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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Canterbury Provincial District]

Duvauchelle's Bay

Duvauchelle's Bay.

Duvauchelle's Bay is one of the most beautiful and interesting district. The township has a population of about one hundred persons, and possesses a church and a public school, a good hotel, and a post office, with a money order and savings bank branch, and a public telephone. It is built on a lovely bay at the end of Akaroa harbour. The bay is finely sheltered, and the neighbouring scenery is characterised by romantic beauty. Dairying and sheepfarming are carried on in the district, and fishing in the bay, and cocksfoot seed is cultivated on the slopes and hill sides. The district has one historic spot of exceptional interest; namely, Onawe, the site of the fortified pa, the capture of which, in the year 1831, gave the finishing touch to Te Rauparaha's conquest of the South Island Maoris. Duvauchelle's page 633 has saleyards where monthly sales are held, and it is connected with Lyttelton by steamer, and with Akaroa and Little River by coach; Akaroa being seven miles distant and Little River twelve. The coach from Akaroa to Pigeon Bay passes and repasses through Duvauchelle's on three days of the week. There is daily mail communication with Christchurch, forty-eight miles distant.

Duvauchelle's Bay.

Duvauchelle's Bay.

Barker, Beilby, Coach Proprietor, Duvauchelle's Bay. Mr. Beilby Barker was born at Decanter Bay in 1859, and educated at Little Akaloa. In 1874, he entered the service of Mr. S. Lee, coach proprietor, Christchurch and Akaroa. In the same year, Mr Barker's father purchased Mr. Lee's line of coaches, so that young Barker was brought up with the business. The road was opened from Christchurch to Akaroa in 1872, and the first coach was run through by Messrs Mitchell and Burton. In 1881 the railway was opened to Birdling's Flat, and the coach ceased to run to Christchurch; in 1883, the railway was extended to Little River, which has since then been the terminus. Mr. B. Barker afterwards purchased the two lines of coaches from Akaroa to Little River and Pigeon Bay, and runs both lines regularly as advertised. As might be expected from Mr. Barker's early training, he is quite at home on the box seat, and he is the only man that has driven four-in-hand to Okain's Bay and Little Akaloa. Mr. Barker is always ready to help any cause that tends to advance the district, and his fellow colonists. He is chairman of the school committee, is a churchwarden, an active member of the sports committee, and of the Jockey and Trotting Clubs. He was married, in 1891, to Miss Noonan, and has one son and two daughters.

Farmers.

Boothroyd, Thomas, Farmer, Hillside Farm, Duvauchelle's Bay. Mr. Boothroyd was born in 1828, at Doncaster, Yorkshire, where he was educated and where his ancestors had farmed for ages. He came out to Melbourne in 1853, with the intention of making a home for himself, but finding the land locked up he crossed to New Zealand in 1858. At first he worked at “Stonyhurst,” and subsequently in the Oxford bush. He visited California, in 1866, and worked for two years there on a sheep station, but his health gave way and he returned to New Zealand in 1868. In 1870 he purchased his present farm of forty acres. It overlooks Barry's Bay and Akaroa Harbour. The chief products of Hillside farm are grass-seed and cheese, and Mr Boothroyd keeps a useful herd of Shorthorn cattle. He was married, in 1857, to Miss Bullock, daughter of Mr. James Bullock, of Trewillo farm, near Truro, Cornwall, England, and has one daughter, two sons, and eight grandchildren.

Mr. T. Boothroyd's Residence.

Mr. T. Boothroyd's Residence.

Piper, Henry William, Farmer, Duvauchelle's Bay. Mr. Piper is the second son of Mr. Henry Piper, and was born in Duvauchelle's Bay on the 5th of May, 1865, and educated at the Duvauchelle's Bay and Christchurch public schools. After completing his education, he was engaged in farm work with his father until 1888, when, in conjunction with his brother, he leased his father's property, of which, when his brother died in 1893, he assumed entire control. During recent years Mr. Piper has introduced a considerable amount of labour-saving machinery, and, in July, 1901; his private dwelling-house was lighted throughout with electricity. Mr. Piper was a member of the Akaroa County Council for some years, and also of the Duvauchelle's Bay school committee. He was one of the organisers of the Peninsula Horse Show, initiated about six years ago, and is now (1902) president of the show committee. He has been a member of the local rifle club for many years, and is now its captain. Mr. Piper was married in 1891, to Miss N. M. Lord, of Christchurch, and has two children.

Standish and Preece, photo. Mr. H. W. Piper.

Standish and Preece, photo.
Mr. H. W. Piper.

Vogan, George, Farmer, “See All,” Duvauchelle's Bay.—Mr. Vogan was born in 1839, in County Cavan, Ireland, where he followed farming during his earlier years. He came to New Zealand in 1862, in the ship “Mermaid,”
Mr. and Mrs G. Vogan.

Mr. and Mrs G. Vogan.

page 634 Captain Rose, and helped to make the tunnel and railway between Christchurch and Lyttelton. He afterwards settled at Ashburton Forks for two years, but then caught the gold fever, and went to Westland. He was, however, unsuccessful, and returned to Canterbury and settled at Pigeon Bay, where he carried on dairying and storekeeping. In 1867, he purchased forty acres of his present property, at Duvauchelle's, and when a portion of it was grassed he stocked it with dairy cattle, paying £20 for the first cow and calf. He afterwards went on extending his area, and increasing his herd. Mr. Vogan has exhibited his dairy produce with success. At Christchurch, in 1882, he won first and second prizes, in 1883 he gained first at Christchurch and first at Akaroa, and has secured many other awards too numerous to mention for his butter and bacon. “See All” homestead is situated on a hill, and from the verandah a good view is obtained of the bay, and of all the boats entering the harbour. Mr. Vogan has been a member of the school committee since its inception. He was married, in 1862, to Miss Kennedy, and has three sons and five daughters, three of the latter being married.
The late Mr. T. B. Mould.

