In 1851, William Graham re-married and then sailed to New Zealand on the ship “Sir George Pollock” with his new wife Mary Anne and his seven surviving children, including five-year-old Hannah Graham. The voyage took about 4 months and they arrived in Lyttleton in Nov 1851.
Picture: Canterbury Association Ships in London. “The world begins to feel very small when one finds one can get half round it in three months” - Samuel Butler, January 27 1860, on arrival at Lyttleton.
Hannah’s family were among the first European settlers of the New Zealand province of Canterbury. (Canterbury is a province of 42,200 km2 in the middle of the South Island, centered around Christchurch). Native Maoritribes had lived in this area for 700 years, and caught eel in the swamps around where Christchurch is now. But the first Europeans didn’t land until 1815, and they didn’t settle there until the 1830s when a few whaling stations and farms were established.
Drawing: Maori on shore watching a canoe beach, Kits of food beside the group. 1852-1860. By William Fox.
Around that time, the Maori tribe living in Canterbury (Ngai Tahu) was almost wiped out by Te Rauparaha’s Ngati Toa tribe,who raided from the North. Te Rauparaha was the first chief to trade with the Europeans to buy muskets, so he was able to kill a lot of his enemies. He is also famous for writing the ‘haka’ (fighting challange) that is used by the All Blacks. The part that sounds like ‘ganbatte, ganbatte’ means ‘will I die?, will I die?’. In the years 1829-32 he attacked the Ngai Tahu villages in Canterbury and killed most of the people living there.
Drawing: Te Rauparaha's fleet attacking Kaiapoi village near Christchurch, 1829. By William Menzies Gibb. Only 200 of the 1,000 inhabitants escaped.
In 1848 the ‘Canterbury Association’ was formed in England to organize the settlement of Canterbury. The company bought land from the Ngai Tahu, including one block of 80,000 km2 (about the size of Hokkaido) - for only 2,000 pounds! (around 8,000 Japanese ryo). The company then planned the city of Christchurch, recruited skilled settlers in England, and organized a fleet of ships to bring them to New Zealand.
Lithograph: Landing of passengers at Port Lyttleton, 1850. By William Fox.
The “first 4 ships” with the first 792 ‘Canterbury Pilgrims’ arrived in Lyttleton 17 December 1850. Hannah Graham’s family arrived 11 months later on the ship “Sir George Pollock”. This was the 17th of a total of 28 Canterbury Association ships that brought 3,600 settlers to Canterbury between 1850-1853.
Photo: Christchurch in 1850
Drawing: Lyttleton in 1852
William Graham and Mary-Anne settled at Brenchley Farm near Lyttleton and had a further 8 children, bringing William’s total to 18 children! Brenchley Farm was probably just off the left edge of these 2, up the hill behind the village.
Painting: Lyttleton in 1852
Photo: Mt Somers from near Stavely and ‘Buccleuch’ c.2005
Painting: Canterbury Plains, 1855
Picture: Canterbury Association Ships in London. “The world begins to feel very small when one finds one can get half round it in three months” - Samuel Butler, January 27 1860, on arrival at Lyttleton.
Hannah’s family were among the first European settlers of the New Zealand province of Canterbury. (Canterbury is a province of 42,200 km2 in the middle of the South Island, centered around Christchurch). Native Maoritribes had lived in this area for 700 years, and caught eel in the swamps around where Christchurch is now. But the first Europeans didn’t land until 1815, and they didn’t settle there until the 1830s when a few whaling stations and farms were established.
Drawing: Maori on shore watching a canoe beach, Kits of food beside the group. 1852-1860. By William Fox.
Around that time, the Maori tribe living in Canterbury (Ngai Tahu) was almost wiped out by Te Rauparaha’s Ngati Toa tribe,who raided from the North. Te Rauparaha was the first chief to trade with the Europeans to buy muskets, so he was able to kill a lot of his enemies. He is also famous for writing the ‘haka’ (fighting challange) that is used by the All Blacks. The part that sounds like ‘ganbatte, ganbatte’ means ‘will I die?, will I die?’. In the years 1829-32 he attacked the Ngai Tahu villages in Canterbury and killed most of the people living there.
Drawing: Te Rauparaha's fleet attacking Kaiapoi village near Christchurch, 1829. By William Menzies Gibb. Only 200 of the 1,000 inhabitants escaped.
In 1840 the Maori tribes on New Zealand signed the ‘Treaty of Waitangi ‘, and agreed to be governed by the British in return for guarantee of rights. At that time the population of New Zealand was about 100,000 Maori and only 2,000 ‘pakeha’ (‘pakeha’ is the Maori for ‘gaijin’). But the treaty allowed Europeans to buy land and live in New Zealand, so by 1850 there were about 22,000 ‘pakeha’ living in New Zealand. But in Canterbury there were only 500 Maori surviving, and about 300 Europeans with 700 cows and 4000 sheep!
Drawing: Rakutawine of Te Hakataramea Waitaki, 1848. By Francis Edward Nairn.
In 1848 the ‘Canterbury Association’ was formed in England to organize the settlement of Canterbury. The company bought land from the Ngai Tahu, including one block of 80,000 km2 (about the size of Hokkaido) - for only 2,000 pounds! (around 8,000 Japanese ryo). The company then planned the city of Christchurch, recruited skilled settlers in England, and organized a fleet of ships to bring them to New Zealand.
Lithograph: Landing of passengers at Port Lyttleton, 1850. By William Fox.
The “first 4 ships” with the first 792 ‘Canterbury Pilgrims’ arrived in Lyttleton 17 December 1850. Hannah Graham’s family arrived 11 months later on the ship “Sir George Pollock”. This was the 17th of a total of 28 Canterbury Association ships that brought 3,600 settlers to Canterbury between 1850-1853.
Photo: Christchurch in 1850
This voyage must have been quite a dramatic experience for the Graham family. To leave London, which had a population 2.6million in 1851, to sail for 4 months in a 630 ton sailing ship, and then arrive in an empty landscape on the other side of the world!
Drawing: Lyttleton in 1852
William Graham and Mary-Anne settled at Brenchley Farm near Lyttleton and had a further 8 children, bringing William’s total to 18 children! Brenchley Farm was probably just off the left edge of these 2, up the hill behind the village.
Painting: Lyttleton in 1852
Hannah grew up in Lyttleton and would have watched the town grow up around her. Before she married, she worked as a governess to the children of William Reeves (MP). One of these children, William Peber Reeves, became a famous writer, government minister, and statesman.
Photo: Christchurch in 1854.
The main industry in Canterbury was faming sheep for wool for export. The farming industry developed rapidly and by 1867 there were 2,500,000 sheep being farmed in Canterbury. In 1867 Hannah was working at the farm ‘Buccleuch’ (about 100km from Christchurch). There she met William Taylor Smith who was working as a bullock driver, and they married at Lyttleton in 1869.
The main industry in Canterbury was faming sheep for wool for export. The farming industry developed rapidly and by 1867 there were 2,500,000 sheep being farmed in Canterbury. In 1867 Hannah was working at the farm ‘Buccleuch’ (about 100km from Christchurch). There she met William Taylor Smith who was working as a bullock driver, and they married at Lyttleton in 1869.
Photo: Mt Somers from near Stavely and ‘Buccleuch’ c.2005
Painting: Canterbury Plains, 1855
No comments:
Post a Comment