Tales of Banks Peninsula
No. 7.—Pigeon Bay
No. 7.—Pigeon Bay.
Messrs Hay and Sinclair were the first settlers in this Bay. It was in the year 1844 in the month of April that these gentlemen, leaving their families in Wellington, sailed in a schooner from that port to seek land in the south, where they had heard of fine plains. They bad originally left Scotland in 1889, and were going first of all to settle in the north, but the tales they had heard of the Canterbury and Taieri Plains made them very anxious to explore them. On arrival at Lyttelton, their first port of call, they did not know the exact locality of the Plains, but seeing the hills low at the head of Governor's Bay, they thought that must be the road. Accordingly they climbed to the saddle of what is now Gebbie's Pass, but on arrival found to their disappointment only what they thought was sea on the other side, which was of course the waters of Lake Ellesmere. They then determined to try for the Taieri, and accordingly sailed for Port Chalmers, and landed up by Anderson's Bay; but they were again unsuccesrful, not going far enough to find the level land. They then determined to return north again, and sailed for Pigeon Bay, whither they had been driven by stress of weather on the way down. Here Mr Sinclair announced his intention of making his home, as he was tired of wandering, and Mr Hay decided to do the same. It was then agreed that Mr Sinclair should occupy that part of the bay now known as Holmes's Bay, but then as Sinclair's, Mr Hay taking the main bay itself. They then returned to Wellington, and brought down their families and some four head of cattle, and farming and other implements, amongst which was a plough and harness. At the time of the landing Mr and Mrs Sinclair had three sons and three daughters, and Mr and Mrs Hay two sons (Messrs James and Thomas Hay), then three and two years old respectively. The two families lived together for nearly two years, first in a tent, and then in a thatched whare.
We may here say that the inducement to settle in Pigeon Bay was that there was a settlement in Akaroa considered page 300likely at that time to become one of the principal in the South Island. Finding they had not enough cattle, Messrs Hay and Sinclair purchased some from Messrs B. and G. Rhodes, for whom Mr Geo Rhodes was then managing a run consisting of the land still ocoupied by Messrs Armstrong, Rhodes, and Haylook. We must not forget to mention that the schooner that brought the Messrs Hay and Sinclair and their families to Pigeon Bay, also brought the Messrs Deans, Gobbles, Mansons and their families, all these old settlers so well known to our readers arriving at the same date The cattle did wonderfully well in the bush, there being little clear land except at the points. As may be supposed, the living at those times was very primitive. There was no store nearer than Wellington, and consequently our settlers were sometimes out of flour, sugar, tea and other things we consider necessary. Their principal meat food was pigeons and wild pork, and occasional ducks and teal. The pigeons were numberless, the old whalers having given the bay the name it bears from that circumstance. There used to be a good deal of exchange, too, with the whalers, who used to give slops and stores in exchange for vegetables and the beef, which was killed as the cattle increased. About three or four years after the landing Mr. Sinclair built a cutter of about eight or ten tons, with the intention of taking the produce of the Bay to Wellington. When she was completed she was loaded with all the produce in the Bay—the result of a year's labour—and sailed for Wellington. The crew consisted of Mr Sinclair, his eldest son, George, Alfred Wallace, and another young man. Terrible to relate, the cutter never reached Wellington, and nothing was ever heard of her again. It was indeed a severe blow to the new settlers thus to lose the heads of one family and the whole result of so many months of arduous labour. Mrs. Sinclair was inconsolable, and let the place to Mr. McIntosh, and went to Wellington. She returned after a time, however, and resided in Akaroa, and then again came to Pigeon Bay, Mr. McIntosh taking up the land now known by his name. Eventually in 1862 she sold out page 301to Mr George Holmes and went to the Sandwich Islands, where she died twenty yeara ago at the advanced age of over ninety years. About the beginning of 1851, Messrs Sinclair and Hay built new houses, the former in Holmes' Bay, and the latter where the first Annandaie stood. Mr Sinclair's house was burned, it will be remembered, twenty years ago, and Mr Hay's house formed the kitchen at Annandale, and was of course destroyed by the slip. Immediately after the Wairoa massacre, the Maoris agreed to murder all the whites in the South Island. They arranged to make fire signals, known as the old Maori telegraph, and begin with killing the Deans at Riccarton, then the people at Port Levy, Pigeon Bay, Akaroa, and elsewhere. The massacres were all to take place on the same day, and the Natives were afterwards all to meet at Akaroa to destroy the whaling settlements. It was a time of great terror, and Mr Hay hardly knew what to do. However, he determined to remain with his family in the Bay, and sell his life as dearly as possible. He loaded all his guns and pistols ready, and, strange to say, the pistols remained loaded for no less than twenty one years. Luckily the plot was frustrated. First of all there were among the whalera and settlers men who had Maori wives, and these told their husbands A chief named Bloody Jack, too, wrote to the chief at Port Levy, telling him that he would be his enemy for life if he touched the whites. There was some hesitation and delay, and eventually the plot was abandoned. The next great event was the arrival of the first four ships on the 16th December, 1850. Need we say our settlors were delighted. Now there was no need to fear the Maoris, and there was a probable near market for produce and the advantages of society. It was indeed a red-letter day, and was duly celebrated. After the founding of the settlement, Mr Hay had considerable trouble in getting his land secured to him. His original grant was for the North Island, where he had been unable to settle. However, his claims were at last allowed. At this time Messrs Cuff, Stewart, Tom White, and a host of other settlers came to the Bay, and Messrs Hunt, McKay, and others followed.
