ‘Timaru is a miserable apology for a shipping place without wood or water. Nothing will ever spring up there but a public-house, a store and a woolshed.’ - Said Henry Sewell, Christchurch-based politician when he visited Timaru

1857 Belfield Woollcombe was appointed as government agent, an all-purpose official.

1857 Archdeacon Harper mentioned Timaru on his travels southward from Christ~church "". . . coming on a bay enclosed by low cliffs, found". . . coming on a bay enclosed by low cliffs, founda solitary hut occupied by an old whaler and his wife,who gave me dinner and directed me to ride along thebeach . .. The bay, which is a pretty piece of coast scenery,has a Maori name Te Maru, 'the place of shelter', wellnamed, as it was used by whalers as a landing place wherethey could try out their oil. Sam Williams showed mesome of their trypots still remaining on the beach, and Ispent a pleasant hour with him listening to his yarns ofthe old days ....

1859 100 British settlers arrived to Timaru on the Strathallan. At the time Timaru had only five houses. 

1860s Mail and coach services linked Timaru to Christchurch and Dunedin from the 1860s, before the rivers were bridged.

1862–63 further 360 immigrants arrived.

1866 the town had a population of 1,000

1868 Timaru  became a borough

1870s The population doubled.

1872  The Rangitātā River was bridged at Arundel. This remained the main road bridge over the Rangitātā until the present bridges at downriver Rangitātā Island were built in the 1930s.

1896 until 1911 there was relatively high growth, linked to more intensive farming in the region.

1948 Timaru became a city

1855 Samuel Hewlings surveyed the coastline southwardSamuel Hewlings surveyed the coastline southwardfrom Timaru. His field book gives us a sketch map ofthe sharp headland at Paparoa, showing both the cliffs andthe high-water mark. At the top of the cliff, close to wherethe lighthouse was later built, he indicated a tablet "October 13, 1824. This is the month Tu Hawaikitiki died. He died at Paparoa and was removed to TeHu."

1858 The first landing service was opened at the bottom of Strathallan Street. It was bought by the government in the mid-1860s and used for the first shipment of wool direct to England. Entrepreneurs later set up a private service in competition. The George Street landing service building is one of Timaru’s oldest structures.

1860s Timaru’s leaders realised that the landing services, which required double-handling of cargo, were restricting the port’s growth. They initiated plans for an artificial harbour to provide wharves and a safe haven for ships. Opponents thought that because Christchurch’s port at Lyttelton was soon to be linked to Timaru by rail, a local harbour was unnecessary. But the scheme went ahead, as advocates believed that without its own harbour, the town would decline.

1860s Lime-burning, for agriculture and building, began. Limestone was also quarried as a building stone, and bricks were fired locally, most importantly near Makikihi. Lime is still quarried extensively for agricultural use.

1870s  Large-scale wheat growing began. Peaked in the early 1900s. Much of the wheat was grown by contractors who leased land from the estate owners..

1877  The Waitaki was bridged at Glenavy and between Kurow and Hakataramea in 1881.

1878 Construction gets underway of a main trunk railway between Christchurch and Dunedin. Completed in 1878, it linked Timaru to both cities, and to Temuka and Waitaki North (Glenavy) along the way. South Canterbury had only two significant branch lines. The line from Washdyke reached Pleasant Point in 1875 and was opened to Eversley, beyond Fairlie, in 1884. The line from Studholme Junction to Waimate opened in 1877. It was extended to Waihao Downs in 1883. In 1881, the branch line in North Otago to Kurow was extended across the Waitaki River to Hakataramea. A proposed line up the Hakataramea Valley was never built. The last of South Canterbury’s branch railway lines closed in the 1960s.

1878 Work began on the construction of the 700-metre southern breakwater.

1878 The first of the large brick flour mills along the railway line at Timaru was built. New Zealand’s first roller mill began production in this area in 1882. Later, these mills also produced oatmeal, pasta and stockfood. Flour and stockfood are still made in Timaru.

1880s, the northern breakwater was built to keep sand shoals out of the harbour.

1882 The first attempt was made on Aoraki/Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain (then 3,764 metres). It was first climbed by the New Zealanders Tom Fyfe, George Graham and Jack Clarke in 1894. In 1948 a young climber, Edmund Hillary, was in a party which made the first ascent of the mountain’s south ridge. Five years later he and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay were the first to climb Mt Everest. The face-climbing era that began in the 1950s culminated in the first ascent of the Caroline Face in 1970.

