The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Waikuku

Waikuku.

Waikuku is about five miles from Kaiapoi, and nineteen miles from Christchurch, and little more than four miles from Rangiora. There are no hotels or stores in the settlement, and tradesmen from Rangiora, Kaiapoi and Woodend supply the needs of the inhabitants. The local industries consist of wool-scouring works, a flax mill, and a rope and twine factory, which is one of the very best of its kind in New Zealand. There is a public school and also a post office. The population of the settlement at the census of 1901 was eighty-six. Waikuku is in the Mandeville riding of the Ashley county.

Waikuku Public School was established in 1872. The building consists of one class room with a large porch, and there are forty pupils on the roll, with an average attendance of thirty-three. The land on which the school and schoolhouse stand is about one acre and a half in extent. The local post office is conducted in the schoolhouse, and mails are received and despatched daily.

page 477

Mr. Thomas Ernest Tomlinson, Headmaster of the Waikuku Public School and Postmaster at Waikuku, was born in the city of York, England, in 1852. He was educated at St. Peter's School, York, and was brought up to mercantile life. Mr. Tomlinson served for six years in a bank in England, and after arriving in the colony he was for three years in the Union Bank at Christchurch and Ashburton. In 1879 he left the bank's service to enter that of the Board of Education, served for two years and a half at Mount Somers, and subsequently, he was a student at the Normal School, Christchurch, for one year. He was first appointed to Waikuku in 1882, but at the end of 1884 he was transferred to Springburn, near Mount Somers, where he remained till 1889. In that year he was re-appointed to Waikuku, where he has since been in charge. Mr. Tomlinson was married, in 1878, to a daughter of the late Mr. J. Hick, an early Canterbury settler, and has four sons, two of whom have served in the South African war.

Tolputt and Clarke, photo.
Mr. and Mrs T. E. Tomlinson.

The Wesleyan Methodist Church, Waikuku, was erected in 1900. It is of wood and iron, has accommodation for eighty adults, and stands on a section of a quarter of an acre. For nearly thirty years Methodists in the district worshipped in the Government schoolhouse. The Rev. A. Peters, of Rangiora, is in charge.

McDonald, Thomas, Woolscourer and Farmer, Waikuku Woolworks, Waikuku. These works were established in 1869, by Mr. W. Bailey, the present proprietor having acquired them in 1872. Mr. McDonald was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, in 1835, and arrived in Wellington with his parents in 1840, by the ship “Blenheim.” As soon as he was old enough he became a cadet on a station. Having qualified as a manager, Mr. McDonald was in charge of Horsley Downs estate for about eighteen years, and settled at Waikuku in 1872. He has for many years served on the Waikuku school committee, and for a long period held the position of chairman. Mr. McDonald is a member of the committee of the Northern Agricultural and Pastoral Association. He was married, in 1864, to the widow of the late Mr. T. K. Adams, and has four sons and four daughters.

Tolputt and Clarke, photo.
Mr. and Mrs T. Mcdonald.

Waikuku Twine Mills (James Stewart Manager of the Flax Dressing Department), Waikuku. Mr. Stewart was born in 1863, in Scotland, and came with his parents to Lyttelton by the ship “British Empire,” when he was two years old. The family settled in the Kaiapoi district, and Stewart's Gully derived its name from the father of the subject of this notice. Mr. Stewart was brought up to country life, and gained his experience in flax dressing at his father's mill on the banks of the Waimakariri river, just about the site of the present railway bridge. In 1890 he settled at Waikuku, and was employed at the Waikuku mills till 1897. In that year he went to his employer's flax mill at Waiau, where he became manager in 1898, and occupied that position till 1901, when he returned to take charge of the flax dressing department at the Waikuku mill.

Waikuku Flax, Rope and Twine Mills.

page 478 Mr. Stewart is a member of the Order of Foresters, and is attached to Court Woodford, Kaiapoi. He served for nine years in the Kaiapoi Rifles, and has been a member of the Amuri Mounted Rifles since 1899. Mr. Stewart was married, in 1890, to a daughter of Mr. A. Johnston, of Kaiapoi, and has one son.

Farmers.

Cousins, Richard, Farmer, Waikuku, Mr. Cousins was born at Ambleside, Windermere, Westmorland, England, in 1831. He came to New Zealand in 1858, and first started business in Christchurch as a painter. Seven years later he moved to his present home at Waikuku. The land was then in a state of primeval roughness, but Mr. Cousins' industry and perseverance have brought the farm to a high state of cultivation.

Mr. R. Cousins.

Griffiths, Thomas, Farmer, Waikuku. Mr. Griffiths was born in Staffordshire, England. In 1832, and came to New Zealand in the ship “Canterbury,” in 1864. After staying for a time in Christchurch, he went to Templeton and started the first chicory works in Canterbury for Mr. Trent. Subsequently, he took up his farm at Waikuku, Mr. Griffiths was one of the first elected members of the local school committee.

