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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Papanui

Papanui is associated with much that was characteristic of the early days of colonisation. In January, 1852, the country north of the Avon was in its native state. There were no bridges, and the river had to be forded. The banks, afterwards partially levelled, were covered with a thick growth of flax, toitoi, and tutu, intermingled with high ferns. Vegetation was luxuriant, and the varied colours of the grass and foliage had a pleasant effect on the eye. After crossing the Avon there was only a Maori track in a northerly direction to Papanui, where there was a bush of about seventy acres, consisting chiefly of white and red pine and totara. The track passed through high ferns and tussock, and the land, which was fairly level, literally swarmed with native quail, which were then so plentiful that a traveller or settler could shoot as many as he wished to, and very often his dog provided him with a dinner. If a settler wished in those days to take a bullock dray to Papanui, he had to make a wide detour to the west, to head the springs and creek now flowing through Mr. G. G. Stead's property at Strowan. Many a team got bogged in the locality. When that part of his journey had been accomplished, the teamster steered eastward until he hit the track again in the neighbourhood now known as Norman's Road. At Bligh's Road treacherous ground was again reached; and, indeed, the surrounding country then consisted chiefly of an almost impassable swamp, practically bottomless, for the purposes of the teamster. Only an expert bullock driver, with a team well under command, could hope to take even a small load of timber from the bush, and even he would think himself fortunate if he succeeded in landing his load in Christchurch the same evening. The first house of any importance erected at Papanui was one brought out from England in 1851 by the Rev. G. Dunnage. It formed an excellent landmark, and stood on the site now occupied by Mr. H. Tisch's residence. Another house, brought out in 1851 in the ship “Fatima” by Mr. Green, is still standing opposite to the Papanui hotel. The cartage of goods from the Ferry Road wharf to Papanui cost £2 10s per ton in those days. The driver of the team most in use was a character—a coloured man named Black Jim. He was an expert teamster, and equally proficient in the use of the blasphemies which were supposed to be better understood by oxen than the phraseology of the drawing room. Jim afterwards came to an evil end in Victoria through his inability to distinguish between meum and tuum, but that was not to be wondered at, as those who knew him as a teamster between Papanui and Christchurch were, though well-minded men, unable to think of him as far removed from the level of his team. In 1852 almost the only residents at Papanui were sawyers, a hard-working, but free-living, lot of men. Even in those days a public-house was deemed a necessity, and an American named Carr opened and kept what he called the Sawyers' Arms, where doubtless he reaped a rich harvest from the patronage of his customers. The late Mr. W. G. Brittan owned part of the Papanui bush, and it was he who presented the Church of England with timber for its local building. In 1853 the Rev. R. R. Bradley became the first resident clergyman, and he afterwards assured a friend that his remuneration at first averaged barely six shillings a day. Even up to the year 1860 portions of the track beyond Papanui, towards the Styx, were almost impassable for heavy loads, owing to the swampy nature of the ground. The bush swarmed at times with kakas and native pigeons, and it was no unusual thing for settlers to shoot paradise ducks, grey ducks, and teal from the verandahs of their houses. It indeed seems a long way back to those times from these days of railways, tram services, bicycles, and other luxurious modern conveniences.