1883 Timaru had one wharf 880 feet long. Five years later the Moody Wharf was built and was extended in 1905. No. 3 Wharf was built in 1908, since when all the wharves have been altered to make them more efficient. The total berthage space is 3,400 feet. A wharf for fishermen was built in 1911.

1883 Before refrigeration, surplus stock was disposed of in boiling-down and meat-preserving works at Pleasant Point, Washdyke and Milford. The South Canterbury Refrigerating Company, formed in 1883, built a freezing works near Timaru in 1885. In January 1886 its first cargo of frozen meat was sent directly from Timaru to the United Kingdom. The works were rebuilt in the 1890s, reopening as the Smithfield Works in 1898. In 1904, the Christchurch-based Canterbury Frozen Meat Company built a second South Canterbury works at Pareora.

1880 Sawmilling and lime-burning were two of South Canterbury’s earliest industries. The timber industry had more or less ended by 1880, after fires destroyed the remaining forests at Waimate and Geraldine.

1883 A butter factory was established in Temuka in 1883, and a cheese factory at Geraldine in 1884. Dairy exports through the port of Timaru increased fivefold between 1911 and 1927. More butter factories were built in Waimate and Timaru, and cheese factories in Clandeboye, Ōrari and Milford.The factory at Clandeboye now draws milk from about 600 farms between North Canterbury and Otago. The factory produces specialist cheeses and other products from 11 million litres of milk a day, and employed 750 people in the early 2000s.

1899 - 1906 the eastern extension of the main breakwater was completed, preventing shingle drifting north into the harbour. During the 20th century the breakwaters were extended, realigned and raised.

1903 - Imports and exports during the six months ending June 30 last totalled 73,312 tons, valued at £586,514, and whose shipping tonnage during the same period amounted to 193,504 tons. Timaru ranks third in importance in the matter of exports, having sent away during the first six months of this year 463,498 carcases. - trove.nla.gov.au/128462244

1906 In the 19th century New Zealand flax was cut and milled at Waimate, Winchester and Fairlie, but the last significant shipment of flax fibre left in 1906. During the Second World War a linen flax industry was established as a wartime measure. Four factories were supplied from more than 3,000 hectares. By the late 1950s, less than 300 hectares was being planted in linen flax. The lifting of protective tariffs and competition from synthetic fibres reduced demand. The last factory, in Geraldine, closed in the late 1970s. Wool was scoured at Washdyke from the days of the early runs, and a woollen mill was built in Timaru.

1906 Rodolph Wigley founded the Mt Cook Motor Service, which leased the Hermitage hotel from the government between 1922 and 1945, and became a major tourist company. In 1955 his son, Harry Wigley, landed a ski-equipped plane on the Tasman Glacier, starting a new era in tourism at Aoraki/Mt Cook.

1907 A Dredge 'The Taniwha' was purchased to keep the harbour entrance clear.

1911 Flour milling became an important industry in Timaru and Waimate, and wheat and flour were exported through Timaru’s port. The peak export years were 1911 for wheat and 1913 for flour. Wheat growing declined during the First World War, and by 1924 wheat was being imported to keep the mills operating.

1920 South Canterbury’s first public airport was formed at Washdyke. A small airfield built at Saltwater Creek in 1931 was used for commercial flights, and by the South Canterbury Aero Club. In 1953 a new airport was opened at Levels. Regular air services between Christchurch, Timaru and Ōamaru began in 1956. Improvements to State Highway 1 reduced the need for flights to Christchurch, but there are still twice-daily flights to and from Wellington.

1963–67 An all-weather meat loader was built. A second northern breakwater allowed land to be reclaimed for cargo storage and a fish processing factory.

The building of the harbour changed the coastline at Timaru dramatically. Shingle accumulated south of the harbour, and this new land was used for grain and wool stores and oil tanks. North of the harbour, sand piled up under the clay cliffs to form the beach of Caroline Bay.

 

 

 

 

At one stage the government was thinking about developing a port at Milford Lagoon. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/AJHR1880-I.2.1.6.10

 

 

 

Paper chart: NZ 6422 Approaches to Timaru Toitū Te Whenua Land Information New Zealand