Mr. T. Griffiths.

Gill, Robert, Farmer, Waikuku, Mr. Gill was born at Distington, near Whitehaven, Cumberland, England, in 1855, and came to New Zealand in the ship “Hawarden Castle,” in 1879. He settled with his uncle, Mr. Thomas Wilson, at Waikuku, and has continued to reside in the same district. Mr. Gill is married, and has five children.

mr. R. Gill.

Ligget, Robert, Farmer, “Tullyhue,” Waikuku. Mr. Ligget was born in 1838, in County Armagh, Ireland, where he was educated, and spent his early years on his father's farm. He came out to the Colony in 1861 in the ship “Sebastopol,” and after gaining colonial experience for a few years with the Rev. John Raven, he purchased part of his present holding.

Mr. R. Ligget.

The first portion of the property, which contains 340 acres in all, was purchased in 1863. A small herd of Shorthorn cattle was established over thirty years ago, and Mr. Ligget has annually carried off a fair share of honours at local shows. His light horses and sheep are no strangers to the showground, and are always a credit to their owner. The buildings on the property are of a most substantial kind, only the most durable timber having been used in their erection, and the stock-yards are laid down in concrete. At an early period Mr. Ligget did a good deal of tree-planting, and now reaps the benefit of his foresight, as his plantations supply fencing material and fuel, which is cut with a circular saw driven by his own portable engine. Mr. Ligget has always taken an active part in anything that tends to advance the district, as member of the road board and school committee for twenty years, and as life member and vice-president for two years of the Kaiapoi Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Mr. Ligget was married in 1861 to Miss Ross, and has one son and seven daughters.

Morriss, William, Farmer, Waikuku. Mr. Morriss was born at Eaton, Leicestershire, England, on the 11th of February, 1832, and arrived at Lyttelton by the ship “Joseph Fletcher,” on the 23rd of October, 1852. He found employment in connection with the laying out of the road from Lyttelton to Governor's and Charteris Bays, and was afterwards working on the road from Christchurch to Papanui. In 1858 Mr. Morriss settled in Waikuku, and was the first to erect a house on the Woodend side of the township. The original building still forms part of his residence. Mr. Morriss farms altogether about 140 acres. He has for many years taken an interest in school committees, and has served on the Woodend and Waikuku committees. In 1858 Mr. Morriss was married to Miss Elizabeth Stokes, who arrived in the colony by the ship “Randolph” in 1850. They have had four daughters and seven sons, of whom two daughters and two sons are dead.

Tolputt and Clarke, photo.
Mr. and Mrs W. Morris.

Orchard, Hiram, Farmer, Waikuku. Mr. Orchard was born in Tamworth, Warwickshire, England, in 1839, and came to New Zealand with his parents in the ship “Randolph,” in 1850. In those rough times page 479 of early settlement the settlers had to depend on their own natural resources, and Mr. Orchard, senior, camped with his family in a blanket tent. The timber for their first house, which was built in Cashel Street, had to be carried on their backs from the bush at Riccarton, and Mr. Hiram Orchard, the eldest son, packed bread and provisions for the family on his back over the hills from Lyttelton.

Mr. H. Orchard.

Skevington, Charles, Farmer, Waikuku. Mr. Skevington was born in Turvey, Bedfordshire, in the year 1828, and arrived in New Zealand in the ship “Zealandia.” He is one of the very earliest settlers. Soon after his arrival, be walked with his wife and two children from Lyttelton, and pitched his tent where his homestead now stands, the country at that time being in a very wild state, without roads. This old colonist has now a beautiful home with 450 acres of first-class land. Mr. Skevington has always taken a great interest in church and school matters for upwards of forty years.

Mr. C. Skevington.

Skevington, Charles Edward, Farmer, Waikuku. Mr. Skevington was born in Bedfordshire, England, in 1859, and accompanied his parents to the colony, where he was brought up to country life. He engages in mixed farming, and is a member of the Northern Agricultural and Pastoral Association. Mr. Skevington was married, in 1884, to a daughter of the late Mr. R. Whitaker, of London, and has two sons and two daughters.

Wilson, Thomas, Farmer, Waikuku. Mr. Wilson was born in Heighray, North Lancashire, England, in 1829, and arrived in Lyttelton on the 31st of July, 1852. After a few years of station and bush life, he and his brothers engaged in the timber trade. Mr. Wilson then took up his farm at Waikuku, and has now one of the best homesteads in the district. He has always been an energetic church and Sunday school worker, and also an advocate of the temperance cause.

Mr. T. Wilson.

Mr. John Clark Andrews, sometime of Waikuku, was born in Dorsetshire, England, and arrived in New Zealand in 1880 by the ship “Langstone.” A few years afterwards he established the rope and twine factory at Waikuku, with the latest improvements in machinery. Mr. Andrews died in February, 1902.

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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Waikuku

Waikuku.

Farmers.