Tales of Banks Peninsula
No. 5.—Robinson's Bay
No. 5.—Robinson's Bay.
This Bay received its name from the man who first bought land there. Mr. Robinson was sent down to Akaroa to act as a Magistrate by the New Zealand Company, being accompanied by a constable to enforce his authority. This was in 1840 Mr. Robinson bought 100 acres, and tbe land is that where Mr. Williams now resides. He never lived in the Bay for any length of time.
The Bay is a large one, and covered with heavy timber as it was then, it was soon seen that a mill would pay there. The early history of Robinson's Bay is the same as that of the other Peninsula inlets. Runaway sailors here found a refuge, and lived by pit sawing. It was no difficult matter in those daya for sawyers to make £5 or £6 a week, and then not exert themselves very much. The life they led, though lonely, was not an unhappy one. Building a whare in a convenient place by a creek, they stored up a supply of provisions and necessary tools. They varied their fare, and spun out the quantity by occasional raida on the wild pigs and birds, and they had not far to look for these. When they got a decent cheque they revisited the haunts of civilization, and after knocking it down, went back and repeated the same process.
The Pavitts put up the first saw mill in the Bay; Mr S. C. Farr built it on the same site as that on which the mill, afterwards worked by Messrs Saxton and Williams, stands. Mr Hughes also possessed a mill here about the same time. These mills, however, did not cut much timber. In 1865 Messrs Saxton and Williams bought the land now occupied by Mr Saxton. The old mill was found to be in a rather dilapidated state, and not capable of doing much work. The new owners entirely renovated it, employed a great many men, and in a short time produced 1,000,000ft. of timber yearly. The timber was punted out to vessels in the Bay Messrs Lardner and Sims carried a great deal of it away in their punt, Capt. Malcolmson, in the well-known Antelope, and Mr E Latter's vessels, among which were the Foam and the page 291E. and U. Cameron, were kapt busily employed. The s.s. Beautifal Star once took a cargo to Dunedin, and also the s s. Wainui. There were a great many vessels employed at different times. Mr Hughes built the Isabella Jackson on the spot where Mr. Orme's house now is The Pavitts built the Thetis on the beach
Nearly all the old settlers now in the Bay, and many in different parts of the Peninsula worked for Messrs Saxton and Williams, thirty hands being employed at the mill. About 50 bullocks were used in dragging the big logs down the hills. The flat, of course, was first cleared, and here forty acres of hay were annually grown for the bullocks. The house of the Pavitts was situated a few yards away from Mr. William's present dwelling. During a bush fire it was burnt, and they had to build a whare in the bush. The bush fires at times were very severe, and once the whole Bay was in a blaze, the inhabitants having to camp out in the open close to the beach.
The late Mr. Johnstone was one of the earliest settlers in Robinson's Bay. Mr. Barnett, of Le Bon's, also lived there before going over the hills. The late Mr. Piper, of Duvauchelle, was in the Bay in the first year of its settlement, where Mr. E. S. Chappell was an early inhabitant. Messrs Whitfield (deceased), Duxbury, W. N. McDonald (deceased), Kingston (deceased) and Tizzard came in a vessel called the Barracouta from the Otago goldfields. The late Mr. Gundy owned the place now occupied by Mr. S. Curry, and was one of the first settlers. Mr B. de Malmanche rented a large portion of Messrs Saxton and Williams' land, that principally which was cleared. The Currya and many others came soon after the mill was started.
Mr. Johnstone, who was bullock driving for the mill owners, and the late Mr. L LeValiant were the first to start dairies. Messrs Saxton and Williams commenced a dairy which they had rented to Mr. B. de Malmanche. On this dairy as many as eighty cows were milked, the buildings being where Mr. William's house now stands. As the land was cleared, the men in employment in the mill page 292bought it up and started dairying. The first sheep were brought into the Bay about forty years ago.
Mr. Saxton came out in the ship Westminster in 1858, in which ship also came the late Messrs A Rodrigues, J. Wilkin and others. Although in the Bay in that year he did not settle there until 1865, when he went into partnership with Mr. Williams, and they started the sawmill.
The only fatal accident which happened in the Bay was that by which a man named Tozer lost his life. He was cross-cutting with Mr. Kingston, and was on the lower side On being sawn through, half of the log rolled on the unfortunate man, and crushed him to death. Mr. Tolly, who afterwards went to Ashburton, once had his leg broken when turning a log drawn by bullocks.
The owners of the mill put up a jetty. They bore all the expense of having it done, besides supplying all the timber, A tramway was laid up to the mill, and extended up the valley three miles This saved a great amount of labour, as vessels came and loaded at the jetty, and the nuisance of punting was done away with, besides saving a lot of work with the bullocks.
The owners of the mill built a school for the children of the men at work, on the site of Mr Morgan's house. Afterwards, when Mr. A C. Knight was Minister of Education, the Government bought land and erected the present school.
It is thirty years ago since all the valuable timber was cut. The old jetty and tramway have long ago gone to ruin, but another wharf has been put up. The settlers in the Bay are considering the erection of a third wharf. The mill property was for a good number of years a sheep station occupied by Mr. Saxton, Dairying is the chief occupation of the settlers in the Bay.