The late Mr. T. B. Mould.

Old Colonists.

Mr. Thomas Burston Mould was born in Cheshire, England, in 1838, educated at private schools, and apprenticed to the drapery trade. His health, however, failed, and he was advised to follow a sea-faring life. He obtained the position of steward on one of the Cunard Company's large steamers, trading between Liverpool, New York, and the West Indies, and held it until he resigned to sail for New Zealand. In 1865 he arrived at Lyttelton by the ship “Matoaka,' and almost immediately afterwards went to Banks' Peninsula, where he spent the rest of his life in farming. For five years after his arrival in New Zealand, he was engaged by Mr. Cholmondeley, farmer, of Port Levy, and in 1870 he purchased 100 acres of heavy bush land at Duvauchelle's Bay. By hard and incessant labour this rough land was transformed into a valuable and productive farm. At his death, in 1894, Mr. Mould left this property to his wife and family. He took a great interest in religious work, and was for many years warden of the English church at Duvauchelle's Bay. Mr. Mould was married, in 1875, to Miss Eleanor Macartney, and had five children. Of these, three sons and one daughter are still living.

Mr. James Pettigrew, sometime of Duvauchelle's Bay, was the son of Mr. John Pettigrew, a weaver of Airdie, near Glasgow, Scotland, and was born in 1830. He landed in Lyttelton, in 1863, and shortly afterwards settled at Pigeon Bay, where for many years, he was prominently associated with the sawmilling industry. Subsequently he took up property in Duvauchelle's Bay, and turned his attention to farming. Mr. Pettigrew took an active interest in all matters affecting his district, and was a member of many local bodies. He was married, in 1852, to Miss Jane Martin, daughter of a cotton spinner, of Glasgow, and at his death, in 1893, he left five sons and four daughters.

Mr. Henry Piper, Old Colonist, Duvauchelle's Bay, was born in 1833, in Surrey, England, and was educated at a private school in Old Kent Road. He came to New Zealand in 1852, in the “Samarang,” the last of the Canterbury Association's ships, and went to the Peninsula in November of that year to Mr. T. S. Duncan, afterwards Crown Solicitor, who was then “cockatooing” in Decanter Bay. In May, 1853, he went to Mr. John Hay, Pigeon Bay, and stayed there until Mr Hay went to England at the end of the year Mr. Piper was afterwards pit-sawing for a while, and he then worked a whaleboat for passengers between Pigeon Bay and Lyttelton. The trip was the same as that afterwards made by the steamer “Jane Douglas,” except that the whaleboat started from Pigeon Bay. After a time he returned to the pit-saw, and worked at Little Akaloa, and in three different
Mr. H. Piper.

Mr. H. Piper.

valleys in Akaroa. Mr. Piper was then employed at Henderson's, at the Commercial Hotel, Akaroa, where an extensive business was done in connection with a general store that supplied nearly all the stations and small settlers, and took produce or stock in exchange. Thence he removed to Le Bon's Bay, where he had a third share of a small sawmill, the first that was erected there. Mr. Piper afterwards returned to Akaroa, and went
Old Water-Wheel on Mr. Piper's Property.

Old Water-Wheel on Mr. Piper's Property.

page 635 pit-sawing. As he owned thirty acres of bush at Duvauchelle's, he, in 1858, joined four others, who held land there, in erecting a saw-mill, which was driven by a 25-feet water-wheel. Shortly after starting, one partner was bought out, and two others were bought out about three years later; but the mill war worked with little profit until 1865, when it was improved and altered and a fifteen-horse power engine added to the plant. The firm also erected a wharf, which did away with a good deal of bullock work, and saved 5s per 1000 feet for punting the timber to the vessels. The timber was large and mostly totara, and the vertical saw took a 6-feet log, but it was not an uncommon thing to have to blast a log on account of its being too large for the saw. As the timber was cut and the refuse burned, the land was sown with English grasses, which sometimes cost one shilling per pound. Mr. Piper claims to be—with Messrs Hay Brothers—the first that produced cocksfoot seed on the Peninsula, and he sold large quantities at from 6d. to 6 1/2d. per pound, before its production became such a valuable adjunct to the resources of the struggling dairy farmer. When the West Coast diggings broke out, Mr. Piper turned his attention to cattle, and the grassed clearings in the bush, together with the natural bush feed, enabled him to produce drafts of cattle in the spring about six weeks before the graziers on the plains. In 1874, Mr. Piper bought his partner out, and continued to run the sawmill till about 1880. In the early days, Mr. Piper competed in general sports, and was one of the unbeaten whaleboat crew, known as the “sawyers,” who held the record for six years against all-comers at Lyttelton and Akaroa. For three years he was starter at the Birdling's Flat races, and was judge at many rural sports. He was a member of the roads committee before road boards were established, and was for years afterwards chairman of the Akaroa and Wainui Road Boards, chairman of the Akaroa County Council, a member of the Akaroa High School Board, chairman of the licensing committee for years, and also of the local school committee. Mr. Piper was also president of the first Peninsula Farmers' Association; and in other ways he always made himself generally useful in the district.