page 302There was a fortnightly mail at that time, and the want of a school began to be keenly felt Mr Hay bad some private teachers, not, however, of much ability, and then came Mr Knowles and established the first school. Mr Gillespie followed, and immensely increased the reputation of the school, and then came Mr Fitzgerald, and to him came many pupils from Christchurch, and in fact all Canterbuy. It was then, indeed, a most successful enterprise. The gold discoveries of Australia began to have a very beneficial influence at this time. Besides clearing out a great many of the old dissolute sawyers and whalers, it increased the price of produce enormously Oats went up to 8s per bushel, and potatoes to £8 and £10 per ton, and the settlers thrived, Afterwards the Dunedin diggings broke out, and so prices never got very low for years after. The cocksfoot industry on the Peninsula was started by Mr. Hay. He gave at the rate of 2s 6d per lb. for the first seed, which he found did wonderfully well in the Bay. Soon it spread, and a demand set in, and in one year Messrs Hay Bros. sold no less than 70 tons at 8d per lb. Mr. Hay was never covetous of land He always wished to see neighbours around him, and encouraged them to settle. When he died in 1863 he had only really acquired between 900 and 1000 acres, but he had the pre emptive right over 2000 more. During the subsequent trusteeship the estate enormously increased in value and acreage. It was eventually purchased by Messrs James and Thomas Hay, the eldest sons, from the rest of the family, and is now, as all Canterbury know, one of the finest estates in the colony. Some years ago, however, a great misfortune occurred. On the 18th August, 1886, a terrible slip came from the bills above the Annandale homestead, and utterly overwhelmed it, burying tbe gatherings—the relics of forty years - in a sea of mud. Luckily it happened in the day time, and there was no loss of life. The bay is one of the best on the Peninsula. A well managed Road Board has secured good roads for it. It has been well and thoroughly c'eared and grassed, and its future is fully assured, as all can see who visit its many smiling hemesteads.
page 303The following is an interesting account of an attempt amongst the Maoris to break the "tapu" in Pigeon Bay in 1853:—It appears that late in the year two sealing boats, carrying about twenty five Maoris and half castes, amongst which were some pretty girls, arrived in Pigeon Bay from Dunedin. Most of these settled in the Bay, and as a good proportion of the men had been whaling, they were superior in their ideas to the old Maori superstitions, and laughed at the idea of "tapu." A well known Maori, named Toby, who had been headsman in whaling boats for many years, took the lead in the movement, and after many and many a "kerero," he and those who doubted the virtue of "tapu "resolved to test it by attempting to seize two large sealing boats over which the sacred Maori halo had been thrown, viz, the one from which Bloody Jack had been knocked overboard and drowned whilst trying to land at Timaru, and another owned by the young chief Hapukuku These two boats were each under a bark whare upon the small flat near the present wharf, and the reason for wishing to utilise them was that the Natives at that time nearly supplied Lyttelton with firewood and potatoes, which they hawked round from house to house upon their backs, and that these two boats would carry quite as much as five whaleboats. At this time there were two kaiks in the bay. Thiah's occupied the fiat near the wharf, with a population of about seventy five. The other (Kingston's) was at the head of the bay, with some 150, besides a few at [unclear: Sinclair's], and four whares in the gully below the wharf called Hapukuku's. The old Natives were quite alive to tbe proposed sacrilege, and had taken steps to prevent it, and this too in such a manner that tbe breakdown was an utter surprise. Runners were sent to Kaikoura (north) and to Temuka (south), taking in the intermediate kaiks, with instructions to go to Pigeon Bay at a certain date. In the meantime the breakers of the "tapu" had hauled the boats to Gilbert's shed to be repaired and painted Gilbert did not commence at once, which possibly saved some trouble, but the day of meeting saw some 400 to 500
page 304Strangers arrive in hot blood ready to fight for the old custom, and it nearly came to a contest, only the renegades were too few; so that after three day's feasting, koreroing, and blazing away powder, it was decided to cremate the boats. The boats were hauled to low water, covered with dry scrub, and burned, the natives during the conflagration, doing a cry. Thus ended the largest native gathering on the Peninsula since the white man's time.